Ma’s Donut Shop

So cheap and delicious. But I saw one of the men in the back making the donuts touching items and then touched the donuts WITHOUT washing his hands or wearing gloves. GROSS!

Ma’s is a staple in New Bedford especially in the North End. I believe they are open at about 5 am but over the years the days that they are open have steadily decreased. You can’t miss the Ma’s donut wall and sign when you drive down the Ave across from Brooklawn Park so it’s a great location. There is a tiny parking spot so most likely you have to use street parking which may be scarce on a Sunday when there is mass at the nearby church. When you walk inside it is super outdated however I enjoy it because I have been coming here since I was little. It is cash only as well which can be a nuisance especially if you’re at home and you just want some breakfast. The servers are really nice and the prices are great. You have to try the honey dipped donut which is the best glazed donut known to mankind even though you will probably end up with diabetes by the end of it. The donuts and muffins themselves are 5 star however, they run out of donuts especially their honey dipped donuts as early as 9 am from experience. I know as a local I know to get there early but some days I just want to sleep in. For as long as they have been in business, make more donuts for the love of God.

you can’t beat the donuts here for sure. the vanilla frosted, chocolate frosted and chocolate frosted lemon are my favorites. BUT, the problem is what everyone else has been saying, there are not enough donuts being made to accommodate walk in customers and yes, the employees can be a bit short bordering on rude. the best donuts around if you can get any.

Touted as one of the areas best donut shops and I could agree. Pillowy delicious sweet treats with flavor and yeasty goodness. 9.00 for a dozen. Super nice sales staff and a spotless bakery. Love Ma’s. My 92 year young donut loving momma proclaimed them «awesome».

The best doughnuts I’ve ever had in my life. I even brought a dozen with me to California to show my friends who didn’t believe me.

The donuts are 5 stars, however I can’t give 5 stars to Ma’s Donut’s because of the way they run their business. They seem to only make a certain amount of donuts, primarily catering to the phone in orders. Abner was there at 6:45 am on a Friday morning to pick up a few donuts for his co-​workers. Abner and a long line of customers were disappointed that there was barely any donuts available for the walk in customers at 6:45 am! Absolutely ridiculous.
I’m not sure if they are afraid that if they make too many donuts for the walk in customers, that they will have donuts unsold at closing? Are they taking phone orders on the same day and depleting the supply for walk in customers?
Look at your daily sales for types of donuts, muffins, etc. Gather that data for about a month. Get a baseline for how many of each item you should bake every day for your walk in customers. That will be what you bake everyday. If some days are busier than others, then you adjust according to the demand. Don’t take same day phone orders if that has been your practice. You need to keep up with the demand from customers who are taking the time to come to your business.
Unfortunately, Abner is looking for a new donut place, as he can’t rely on there being anything available. The donuts at Ma’s are good, but sometimes you have to go where there is consistency and reliability.

Absolutely hands down the best donuts and muffins ever! It’s fresher than Dunkin donuts and it’s way cheeper. I just wish they would open everyday.
They also run out quickly, and me not being a morning person, it’s kinda hard to wake up super early when I’m in the mood for some donuts. And I live right down the street. They should be able to have enough to run until closing. This business has been there for years, so they should have learned by now the amount of donuts they need to make. This leaves the customer satisfied and happy at any given hour. Not having to worry whether there’s going to be donuts or not. And mostly for people that come from far away just to get some donuts.

The best glazed donut in New England, possibly the world. If you sleep in past 8AM don’t even bother, all the donuts are gone. Thank goodness I am a night owl because these donuts would be way too accessible and I would surely be morbidly obese. I like to take manfriend here for sweet relief after those holiday marathons with the extended fam. The snarky service and dated décor are part of the experience. If you want a saccharin smile, go to Starbucks in Taunton for a reduced-​fat very berry coffee cake.

Old fashion donuts is just the beginning. Beats all competitors hands down! Blueberry donut is da boom!

Yes, the donuts are good … BUT … I will never ever spend my money in this establishment ever again! The workers there are horrible people with bad attitudes. They have no respect for customers and I’ll GLADLY go to any other donut shop from now on. I’d much rather go to Sunrise Bakery on Dartmouth Street, in So. Dartmouth, MA, anyday! Sunrise is much better and you get treated right!

Go earlier. Donuts will run out at 8:30 am. No joke.
–who can beat the price? 8 bucks for a dozen.
I like the greeeen (food coloring) pistachio muffin, the GLAZED donut and the chocolate glazed donut. Will go back to try out other flavors.

The donuts are the bomb — no doubt. Only reason it gets 4 instead of 5 is that they run out so dang early. Went Sunday morning at 8:30 craving a linguica roll… sold out already :-(.
Love the nostalgia in the place. Patrons are generally as old school as the surroundings and you wouldn’t want it any other way. I remember going here with my Memere as a kid and today…35+ years later — still all good !!

I would love to give Ma’s more starts because their donuts are delicious, but I have to rely on memory rather than recent experience. That’s because the last two times I went there – a Sunday at 11a a few months ago, and a Saturday at 10a today – Ma’s simply had no donuts left to sell me. Good on them for selling out, I suppose, but I wasn’t the only one who walked out disappointed that I couldn’t spend my money there.
For those who want to avoid this fate, apparently you can place an order to «reserve» donuts ahead of time. But can’t they simply make an extra batch?

Truly the best donuts and muffins I’ve ever had, at what seem to be prices from the 1970’s.
Corn muffins are amazing.
Also love their linguica rolls.
They make my co-​workers so happy when I bring them into work. Wish they were open at least one more weekday.

what to eat for breakfast on Sat morning? While vacationing at my sister’s place, Fairhaven, Ma. I kept on thinking of the usual for breakfast… DD. Since I am on vacation, I figure I will turn to Unilocal for ideas. Oh boy was I glad! Ma’s Donut Shop was great! Love the Mom and Pop environment as you walk in. The whole place smelled so delicious. My son and I got take out 1 doz donuts and of course 2 more just because I could not fit all the ones that looked great into the 1 doz: P Got 2 bagels also because my son loves bagels! (bagels were ok, nothing compare to NY bagels)
My sister lived locally for 10+ years and never stopped at Ma’s Donut Shop. After we had these delicious donut, I think they will be going more often :)
The texture of these sweet treats are so good they made DD ones taste like dirt. The price for these items are very good compare to DD ~ $ 8 (left tips in the tip jar) for 1 doz. You can’t beat that.
overall, I will def come back here for breakfast items every time I visit my Sister :)
Highly recommended.

Forget Dunks — Ma’s has the very best donuts around — always has and I hope always will. Seriously.

Many fond memories of going here as a kid when in town visiting my grandparents. My uncle and I would take his big white fluffy Samoyeds for a morning walk through the nearby park and stop for Ma’s donuts to bring everyone on the way home.
It’s a no brainer — honeydip and bavarian cream are the way to go. Come on the early side before they sell out!

This is not, cannot be part of the Ma’s Donuts chain! This is an exceptional donut and deserves to be in the same category as Voodoo or Kanes. It’s First Tier all the way… and closed on M, Tu, Wd.
Cheers!

For some reason, I can imagine soccer moms totally digging this place. Their donuts are a little on the small side, really light on the fry, and beautifully glazed.
In other words, they’re just cute and restrained enough that you could probably delude yourself into thinking you’re doing something other than carpet-​bombing your gut for breakfast. They even have darling little mini coffee rolls which, I admit, are pretty rad. Nice to be able to grab one without committing to eating a glob of fried dough bigger than your head (Kane’s!).
But for dudes who come for real donuts, it’s a tough sell. The raised, especially the aforementioned coffee rolls, have a rich fry and their lovely glaze, but the cakes aren’t nearly as rich. And their glaze, while thick and beautiful, is insubstantial and ephemeral in a way that probably appeals to soccer moms, but just confuses folks like me who expect our teeth to bleed when we rip into the ultimate honey dip.
They’re totally not worth the drive to New Bedford on their own (unless you stop at the far superior Colonial Do-​Nuts in Taunton and Supreme Coffee and Donuts in Brockton on the way and turn it into the best donut day ever), but if I lived next door, I’d totally be jamming down their ‘nuts on the regular. So, I’ll keep that in mind next time I move to New Bedford to harpoon whales or whatever.

I would honestly give this place 6 stars if that was an option!
This past Sunday, my family and I drove over an hour to try these donuts (without checking what time they close) and we got there exactly at 12:03…3 min. too late according to the sign on the door. Thank God we went in and the manager/​owner was the nicest person. She agreed to let us pick what we wanted from the few donuts they had left. She asked if we wanted muffins, but the person who recommended this place to us absolutely RAVED about the donuts, so we politely turned the muffins down.
After we gave her our order, she came back with 2 full boxes. We definitely didn’t order that many donuts. She ended up filling the boxes with the left over muffins and donuts from that day and SHE WOULDN’T TAKE ANY MONEY FROM US!!! WE TRIED TO LEAVE A $ 10 TIP AND EVEN THE GIRL AT THE COUNTER DIDN’T ACCEPT IT!!! wow…
Their kindness and generosity was extremely unexpected and welcomed! I honestly can’t believe how nice they were! Because, the truth of the matter is, is that they could’ve easily said «We’re closed» and ended it at that.
The lady who helped us even said that if we were going to go again (which we DEFINITELY are) we should call in advance and they can put our order aside so it’s all ready for us when we get there!
above and beyond in customer service!