Ayarane Project

Domino’s Pizza. A name I’ve not heard in a long time.
I remember it was the de facto pizza store here for much of my childhood, since I don’t think Papa Johns had started building stores around here until about… 12 years ago? Anyway, it used to be that we’d get deep dish sausage+pepperoni on mondays, ’cause that’s when Father was off work.

After I moved in with mother in ’98, Domino’s kinda fell off the map. It was mostly Papa Johns and Pizza Hut. A couple years ago, Evil Stepfather used to buy up Domino’s when they did their 5-5-5 deal but that didn’t last long.

It’s not that I don’t like Domino’s– I’ve never gotten a bad pizza from them, I just found their sauce a bit much for my liking. Papa Johns got it juuuuust right in that department. SO! After quite a long hiatus, and having heard about their “overhaul,” I figured I’d give them a go, see what’s happened. Robert still stands by it, therefore…

Tonight’s experiment: X-large Brooklyn-style w/ Pepperoni, Chicken Parmesan sandwich and cheese bread.
Took a bit for the driver to get here, I’ll give him a pass since I don’t think they’ve delivered here before. :P Oddly enough, he didn’t come to the door with the goods in a sleeve… huh. Did the dood have one but took the stuff out while he was in the car? But everything was still reasonably warm, so I guess it’s okay.

Domino’s runs the Show Us Your Pizza campaign, and while it looks like they won’t show the disasters, they do… they just get posted on Facebook</a> instead. ;P They’re not currently accepting submissions but I snapped pictures all the same. (side note: oh god I can’t wait until I can get an iPhone, waaaay better picture quality than this thing)

I should have taken this out of the box. It looked a little odd. Thankfully, any fears were assuaged when I ate it. Protip: Don’t try to eat it like a sandwich, even if you cut it in half… the chicken pieces and cheese are so heavy that they fall out. XD Well, I suppose if you wrap it up in the paper it could work, but the bread is a little floppy. It is quite nomtasty, like eating a cheese+chicken pizza on french bread.

Cheese bread. Again, looks a little odd, and NOTHING like as advertised on the website (where they look like actual breadsticks) but not a dealbreaker. Taste-wise, it resembles the cheese bread that Pizza hut makes. It’s good, though I prefer the Papa Johns version.

…this is Brooklyn-style? Looks more like ordinary hand-tossed. Oh well, pizza is pizza. Omnomnom~
…
I like to think I remember what the original Domino’s pizzas tasted like. And… if they indeed changed the recipe, I can’t tell. They’re still as sauce-happy as ever, I see. Not bad, but not the “OMG WE CHANGED AND NOW WE’RE AWESOME” as their overhaul campaign is pushing.

Overall, I give these doods a B+, the + for the sandwich being very good despite being awkward to pick up and looking strange. I’ll be sticking to Papa Johns and Pizza Hut for the foreseeable future, barring sudden craving for chicken parmesan sandwiches.

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I think, doods, I can finally answer the long-standing question as to which pizza store I prefer. While there are many local pizza providers… they don’t offer online ordering that I know of (deal-breaker, given my issues with using phones as actual phones) and often cost much more than the major chains.

Papa Johns would have to take the gold. I’ve never had a bad order from them, and their pizzas are just that solid– just the right amount of cheese and toppings, and they play well even if cold or reheated. They also get win points for bundling in the garlic cups, though I wish they’d let you choose to drop the pepperonicini (sp?) in favor of a second garlic cup. Also? Best cheese bread EVAR. Omnomnom~

Costco and Pizza Hut tie for silver, for different but equal reasons. Costco’s pizza is extreme awesomeness on par with Papa Johns, the catch being that you don’t get much selection as far as toppings goes (either cheese or pepperoni), and don’t expect to find sides there at all. Pizza Hut is awesome if you want novelty/experimental crust types (stuffed crust, cheesy bites, etc.) and they have an insane selection of side items. Also, OMG WINGS. Garlic Parmesan? Yes please!

Dominos takes the bronze. They occupied a significant portion of my youth. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just… everyone else is better. If you like sauce, they certainly don’t disappoint! And their chicken parmesan sandwiches are quite nice. But otherwise, they’re just outmatched by the above three.

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And now, I finally log into WoW. Holy crap I’m late. XD