Rise Biscuits & Donuts opened April 1 on Stacy Road, and this is certainly something to be excited for. They specialize in savory biscuits such as ham and bacon biscuits, as well as donuts ranging from classic glazed to a more exotic pineapple basil. To be completely honest, I was excited for this place before it even opened. Anything that has to do with sweets, especially donuts, makes me happy. However, that meant I had pretty high expectations, so let’s see if Rise met them.

First, the biscuits. I ordered a plain country ham biscuit, but I made the mistake of ordering no toppings, meaning all I had was a butter biscuit with a bunch of ham on it. Despite this lack of toppings, the biscuit was amazing and buttery. Don’t get me wrong, butter is bad for you and sometimes it is not appetizing, but with this biscuit, the sweetness was perfect. The ham was really delicious as well, however they need to reformat the menu a bit to make it easier to see what toppings are available.

Next, I had some donuts. The bakery has three classifications of donuts: “Old School,” “New School” and “Our School.” “Old School” donuts are the classics like their Chocolate Icing donut. I tried it, and it was quite good but nothing special. “New School” donuts are comparable to seasonal donuts at other stores, except these are available all year (which is definitely a plus). There were Apple Fritter and Creme Brulee donuts, but I decided to go with Chocolate Chocolate– a chocolate cake donut. Again, it was really yummy, but it wasn’t exceptional.

At this point, I started feeling a bit disappointed because I was expecting more. However, their “Our School” donuts were absolutely stunning. I ate their Oreo donut and their Cookie Dough Bulls Eye donut. The Oreo donut exceeded my expectations as it was sweet but not overly so. The Cookie Dough Bulls Eye donut, however, takes the cake when it comes to flavor. It was a plain vanilla donut with chocolate syrup and cookie dough in the hole. Again, it wasn’t overly sweet, and it was nothing but delicious.

Now, is Rise Biscuits & Donuts perfect? Nope. However, the donuts and the biscuits are worth trying. There are some hidden gems in there, and the uniqueness of the flavors is hard to ignore. Go and see for yourself if this bakery “rises” to your expectations.

Grade: A-