dominos.co.uk

There are frequently situations where both my husband and I really cannot be bothered to cook and it is on these occasions that we decide to order a takeaway. As my husband is type 1 diabetic where his pancreas has totally failed and he is insulin dependent, it is necessary that he restricts his intake of carbohydrates, so as a rule, takeaways tend to be Chinese food. However, when he suffers a hypoglycaemic attack, which is when his blood sugar levels drop too low, we are able to enjoy the delights of what I class as junk food, namely pizza. I would point out that he initially raises his blood sugar levels with a fast acting food such as chocolate and once they are stablised he needs to eat carbohydrates, so our pizza is then ordered. We would previously use a local pizza shop, but for some reason their pizzas that were once very tasty, became a mass of soggy grease, so our business with them abruptly ended. I had heard many favourable comments about Dominos and having never previously purchased a takeaway online, I was initially a little nervous about the process. However, I was somewhat surprised at how easy it was and as a result, their pizzas have become a firm favourite especially when my husband’s blood sugar levels drop too low, as he needs to stabilise them with an intake of both sugars and carbohydrates. I have used Dominos online booking process on dozens of occasions and find it so extremely easy and this review discusses my experience with Dominos.co.uk

ENTERING THE DOMINOS WEBSITE

When writing reviews on products I always like to make a comparison with an alternative brand, but as I have never previously used any other online food delivery service I am unable to do so. Consequently, my review is based solely on my experience with Dominos. What I found most favourable when I first looked at their website is that it is not busy or cluttered, which is something I detest, particularly as I feel somewhat flustered as I am often unsure where I should be clicking in order to proceed. I am not a fan of websites that offer moving text and images, as I find them difficult to read and as a result, I will often close the site down without continuing any further. If you have never used the Dominos website before I would advise that you are initially greeted with the welcome message stating “Hello Pizza Lover”. The familiar Dominos logo is situated on the left hand side of the page and in the centre is an image of a rather luscious looking pizza, which always manages to make my mouth water, as each time I order a pizza I am so hungry! You are then prompted to input your postcode to enable the site to locate your nearest store. A small screen will then appear which provides the address of the store together with their telephone number and opening times. There is also a small map located on the right hand side of the screen, which gives concise directions of the store’s location, particularly if you would prefer to collect as opposed to receive a home delivery. As I have already inputted both my email and home address the site bypasses this section, so I am automatically taken into the ordering section of the site. If you are booking your pizzas prior to your local store’s opening times you will see the button “pre-order now” and when they are opening you will se the button “order now”. It is in the next screen that you will see the large pizza menu, which initially looks a little daunting, but after just one use I found navigation extremely easy. The site contains colourful text together with full colour photographs of each of the products available; something which I found extremely useful, particularly as I did not wish to be making a selection from a simple list.

FOOD AND DRINK MENUS

This section of the site is extremely easy to use and you are provided with various images of pizzas, which are located across the screen. You can either choose to use this tab or the “deals” tab, which is situated to the left hand side and offers a range of family deals or the main pizza menu, so the company consider the catering needs of those with children. I always use the main pizza menu where there are a huge variety of options, such as cheese and tomato, reggae, mixed grill, tandoori and vegetarian; all of which are available in four sizes, namely a 7” personal priced at £5.99, 9½ small priced at £11.99, 11½ medium priced at £13.99 and the 13½ large priced at £15.99. Unfortunately, I cannot speak of the taste of any of these pizzas, as we always opt to create our own, which offers identical size pizzas. Creating our own pizza is a huge benefit to my household, particularly as my husband and I have very different tastes when it comes to some foods. The option for this particular pizza is located on the upper right hand section and what I love about this is that I can create my own base, so if I do not wish to receive the standard tomato sauce flavour I can opt for something else. Consequently, I firstly need to decide the size of my pizza, which can be selected from the drop down menu.

This is part of the site that I find a little misleading, as the sizes are defaulted to the largest and I would prefer that Dominos amend this to zero, as many people could forget to change the size and not realise that they’re paying for a huge pizza. I would point out at this stage that you need to be sure of the size that you actually require, as I once made the mistake of going through the entire process of adding all of the individual toppings for two pizzas only to decide that the price was too high. As a result and in a bid to save a little cash I selected smaller sized pizzas, but was provided with the warning message that if I continued with the smaller size then all of my chosen toppings would be automatically deleted. Consequently, I found myself having to start the process all over again. I am of the opinion that Dominos should address this minor issue, particularly if someone is placing a large order, as adding individual toppings to many pizzas would be a fairly lengthy process. Once you are certain of your pizza size you are required to click on the “customise” button where you are then provided with a smaller screen to create your own pizza. The first time I saw this screen I felt a little confused, particularly as the text is rather small. The next stage is selecting your base, which is a huge bonus for my husband and I, particularly as this is where our personal tastes differ. There are five choices in this area of the site where you have the option of regular, dominator where an additional £1.99 is charged, thin crust, double decadence for an additional £1.99 and finally the stuffed crust for an additional £2.50. I always opt for the regular, which is standard unless you select an alternative option and my husband always chooses the thin crust to minimise his intake of carbohydrates.

We are now at the stage of choosing the sauce for the pizza where we are provided with three choices of either barbeque, sun dried tomato and garlic sauce or Dominos own tomato sauce. Located adjacent to each of the sauces are two images of what appear to be very similar to dice with one showing one dot and the other showing two. The dots replicate the servings of topping, which is defaulted to a single serving of Dominos own, so it is necessary to click the appropriate dot to meet your personal taste. I always opt for Dominos own tomato sauce whilst my husband chooses the barbeque. It was only when I checked the Dominos website to familiarise myself with a few prices for the purpose of this review that I learned that they offer low fat cheese at no extra cost. As someone who absolutely adores cheese I am amazed that I have never previously spotted this despite having used the online ordering service on so many occasions! I have always made the mistake of allowing the site to default to the single sprinkling of mozzarella cheese at an additional cost of £1.10! I am normally so careful with spotting things like this, particularly where money is concerned, so I now know for future reference that I can save £2.20 on our next order of two pizzas. The next section is where the price really mounts up, as it is so very easy to get carried away with piling many toppings onto your pizza; all of which will cost you £1.10 per serving. Whilst I do not intend providing a list of all of the available toppings I will give details of those that my husband and I choose as I can then give you the cost based on a purchase with no special offers or deals. I am pretty simple when it comes to pizza toppings, as I always choose just ham, sweet corn and mushrooms with my husband choosing ham, chicken and pineapple. You are permitted a maximum of 9 toppings although this is something I would have absolutely no intention of ordering, particularly as it would bring the price of one large pizza to around £25, so I think £50 for two pizzas is a little out of my price range. In the lower right hand corner and coloured in red is the total price and as you add each topping to your pizza the figure will increase, so this is a really useful tool, as the first time I used the site I got a little carried away not realising the cost and when I looked at the total cost for my pizzas I was nearing the £40 mark! Consequently, quite a few deletions took place until I could achieve a much more reasonable price.

Once you are happy with your selection you can click on the amount required or you will need to go through the entire process again for different style pizzas. Although my first attempt took me a little while, particularly as I was totally unfamiliar with ordering online, it is now a process that takes me just a few minutes, as it is so easy to navigate and the costs are stuck firmly in my mind. When you are happy with your selections you simply need to click on the “order” button where you will see your entire order, which has been broken down into your individual selections. You then need to confirm your order where you will be asked for a few details, such as your name, email address, telephone number and you will be required to type in your house or flat number and select your address from the pull down menu. The first time I inputted this information I was a little alarmed that the site knew the name of the road in which I lived, but I had forgotten that I had provided my postcode at the very beginning. You are then asked if you wish to pay by card online or cash on delivery with me always choosing the latter, as I feel a little safer having control of my hard earned cash, particularly if my pizza fails to arrive. Consequently, I am unable to speak of their security or privacy statement with regards to entering your personal card details online. The final piece of information requiring inputting is the most important and that is when I require my pizza, which is always as soon as possible! I always have several internet tabs open at any one time, so the moment I click on the “order” button I am able to witness a confirmation email from Dominos, which gives a breakdown of my order together with the total price. There are very often special offers available, such as two for one on Tuesdays, buy one pizza get one half price, so it’s always best to check which day of the week you can obtain best value for money although I have to say that my stomach doesn’t always quite work in this way, as I always seem to fancy pizza when there are no offers available. I’ve been advised that there are frequently codes that can be obtained online, which will save you even more money although I have to say that I’ve not been fortunate enough to find any. Our total order with our choices as described above on the largest pizza bases, as we were greedy on the first occasion, totalled £18.20. However, whilst I had not ordered via the "deals" tab, I ended up with a buy one get the second one half price deal. I would advise that there was no additional delivery cost, so I presume this to be hidden in the cost of our pizzas. There is an option to track the progress of your order although this is not an area of the site that I have ever used. Whilst I have no experience of ordering any other dishes I would advise that the order screen has four other menu choices where you are required to click on the appropriate tab, which is situated on the top of the page. It is here that you can make your choices amongst deserts, drinks, subs and sides. At the lower section of the main screen in the smallest of text is a Food Guide, so you are able to study the nutritional values of the dishes if you should wish, together with full details of the flavours they have used from around the world. Unfortunately, I clicked out of this area of the site rather quickly, as I was rather alarmed at the amount of calories and carbohydrates!

DELIVERY

This is the part that amazed me the first time I used the site, as I can vividly remember inputting the order at 5.10 pm and within just twenty minutes there was a knock at our door. Whilst Dominos is located only 6 miles from our home, I was not expecting the pizzas to arrive for at least 45 minutes, particularly as the delivery person would need to travel in some very heavy works’ traffic to reach us, so how he managed to get to us so quickly is a complete mystery to me. The delivery people have always been very polite and friendly and the pizzas are always brought to our door in a thermos-style pouch to ensure they remain hot. We were handed two sturdy cardboard boxes; each containing our supper and we always pay by cash and try to ensure that we have the correct money, so that the delivery person can get on their way. I would state that the longest we have ever waited for a delivery is 35 minutes, which was on a Friday evening.

APPEARANCE OF THE PIZZA

Our first pizza was simply first class and I was pleased to note that the sauce was fairly generous and evenly spread over the base whilst leaving a small area of bare crust. I cannot abide pizzas that have been inefficiently spread with tomato sauce and as a result, there is too much crust, which can often be rather dry and tasteless. My pizza displayed a good amount of ham, sweet corn and mushrooms, which were evenly distributed amongst the eight pieces, which had already been cut for me. My husband’s pizza was also quite generous with an even distribution of ham, chicken and pineapple. Both pizzas were extremely hot and accompanying each was a small pot of complimentary garlic sauce, which was neatly tucked in a circular slot in the lid of the box. I cannot speak of the taste of the sauce, as neither of us tried it, as my husband cannot bear the taste of garlic and I very rarely eat it these days.

THE BEST PART - THE TASTE

Our first bite was met with a number of mmmms and ooooh delicious and we didn’t speak to one another for a few minutes as we quickly devoured the first couple of slices. The tomato sauce had a good kick to it, whilst not being overly spicy and it was a flavour that we both found extremely favourable. The balance of sweet corn, ham and mushrooms was just right on mine, as all were very tasty and I was pleased to note that the ham wasn’t tiny pieces unlike some other take away pizzas that I’ve previously tried. Whilst I love all of the ingredients on my husband’s pizza I cannot bear sweet and sour, so I did not have a taster, but my husband’s silence for the time that he devoured the eight slices was proof enough that it hit the spot and scored top marks! The bases on both pizzas received a thumbs up, as they were not greasy like other pizzas that we’ve eaten and I was pleased to note that there was no grease marks contained within the lower section of the box. I normally favour a few herbs on the top of my pizza, but I was being stubborn and a little tight, as I was not prepared to pay a further £1.10 to receive them. However, I feel that the highly flavoured tomato sauce was sufficient for me and offered a good combination of flavours together with the various toppings that I had chosen. Unfortunately, I found the large size pizza much too big, as it is intended for two people, so the remainder was placed in the fridge for the following day. As we enjoyed the pizzas so much we have since taken advantage of the Tuesday 2 for 1 offer and the quality and service was just as good as the first occasion. However, our last two pizza orders have been a little disappointing, as Dominos were rather mean with the toppings and the photographs that I have uploaded shows my most recent purchase where you can clearly see that the £1.10 for each topping was not money well spent, as the toppings were not evenly distributed and are most definitely not good value. We were also disappointing that the majority of the toppings were placed in the centre of the pizzas as opposed to being evenly distributed. Unfortunately, Dominos website does not provide an “additional information” section where I would like to have indicated to them that they were mean on the toppings on previous occasions and I feel this is an area that they need to address. As the box is manufactured from cardboard it can be recycled once you have enjoyed your pizza.

CUSTOMER SERVICES

I’ve headed this section “customer services”, but our only contact was on the one occasion with our local store when we tried to order online and received the message that they were not accepting online orders. Consequently, my husband attempted to make a telephone order until he was advised that the cost would be significantly more than ordering online. When he questioned the employee he was advised that telephone orders are more expensive. He argued the fact that we had no alternative than to make a telephone order due to the fact that their website was not taking orders, but he found the person to be rather unhelpful and lacking the necessary customer care skills. As a consequence he asked to speak with the Manager who was also unhelpful, as all he would offer us was a meal deal of pizza, garlic bread and something else, which we did not want. Due to the fact that the service and quality differs in certain areas I will rate each accordingly, as below:-

Ease of use with the website and the ordering process 5 out of 5
Choice of menus 5 out of 5
Speed of delivery 5 out of 5
Quality and appearance of pizza 4 out of 5 due to inadequate toppings
Taste of pizza 5 out of 5
Customer service 1 out of 5

Consequently, Dominos.co.uk receives 4 stars from me, together with my
recommendation provided they are not mean with their toppings!

I hope you found my review useful and would thank you for reading.