“Domino’s or Pizza Hut?” It’s an age-old question that has caused countless arguments at house parties, LAN events and footy nights around the country. Everyone seems to have a personal favourite, but few people have actually tried them side-by-side. In a bid to find out who makes the best pizza, we enlisted the taste buds of our Allure Media colleagues in a blind taste test. Check out our video for the final verdict!
To put each pizza to the test, we arranged a blind tasting in the office using the most popular flavours available at both stores. On the menu was Hawaiian, Meatlovers, Supreme and Pepperoni delivered fresh from each outlet. (This turned out to be a hell of a lot of pizza, but our brave human guinea pigs were mostly up to the challenge.)
Interestingly, the Pizza Hut pizzas ended up costing around $8 less than their Domino’s equivalents. They also arrived a few minutes earlier. On price and punctuality, Pizza Hut was the clear winner. However, we’re here to judge the taste.
During testing, the Pizza Hut slices were always positioned on the left-hand side of the plate and the Domino’s slices were always on the right. Participants also kept their backs turned while we plated up so they couldn’t see which box it came out of.
Here’s how the judging went down:
Anthony Keogh (account manager): I tried two different types of pizza (Hawaiian and Supreme) and the “right” was my clear choice both times. In terms of topping distribution and quality, taste and texture of the dough and crust and just the overall flavour, “right” was my clear favourite both times. I was pretty surprised to find out then that Domino’s was “right”. I‘d always thought that Pizza Hut made superior pizza, but I guess not.
Danny Allen (publisher): Right had tastier sauce and overall a little nicer. But I did prefer that the left one had pepperoni on top of the cheese, not mixed into it.
Jessica Chandra (POPSUGAR Celebrity and Entertainment Editor): I tried Supreme and BBQ Meat Lovers, and both times, the pizza on my right had a more even ingredient distribution – with Supreme, all the olives had been dumped along the crust on the left pizza, while there was a more even spread on the right. With BBQ Meat Lovers, the right pizza was packed with topping, whereas one bite pretty much removed most of the topping from the left pizza. As for the base, right pizza was fluffier and had a clearer crust.
Goran Naumoski (Campaign manager): I had a meat lovers. I’m going to judge it on three areas dough, sauce and toppings.
Dough: I didn’t notice much of a difference with the dough, main difference was the right pizza had less toppings to the edge of the pizza.
Sauce: Right wins hands down.
Toppings: Right wins again, although I had a chunk of meat in the middle of my slice that looked Spam-esque.
Ben White (Technology Manager): The beef on the right pizza was surprisingly nice! The base had quite a strong tomato flavour with a bit of a kick. The pineapple was shrivelled and rubbish. The beef on the left pizza was one tiny morsel of horrible cardboard. The base was lighter — less offsensive. Carried other flavours instead of crushing them. The salami was just starting to crisp, which was offset by the juicy pineapple. LEFT IS WINNER.
Guy Scott-Wilson (Senior Account Manager): Right was a better base, and much saucier. Left had crispier meat. My winner would be a hybrid of the two!
Rob Hussey (Developer): Definitely the right-side pizza. The left was drier, less flavoursome and tighter on toppings.
Campbell Simpson (Gizmodo staff writer): The right one was less greasy and the base was fluffier. Comparing BBQ meatlovers, the extra oil meant the left tasted stronger, but the right seemed slightly healthier. Both tasted like cheap, oily pizza at the end of the day. This is an important point – neither was a particularly nice lunch.
So there you have it. Domino’s Pizza was the clear winner on the day, although if you’re looking to save a few bucks or prefer crispier pepperoni, Pizza Hut might still be the way to go. (Personally, I’ll be sticking to Panarottis.)
We also want to hear what our readers think. Which pizza do you prefer if you could only choose between the two? Cast your vote below!
Disclaimer: Domino’s Pizza arranged the above taste test in an attempt to show off its new ingredients. Both sets of pizzas were sent to us separately via a delivery driver from each store. (i.e. – No tampering was involved.)
Comments
23 responses to “Blind Taste Test: Pizza Hut Vs. Domino’s Pizza”
Putting this all into perspective, both were cheap pizzas. I liked Dominos a little more, to be fair, but after four slices for lunch I was ready for a nap.
Also, that video thumbnail of me is awful.
So how does one get a job at Gizmodo/Lifehacker/Kotaku?
I’m really good at eating, and sleeping. Oh, and that technology thing too I guess if I have to.
It’s fair to say I’ve kept up my love of eating and sleeping pretty much everyday for the last 25 years. That’s quite a lot of experience, maybe not as much some, but I plan on keeping it up for many years to come, so you know I’ve got plenty of determination.
As far as working in a team, I’ve been flying (well, sleeping) solo for a while now, so I’m pretty autonomous but I’ve been known to share a nap with other individuals. I’m quite the team player for lunch though, almost religiously dining with my co-workers every week day.
What would I bring to the team? Well I bake those delicious ice cream muffins I read about here on Lifehacker, so you know I like to share the love, and diabetes. They’re quite the hit at my work place, with everyone trying their own flavours, so one could even say I’m already working for Lifehacker.
My strengths? Well, we’ve already outlined those so far, so let’s work on my weaknesses. I would say my biggest weakness is keeping my composure when Luke appears on ABC24. One could not possibly argue however that loving your boss is a bad thing though really…
As for my writing ability, as you can see I’m quite literate and my ability to write excessive, but none the less relevant information on a completely irrelevant topic speaks for itself. Just imagine the quantity and quality of my writing if I were to write about something I’m absolutely passionate about, such as sleeping and eating.
I understand you’re a busy man, so I’ll cut this off now, and thank you for your time.
Should you wish to discuss my application further, I am available for drinks, pizza and a nap at a time of your choosing.
Yours sincerely,
Impatiently-waiting-to-hear-from-you.
So was Pizza Hut aware that they were being “tested” in this scenario?
I’m willing to bet that the Domino’s store involved knew about the test and adjusted their product accordingly. When I worked in fast food, we used to get “mystery shoppers” come in to rate us on a regular basis. Our area manager always let us know what day they’d be coming in and believe me, everything we served was picture perfect that day.
Personally I’m not a big fan of either of them, but generally I’d take Pizza Hut over Domino’s because I prefer a thin base and the Domino’s thin base tastes like cardboard. Salty cardboard.
I’d normally share your skepticism, but I regularly order Domino’s (it’s part of my job) and the pizzas we received didn’t seem anything special — if they’d sneakily loaded them up with more ingredients I definitely would have noticed.
I stopped buying Pizza Hut when I had one delivered with a handful of pubic hair cooked in the middle of it :/ Granted that says more about that individual shop than the franchise but damn was it effective at putting me off ordering again 😛
Next time don’t ask for extra toppings 😛
Meh.
I was under the impression that nobody liked Domino’s pizzas, not that Pizza Hut have been any good for a long time either though.
There’s almost always local pizza places around that are a far better choice than either anyway.
Dominos is the winner hands down. Pizza mutt did improve their pizzas for a while but I have not had a good one from the hutt in ages.
You have to remember that these are franchise owned stores and that there are variations between quality within the same franchise. There shouldn’t be, but there will be.
For example, I had heard that Eagle Boys was a great pizza, and was excited when one opened up at our town.
Toppings were sparse, You could see the base in the middle of the pizza. Found out (when a friend worked there) that this was on orders of the owners.
Needless to say they didn’t last long.
I’ve found the same thing. When Eagle Boys came into my area I was fairly happy; my first order was better than their competitors’ pizza, but not by a big margin. Now they are, if anything, worse.
I posted a comment on their web site stating my dissatisfaction and that if I ever ordered from them again, it would be so I could submit a comparison photo to The Checkout. WIthin a day I received calls from their main office and local franchise apologising.
Thing is, the franchise offered me a discount… but only if I phoned in rather than ordering via the Internet. My read is that they’re now looking to improve service to me specifically. It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Sadly all the big pizza chains have been on a race to the bottom lately. These days if I want a decent pizza, I order delivery from a proper Italian restaurant. It may cost more (although probably not as much more as you would think) but the quality level is much better.
I agree with your last paragraph @gregorvorbarra.
As a person whom enjoys pizza, I can’t believe this article. Seriously. You are comparing two of the most disgusting food producers around. I don’t think I’ve ever though “Wow that (dominos/pizz slut) pizza was delicious. Must get that again some time”. Would not eat from any of them if you paid me $1000. Its like saying lets compare which cuts of pork are the best. On the left we have spam in a can, and on the right we have homebrand jellified canned pork giblets.
Seriously, any franchised food service is shit.
Not just pizza, same can be said for any fast food outlet staffed by 13 year old apathetic teenagers who care less about their work and even less about what they are preparing for you.
How about instead of scraping the proverbial shit off the bowl, you try to find the best pizza rather than the ‘least worst’.
(* And the video should be titled “Bought to you by dominos”)
Also BS. The mere fact dominos organised this meant they had the upper hand from the outset.
Seriously… all these (fast) food articles… they’re just a ploy to have your employer pay for your meals, isn’t it? C’mon you can admit it 🙂
Pizza Hut never have much cheese in comparison to Dominos here.
I agree with these results. Dominos has been consistently better than Pizza Hut in my experience.
Again … difficult to make generalisations based on an individual franchise.
Conversely to much of the experience here, our local Pizza Hut is way better than the local Domino’s. Most of it seems to be the “care factor” as the Domino’s skimps on the toppings and even those are not evenly distributed.
When we moved house and wound up being close to both outlets, I started picking up rather than getting deliveries. And found out that the Pizza Hut is run by someone who lives in the same street we do and has many of his family work there. Whereas the Domino’s seems to be entirely staffed by 12 year olds and I’ve never seen anyone resembling a supervisor or manager there once.
I find it depends on the franchise. Quality control and consistency is pretty terrible between the cheapies.
Give me the local Italian pizza place, or even Crust anyday. Especially delivered, I’d rather one crust pizza delivered for $20 than three cheapies for $24.
Shorter Ben White:
Guess Ben likes pineapple?
Chris, I would love to see a blind taste test between Crusts and Dominos and Crusts and Pizza Hut. Go on, for science.
That’d be like pitching Mike Tyson in his prime against an armless midget.
but that armless midget is perfect for a head-butt straight to the groin…..
Dominoes have always been better than Pizza Hut in areas that I have lived.
Eagle Boys were better than both, but haven’t had it in years, so not sure if that still stands.
we have pizza capers here in SA, they had some pretty tasty pizzas compared to dominos and PH.
i havnt tried eagle boys though, so cant really comment.
Absolutely – Pizza Capers compared to Pizza Hut or Dominos is not a fair fight however….
With Dominos I can get their basic pizzas for $5 each (my 6 year old likes a cheese pizza…).
A similar Pizza Capers is $13.
I agree that Pizza Capers is better – but that is more a reflection on paying more than double for the same pizza.
(Not looking at the higher quality Dominos ones, cause I only buy the cheap ones for my kid!)
I’ve worked at both and liked the thin crust pepperoni at pizza hut when we had a break. Personally I found pizza capers to be just another franchise tasting pizza. Made worse by the bitter taste of disappointment.
Well heres a comparison between pizza hut and express …. Im Hut fan all the way
http://www.votacast.com/pizza-hut-vs-pizza-express