The Facts:
Pizza: Donatos Pizza
Business Category: Regional Chain (200+ locations in 6
states; based in Columbus , OH
Website: http://www.donatos.com/
Location: 8484 Winton Road
in Cincinnati , OH
Date of Review Visit: January
8, 2015
What I Ordered: medium (12”) pizza with pepperoni
Price: $10.99
The Micro:
Crust: Donatos is famous for its thin crust pizza, but this
thin crust is not as thin as you find on some pizzas: it is almost ½ inch
thick. This type of crust allows Donatos
to pile toppings edge to edge, a key point in the company’s marketing strategy. Some cornmeal baked into bottom of the crust
adds nice texture. I am not a thin crust
fan, but this is not your typical thin crust.
Score: 9/10.
Sauce: The sauce appears in appropriate quantity, and it is
spread evenly over the entire pizza. The
sauce is definitely not overspiced, a major pitfall among pizza sauces. To the contrary, this sauce has a strong sweet
taste that I really like. Score: 10/10.
Cheese: The cheese may be the weakness of this pizza. The pizza is not undercheesed, but the cheese
gets overshadowed by the sauce and toppings.
Likewise, the taste of the cheese gets lost as well. On the bright side, this cheese does not produce
much grease, a testament to its quality.
Overall, the cheese is not bad but not great either. Score: 7/10.
Toppings: As I mentioned before, Donatos markets their pizza
by emphasizing the edge-to-edge toppings.
Thus, the toppings appear in plenty of quantity. The pepperoni more or less forms another
layer, and it has a crisp taste with just the right amount of spiciness. From past experience, I know the sausage is
pretty good too. Score: 10/10.
The Macro:
Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: Donatos cuts their pizza into
odd rectangular-shaped slices, not the usual wedge-shaped. I am not sure the cutting style is bad, but
it does give the pizza an odd appearance with some pieces much larger than others.
The edge-to-edge toppings give it a nice decked-out look. The restaurants’ atmosphere is purely
functional, and I have never had a problem with the service. Score: 8/10.
Value: Donatos makes good quality pizza at an average price,
so the quality/price ratio grades out pretty well. I always found I needed a larger pizza than
usual at Donatos due to the thin crust, or is it due to the fact that the pizza
is so good I eat it faster? Score: 7/10.
Taste: Everything comes together to produce a taste that grows
on you the more you eat it. Donatos
Pizza is not quite elite, but it is very good.
Score: 18/20.
The Final Judgment:
Donatos may be my second favorite pizza in Cincinnati
(behind only LaRosa’s). It deserves to
be a regular part of your pizza rotation.
Score: 69/80.
