Chain-O-Rama: Donato's Homestyle Garlic Gread Pizza

I would say that when it comes to nationally franchised pizza chains, Donatos is my favorite. Plus, if I'm not in Chicago, I generally prefer thin crust pizza. And, since I'm a big fan of quadrangles, I like the slicing method at Donatos.

Anyhow, we wanted to get some pizza, and I'm always apt to try something new. So, we ordered a medium Founder's Favorite on thin crust and also picked up one of Donatos new Homestyle Garlic Bread pizzas. On the Garlic Bread pizza, we had ham and onion.

I put the can of Coke in the picture to give some sense of relative size perspective. I found the coupon flier touting the new pizza style to be a bit funny. It said "2 pizzas feed 4". Okay, and since I'm not fractionally challenged, I figured 1 pizza would feed 2. Now, I suppose that statement is true, one of these pizzas could feed 2, but it certainly would not FILL 2 people. Of course, I have a fair sized appetite, but I could have polished this thing off quite easily on my own.

The crust on the Garlic Bread pizza has a nice crisp crust and is about 3/4ths of an inch thick (okay, perhaps 5/6ths). On it's own, I don't believe the crust has much garlic bread taste, it is just pizza dough. But, on top of the pizza, they do seem to sprinkle an herb and garlic salt that adds some garlic taste to the pizza. Overall, its pretty good, especially since I like garlic salt. The quality of the ingredients is consistent, the presentation of the pizza is good, it is just another consistent product from Donatos, which I find to generally be a well run chain. They must provide good systems and training to their franchisees.

But, I didn't really think this was a great menu addition. I like many of Donatos specialty pizzas, and prefer the thinner crust. So, I'll stick to those, but I liked trying something new. At $5.99 for a one topping, though, that isn't bad for what I would call is a very filling lunch for one person.

The verdict: 3 belly rubs (out of 5). Consistent with Donatos quality, one pizza is big meal for one person.

Now, I don't go to Donatos enough to know if they use the box the Garlic Bread pizza comes in for another item, but I think it is pretty fascinating what all goes in to the creation of new items. I mean, I am sure Donatos packaging engineering partner bends over backwards to keep the account, but it seemed like the pizza box itself was even a new item. I just found that interesting.