After swearing off Domino's since elementary school, I gave them another shot since they begged. It's better than it used to be, but that's not saying much. Of the major pizza chains, Papa John's is still the best. Focus Discuss the shitfest that is Domino's. What other companies need to reinvent their brand?
Whenever I run out of salt in my house I order a Dominoes pepperoni pizza. Enough sodium in that to sustain a small nation's salt exports for several months.
I think their marketing/ad campaign is genius. I mean everyone knew their pizza sucked and the only reason you ordered it was because they were literally the last pizza place open for late night deliveries. I haven't had any of their "reinvented" items yet and probably won't since I'm blessed by being surrounded by at least a dozen mom & pop pizza places that have fantastic pies (like most areas of New England every town has multiple pizza joints). Greek, Italian, deep dish, thin crust, NY style... I can find whatever I want without going to a major chain. Cheese stuffed crust might impress people in Iowa that "ain't neva seen nothin so crazy!" but I'm a pizza snob.
I think they did this more because of the huge backlash they had last year when that viral video of some Dominos worker sticking cheese up his nose came out. I havent had Dominos since 5th grade, I might try it now since it is supposedly new. As for other chain pizza joint Id say Pizza Huts stuff crusted meatlovers trumps all. You can survive for a year off of a single pizza.
There's a place near me that has some of the better pizza around, for pretty good prices; $4 gets you a quarter of an extra-large pie with a broad assortment of toppings. It was shut down a few weeks ago by the health inspectors for having rat shit in food prep areas. I'm conflicted: good, cheap pizza, or the regular chain crap? I remember we once ordered Domino's for a pizza day when I was in grade three. I felt like I ate a brick afterwards. It was disgusting.
We used to get drunk and order the Philly cheese steak pizza per my sister's request. I think I remember it being pretty good... Occasionally I want to try it again. Ad wise, the concept is great. Get Joe Schmuck, catch him on tape saying how much they hate your product, and show up to change their mind. It'd be even BETTER if they showed up, Poppa John's there playing catch with the kids already and they kick the shit out of him. After a nice curb stomp they start slamming his head in the door of his Mustang, telling him "this is a Dominos house and if we ever see you here again, we'll kill you!" I'm gonna have to say I'm with Guy Fawkes, unless it's extenuating circumstances, the most 'chain' pizza I want is Mellow Mushroom. Otherwise, it's too easy, unless you live in the woods, to find a decent pizza. None of the 'big three' taste like pizza anyways, and I've yet to have tried a decent wing from any of them. I've got a joint called Dalli's literally around the corner from my house. They do Blanco pizza, got canolis, FORGET ABOUT IT!
I haven't had Domino's in probably 8 years or so. We used to order it practically every Sunday when I lived in the dorms in college because the dining hall didn't offer dinner and Domino's had 5 large pizzas for $5 each. A bunch of us would order those up and plow through them, and eat for a few bucks each. It didn't taste that good, but when you're paying $3 (or less) per person, you don't really care. The new pizza doesn't even look all that good on TV, so I can't imagine it being much better delivered to my house. If I have a choice in pizza, I want Chicago-style deep dish, but as far as chains go, I'd choose Papa Johns. Pizza Hut sucks, the crust tastes like its soaked in grease.
Last time I had Domino's was about 4 years ago, and ended up with a staph infection. Now, I know there's no way the Domino's caused it because the interval between me eating it was too close to when I was throwing up all night, but in my mind the association was cemented. Haven't had Domino's since. Thing is I still get mental cravings for it every once in awhile because I ate a lot of Domino's in my childhood and grew to like it. But everytime I actually smell it the memory of that night comes back and I have to resist the urge to puke.
I got food poisoning after a lunch at Quizno's that involved me barfing up stomach lining. They could use a new image in my view.
I actually enjoy their new pizza. Someone who owns a few franchises came in and talked to my advertising class(and brought a shit ton of free pizza, which may be part of the reason I like their new pizza) about their new pizza and how the higher ups went about starting the new ads and changing the pizza. It was actually the ad agency Cripsin Porter that came up with the idea for the ad campaign. Even before that I would get Domino's from time to time. It was open till 3am on Thursday Friday and Saturday nights and I use to live 2 blocks from it. Plus with a student discount it's 8 dollars out the door for a large one topping. I do like other places pizza a lot better, even chains, but for that price I can't complain. ...pizza.
The only thing redeeming about Dominos is their online ordering system. It tells you the time your pizza went in the oven and the name of the person who built the thing so you have somebody to yell at when your order gets fucked up. My fondest memories of Dominos were in 5th grade when they became the pizza vendor of choice in our cafeteria. Despite the fact that it tasted like cardboard, even Dominos was better than the normal shit they used to serve up at school. I also vote in favor of Papa Johns in terms of pizza chains. It's always consistent and always fast (where I live anyways). I would give the nod to Sbarro, but they don't deliver, so fuck those guys. I live in Louisville, and the local pizza joints are complete shit. I've lived in both Chicago and NY, so I may have higher than normal pizza standards, but still, how fucking hard is it to bake something that literally only requires 3 main ingredients?
I'm still pissed the fuckers raised their prices from $5 to $5.55. Cunts. And they thought our drunk/stoned asses wouldn't notice? Strictly Papa John's nowadays.
When I went down to New Orleans for the Saints-Pats MNF game, I met up with my little brother and one of his teammates who's parent's own a large portion of the Dominoes Pizza locations in this area. While drunk as hell, I was allowed to go back behind the counter of one of the downtown locations and was able to make my own pizza for free. I'm a pizza purist, meaning I am happiest with just pepperoni and cheese, but I did it up right. According to the workers- on my medium pizza, I put enough pepperoni to cover 5 larges, and enough cheese to cover 3. Then, I grabbed two handfuls of bacon and sprinkled liberally on top, leaving about half a cup left for the workers for the rest of their shift. I'm nice like that. I couldn't tell you the last time I had Dominoes before this, so I don't remember if it is supposed to be bad or not, but this might have been the best pizza I ever tasted. Other than that, though, I just eat at local places, if I eat pizza at all.
I haven't had Domino's in years. Every time I see one of their new commercials I want to go order a pepperoni and mushroom. The best chain pizza around here is Godfather's... then again I live in Iowa.
Man, I vote Little Caesars to re-invent their pizza. I like the crazy bread if by chance they make it right (actually put butter and Parmesan on them). Hot and ready for $5.00. Would like Hot, ready and taste good at a slight price increase.
I only usually like mom & pop pizza places in my city, and I have never ordered out for Dominoes although I've had it at various shitty fairs, festivals and concerts where it's the default pizza. It's never impressed me whatsoever and in my expereince it only tastes really good when you're stoned. In other words, eat Dominoes whenever you go to see Monster Magnet or Cypress Hill in concert. Sobie's in London has stealth bomber sized slices of deep dish pizza that's a cut above the usual and it also has lots of douchebag drunks hanging around it at night, which is the only time I'm near it. By then, I'd rather hit up a hot dog cart then wonder into that festering cloud of Axe spray and chicks that dress up their dogs. Therefore, Pierro's is my go-to pizza.
Honestly, I never had a problem with Dominos because I never expected much from it to begin with. It's toss-it-together, cook-it-up, get-it-to-the-door-in-30-minutes pizza, and it's relatively cheap and doesn't taste completely terrible. If I have the option of getting a better pizza, I'll absolutely go for it (or just make some myself). But for a quick go-to at midnight with $12 left in my pocket, Dominos comes through every time, and normally I'm too drunk to really give a damn if the sauce isn't the way I want it or if it could've used some more cheese in a couple places.
Down in Texas it's all about the Pizza Patron. People always gave me weird looks when I said I was going to the Mexican pizza place. $7.99 for a big ass pizza with three toppings. Up here in Oregon I go to American Dream, that shit's expensive as balls but I've never heard of anywhere else that you can get smoked salmon and gouda.
Whatever, dudettes, I've got this: THAT'S RIGHT BITCHES, I GET TWO-FOR-THE-PRICE-OF-ONE ON ANY PIZZA I pay the regular price for shitty pizza, and I get another shitty pizza for free! That's two times the shit! Getting two XL American Legends for $20 isn't half bad.