Donatos Pizza is an Italian food chain located on 861 Fairview Avenue. The first thing a customer would notice is the classy, modern look of the building and the giant wooden front doors with a pizza design painted on them. The interior is spacious and feels more like a sports bar than an Italian restaurant. Friendly waitresses quickly welcomed us at the front counter, but Donatos is not a typical sit-down restaurant; rather than ordering at the table, all orders are placed at the front counter. Since this isn’t clearly communicated, we were left sitting at our table for 15-20 minutes waiting to order.
Hemi: I ordered the “Big Don Italian” sub, which is a white bread sandwich packed full of shaved ham and salami, smoked provolone cheese, banana peppers, tomatoes, lettuce and Italian dressing. Since Donatos is primarily known for its pizza, I didn’t expect much of the sub, but after a few bites, I began to wonder why the restaurant isn’t famous for subs instead. I found the pizza, thin crust with black olives and sausage, underwhelming and bland, but the sub was packed full of flavor, and I was impressed with how well all of the simple flavors in the sandwich blended together to make a sub that puts popular sub chains like Jimmy John’s and Subway to shame.
Cole: I ordered a pepperoni calzone with smoked Provolone cheese. The dish was also seasoned with assorted cheeses such as Asiago and Romano. The marinara that came with the calzone complimented it very well and made every bite succulent and flavorful. The pizza, however, which I’ve heard so many good things about, did not meet my expectations. There was no uniqueness to the pizza, so there was nothing to enjoy about it. The pizza at Blaze or even Marco’s makes Donatos look substandard by comparison. Donatos should consider just specializing in Italian cuisine rather than have the main focus on their pizzas.
Gwen: I ordered 10 mild boneless wings; however, when I got my food, it was traditional wings. I still decided to keep the traditional wings out of courtesy to the staff and other customers, and despite this mistake, the wings were still delicious, though they certainly were not the best out there. They were moist and had a plentiful amount of meat on the bone, but I’ve definitely had better, and the fact that they got my order wrong tainted the experience. The wings may have been satisfactory, but the pizza was a letdown. Maybe it would have tasted better with different toppings, but we’ve ordered the same pizza at other restaurants in the past, and this pizza just doesn’t compare. It was dry and slightly overcooked with almost no taste. For a restaurant that specializes in pizza, Donatos needs to step up their game. However, they seem to be thriving in every other food that they offer.
By Hemi Bell, Cole Rubin, and Gwen Hatcher