Tag Archives: dominos

Domino’s Gluten Free Pizza Review

19 Nov

Well after a delay to the previously stated 5th November launch, the 19th came and it was time to try the Domino’s gluten free pizza base.  Back in my gluten eating days pre-coeliac I was always a Domino’s man when it came to pizza, so I’ve been really looking forward to this one.  Of course the first concern for coeliacs is the cross contamination risk, and it is great that Domino’s have put so much information online with regards their cross contamination controls.  You can read full details here.  They have been working for years with Coeliac UK on this, and from reading the controls that are in place it seems like they are doing everything right.

In the interests of full disclosure I must mention that Domino’s contacted me last week and sent me the press release for their gluten free launch.  They also sent me a voucher to try a gluten free pizza for free, though I was planning on buying one anyway.  The gluten free bases are available to order in-store, online and over the phone.  Their mobile app is still in the process of being updated.  I decided to phone in my order so I could quiz the branch with regards cross contamination.  I had already read the on-line information and the person I spoke to was able to rattle off all of those things when I spoke to them, a good start.  If you look at the menu on the website all items containing gluten are clearly marked with a “G”.

Firstly the downside.  The gluten free base is only available to order as a small 9.5 inch base.  This was actually enough for me, but it would have been nice to have the choice of a medium at least.  However as the bases are coming in sealed packs I can appreciate storage could be an issue if they were larger.  Secondly, only two of the sides were gluten free.  Spicy pork bites and coleslaw.  My branch didn’t serve coleslaw and even though it did have the spicy pork bites these were not listed on the website (UPDATE: Domino’s have contacted me this morning to say they’ve rectified this) .  I did order the pork bites to try and wasn’t particularly impressed, and wouldn’t order them again.  It would be good if Domino’s could work on the sides, at least ensuring all branches stock these two items.  Maybe something like potato wedges which are also on the menu could be re-worked to be gluten free.

Now for the upside, the pizza was amazing!  I absolutely loved the base.  It was light and tasty and a perfect vessel for the topping.  As with Pizza Hut, those who like a thin and crispy base may be disappointed.  I thought it was perfect and was a lot like the Domino’s base I remember from the dim and distant past.  I went for the Texas BBQ pizza, and what a great choice I made.  Tangy BBQ sauce topped with smoky bacon, succulent roast chicken, onions and green peppers.  Having a BBQ sauce rather than a tomato sauce base worked exceptionally well and I loved every mouth full.  After my previous poor topping choice at Prezzo this was a great result.  As for the price £12.99 for a small pizza is a lot of money, but there are always offers around for money off or buy one get one free, and we only ever really used to get takeaway pizza when there were offers on pre-diagnosis.

I’d also recently been sent a sample of a gluten free Lager from Celia, a gluten free Czech lager just launching in the UK.  I took the opportunity to wash the pizza down with an ice cold lager, which was also delicious.  I have to say sitting on my sofa, watching TV with a cold lager in one hand and a slice of takeaway pizza in the other I felt almost normal.  Thank you Domino’s and Celia for that!

So the big question is, where does Domino’s rank in the pizza stakes?  If you’ve already read my Pizza Hut and Prezzo reviews you’ll know I had Pizza Hut ahead.  Well now there is a new leader, for me Domino’s have come out on top.  Really enjoyed the pizza and will definitely be buying again, and being the only one that deliver is a big plus point too.  My branch asked if they could call me for feedback which they duly did.  They were kind enough to offer me two for one or a free side on my next order, to say thanks too.  A great experience over all.  I have however heard from one person elsewhere in the country who had a gluten base mistakenly delivered, so as always be vigilant when ordering.  I am happy to report that three hours on I have had no reaction (UPDATE: Still feeling fine next day so all good).

Which pizza do you prefer in the great gluten free pizza debate?  Please comment below and let me know.

UPDATE 02/02/13: According to the Coeliac UK eXG February email Domino’s have put in place some extra precautions to ensure to ensure the safety of gluten free customers:

– GF pizza’s will no longer be sliced to make them easily identifiable (also cuts out risk from a contaminated cutter)
– Different sized screens to be used to cook gluten free pizzas to make them more easily identifiable in the ovens
– Gluten free notification will appear on confirmation emails and at point of ordering on-line
– A link to the gluten free pizza’s will be visible from the on-line ordering homepage

 

These changes will be enforced by mid-February, and the pizza I ordered today arrived un-sliced.

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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Prezzo Gluten Free Pizza

12 Nov

The gluten free world was recently sent into excitement by a glut of pizza announcements.  The news that Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Prezzo were launching gluten free pizza bases was swiftly followed up by Ask Italian.  I recently posted a review of the Pizza Hut gluten free offering, and with news that the Domino’s GF launch has been delayed until November 19th and the lack of an Ask Italian in Plymouth, I set out to try the Prezzo version.

Prezzo are currently offering a voucher on their website offering two courses for £10.  The voucher applies to the entire table, and as there were four of us this was a good deal.  Unfortunately the offer expires 12th November.  The Plymouth branch of Prezzo is situated in the Royal William Yard, which is fast becoming a gluten free hot spot.  The restaurant itself is very well decorated and situated in a great location.  It was also pleasing to see an Italian restaurant with several Italians on the staff.

I decided to skip the starter and go straight for the main course.  My wife was the only one to order a starter, some bruschetta, and nearly thirty minutes after ordering this hadn’t arrived.  My wife chased this and it arrived a few minutes later, and I suspect there was a mix up in the kitchen.  Mistakes happen and I always think it is better to judge a business on how they rectify a problem rather than whether they had one.  The waitress apologised for the delay, had the starter out in a few minutes and offered a free round of drinks for the entire table to make it up to us.  Great customer service after a rocky start.

I of course went for the pizza for the main meal.  I asked which toppings were gluten free, and was told I could have everything but the spicy beef.  I had heard the same from a few people on Twitter, so this gave some reassurance.  I quizzed the waitress with regards cross contamination and she seemed well informed.  I am very sensitive to cross contamination and I am pleased to report I have had no reaction at all to this pizza.  I did note that the menu did have a disclaimer that other gluten items were made in the kitchen, and they could not offer 100% guarantee that the kitchen was free from “airborne contamination”.  Unless the kitchen is 100% gluten free, it’s pretty standard to get a disclaimer similar to this.

There were no further delays in the service and our main course arrived shortly after.  I would usually have gone for a meaty pizza, but wasn’t feeling particularly hungry so was going to order a margherita pizza as I thought it would be less filling.  I had seen comment that the pizza’s here weren’t particularly cheesy, so at the very last second I changed my mind and went for the quattro formaggi.  This was a bit of an error on my part as I hadn’t spotted it had gorgonzola on in my last second switch.  I am not a fan of blue cheese so picked this off.  There was also a bit too much goats cheese for my liking which overpowered the other cheeses, so I regretted my choice a little.  The base itself was thin and tasty, it was crispy on the edges but quite soft in the centre.  My parents enjoyed their gluten filled pasta dishes, but my wife wasn’t particularly impressed with her gluteny pizza, saying she would have liked it crispier.  She tried my base and actually preferred it.

I had scoped out the allergy information pre visit and had been excited to see the vanilla panna cotta was gluten free.  However this was not on the dessert menu which was a shame, so I assume this is maybe a special.  The only gluten free dessert choice was a hazelnet bombe.  This was ice cream covered in chopped hazelnuts with a meringue centre.  This was nice but was no panna cotta.  It certainly would have been nice to have another gluten free choice for dessert.

Overall I think I slightly preferred the Pizza Hut base, though maybe this is down to my poor topping choice influencing me.  I’d be keen to try this again with a different topping and it’s definitely nice to have another gluten free option.  I’d give this a good but not great verdict overall.  See comments on this post for reviews from couple of other people who have tried the Prezzo GF pizza.  Next stop, Domino’s!

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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At Last, Coeliacs Get a Pizza the Action!

16 Oct

Well come on, I work in the newspaper industry, you’ve got to give me the opportunity for at least one dodgy headline on here haven’t you?!  Anyway, if you are coeliac or following a gluten free diet then unless you’ve been living a sheltered life recently then you’ll have witnessed the wave of excitement in the last couple of weeks over three gluten free pizza announcements.  First of all Prezzo announced they would be serving gluten free pizza bases, have a look at the comments on this post for some great review comments from Elizabeth and Jessica.  This was closely followed by a Coeliac UK announcement that Pizza Hut would be following suit.  Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better it was announced the very same day that Domino’s would be serving gluten free pizza from November.

There was initially a lot of scepticism amongst the coeliac community as to whether this type of restaurant could really take cross contamination seriously enough to make these pizzas coeliac friendly.  However, it seems all three companies have worked closely with Coeliac UK and all have cross contamination controls in place.  Having looked on enviously at my social media feeds over the last week and seeing picture after picture after delicious looking pizza, I met up with fellow Plymouth gluten free blogger Sarah Ram to try the Pizza Hut offering.  Big congratulations to Sarah who passed her driving test just before we met for lunch!

I’d rung ahead to make sure the restaurant we were visiting had the gluten free bases, and also downloaded a voucher from Voucher Cloud giving any pizza plus salad for five pounds.  I had previously read that the salad bar was a bit of a cross contamination risk, so Sarah and I both avoided that and headed straight for the pizza.  Like we were there for the salad anyway!

We were told all toppings were gluten free, but being the sceptic that I am I also asked to see the allergy list so we could check our order.  We both chose the Americano, which consisted off chicken, bacon, sweetcorn and BBQ sauce.  Could you really ask for a better combination!

The pizza was a nine inch square pizza.  It looked kind of small when it arrived, but I have to say it was very filling and I was very full by the time I finished.  The pizza itself is square to make it stand out, and gives you confidence that you’ve actually been given the correct pizza.  The gluten free pizzas are baked on their own square trays to minimise cross contamination risks, and a clean pizza cutter is delivered with your un-sliced pizza again to cut out another risk from the kitchen.

The base itself was very nice.  It wasn’t very crispy if this is how you like it, but this suited me.  The balance between topping and base was spot on and we both really enjoyed the pizza.  I remember Pizza Hut being very greasy when I used to be able to eat there, but there was no hint of grease on this pizza at all.  Actually my wife always used to complain about the grease, and I would not be surprised if she would prefer this base to the standard one.

The staff seemed very keen to help and I have seen this mentioned a few times by other people.  There seemed to be genuine interest on what we thought of the pizza, and they were keen to tell us about good feedback they’d received from other customers about it.  There seemed to be some genuine interest/excitement from the staff about the new option.  They were happy to take us through the allergy list, and I even troubled them to show us the dessert options even though we’d already told them we weren’t having any.  Pretty slim pickings in that respect.

I would definitely go back for another go, and it is great to have another readily available option when out and about.  It was also really nice just to sit in a pizza restaurant and feel a little bit normal for a change.  A luxury once taken for granted and now so precious.  I’d love to hear about your Pizza Hut experience.  Please comment below and let everyone know how you found it.  I look forward to hopefully bringing you Prezzo and Domino’s reviews in the near future.

Update 28/02/12: Pizza Hut have now extended their gluten free operations, and their gluten free pizza base is now also available from their 300 delivery outlets. More from Coeliac UK below:

http://www.coeliac.org.uk/node/249829
 

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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