The Purple Cow - Hilton Head Island

After visiting the beach for the sunrise, we stopped here to grab a few things before heading back to the hotel. The donuts are cake donuts, so they are a little dense and a little bit on the dry side. However, it's the variety of toppings that made this place worth a visit. We got a box with six different kinds. Regardless of which flavor we got, they were all very delicious and they didn't last very long. Would definitely come back.

I really want to like this place, but I leave feeling disappointed every time. I've now attempted to go twice. The 1st time was a year ago. I waited in line for over 30 minutes and remember it being good, but a long wait. The last time I went in, there were 4 small groups in front of me. It took me over 25 minutes to get to the front of the line and by then they were out of donuts (it was 8:45am). Ok, so lesson learned go early, I guess. However, I knew they were low on donuts. I heard them say to the group at the front of the line that more donuts would be ready in 20 minutes...but when I got to the front 25 minutes later, I was told the same thing no donuts unless I want to wait 20 minutes. I understand that they are short staffed and the staff that was there looked to be about 14. So I was patient. I was friendly. I was upset, but calmly ordered a baked good instead. The baked good was fine. Here's my take away I love small businesses, and I want to support small business owners, but I don't think I'll be returning to the Purple Cow. For me it's just not worth the wait. I'm obviously a tourist. I assume the place is lovely and full of donuts in the off season so if you're a local I hope you have a better experience during a slower time.

The donuts are okay, but the service is awful. It was one of the most stressful experiences from a customer side. Bernie, whom I assuming is manager owner was annoyed when we asked what the different flavors were, although they were unmarked. We then heard her screaming at a customer on the phone for not preordering correctly. And lastly, it took her about 30 minutes to check us out.

AMAZING baked donuts and muffins and coffee cakes! The donuts are baked, not fried, so have a texture that is more dense/cake-like. They also have a variety of other baked goods: I highly recommend the chocolate cinnamon roll- YUM! Tips: order ahead or go very early as they close when they sell out. Also, if you do not order ahead, keep in mind your order is capped at 1 dozen items.

The donuts were amazing! I know they advertise they are baked vs fried but honestly it didn't seem that big of a difference than a normal cake donut. We got ours gluten free vegan (except for some non-vegan toppings...hello, bacon! to accommodate the gluten dairy intolerances in our family. We made sure to email our order the night before and everything was ready at 9 am. My only complaint is they don't have a location near me in Florida!