Domino’s Pizza Menu: The Good, the Bad, the Downright Disgusting

This Franchise Chatter guide on the Domino’s Pizza menu was written by Sherman Morrison.

Pizza is one of the most popular foods in the entire world. In the US on any given day, 1 out of every 8 Americans will eat some pizza – that’s 13% of the population every day! The average American eats 46 slices of pizza each year totaling 3 billion pizzas, and in 2013 Domino’s delivered 400 million of those pies.

The Domino’s Pizza franchise ranks as the second-largest pizza chain with more than 11,000 stores around the world and annual gross sales of $7.4 billion, trailing behind Pizza Hut, though not by much.

And Domino’s is the undisputed champion of pizza delivery, with its drivers clocking 10 million miles per week, and 4 million miles just on Super Bowl Sunday!

But what’s the skinny on their menu? Domino’s does a great job at keeping their menu fresh, with 85% of their items being new since 2008. Because there’s so much variation by location, we won’t cover Domino’s menu prices, but here’s what you can get from the #2 pizza chain:

Build-Your-Own Pizzas

You’re free to order a custom pizza with your choice of the Crunchy Thin Crust, Handmade Pan, Brooklyn Style, Classic Hand Tossed, or even a gluten-free crust with a wide variety of toppings. Available in Small (10″), Medium (12″), Large (14″), or X-Large (16″).

The Handmade Pan crust, by the way, was introduced in 2012 and has been a huge hit, giving Domino’s a significant boost in sales. The Handmade Pan crust, always made from fresh dough instead of frozen, now makes up a staggering 20% of the company’s sales in the US.

With 9 different sauces, 9 kinds of meat, and 18 other toppings to choose from, you have the flexibility to put together the pizza you’ve been craving.

Artisan Pizzas

These are all 13″x9″ rectangular pizzas designed to serve two people. Fans of these artisan pizzas note that the hand-stretched crust is a standout, and many consider it the best of Domino’s crust offerings. It has a crispiness that many chain pizzas lack, with slightly charred areas, but also just the right amount of chewiness inside.

First introduced in 2011, here are the choices from this lineup:

• Chicken & Bacon Carbonara: A blend of marinara and alfredo sauce, grilled chicken breast, smoked bacon, cheese, diced tomatoes, and a dash of oregano on an artisan-style crust. Carbonara dishes usually include egg and ham, but Domino’s opted to exclude those from this pizza.

• Spinach & Feta: Alfredo sauce, feta and Parmesan-Asiago cheeses, fresh onions, and fresh baby spinach on an artisan-style crust. The sauce and cheeses create a very creamy pizza experience, so if you like creamy cheeses, this is the one for you, but it results in a bit more grease as well. It’s also a great choice for those who want a different vegetarian option.

• Tuscan Salami & Roasted Veggie: Ideal proportions of salami, fresh baby spinach, fresh onions, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, and a dash of oregano, all over a garlic parmesan sauce on an artisan-style crust. Some find the single large piece of salami on each slice of the pizza a bit off-putting, as many would prefer to have it distributed in smaller pieces.

• Italian Sausage & Pepper Trio: Parmesan-Asiago cheese and sliced Italian sausage complemented by a trio of fresh green peppers, banana peppers, and roasted red peppers on an artisan-style crust, topped with a dash of oregano. They definitely don’t skip on the sausage – you’re likely to get some in every single bite. However, many also feel that the quality of that sausage is less than stellar.

American Legends Pizzas

This line of specialty pizzas, inspired by different regions of the US, made its debut just in time for Super Bowl 43 back in 2009. Later that year, Domino’s teamed up with a company called House Party that specializes in finding people to host in-home parties centered around a particular product or brand. The 2,000 parties organized introduced a total of 30,000 people to the new line, which is apparently doing well enough to still be around today.

• Philly Cheese Steak Pizza: Tender slices of steak, fresh onions, fresh green peppers, and fresh mushrooms with provolone and American cheeses on a cheesy provolone crust. In the chain’s own polling, this one took the prize for favorite of the line not only in the East, but also in the South and Midwest.

• Memphis BBQ Chicken Pizza: Grilled chicken breast, BBQ sauce, fresh onions, cheeses made with 100% real mozzarella, provolone, and cheddar on a cheesy cheddar crust. Fans of this one rave about the high quality of the savory BBQ sauce as well as the done-just-right chicken.

• Wisconsin 6 Cheese Pizza: Cheeses made with 100% real mozzarella, feta, provolone, cheddar, Parmesan, and Asiago cheeses, sprinkled with oregano on a cheesy Parmesan-Asiago crust. Cheese lovers won’t be disappointed with this pie, and the cheddar, feta, and Asiago give the blend of cheeses a tangy zing that’s rare in a standard cheese pizza. It does not, however, mask what most feel to be the general drawbacks to a Domino’s delivered pizza – a somewhat soggy crust and sauce that is very much on the sweet side.

• Honolulu Hawaiian Pizza: Sliced ham, smoked bacon, pineapple, and roasted red peppers, cheeses made with 100% real mozzarella and provolone on a cheesy Parmesan-Asiago crust. Not surprisingly, this is the one that earned the number one spot among fans in the West.

• Pacific Veggie Pizza: Roasted red peppers, fresh baby spinach, fresh onions, fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, black olives, cheeses made with 100% real mozzarella, feta, and provolone, sprinkled with garlic herb seasoning, on a cheesy Parmesan-Asiago crust. As the sole meatless option in the American Legends lineup, everyone (including Domino’s itself) has been surprised at how well it continues to sell, even when most expected it wouldn’t do very well.

• Cali Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza: Grilled chicken breast, white sauce, smoked bacon, tomatoes, cheeses made with 100% real mozzarella and provolone on a cheesy provolone crust. For those looking for something different from Dom’s standard tomato pizza sauce, this pie is a real standout with its garlic Parmesan white sauce.

• Fiery Hawaiian™ Pizza: Sliced ham, smoked bacon, pineapple, roasted red peppers, hot sauce, jalapeños, cheeses made with 100% real mozzarella and provolone on a cheesy Parmesan-Asiago crust. This pizza was created with a Hispanic market in mind, as Domino’s noted that Latinos were always ordering ham/pineapple pies and adding lots of jalapeño peppers, so the company kicked it up a notch with roasted red peppers and hot sauce. It’s definitely got a spicy kick to it that will appeal to many people.

• Buffalo Chicken Pizza: Grilled chicken breast, hot sauce, and fresh onions with provolone, American, and cheddar cheeses on a cheesy cheddar crust. Like the Cali pie, people who try this one tend to be immediately hooked. If you’re into hot sauce, the pizza is significantly better if you ask for extra.

Feast Pizzas

The only special thing about the Feast Pizza lineup is the combination and amount of toppings. Otherwise, all can be ordered with your choice of crust. All Feast Pizzas feature 100% real mozzarella cheese. Here are the different combinations available:

• America’s Favorite Feast: Topped with pepperoni, Italian sausage, and fresh mushrooms.

• Bacon Cheeseburger Feast: Smoked bacon, beef, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese. The beef and cheese combination is hard to mess up, and as most people agree that bacon makes anything better, this is a real winner.

• Deluxe Feast: Topped with pepperoni, Italian sausage, fresh green peppers, fresh mushrooms, and fresh onions.

• ExtravaganZZa Feast: Loads of pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, beef, fresh onions, fresh green peppers, fresh mushrooms, and black olives topped with extra mozzarella cheese.

• MeatZZa Feast: Pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, and beef topped with extra mozzarella cheese.

• Ultimate Pepperoni Feast: Made with two layers of pepperoni sandwiched between mozzarella, Parmesan, Asiago, and provolone cheeses, sprinkled with oregano. If you’re a big fan of pepperoni (and let’s face it, who isn’t?), this one is going to obviously work well for you.

Sandwiches

Domino’s went out on a limb when it started offering a line-up of oven-baked sandwiches in 2008. After all, it’s a pizza chain, not a sub shop. If all you order is a sandwich for delivery, tipping the driver makes it a pretty expensive proposition, but the lineup is obviously doing well enough to still be there 6 years later.

Still, as a sandwich option, most people would say stick with the pizza. Most find the ratio of bread to filling to lean much too far towards the bread, but the biggest mystery is why they soak the roll in some kind of butter-flavored oil, which most people find makes the sandwiches too greasy. Here’s the run-down on sandwiches available at Dom’s:

• Italian Sausage & Peppers: Sliced Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, fresh green peppers, banana peppers, fresh onions, provolone cheese, and tomato basil marinara.

• Buffalo Chicken: Grilled chicken breast, creamy blue cheese sauce, fresh onions, hot sauce, cheddar and provolone cheeses.

• Chicken Habanero: Grilled chicken breast, pineapple, jalapeños, sweet mango habanero sauce, provolone and cheddar cheeses.

• Mediterranean Veggie: Roasted red peppers, banana peppers, diced tomatoes, fresh baby spinach, fresh onions, feta, provolone and American cheese.

• Philly Cheese Steak: Tender slices of steak, American and provolone cheeses, fresh onions, fresh green peppers, and fresh mushrooms. The sandwich comes out on the crispy side and doesn’t really hold a candle to a more authentic Philly cheesesteak, which would have a lot more steak and cheese than you’ll find on Domino’s.

• Chicken Bacon Ranch: Grilled chicken breast, smoked bacon, creamy ranch, and provolone cheese.

• Italian: Pepperoni, salami, and ham topped with banana peppers, fresh green peppers, fresh onions, and provolone cheese.

• Chicken Parm: Grilled chicken breast, tomato basil marinara, Parmesan-Asiago and provolone cheese.

Pasta

2009 was a big year of product launches at Domino’s. In addition to the American Legends lineup of pizzas, this was also the year when the chain rolled out its pasta dishes, oven-baked in a bread bowl (although you can have them without the bread bowl as well for a dollar less).

Carbophobes beware! If you go the bread bowl route, you’re basically getting carbs served in more carbs. These are single-serving entrées, and if you’re not a fan of the standard Domino’s pizza crust (which many find overly sweet and spongy), then you’re probably not going to like it baked into a super-thick bowl to hold your pasta.

Many also note that with the bread bowl, you get significantly less pasta than in the circular foil tray option. Perhaps the most common feedback on these dishes is that the “fresh” mushrooms seem anything but fresh, and the Alfredo sauce that comes on 3 out of 4 in the regular lineup is both oily and extremely salty. Here are your choices of pasta dishes from the Domino’s menu:

• Chicken Alfredo: Grilled chicken breast and Alfredo sauce mixed with penne pasta.

• Italian Sausage Marinara: Penne pasta baked in a tomato basil marinara sauce with Italian sausage, a blend of Italian seasonings, and provolone cheese.

• Chicken Carbonara: Grilled chicken breast, smoked bacon, fresh onions, and fresh mushrooms mixed with penne pasta and a creamy Alfredo sauce.

• Pasta Primavera: Fresh baby spinach, diced tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, and fresh onions, mixed with penne pasta and a creamy Alfredo sauce.

• Build Your Own Pasta: Choose a sauce and up to 3 ingredients from more than a dozen meat or vegetable toppings.

Chicken

There was some confusion when Domino’s released its new specialty chicken menu items back in April of 2014. Somehow people got it into their heads that the company was producing pizzas with a crust made from fried chicken, but that is not the case. The specialty chicken dishes are basically 12 bite-sized pieces of lightly breaded fried chicken (100% whole breast white meat) layered with different combinations of sauces and toppings from their regular pizza menu. Here are the choices:

• Specialty Chicken — Crispy Bacon & Tomato: Chicken bites topped with garlic parmesan white sauce, a blend of cheese made with mozzarella and cheddar, crispy bacon, and tomato.

• Specialty Chicken — Classic Hot Buffalo: Chicken bites topped with hot buffalo sauce, ranch, a blend of cheese made with mozzarella and cheddar, and feta.

• Specialty Chicken — Spicy Jalapeno-Pineapple: Chicken bites topped with sweet and spicy mango-habanero sauce, a blend of cheese made with mozzarella and cheddar, jalapeno, and pineapple.

• Specialty Chicken — Sweet BBQ Bacon: Chicken bites topped with sweet and smoky BBQ sauce, a blend of cheese made with mozzarella and cheddar, and crispy bacon.

• Boneless Chicken: Of course, you can also just order the regular chicken bites, customized with your choice of dipping sauces, including Sweet Mango Habanero, BBQ, Kicker Hot Sauce, Blue Cheese, Marinara, or Ranch.

• Wings: Rounding out the Domino’s chicken menu are their wings, marinated and oven-baked and then sauced with your choice of Hot, Sweet Mango Habanero, or BBQ Sauce.

Breads

It was in 1992 that Domino’s rolled out its first non-pizza menu offering nationwide in the form of breadsticks served with a side of marinara. Four more bread options appeared on the menu in 2011 – 3 different Stuffed Cheesy Breads and the Parmesan Bread Bites. Here’s the list of all the Domino’s bread products:

• Stuffed Cheesy Bread: Breadsticks stuffed with cheese, and covered in a blend of cheese made with 100% mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Seasoned with a sprinkling of garlic, parsley, and Romano cheese.

• Stuffed Cheesy Bread with Spinach & Feta: Breadsticks stuffed with cheese, fresh spinach, and feta cheese, covered in a blend of cheese made with 100% mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Seasoned with a sprinkling of garlic, parsley, and Romano cheese.

• Stuffed Cheesy Bread with Bacon & Jalapeno: Breadsticks stuffed with cheese, smoked bacon, and jalapeno peppers, covered in a blend of cheese made with 100% mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Seasoned with a sprinkling of garlic, parsley, and Romano cheese.

• Parmesan Bread Bites: Bite-size breadsticks lightly sprinkled with Parmesan-Asiago cheese and seasoned with garlic and more Parmesan.

• Breadsticks: Breadsticks baked to a golden brown, seasoned with a blend of garlic, Romano cheese, and parsley.

Desserts

If you need to indulge your sweet tooth along with your pizza craving, the Domino’s menu has two choices for you:

• Cinna Stix: Breadsticks sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Served with a side of sweet icing. This item came on the menu permanently in 2001.

• Chocolate Lava Crunch Cake: Chocolate cake that is crunchy on the outside with molten chocolate fudge on the inside. This came on the scene in 2009, along with the Breadbowl Pastas and American Legends pizza lineup. Interestingly enough, of all the different Domino’s menu items, this is the one that’s most likely to really knock your socks off. It’s a chocolate lover’s dream.

The Domino’s menu is rounded out with Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, Doritos Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips, and Coca-Cola beverages.

In the final analysis, what’s really driving continued financial growth at the #2 pizza chain isn’t a constant barrage of new products or even Domino’s menu prices. It’s the ease of their digital ordering system, which means you don’t even have to make an actual phone call anymore.

If you set up a profile in their system, you can order your favorite pizza with about five clicks in 30 seconds. That is nothing short of amazing. Digital orders now account for 40% of Domino’s sales, whereas the industry average is only 13%.

Now that you know all about the Domino’s Pizza menu, maybe you’ll want to take their digital ordering system for a test drive.

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