I ordered the same meal at Domino’s and Little Caesars, and preferred the food from the smaller chain

• I visited Domino’s and Little Caesars in Toronto to see which chain had the tastiest meal.

• I thought the cheese bread from both chains seemed a bit bland and the pizzas were just ok.

• Didn’t fall in love with any of the chains but slightly preferred the food at Little Caesars.

The last time I ate at Domino’s or Little Caesars was about 15 years ago.

Little Caesars was my go-to place as a middle schooler and my friends and I went regularly for its cheap deals on after school slices. It is the third largest pizza chain in the world and has over 4,100 locations in the United States.

During my second year of college, I worked at Domino’s to pay off some of my student debt. I have fond memories of slinging dough and working alongside the friendly staff there. Domino’s is the largest pizza chain in the world and has more than 6,700 locations in the United States.

In an effort to find which pizza chain has the tastiest meal available today, I ordered the same menu items from both. Here’s how they stacked up.

First, I ordered my meal from Domino’s.

I visited one of Domino’s in downtown Toronto, a 10 minute walk from my house. When I walked in I noticed the interior was small but clean with an open kitchen area for customers to see their food being prepared.

There were also counter seats overlooking Queen Street West and standard table seats.

Then I had my meal at Little Caesars.

Little Caesars are rare in my part of Toronto, so I drove 30 minutes each way to visit my nearest location. Throughout my ride, I thought to myself, “This meal is worth the headache and traffic of this long trip.”

When I arrived I noticed that the pizzeria was located in a mall with only a take out option so there were no seats available. It was quite small and the kitchen was hidden in the back.

My Domino’s order looked quite appetizing.

For my order, I received a large thin crust half pepperoni, half cheese pizza, stuffed cheese bread and marble cookie brownies. The full meal costs $28 CAD, or about $21 US.

The story continues

I ordered a similar meal at Little Caesars.

I ordered a thin crust cheese pizza with half a pepperoni, Italian cheese bread and a cookie dough brownie with M&M’s.

Unfortunately the staff said a large size was not available for thin crust pizza so I downsized to a medium pie. The meal costs CA$24.50.

Since the location wasn’t busy, I took a few photos there while the food was hot and asked if I could grab a few bites while I was there. The staff said that was no problem.

I was impressed with Domino’s cheese bread.

I dived into the stuffed cheese bread first because it looked the most appealing in Domino’s meal, especially with its golden edges and shiny top.

I noticed the aromas of cheese, garlic and oregano emanating from the box. The dish was still piping hot when I dug in, so I got a large cheese, which made me salivate even more.

Aside from the cheese, Domino’s cheese bread was disappointing to me.

Taste-wise, the bread itself didn’t have much flavor but its chewy texture served as a container for toppings and toppings. There was a mixture of stringy mozzarella and cheddar cheese inside and on the bread.

My first bite was nice but after that the whole dish seemed like a note. I’m a huge cheese fan but this was a bit over the top for me. I also noticed that the pieces that I didn’t eat right away became stiff and harder to chew when left at room temperature.

I think the Italian cheese bread from Little Caesars could have been better.

Little Caesars Italian Cheese Bread looked appetizing with its shiny, golden finish. Although the first bite was satisfying, the following ones were a disappointment for me.

I felt like there was too much bread and not enough cheese filling. The distribution of the filling throughout the appetizer also seemed uneven as the ends of the bread were dry while the middle slices were almost gummy as the bread was weighed down with cheese.

Then I dug into Domino’s pizza.

On the surface, Domino’s pizza didn’t look very appetizing to me as the cheese and sauce seemed to have hardened. The edges also seemed a bit charred and overcooked. The cheese was not as melty as I would have hoped.

In my opinion, Domino’s pizza was a bit bland.

The pizza had a thin cracker crust but it seemed a bit one dimensional. It wasn’t particularly satisfying and I wasn’t a big fan of the texture.

The cheese on the pizza also seemed a little sparse so I felt like I was eating mostly plain crust more than anything.

Little Caesars pizza had a generous amount of toppings.

At first glance, Little Caesars pizza looked slightly more promising than Domino’s because there seemed to be more cheese. The thicker layer of cheese gave the Little Caesars pie more volume and a delicious gooey melted look.

The golden brown cracker crust seemed quite crispy, but I found it still not very flavorful. It reminded me a bit of Melba toast, small crisps usually served on salads and soups.

The tangy tomato sauce was the most dominant force on the pizza and unfortunately overpowered the cheese and pepperoni. There were visible patches of dried herbs on top but I couldn’t detect the flavor in my palate.

Domino’s marbled brownie was very sweet.

Finally, I tried Domino’s cookie-brownie hybrid, which was cooked to order and still gooey when I tried it. Unfortunately, I think it looked better than it tasted.

The flavor reminded me of a canned brownie mix but not in a nostalgic, kitschy way. I couldn’t find any depth of flavor to this super sweet creation, so it was hard to tell the difference between the brownie and cookie parts.

Since it tasted so sweet to me, I needed to eat the dessert with a tall glass of water.

Little Caesars cookie-brownie looked good but lacked punch.

The Little Caesars dessert looked cute with mini M&M’s perched on top of the cookie portion of the candy. Unlike Domino’s baked-to-order brownie, this one was prepackaged and served at room temperature.

Although the dessert looked promising, I was not impressed. The filling looked like raw cookie dough (which many of us secretly love to eat) but I thought it had a slightly artificial taste and a gritty finish that coated my mouth.

The dessert top was so soft to me that I couldn’t quite taste the brownie underneath.

Good pizza in Toronto can be expensive, but if you’re looking for something budget-friendly from a well-known chain, I recommend going with Little Caesars.

All in all, I probably wouldn’t order the majority of these menu items again. Still, if I had to choose between Domino’s budget food and Little Caesars, I’d go with the latter.

The day after my taste test I tossed the Little Caesars pizza back into my air fryer and had it with a fried egg and Sriracha for breakfast – with a little something added, the slices were delicious.

I would also totally give Domino’s Stuffed Cheese Bread another chance, especially since I think it would be amazing if I was stoned or needed a hangover cure.

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