Gourdough’s Public House

I like donuts, but I’m a simple donut kind of gal. Glazed donut holes and I’m fine. Maybe some fruit on it, but that’s about as fancy as I get.
This place is definitely not that. All donuts are extravagant. Upon first look at the menu, the word that comes to mind is gluttony. But we were there, so we decided to be adventurous. We each got a dessert donut and something off their brunch menu.
Dessert Donuts: Son of a Peach, The Freebird
Brunch: El Diablo (one w/​sausage and one w/​o)
The dessert donuts came out first. I was actually surprised by the Son of a Peach. It wasn’t that bad or over the top. The only dislike my fiancé had was that it was cold. But that was a preference thing. As far as taste, goes, I thought it was good.
The Freebird, I wasn’t too crazy about. If you like cream cheese, then this is your kind of donut. it was SMOTHERED in it. I took a bite and I was done.
Then came out the El Diablo. We got our orders and one was made correctly and the other one had sausage on it. We told them that I was a vegetarian, so there was some sort of communication malfunction between placing our order to the «chefs.» When we said «sausage on the side, they interpreted that as «sauce on the side.» It honestly wouldn’t have been a big deal except the cook came out and looked PISSED. Like dude, chill it’s just a f*kin donut. The hostess/​waitress that took our order was pleasant. Actually everyone there was pleasant, EXCEPT the cook. He remade it and just dropped it off. Didn’t say a word. Umm. ok. Screw you too bro. As far as taste, it’s a great concept for donut lovers and those into extreme foods. It was just fried dough, topped w/​an egg and sauce. Will we be back? Probably not, but it is worth a try.

Awesome donuts!!!
The food alone deserves 5+ stars. They have a huge selection of donuts with tons of different toppings. The donuts themselves are soft and doughy with fresh ingredients. I dream about these things. I’ve only had the dessert donuts, but they also have donut burgers if you’re feeling adventurous.
The set-​up consists of a food truck parked outside right next to an indoor bar. You order donuts at the trailer and drinks inside at the bar, but you can sit in the bar area while you wait for/​eat your donuts. The service can be hit or miss, especially if they are busy. Also, be prepared to wait a bit for your donuts. Fresh tasting takes time to create, and the prep work is happening in a food truck after all.

Went to this location on October 30^th during the midst of the Halloween rains. The floor of the bar area was covered in at least an inch of water — so disgusting! The food that our friends ordered was almost inedible, especially the donuts. One friend ordered a salad and couldn’t eat the donut — it was too heavy and greasy. Another friend ordered a veggie burger and couldn’t eat any of it after the first bite — said it was one of the worst he had ever had, especially the patty itself. I ordered a dessert donut and it was practically raw inside. Very disappointed.
For more reviews, check out my blog:

We had the Ron Burgundy burger, then three desert donuts (cherry bomb, salty balls, and the nutty valentine.) A++ The atmosphere was ok until the drag queens started to perform lip sync. All I wanted was to watch the game in peace. It was annoying, but not annoying enough to drop it a star. Highly recommended.

Awesome food and great atmosphere! We went on a cold night so donuts and coffee sounded like a great idea. Well we ended up having a bit more than expected. The Ron burgundy was an awesome burger and there are so many choices to choose from when it comes to burger donuts and donuts for dessert! I’d recommend this place to anyone looking to try something new.

Everything was delicious, I have nothing bad to say. We had a burger, we had chicken, and dessert donuts. Nothing disappointed! The donuts were very light. I drove from San Antonio to try it, and when I got home I was in a lovely 3 hour food coma and slept it all off! I will be back!

AMAZING food and donuts. A must if you are in Austin. Got takeout when I was in town, service was fast, they were busy and my food took less than 10 min. Got the country clucker ($ 12.95) which is a donut with a fried chicken breast with creamed corn and candied jalapeños on top. Great flavor, chicken was moist and the candied jalapeños were sweet and spicy. Excellent.
For dessert I had the mama’s cake which is a donut filled with cake batter icing covered in fudge frosting ($ 5.50). Totally amazing and tasty!

I think everyone’s gotta try this place at least once. Just to say you ate fried chicken and donuts or a donut burger. I, (unfortunately for my waistline) have been many more times than once. My favorites are the Mother Clucker and funky monkey (I’d totally down the fat Elvis if I wasn’t allergic to peanuts). If you’re into decadent food, this place is a must go. We like to make a fun day of our visits here and go run, kayak, and/​or swim at Barton Springs and the Lake beforehand so we don’t feel as guilty afterwards. Marathon exercising followed by Gourdoughs on a beautiful day in Austin… there’s not much else that can top that.

I think I’d had this place a little hyped up, which is never good because it’s hard to live up to expectations. I ordered the country clucker and thought it was just ok. The creamed corn was downright cold. Like, it was sitting around in an unheated pot or something. The flavor was good, but the temperature threw the whole thing off. In addition to the cold corn, the restaurant itself was uncomfortably cold. I had to keep my giant peacoat on even though we sat inside. For dessert we’d ordered salty balls with pecans instead of peanuts. It was good, but nothing special. They used just the tiniest drizzle of caramel, which was disappointing since one of the main reasons this dessert was selected was for the caramel. Honestly, you could get basically the same thing from the Cinnabon store in the mall. Still good, but didn’t blow me away. Glad I tried it for novelty’s sake but I probably will not return.

Every thing I thought it would be: greasy, delicious, sweet, and doughnut heaven. If I die and go to heaven, take me to Gourdough’s where sweet and savory are one.
Love their indoor space. If you like doughnuts and you like hamburgers and you like bizarre combinations, go.

We love coming to Gourdough’s after a nice dinner downtown just for their amazing dessert donuts. Most recently we had their Fat Elvis donut that came with grilled bananas, homemade peanut butter icing, crispy bacon and drizzles of honey… and boy was it good. And I don’t even like peanut butter icing! Prior too, we tried their Blackout; this is perfect for those with an intense chocolate craving, complete with brownie batter, fudge icing and and topped generously with chocolate-​covered brownie bites. They have a make-​your-​own-​donut option as well, for those of a finnicky mind. And just a fair warning; these dessert donuts are definitely as decadent as they sound, so if you’re watching that waistline, I would suggest splitting a plate! That’s what the hubs and I do in an attempt to feel less guilty, but the feeling doesn’t last that long.
I mean, for seriously. If you’re wanting to have a true Austin-​foodie experience, this place is not to be missed.

Where did this amazing place come from? You MUST get the Big Cheese appetizer! The melted cheese in the doughnut is pretty amazing, probably my favorite thing out of everything we ordered.
I also had the Ron Burgundy burger, which was also very delicious. The doughnut was not too sweet that it didn’t overpower the burger.

DEE-​LISH. I think I saw a picture of the Mother Clucker sandwich on Thrillist somewhere and decided I must have it when we went to Austin! Our group of 3 came here on a Friday evening for dinner — the place was still pretty empty, only a handful of other groups having beers and watching the TV.
You seat yourself, order drinks at the bar and food outside with the cashier. We shared the:
–Mother Clucker — honey butter drizzled fried chicken over a donut with a side of creamed corn? Heaven. Chicken was soooo flavorful and delicious and the donut is basically fried dough — denser than a regular donut and the flavor combo of donut and chicken is awesome.
Creamed corn was warm and yummy as well!
— Count Monte Cristo — basically a deep fried monte cristo sandwich, the sweet and salty combination was really good as well.
Best meal we had in Austin :)

It’s so hard to hate this place, and believe me I try… especially when I’m trying to fit in my pants the next day…
But it’s deliciousness that I will proudly wear I suppose…
The savory donuts, the sandwiches, the donuts they put on salads, the ones they made into chicken and dough-plings…they are all amazing. STUPID good.
All of the sweet donuts, there are all different kinds, from maple bacon to blackberry graham cracker cheesecake donuts… they also are all stinking amazing… and it hurts, it hurts, to think that something can be so good and yet so dang bad for you!!!
OH WELL
But really it’s just amazing what they do here… It’s witchcraft or some sort of wizardry…
I would like to ping it for three things:
1) the drinks are pretty expensive.
2) the weird separation of donut sales and drink sales. You have to pay on separate tabs and with two totally different people (because their kitchen is parked out front basically) But it’s obnoxious. Especially when you and your date are the only ones there… (2pm in the middle of the week) I mean bring me the tab or something you guys are just chit chatting at the end of the bar anyway, how dare you take a few steps across the room to bring the check… Even when it’s busy the service is pretty subpar.
3) When it’s busy, it’s BUSY. Like, wait 1.5 hours for your donut order busy. And it gets elbow to elbow. Butt to beltbuckle, and there are kids and loud adults and it’s like a circus with people all jacked up on sugar… insanity.
So really it is flawed, but the fact of the matter is they make some damn good food, I meanDAMN good. so 5 stars. Good job chef Dough-​nut-​E.

I was surprised to find that Gourdough’s does an amazing salad. All of their salads are served with a tempting garlic butter savory doughnut.
You walk up to the outside counter to give your order (you can take orders to go). They will give you a number and you can select a seat in their cute outdoor courtyard or inside.
Inside the bar has a nice large screen TV for sports. The bar does have purse hooks, and I love all the refurbished doors that line the ceiling above the bar. The staff are incredibly friendly and serve up some great craft cocktails. All the drinks are made in various sizes of mason jars. If you order a drink from a can, they serve it to you in a little brown bag with the logo stamped on the front. Nice touch. Food truck classy!
My Greeced lightning salad was incredible. The chicken was moist and flavorful. The salad was fresh and crisp. I don’t typically eat wheat, but I had to take a bite of the hot fresh garlic doughnut served with the salad. It melted in my mouth. It definitely makes you thirsty though! It was hard to surrender the remainder of the doughnut. Wish they had gluten free versions of that yumminess.
My friends enjoyed their sandwiches, and we all left with very full happy bellies. Down to earth comfort food at it’s best.

Ambiance: Very pinterest-​y and austin-​y. Lights hung everywhere and the food is all made in a food truck inside the restaurant! You order with the hostess and she gives it to the chef, you sit down with a number and they deliver the food to you. You get your drinks at the bar or theres a place where you can get water. The lighting is nicely dimmed. We went at 7pm on a Monday Night and there was no wait to order and there was plenty of seating available.
Dinner: I had Grandma’s Dumplins and my friend got the Mother Clucker. The Grandma’s Dumplins was basically pieces of chicken in a pepper vinegar and a garlic donut on the side. The chicken was pretty good but the garlic donut was AMAZING! Definitely recommend getting that donut but not as much the chicken. My friend got the Mother Clucker and it comes with 2 big pieces of chicken and donut and the sauce on the side. The donut was sweeter then my garlic donut but was just as good. The sauce was pretty good too!
Dessert: We had Mama’s Cake which was basically a donut sprinkled with Chocolate Sauce and Cake Batter on top only. Very very good! The donuts are thicker then a Krispy Kreme donuts which makes them incredibly filling.
PS. Since it’s downtown the parking may be difficult if you’re cheap but there are plenty of parking garages nearby if you don’t mind paying for parking.

We dropped by here on Mother’s Day completely on accident and hoping to find somewhere that the Mother’s Day crowds weren’t descending upon. I think we pretty much succeeded, since the place was only about half (?) full. The prospect of a place specializing in doughnuts was just so enticing…
However, they were extraordinarily slow… it took about 25 minutes for our two-​person brunch/​lunch order to come out even though they didn’t seem busy at all. It seemed that they were limited by the tiny kitchen out of the trailer parked in the courtyard. I had the Dirty Plucker, which was delicious although too sweet (I scraped off some of the maple as a result), and the doughnut itself was amaaaaaazing. My husband had the Ron Burgundy and a huge amount of Yukon potato chips (some of the best ever!).
We tried to order a carafe of mimosas, but they were… either out or didn’t have any, and we also arrived before noon so we had to have it served with food by TABC laws. Instead of a carafe we ended up just getting our glasses refilled a few times. The downside of this was the slow service, rather than being able to top off our glasses ourselves.
The menu is large and full of creative items, the interior is a perfect example of industrial [chic] décor. I think this would be a great place to end a night and grab a dessert.

Everything about the meal was great. The location is so unique as well, from the outside trailer kitchen, to the rustic looking bathrooms with wooden barrel sinks. The donuts are obviously huge, but made very well too. More dense, so that they can be used for buns and/​or a base for chicken fingers, but very good. The meat they use on the burgers is super flavorful and can be a standalone item. Greeter was very cool about explaining the ordering process to us and the bartender was attentive to us, even though we were sitting outside on the patio.
The only «gripe» I have is that the bloody mary’s taste a bit too weak, but the presentation and accouterments were really nice. Even the micheladas tasted a bit too much like tomato juice and not like actual mixes. However, the overall experience was enjoyable.

We wandered over here to watch some football and enjoy Bloody Marys.
I have been to the Lamar location, which is always packed beyond belief. Here’s a tip, come to this location!!! Same menu, fantastic staff and you can find a place to sit and not wait an hour for a table.
Our bartender was the bomb. She was so sweet and attentive. We had the mama’s cake donut and it tasted exactly as it sounds. Perfect yummy warm goodness!
The Bloody Marys are great too!

While Gourdough receives high praises for their artistically crafted donuts, the same cannot be said for their brunch foods. The gf and I dropped by this popular establishment, which used to be a food truck, to grab some lunch while visiting Austin. We ordered the Dirty Plucker, thinking it would be similar to chicken n waffles. What came out was two pieces of fried chicken on top of a donut, BUT DRENCHED IN SAUCE. You can stuff my mouth full with skittles, or starbursts, even pour liquid jolly ranchers down my throat, and this dish’s sweetness still surpassed all of them BY FAR. Eating something so gooey, filling, and sweet as lunch just made us feel straight up sick.
And then not to mention they kept the kitchen in the friggin small food truck of theirs, while the restaurant and bar space inside sat a good amount of people. Even though the place was slow, our small dish still took 20+ minutes to be served after we placed our order. Oh and paying $ 2.50 for a small, fist sized mason jar of orange juice was definitely not worth it either.