After reading about Dominos’ new pizza recipe in pretty much every food blog on the internet, I thought I would take advantage of my location, and actually try it out. Currently, Ann Arbor, MI is the only Domino’s market serving the recipe. The reason? It all started here! This is until December 27th, when it will be launched nation wide.
I’ve never been much of a fan of Domino’s pizza. In fact, I’m not much of a fan of any pizza chains. None of them have anything that comes close to any local pizza joint. Domino’s seems to be among the worst, serving bland pizzas that lack flavored crust or variety. Thankfully, Pizza Hut will always be around to claim the title of “Worst Pizza of all Time.” Recently though, Domino’s has attempted to add new items to their menu such as the American Legends menu, baked subs, and pasta bowls, but their regular pizza remains as bland as ever. I guess this is the reason they decided to revamp their recipe.
According to Domino’s, the recipe wasn’t just altered, it was completely re-done:
“2010 will be our 50th year in the business, and we are kicking it off with the most aggressive promotion in the history of our company,” said Domino’s Chairman and CEO David A. Brandon. “This is the biggest product introduction we’ve done since…well, pizza.”
The primary changes include:
Crust – A garlic seasoned crust with parsley baked to a golden brown.
Sauce – Sweeter, bolder tomato sauce with a medley of herbs and a red pepper kick.
Cheese – Shredded cheese made with 100% real mozzarella and flavored with just a hint of provolone.
I figured this was a pretty big deal in the test market, but decided to call and ask just to make sure I wasn’t wasting my hard earned money on an old Domino’s pizza. The guy who answered the phone had no idea what I was talking about, and had to ask a manager about “some new recipe”. After receiving confirmation, he advised me that they were just using a brushed on garlic sauce for the crust, a new red sauce, and a different cheese blend. So basically they just caught up to the concept of actually applying flavor to crust, added a couple new seasonings to their sauce, removed the “fake mozzarella”, and added a hint of provolone? This wasn’t sounding good.
Upon my first glance, I couldn’t find much that was different. It looked like the same Domino’s pizza I’ve been eating for the last 25 years. The only difference I could see was that the cheese looked a little thicker. Pretty sure that was from the pizza guy just using too much, though.
The crust looked exactly the same, except for a few green flakes and what looks like a combination of butter and Parmesan cheese. I expected to see clear evidence of parsley and garlic, but I couldn’t even tell from appearance that this crust was any different than before.
The garlic and parsley flavor was actually pretty good, despite being nearly invisible. The crust resembles garlic bread, and is little better than the old crust. Of course, if you go to Hungry Howie’s this is a pretty standard thing. Even DiGiorno’s has a garlic bread pizza. Nice improvement, but not too impressive.
The “100% real mozzarella” cheese blend tastes exactly like the old cheese blend. I did notice a little difference in texture, but that might have just been from the amount of cheese. I couldn’t tell where this “hint of provolone” was. Didn’t taste anything but mozzarella. The whole time I was just trying to figure out what wasn’t 100% real about the mozzarella being used before.
The sauce was actually a pretty nice improvement. I was a little worried about the advertised sweetness of the new sauce, because I hate sweet pizza sauce. To my surprise, sauce tasted less sweet than before. I’m not sure if it was because of the addition of the red pepper, but the sauce was nicely balanced between sweet and spicy. This was the most impressive change of the new recipe, which is good because their old sauce wasn’t much to talk about.
Bottom line, Domino’s decided to switch up their pizza a little bit to get rid of the odd taste of cardboard and made a couple nice improvements. It’s not much of a change, and I think it’s more of a marketing ploy to get people eating their pizzas for a couple weeks. I wouldn’t reccomend running out to try it, but next time you try the pizza you might notice a couple changes.
i like the extreme closeups. almost makes it looks like a real pizza…
EXTREME CLOSEUP!! AHHHH!!!! WOAAAHHH!!!! Tom Monahan was on a flight that I was on in like…1994. I remember this guy in a really nice suit using the bathroom before me. Then I heard the flush and immediately the door opened. Not trying to say anything…but I’m not sure if the former Domino’s chairman washed his hands… I mean, he nearly destroyed the tigers and Red Wings…and then he tried to destroy my health!
Todd and I are united in our distaste for Tom Monaghan and his products.
I tried it. I had diarhea and stomach cramps the next 24 hours. I won’t buy it again. I was hoping to get an old style Brooklyn like Dominos used to make so well. Looks like they lost another customer with me. Nasty new pizza….Yuck! Cheap crap is what it is.
its greasy as hell too!!
Terrible! It tastes like they dumped on a jar of garlic salt and then poured butter all over it. I knew it wasn’t going to be good when I opened the box and saw that the bottom of the box was covered in grease. I have read a few reviews and no one has really mentioned the greasiness, which I found kind of odd since the old hand tossed crust was never greasy. I thought maybe I just got a poorly made pizza, but all of the pictures I’ve seen of the new pizza are just as greasy as mine was.
I needed to drink a gallon of water to get the garlic salt taste out of my mouth.
Again, terrible.
Why do you even buy that stuff? Isn’t there a local pizza or sandwich place with a great recipe and reputation that needs your support, rather than a chain with food chemists working in a corporate industrial kitchen making your pizza? I feel bad for you folks in the midwest.
Rogo,
Many pizza chains are in fact locally owned anyway. Plus, in small towns, that’s all we got. Looking forward to trying this new Dominos combo. If it stinks, there is always Papa Johns.
Thanks, PL, I love pizza also. And PJ’s is decent, I’d order it in a pinch or if I have coupons. Our area has local chains too, they apply to the “rule” I established. I guess we’re lucky here, the sandwiches also are a tourist attraction. I don’t see how Subway or Domino’s survives in this market with all the great places (Donatos pulled up stakes a couple of years ago after a 2-3 year run). I guess I answered my own question-marketing.
So I tried the new Dominos pizza, not knowing that they had changed the pizza altogether. We have a local place here in Wilmington, NC that we love, but we get Dominos once in a while due to convencience and affordability. Never again. The new pizza absolutely sucks! I’ll save your eyes with telling you the details, it’s just absolutely horrible pizza. I’d go with a frozen Totinos before getting this again. Also, trying to get a hold of someone with corporate to voice my displeasure has been like trying to contact the White House. A freaking joke all around!
Wow. Lot of bashing here. I have to say that i tried the new pizza and was pleasently surprised. The cheese and sauce is definitely different, and much better.
Domino’s was never my first choice but I really like it now. bty-I think Monagahn sold DOMIno;s like 20 years ago.
WOW. We did not know the recipe had been changed until we ordered. My son has a sensitivity to garlic. The crust is just like garlic bread. He was ill for hours. Dominos used to be a family favorite, but now will be a memory. Dominos should have worked on their customer service, not their recipe. Now they have failed in two dimensions.
Domino’s has always had lousy pizza, it’s surprising for anyone to think this would be any different. Always go for the local mom & pop shops – they really use real cheese and take pride in their products.
This was clearly just a marketing gimmick to get people to order their pizza.
What utter crap.
I loved Dominos before. Now I will never buy it ever again.
Had the new pizza last night, had been ordering from the same franchise for quite some time. No one bothered to tell me that there was a new crust and it would be bathed in garlic and butter. Realized something was wrong as soon as I opened the box, the grease was penetrating though. Called to complain and found out they had added a garlic butter that I guess is poured on the crust. I guess Domino’s assumes everyone in the world loves plenty of garlic and butter. I also had stomach cramps and diarrhea most of the day today and I know it was the pizza, had a very bland breakfast and nothing more to eat till eve. And this cannot be healthy. That’s it for me, no more Domino’s.
I’ve had the same problems everyone else has had with this new pizza recipe:
1. grease soaks through the box
2. there’s so much garlic and butter that I can’t eat the crust
3. the crust (underneath the pizza) is COMPLETELY waterlogged by the time you get it home
4. the crust is undercooked (very yeasty)
5. my fiancée and I both got stomach cramps and diarrhea from it.
When I picked up the pizza, I opened the box and there was a sea of grease at least an eighth of an inch high all over the entire pizza, and by the time I got it home, it had soaked through the box. That NEVER used to happen with their old crust. I think the butter has saturated the crust so that it can’t soak up the water that comes out of the toppings while it cooks. That is COMPLETELY unacceptable. Their old crust didn’t taste like cardboard, it tasted like bread. They really need to switch back to it.
Something others haven’t pointed out yet is that the new crust doesn’t seem to cook all the way through with their ovens set where they’ve always had it. They apparently need to turn up the heat, or cook it a little longer, because it’s very doughy and yeasty now. Never used to be like that.
As for the cheese, I didn’t taste a difference. Also didn’t notice much of a difference with the sauce. I will say though, I like pizza sauce because of the acidity of the tomato. I don’t like sweet marinara ever, pretty much. Error on the side of spicy, not sweet. The red pepper idea in the sauce is a good one, but don’t make it any sweeter. Obviously, I won’t be buying this pizza ever again. It’s just terrible. They need to change back to their old recipe fast.
If you’ve ever had their breadsticks, the coasting on those is the stuff they’re putting on the crust now. Unfortunately too much, and the box is grease soaked. And I don’t like the spiciness and heaviness of the new sauce.
patrick, you are a fucking faggot. The pizza isn’t gret, hell its not even good, but god damn do you think you could exaggerate a little bit more?
Do you know how big an 8th of an inch is? you are saying there was a layer of liquid on top of your pizza? Get over yourself. its not as cool to be overly cynical as you think.
I just got this pizza and it is absolutely the worst pizza I have ever had.
Everything about greasy I’ve read in this blog was totally true – the pizza was literally dripping with grease.
The garlic butter taste was dreadful and doesn’t belong on pizza.
I will never eat another Domino’s Pizza again.
@Bubba, @S Cubed @JMFL @Patrick – Since you all mentioned that you weren’t big fans of the level of garlic on the new crust, you can actually order it w/out the extra garlic.
I work with Domino’s and you’ll definitely be able to ask for no (or less) garlic seasoning when you call to order, and they’ll make it that way for you.
FYI The same goes for the new sauce — if you find it to be too spicy, just ask for “Hearty Marinara” and they’ll make it with that instead.
Next time I order? LOL no.. There are plenty other companies that offer garlic and fanciness..order from them.Some of us prefer a more simple taste.Who do we give our business to now?
You guys can not imagine how bad it suck where I live. Our pizza choices are A. Domino’s B. Pizza Hut. Not one mom and pop. Anyhow Tried the pizza, since it is the only option here. I think I like the sauce, but the 2 times I have ordered it since “the change” the have acted like they are on sauce rations. I love garlic so I like the stuff sprinkled on, but it pisses me off that they are sprinkling shit they already have on it and telling us it is a “new” crust. And the cheese, meh, little better nothing to get excited about.
As for the stomach problems, it is absolutely true. Both times I have had terrible gas,cramps,and diarrhea the next day. So ya slightly better taste for iratable bowl syndrome… not a good trade. oh and bring the noid back bitches.
I thought I was crazy when the first order from my local Dominos was soaked in grease. That was not how our favorite hand tossed pizza had been every other time we ordered. Then I realized something was screwed up when the exact same thing happened on a subsequent order. Then I found out that the brilliant exec team that tried to shove PASTA BREADBOWLS down everyone’s throat decided it was a good idea to change their recipe….without warning their loyal customers. Seriously? Don’t they teach about the New Coke fiasco in MBA school? All I can figure is that they probably needed to do something with all the unused breadbowl ingredients they purchased.
What the hell is wrong with you people? Since when have people been under the impression that pizza is supposed to be healthy and non-greasy? Contrary to the fact that pizza technically has ingredients from several of the food groups, it is NOT healthy! I will agree that the Noids do need to be brought back. Those were some cute little buggers. And as far as them needing to bring back the old recipe, are you talking about the one they just changed from, or the original? The recipe from last year was different from the one 15 years ago. The one they just did away with was the nastiest thing I have ever eaten. This new one tastes more like it did before Dominos sold out, like every other food joint, and went to cheaper ingredients to save a few pennies on a pizza. I’m glad to see that they decided to add some flavor to their pizza as well as getting rid of that stiff, clumpy “cheese” they used to put on it. Simply put, stop complaining about how greasy and unhealthy this new pizza appears to be. It’s really not worse than the old one, and if you are THAT concerned with grease and cholesterol, step away from the pizza and go back to your rabbit food. Don’t take it out on a company that has never tried to pass their food off as the hot, new thing to eat if you want to drop 50 pounds in 8 weeks and live to be 100.
Terrible. It is the exact same garlic, parsley and salt mixture that they coat their bread bowls with and the sauce is the exact same as in their marinara breadstick cups. This was obviously a money saving venture.
I actually liked their new pizza. Ordered it 2 more times after trying it. Although I do agree with whoever posted that it gives you the shitz. It really does, hope you love your bathroom.
It makes my stomach hurt.
Absolutely terrible. Dominos was good 20 years ago. But like Budweiser, they changed. I will not be supporting Dominos anymore. Sorry.
I literally just finished a hand-tossed peperoni, sausage, and mushroom pizza from Domino’s. There was alot of garlic and butter all over the pizza, but i like garlic, so it was pretty good to me. There was, however, WAY too much butter/grease. It’s been 1-2 minutes since i’ve finished one piece, and my stomach is already hurting. The crust isn’t very good, the sauce is bland, but the cheese is an upgrade. Overall it was good, but i way too greasy. They need to bring back the old pizza. The hype about the ‘new’ pizza has disappointed me
The new pizza is horrible.
I hate to say it but you got a HORRIBLY made pizza and to be quite honest you should complain to the store that made it because it doesn’t appear that they gave any attention to how it was sent to you. I currently work at a store that has amateurs making pizzas and they look much better than the one shown above. If you live in the Ann Arbor area and got that pizza sent to you, you should make a trip to 30 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive and show them what you got.
Sadly the cheese that they switched to is far greasier than it was before (I always noticed more grease from pepperoni before the change).
If made correctly this new recipe is superior to the old, but tasting is believing and for those with bad experiences to this point should be upset.
The people that complained about Domino’s pizza should have gone and got it from some one else. There was not a thing wrong with the way you made it before you changed it to the Crappy taste that you made it taste like now, And you have lost us as customers that is for sure. We had a new Exstrvaganza the other night and I about made me sick to my stomack. Now that is bad. The way it was before you all liesten to the YaHoos that got you to shange it should have asked all of your real customers how they felt about Domino’s? We’de have been stright with you and told you we liked it the way it was, Now the so called NEW s*&(* is not worth the money we paided for it And was not worth eating. Go back to the old ways it has been for the last 50 years and tell you YaHoo’s to buy their pizza from pizza Hut. And you can tell them thanks alot for the rotten Pizza you now have come up with. I spent my last $18.66 plus a (3) Three dollar tip that I will spend. No more Domino’s for my family, Hell Wal-Mart has a better pizza now that Domino’d does. Sick on the new Domino’s/// Never again… jop
I just relized that we can make all the comments we want too! There is no one rading this about the bad tasting pizza that Domino’s now makes and calls it “NEW” And that if they did read our comments, It wouldn’t mean any thing to them at Domino’s any way. Their going to make Pizza how ever they want to, And our comments are not going to make a difference one wat or another. But If they do read this, Then they should know that they have made one heck of a big misstake in changing their pizza to please a YaHoo like “CALOS and ADDRIANNA” And the Yahoo that said the pizza was bad before the change. Well DOMINO’S ””’GO BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS, NOT THE WAS IT IS””’
The new Domino’s Pizza -
Crust – still the same, but with garlic flavor (in other words, insipid white bread plus bad breath).
Sauce – about the same, but with some red pepper spiciness (spicy with sugar but not much other flavor).
Overall – more soggy than before, less flavor noticeable in toppings and cheese – perhaps overwhelmed by garlic and sugar.
If you liked it before – you probably won’t like it now.
If you didn’t like it before – you probably won’t like it any better now.
Summary – total waste of their time, and I’m less likely to order any now than before.
PLEASE change the pizza back to the way it was before! This new pizza is disgusting. The grease is unreal. Bring back the old pizza!!!!
@Jim Pelkey: You wrote, “The people that complained about Domino’s pizza should have gone and got it from some one else.”
You do realize that a majority of the reason it was changed was because Domino’s spent a year or more running blind taste test focus groups, right? As your second rant even pointed out, they didn’t listen to random public Joe, they actually spent the time and resources to get their own info through these groups and used it to change their pizza. It wasn’t because some angry people wrote letters to Domino’s HQ.
BTW, I agree the pizza is terrible. I haven’t had to mop this much grease off of a pizza in a long time. We have a local shop that is actually well known for their greasy Sicilian pizzas that can feed 6 to 8 people, and even that thing is less greasy than the new Domino’s pizza we had delivered yesterday.
so i picked up a couple of pies for my superbowl party and it was not the star of the buffet.
1 everyone was shocked by how much grease was in the bottom of the box. I removed them and placed on my own oven pans to make it more visually pleasing.
2 you knew who had a slice b/c that person had mouth B.O. the rest of the evening. read this as a whole butt load of garlic and onions rendering the crust almost inedible.
just dont mess with the bread bowls ok domino’s
Honestly, i don’t think there’s to much difference in taste beyond the garlic crust. Didn’t even realize they changed the cheese or sauce until someone pointed it out to me. I prefer Papa Johns and little Ceasers. I think people on here are being WAY overly critical. The pizza chains aren’t meant to compete with the sit-down restaurants. Heck, if i have the time and company i would much rather visit one of the nicer Pizza places in D.C. like the Matchbox (Amazing pizza, especially their house pizza). But, i still enjoy Dominoes, Papa John, etc…
i loved it. crust sauce and cheese were all way better! boy do miserable people love to complain. i feel sorry for all of you guys. if you dont like the pizza, then order it from somewhere else. there are a lot of other pizza joints around to choose from. and my hell, its just food, not the end of the world. btw, pizzas meant to be greasy and bad for you. ive never heard of “healthy good for you fast food delivery pizza!” if thats what it was supposed to be, they would have called it that! OH My GOD!!!! LOL
I just ate the pizza and was wondering what other people was thing about it. I don’t see much different in the pizza. The crust have a extreme garlic taste. Other than that I don’t see much different. I don’t think that they listern to their customers. Also I received hardly any topic. Hey the pizza smell good but the taste was still all too fimilar. If someone gave me their old pizza and I try this pizza I would not be able to tell the differents.
Oh my goodness. I used to love Dominos and order it over any other pizza, even though I live in the North End of Boston. The new pizza was so greasy that I couldn’t even eat it.
Although it is just food, this is the worst pizza I have had in a very long time mostly due to the grease.
Yes Nikki, how dare anyone post opinions different than yours.
If you like the pizza post your comments but if you do not just shut up??? Intolerent much?
Get over yourself and your opinions already.
Domino’s pizza was fine the way it was. The new pizza is great, if you love garlic shoved down your throat. What about people who don’t like garlic that much? Papa John’s brilliantly puts it on the side to give those people an option. I tried their new pizza and have had HORRIBLE diarrhea for the past 2 days! Someone should tell them about the IBS associated with it. Or maybe we should boycott.