As a consumer, fast food pizza is like a tennis match out there, and I’ve been watching Domino’s and Papa Johns volley back and forth. Earlier this year, Papa Johns launched toasted sandwiches, a mainstay on Domino’s menu. Then Domino’s was like, Oh yeah? We’re going to launch a Slice Sauce and stake our claim right on the packaging: “The Ideal Sauce for your Slice.”

Bold claims require bold evidence, and as a self-declared garlic butter loyalist, I was ready to officiate.

For context, Papa Johns’ Garlic Butter is one of the primary reasons that its pizza is my #1. I always have a spare garlic butter cup in the fridge; you know, for these moments, or impulsive late-night pizza eating.

So a direct head-to-head was non-negotiable.

The Slice Sauce runs $0.99 as an add-on in the app, where it’s described as “creamy and zesty with a hint of Parmesan.” Respectable price point.

In the container, it skews orange-ish, closer to Thousand Island dressing with the flecks and everything, but the smell is zesty and promising. On the first bite, the Parmesan and Asiago cheese blend shows up – genuinely the first taste, not just marketing copy. But it quickly gives way to something more ranch-coded, with a buttermilk finish that keeps things interesting.

To keep this tennis analogy going – here’s where it goes to deuce: I preferred it on the MeatZZa, where it amplified the cheesiness and left a tangy, ranch-like aftertaste that worked. On my mushroom vegetarian slice, it overly accentuated the tomato in a way that felt like there was too much tomato sauce.

Papa Johns’ Garlic Butter, by contrast, played nice with both – universally complementary, and deeply buttery in a way that just hits like a Serena Williams serve.

Would I buy the Slice Sauce again? Nah. It’s not bad, it’s just fine, especially when Papa Johns’ garlic butter exists and is elite. Domino’s talked a big game, and the sauce is a solid showing, but it wasn’t the upset I was hoping for.

Purchased Price: $0.99
Size: 1 cup (35g)
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 170 calories, 18 grams of total fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 370 milligrams of sodium, 2 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 1 gram of total sugars, and 1 gram of protein.

I like Domino’s Pizza a lot but haven’t ordered it in years. That might seem counterintuitive, but there’s a good reason: I’m a stuffed crust fanatic, and Domino’s doesn’t offer stuffed crust. Or at least it hasn’t… until now. Cue the Parmesan Stuffed Crust!

It’s no exaggeration to say that I literally screamed when I heard the news. The name is a bit misleading, though: the crust is actually stuffed with mozzarella (as can also be found at Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, my grimy college dive with pizza so good I was willing to wait through multiple bar fights for it, etc.).

The parmesan element comes from a parmesan and garlic seasoning sprinkled across the crust. It’s the default for this pie but can be removed if desired… and honestly, I ended up wishing I’d done that. I prefer the simple, mild creaminess of mozzarella to parmesan’s funky saltiness, which was on full display here, so I would have liked to see the stuffed stuff stand on its own, even if that meant forsaking the namesake cheese. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

After surviving what felt like an endless wait for my delivery, I was rewarded with a pizza that was still as piping hot and pristine as if it’d just come out of the oven. My pie looked darker than I expected, but I didn’t mind since it didn’t taste overcooked. In fact, it reminded me why Domino’s is so beloved. The cheese was thick and consistently applied, neither too congealed nor too oozy; the sauce was impressively zesty, with a strong herbal taste that was way more interesting than the pizza I’m used to from other chains; the crust had the floppy, foldable texture I crave, firm enough to hold the weight of all of that goodness while still soft and supple enough not to literally crack under the pressure. But each bite, no matter how wonderful, was a mere appetizer leading up to the main course I came for.

And the stuffed crust was… nice.

Of course, since this pizza had been generating enough hype from me to power a small village, “nice” was not really the reaction I had hoped for. But ultimately, I wanted the cheese in my stuffed crust to be more solid, and this filling, though pleasingly abundant, was too gooey for me. In my opinion, the regular cheese on top of a pizza is already gooey enough, so the stuffed crust is an opportunity to bring something different to the table, and I was sad Domino’s didn’t take that opportunity! And as I mentioned, I found the parmesan unnecessary; it felt more like a marketing gimmick for extra uniqueness rather than an actual value add. Perhaps Domino’s should have considered that the reason other pizza places don’t liberally sprinkle their stuffed crusts with parmesan is because it tastes too overwhelming and distracts from the real star of the show.

But the bottom line is that stuffed crust is great! Domino’s is great! Stuffed crust Domino’s, therefore, is destined to be great! Sure, there are parts I could have enjoyed more, but this was still a dream come true—a pie in the sky, if you will, and even though it shot for the moon and missed for me, it still landed among the stars.

Purchased Price: $16.99
Size: Medium/12-inch (this is the only size available)
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: Not available at the time of the review’s publication.

Where can you find Domino’s hometown, Joe’s Pizza’s first non-NYC location, the OGs of Detroit-Style pizza, AND Little Caesars’ hometown within a 30-mile radius?

The lower “thumb*” area of Michigan, of course! And I just happen to reside in this microcosm of pizza. So when Domino’s introduced its New York Style Pizza, I felt particularly compelled to try it because of Domino’s hometown roots AND because there’s a legit NYC institution (Joe’s Pizza) down the street.

Domino’s offers five types of pizza crusts: pan, hand tossed, crunchy thin, gluten free, and now New York Style.

Ordered as-is, the New York-style pie was an X-large 16″ pizza with the standard “Robust Inspired Tomato Sauce” and a cheese blend of cheddar, mozzarella, and provolone. It was also cut into six slices, rather than eight, to enable folding.

Compared to the regular hand tossed, it was noticeably flatter and less seasoned looking. This wasn’t surprising as the hand tossed crust includes a garlic-oil seasoning blend. Unfortunately, this visual translated to a lack of flavor. It was rather bland and cardboard-like, especially with the thinner nature of it. Also, despite the robust tomato sauce (rather than the hearty marinara sauce), it didn’t impart any robust flavor.

Domino’s achieved the texture, though! It folded nicely, stayed firm, and wasn’t super greasy. I must mention that I clearly did not test it with any other toppings except for cheese, so the foldability was not rigorously tested. While I would test this further, none of the other toppings really interested or screamed NYC to me. Like, where’s the white pizza at?!

However, if we’re really nitpicking here, while the texture was foldable and structurally sound, it lacked that slight chewiness and springiness in the classic NYC crust.

If you want to switch up crusts, why not try the New York Style? I won’t stop ya. But if you’re on the fence, I don’t really find it worthy of replacing your go-to order.

*Because the physical state of Michigan is shaped somewhat like a mitten (Mitten State!), Michiganders use their hands to show where they generally reside – e.g., the thumb area, the palm area, the fingertips, etc.)

Purchased Price: $13.99
Size: XL (16”)
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (199g) 510 calories, 24 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 70 milligrams of cholesterol, 1050 milligrams of sodium, 48 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of total sugar, and 23 grams of protein.

When you combine bread, cheese, and meat, there’s no possible way to go wrong, right? That’s what I believed before writing this review. But unfortunately, the new Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread from Domino’s was disappointing in more ways than one.

I have to admit, I first opened my box to quite the pretty picture — a thick golden loaf featuring rivulets of scorched cheese dripping from every crevice, densely-sprinkled flecks of garlic and Parmesan, and a single ruby-hued piece of pepperoni smack dab in the middle, like a beautiful ribbon hinting at the even more beautiful present within.

If you place your order through the Domino’s website like I did, you’ll notice this side dish and/or entrée is specifically described as “8-Piece Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread.” But I should note that mine was barely perforated, so ripping apart a single piece was not the cleanest endeavor. Upon tearing off a hunk (which, due to said difficulties, I think technically constituted two pieces), I was greeted by my first hint that this bread might not be all I’d chalked it up to be.

Peering at the cross-section, the innards didn’t look that different from a regular load of bread. There was the slightest clue of mozzarella cheese seeping out from the center and a thin slip of red that signaled the presence of pepperoni, but the fillings certainly weren’t as jam-packed as the word “stuffed” would imply.

Unfolding my slice confirmed that, yes, there was a small amount of fluffy mozzarella and the telltale gleam of orange grease (Domino’s website also mentions cheddar, but it looked and tasted like part of the cheese melted on top), but there were only two limp pieces of pepperoni sitting side-by-side. That ratio was pretty consistent throughout the rest of my meal, and it just doesn’t feel right that it would only contain eight measly single-layered pieces throughout the dang thing.

Unfortunately, this tasted pretty much just how that inside looked: like bland bread that was crispy on top and soft on the inside, with only the occasional faint suggestion of spicy pepperoni or sweet cheese. When the cheese did shine through, it pleasantly reminded me of what’s in the stuffed crust from Papa John’s… and reignited my decades-long desire for Domino’s to introduce their own stuffed crust pizza, but I guess that’s a different story. I also got a strangely earthy aftertaste that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but it wasn’t great.

Honestly, I got some of the garlic Parmesan seasoning on my hand when I was opening this, and it’s sad to say that licking that off was the most flavorful part of this meal by far.

When my dad is disappointed by junk food that he’d been looking forward to, he’ll lament that “It wasn’t worth the calories,” and that’s exactly how I felt here; maybe you won’t hate this, but if you’re planning on eating something bready, cheesy, and meaty anyway, you definitely can—and should!—do a lot better.

Purchased Price: $9.24
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (per 1 piece) 170 calories, 8 grams of fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 310 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 7 grams of protein.