Donatos Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Donatos Pizza

Number of Locations: 200+ locations across 6 states; based in Columbus, OH

Location Reviewed: 8484 Winton Road in Cincinnati, OH (across the street from the Finneytown Kroger)

Website: https://www.donatos.com/

Date of Review Visit: January 2015

What I Ordered: medium (12”) pizza with pepperoni

Price: $10.99 (pizza only)

Photos:

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

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.

Overall 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: 9/10.

Pizza Appearance: 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.

Dining Atmosphere: The restaurants’ atmosphere is purely functional.

Customer Service: I have never had a problem with the service at Donatos.

Monetary 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?

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: 89/100.