We compared pizzas from Domino's and Papa Johns
A pizza takeaway is a great treat and in North Staffordshire there's plenty of places to order one from. Nationally and two of the most popular chains are Domino's Pizza and Papa Johns.
In this part of the country we have Domino's stores in Leek, Abbey Hulton, Tunstall, Hanley, Newcastle, Trent Vale, Meir Hay, Meir, Cheadle, Stone, and Alsager. When it comes to Papa Johns they can be found in Hanley, Newcastle, and Longton.
So that's where they all - but which is your favourite? Well our colleagues over at the Manchester Evening News decided to compare the two and this is how Parents editor, Emma Gill, went on.
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Comparing Domino's Pizza and Papa Johns
Pizza is up there as one of the UK's favourite takeaways and there are certainly lots of tasty options to choose from.
Our go-to is usually Domino's Pizza, which is always a big hit with us grown ups and the kids.
But this week we decided to see how it fares with one of the other big brands - Papa Johns - on both price, size and taste.
To be honest, I didn't think there would be any competition at all, so I was pretty surprised with the overall result and it's caused quite a problem for the next time we have a takeaway treat.
We thought we'd try out delivery with both of them, ordering a pepperoni pizza, a cheese and tomato pizza and some cheesy garlic bread at exactly the same time from both places at 5pm on a busy Saturday teatime.
Both arrived within a reasonable time - Domino's arriving first at 5.33pm followed by Papa Johns at 5.41pm, but the shop's a mile further so it was no real surprise. And they were both piping hot when they got delivered so that's the main thing.
There were similar deals on at both places, which meant there wasn't much in it with the cost.
While Papa Johns had any large pizza for £12, at Domino's the large ones were half price, making the cheese and tomato £10.99 and the Pepperoni Passion £12.50.
Both promised 13.5" and while the Domino's ones were slightly under, the Papa Johns were closer to 14".
Domino's 9" cheesy garlic bread was £7.99, while PJ's garlic cheese sticks - basically a similar round garlic bread sliced up - was £6.99.
And with slightly different delivery fees - of £2.79 at Domino's and £2.49 at PJs - it made the overall bills £34.27 and £33.48 respectively.
On appearance it was a pretty mixed bag, with the Domino's pepperoni looking a lot more enticing next to the Papa Johns version, but vice versa for the cheese and tomato.
The garlic breads looked as good as each other, with the Domino's one a bit thicker, with more of a crust and the Papa Johns' one thinner, flatter and a bit bigger.
However the biggest difference came with the taste - and it really wasn't what I was expecting.
We all preferred the Domino's pepperoni over the other. While it probably could have done with an extra five minutes in the oven, there was something about the taste of the Papa Johns one that we really didn't like.
But rather than Domino's being the runaway winner we'd expected, it was far from the case. Two of us actually preferred the taste of Papa Johns margherita and garlic bread over our usual favourite.
The sauce was delicious and there was a real creamy buttery taste to the topping, which I think is often overpowered at Domino's because of its strong sauce.
Perhaps the only other thing worth comparing is the calorie count, although I think anyone getting a takeaway pizza knows that it's not exactly a healthy option.
I've never noticed before, but the Domino's website does actually point out on its main banner that 'Adults need around 2,000 kcal per day'.
So the fact that a pepperoni pizza alone is a whopping 2,642 calories and a cheese and tomato 2,171, gives you some idea of how much you should be having. Papa Johns ones are even more though, at 2,850 and 2,240 respectively.
We probably won't be getting another takeaway anytime soon, but after our little taste test, it's made things a little trickier deciding where to order from.
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