Just tried Domino's Pizza - Oh, dear God. (Minneapolis, St. Paul: live, restaurant)

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

What did you expect? How much did you pay? If you want fresh tomatoes (even some of the best pizza places use canned tomatoes) you're going to have to pay more than $5.99 for a large pizza!

[plain and simple]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

What did you expect? How much did you pay? If you want fresh tomatoes (even some of the best pizza places use canned tomatoes) you're going to have to pay more than $5.99 for a large pizza!

The price was $9.99 due to a coupon they sent me. The normal price for the pizza was $19.99. So, there goes the argument that the pizza is cheap so "what did you expect?" They didn't whip out the canned tomatoes because the pizza was bought with a coupon to make it inexpensive.

As for "some of the best pizza places use canned tomatoes," it's just not true. I called nine other pizza shops - chains and mom-n-pops - to ask if they use canned tomatoes. They all said no. I've lived all over the world and all around the U.S. I've never once had a pizza made with canned, diced tomatoes.

[plain and simple]

Originally Posted by GBCommenter

I generally understand where you're coming from, and have complained about add-on fees in other industries myself - most noticably in airlines with luggage fees. Luggage fees are far more difficult to avoid so I might give in to your argument there. However, it's easily avoidable in purchasing a pizza if you don't want to pay for the convenience.

Domino's and others included the cost in the price of food in the past, but I think the economics were different at that time. Inflation and rising costs hit Domino's just like everyone else, and there's still pressure to keep prices low with lots of competition. It has become more difficult to include the cost while maintaining the ROI on the product. It really has become, at least more so than the past, an expense not as easily hidden in the cost of the product.

As far as the amount of $2.50, it's probably not that unreasonable and think I disagree with your assessment it's a lot of profit. Many moons ago in the mid to late 90's I did pizza driving for Davanni's (which, BTW, charged it separately back then and made sense- with full sit down restaurants there was a much larger percentage of customers picking up or eating in). If we used our own vehicle we were reimbursed at that time around $.75-1.25 for compensation of gas, insurance, and wear and tear - and that's in an era of gas being around $1.05/gallon. More than tripling the price of gas plus increased insurance is surely going to up the reimbursement. Shoot, IRS lets you write off $.56/mile for mileage and it doesn't seem unreasonable for a driver to make 4 mile round trips, which is well on the way to $2.50/delivery.

In the end, the $2.50 delivery charge is disclosed pretty plainly on their website before you hit the "order" button. As mentioned, if you don't want to pay it go pick up the pizza.

You're absolutely right. The fee is disclosed. It exists and isn't going to change. All that's left is to decide if it's worth it. Personally, when it comes to Domino's, it's absolutely not worth it.

The other night, I ordered a Taco Pizza from Dulano's. It came with a $2.00 delivery fee. Nobody likes fees (no matter what the reason was for invoking it). But that Taco Pizza was the best Taco Pizza I've ever had and worth every cent of the price and the fee. Even though Punch Pizza is my favorite pizza joint in Minneapolis, Dulano's Taco Pizza is my absolute favorite pizza, hands down. It was loaded with flavor and the cheese is the best in town.

[wushuliu]

I've had enough of the mystery meat fast food culture. When it was revealed that Dominos, Pizza Hut, Burger King, heck even Starbucks and Ikea(!!!) were using 're-processed expired meat' from China I decided enough was enough. We have enough trouble regulating safe meat in this country and now we're getting it from frickin' China?!!! Every there are at least two major incidents of food 're-cycling' from China. Just last month they found lead-laced baby food. There are dozens of other ingredients in this crap and who knows what the heck else.

Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd supplied products containing expired meat to McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and Burger King. The products where sold in numerous countries including Japan.[88]

McDonald's Corp and KFC's parent Yum Brands Inc apologized to Chinese customers after the scandal was exposed. Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd based in China is a unit of U.S.-based OSI Group LLC.[88]

The company was forced in July 2014 to shut down after local television station Dragon TV ran footage of the company's factory workers picking hamburger patties and meat from off the factory floor and throwing them directly into meat mixers. Also bare hands handled poultry and beef on the assembly line. The footage also showed sewage and trash spread on the floor of the processing plant. In addition, the expired meat, which was described as “stinky” by workers, was either concealed by mixing it together with non-expired meat, or simply altering its expiration date

and it gets worse

Food safety incidents in 2013[edit]
Pork Meat Scandal[edit]
March 2013, over 15000 dead pigs had been found drifting in Huangpu River,[77] caused by a crack-down on illicit pig-trade in Zhejiang. As reported by Shanghaiist, local pork dealers had been buying up dead meat unfit for sale, processed it in illegal workshops, and then re-introduced the products into the legal market.[78]

Lamb Meat Scandal[edit]
May 2013, the Ministry of Public Security released a press statement[79] warning Shanghai consumers of lamb meat that inadvertently have been either rat, fox or mink meat.[80] According to some sources,[81] respective fake lamb meat also reached Yum-owned "Little Sheep" hot pot chain restaurants, though Yum itself declined these rumours.[82]

Recycled Out-of-date food[edit]
June 2013, Wenzhou police uncovered 10 underground mills in Zhejiang’s Cangnan County, in addition to large amounts of chemical additives and coloring agents, which were used to clean out-of-date chicken drumsticks, wings and ducks’ heads prior re-selling them to public.[83]

Beef Meat Scandal[edit]
September 2013, according to JRJ[84] and Shanghaiist[85] six workshops nearby Xi'an, Shaanxi, have been shut down that produced fake beef meat using pork meat and mixing it with chemicals, including paraffin wax and industrial salts.

Cat Meat Scandal[edit]
October 2013, cat meat, slaughtered at a "black" slaughterhouse in Huai'an City near Shanghai, was sold to butchers or at local markets under the guise of “rabbit”. Some of the cats were kept alive and shipped to the southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi where they were sold for around 10 yuan (£1) per animal.[86][87]

and that's just from wikipedia with a ten second google search.

Oh and all these pizza brands use MASSIVE amounts of MSG. Yeah.

I am not an anti-fast food fanatic. I used to like my Papa Johns and the occasional Burger King run. But I am done. The more I read the more I realize I have no idea what the heck I'm eating from these places.

[cubssoxfan]

Complaints about Domino's Pizza with so many people in this world and in our country! going hungry

[plain and simple]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

Complaints about Domino's Pizza with so many people in this world and in our country! going hungry

I find it very hard to believe that you've never complained about poor quality food that you had to spend your money on.

[GBCommenter]

Originally Posted by plain and simple

You're absolutely right. The fee is disclosed. It exists and isn't going to change. All that's left is to decide if it's worth it. Personally, when it comes to Domino's, it's absolutely not worth it.

The other night, I ordered a Taco Pizza from Dulano's. It came with a $2.00 delivery fee. Nobody likes fees (no matter what the reason was for invoking it). But that Taco Pizza was the best Taco Pizza I've ever had and worth every cent of the price and the fee. Even though Punch Pizza is my favorite pizza joint in Minneapolis, Dulano's Taco Pizza is my absolute favorite pizza, hands down. It was loaded with flavor and the cheese is the best in town.

Oh...Dulono's...that is a pizza I miss. I'm more into their sausage, onion and mushroom there but they are worth a trip back to Minneapolis (Minneapolis is hometown, but now live in Dallas...). I love everything about Dulono's...the pizza, the cheese, the sauce, the divey feel of the place. I also have the nostalgic connection going back to my high school days when Dad and me ordered it to be delivered to home.

Totally worth $2 delivery fee if I don't want to pick it up or eat there...

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by plain and simple

$2.50 delivery fee? What's that for? It would be more honest to just raise the prices.

Originally Posted by plain and simple

The other night, I ordered a Taco Pizza from Dulano's. It came with a $2.00 delivery fee. Nobody likes fees (no matter what the reason was for invoking it). .

Especially the way you stated it "What's that for?" Why is it not ok for a place like Domino's to charge a delivery fee but fine for Dulano's?

But anyways something good came out of this thread, I have never heard of Dulano's and will have to check them out. I've only lived in the Twin Cities since January of this year.

[plain and simple]

Originally Posted by Radical_Car

Especially the way you stated it "What's that for?" Why is it not ok for a place like Domino's to charge a delivery fee but fine for Dulano's?

But anyways something good came out of this thread, I have never heard of Dulano's and will have to check them out. I've only lived in the Twin Cities since January of this year.

I didn't say it was fine that anyone had a delivery fee. I explained what I believe, in large, that fee is. Once one business charges a particular fee, it's going to catch on everywhere. But, as the thread progressed, it was concluded that the fee exists and there's nothing you can do about it except decide whose pizza is worth the extra charge. Dominos? No way. Dulano's? Oh yeah.

I know this sounds geeky, but I'm excited for you to try Dulano's. Of course, not everyone likes them, but they have a good rating on Yelp and everyone I know loves them.

When you order and get your pizza, pay attention to two things: 1) The cheese. Compare it to Dominos liquid goo when you're chewing it and you'll see exactly why I made an issue of it. And 2) Remember to ask for a PIE CUT, unless you like your pizza cut into small squares. The tiny squares they cut the pizza into is my only complaint about Dulano's. To cut a ROUND pizza into bite-sized squares is just ridiculous.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by plain and simple

The price was $9.99 due to a coupon they sent me. The normal price for the pizza was $19.99. So, there goes the argument that the pizza is cheap so "what did you expect?" They didn't whip out the canned tomatoes because the pizza was bought with a coupon to make it inexpensive.

As for "some of the best pizza places use canned tomatoes," it's just not true. I called nine other pizza shops - chains and mom-n-pops - to ask if they use canned tomatoes. They all said no. I've lived all over the world and all around the U.S. I've never once had a pizza made with canned, diced tomatoes.

You called nine pizza shops just to try derail my comment? I hope not! What did Pizza Hut say when you asked?

Lou Malnati's in Chicago (one of my all-time favorites) uses canned tomatoes, okay? That solves that mystery, so hopefully you can put down the phone now.

No harm meant on my side, but couldn't help but poke a little fun at this reaction. I should have stated who I had in mind when I said "best pizza that uses canned tomatoes".