Donatos Pizza — Restaurant in Columbus

⭐☆☆☆☆ 1/5 Donatos Pizza – Columbus, OH

This was part of a student pizza party at work — a reward for summer school progress. In theory, a great idea. In execution? Felt more like a last-minute purchase to use leftover budget dollars than something celebratory.

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🍕 Pizza • Delivered on time (around 11:30 AM), but by noon it already tasted like it had been sitting out since sunrise. • Pepperoni slices had curled into little grease traps, and the cheese had that stiff, plasticky texture you usually only find on lunch trays. • Even the students seemed underwhelmed — same tired “pepperoni or cheese” routine with no signs of variety or effort. • If you grew up on Donatos, this might hit a nostalgic nerve. But in this setting? It just felt lazy.

🍗 Wings • Intended as a treat for the adults, but they showed up confused. • Texture was all over the place: some were dry to the point of jerky, others were so slick you needed grip strength just to eat without incident. • Not crispy, not juicy — just somewhere in the middle, and not in a good way.

🥗 Salad • Looked tired straight out of the container. • Wilted lettuce, thick slices of pale tomato, and cold pepperoni coins that felt like an afterthought. • Tried one bite and tapped out. Ended up giving it away after making sure my coworker knew I hadn’t gone past the first forkful.

📦 Delivery & Packaging • The one highlight: it arrived on time and neatly packaged. Logistics were smooth. • Everything was labeled, easy to distribute, and ready to go — just not worth going back for.

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💰 Price: Not applicable here (covered by school), but for the quality, I wouldn’t feel good paying menu price for what was served.

⏱️ Wait Time: Delivery was punctual — no issues there.

🪑 Seating: Not dine-in; this was a catered group order for a workplace/school event.

🅿️ Parking: N/A — delivery only in this case.

♿ Accessibility: Not reviewed, as this was not an on-site dining experience.

👧🏽 Kid-Friendly? Yes, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be excited. Even the students looked unimpressed. If you want something fun or memorable for kids, this isn’t it.

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📌 Final Take: Donatos is a longtime Columbus staple, but nostalgia isn’t enough when the food tastes like an obligation. It was edible, but not enjoyable — and in a setting meant to celebrate students, it missed the mark entirely.

If this is the default catering choice, it might be time to consider switching things up. Even a basic upgrade in quality, temperature, or variety would make a huge difference.

🗣️ Let Jess Tell It — if your pizza party tastes like punishment, it’s...

Does corporate refuse to allow management to adequately staff this location? Is it simple mismanagement? You will regularly find a long line of cars waiting at the window and people knocking on the (locked) door (mostly third-party delivery drivers) with nobody answering from inside the store, because there are not enough people working. Half-hour wait times (beyond the estimated ready time) are not unheard of. People not getting the food they ordered is not abnormal. This leads to since customers acting like idiots and getting violent or speeding off.

Don't blame this on the workers. This isn't about "nobody wants to work". This is about "companies and owners don't want to pay".

Donato's has already cut back on quality (everybody knows the product has gone downhill over years), and the entire industry has completely given up on the notion of customer service since COVID showed them that companies can do whatever they want and both customers and laborers will still need jobs and food.

This is the closest location to me yet I drive farther to go to other locations...which aren't...

Second attempt after giving it awhile after a bad altercation there and now I'm never stopping there ever again. The first issue I had was when I ordered four items and they gave us three and when I tried to explain the dude got an attitude. "THAT'S THE CALZONE THATS THE CALZONE." No dude it was frickin cheese bread so he stepped away and got the manager after arguing with him that I got three items out of four I ordered. Manager comes and we show him everything and then he comes back and was like "He didn't know man he didn't know." Well if he didn't know then why was he arguing with me about three out of four items I ordered.

This time there was hair all up in are orders, they need a health inspector to pop in and shut the down or something cause that's nasty. And because if the attitude there it wasn't even worth attempting to go back and try and either get a refund or remake.

If you like rude and attitude and messed up orders then this...