Donatos Pizza — Restaurant in Fort Mill

We weren't sure what to eat a couple weeks back and decided to roll on in here to give it a shot.

The first thing I noticed were a few people outside, smoking, within a few feet of the door. So I'm immediately ready to turn around since the sidewalk reeks like an ash tray, but the kids were hungry and we were more or less committed and figured the owners would come chase these people away since SC law prohibits smoking from within 20' of any door/window/air intake of anywhere where smoking is prohibited (IE, everywhere but personal residences). More on that, later.

We go in and the place is dead but lots of orders are getting made to go. It's sorta like a counter order experience but there's tables in a room on the side. Seating is very uncomfortable and seems almost designed to keep you from wanting to eat in.

Or orders took a while but nothing obscene, pizzas take a while and there's a queue.

When they got to the table I was impressed by how fresh the ingredients were. The vegetables were clearly high quality and that is the end of my compliments...

I'm a sauce guy. If your sauce is bad, your pizza is bad. This sauce, when I could find any, lacked any personality whatsoever and I'm guessing it comes straight from the Sysco can. The sausage was bland and could easily have just been ground pork with nothing added to it. And they added this powder or something that felt like corn meal, but was apparently seasoning that dramatically reduced my ability to enjoy the pizza. It was everywhere and we ended up asking for as many hot pepper packets we could get to mask the seasoning and give the pizza some kind of flavor.

The kids had a pepperoni pizza (because, kids...). It's hard to mess up pepperoni and I was glad to find that they didn't manage to find pepperoni devoid of spices and herbs. I had a bite of theirs mainly because it looked like they'd put more sauce on it and I needed to isolate it to see if I was just getting that nasty powder neutralizing my tongue. Nope, just plane old tomato sauce.

Oh, and the people smoking next to the door? Yeah, they popped in and walked behind the counter. Had that happened before we ordered we'd have done an immediate about-face. (yes, I know restaurant workers frequently smoke, but they don't do so in the entryway)

Amongst my sphere of pizza lovers the sentiments regarding pizza quality are agreed upon. Definitely...

2-21-25 Once again, ordered my pizza online, said it would be ready by 6:10pm, got to restaurant around 6:08pm and my pizza was ready and looked amazing!!! Special touch with the Cheryl & Co. desserts! Those were my favorite from back in OH. Seems like they have really done a great job making improvements with this business. I will continue to support this location!

Update 9-29-24 Ordered pizza and cheese bread just in time for the Panthers game. Ordered at 10:30 for 12:30. Arrived promptly at 12:30 to find my order waiting for me fresh and 100% correct. Much better this time and was happy to see an improvement. 4 stars for this visit.

Ordered pizza at 5:45 pm on line. Received email saying it would be ready at 5:56pm. I arrived to Donatos at approximately 6:04 pm. Went up to the counter and gave them my name. The two girls at the counter told me it wasn't ready, so I stood back and waited. While standing there waiting, I could see employees in the back eating. I hope they washed their hands before handling the food again. I watched several pizzas get boxed and put under the heat rack. Still I waited. At 6:25pm I decided to ask again about the status of my order. And guess what?!?! My order had been sitting up under the heat racks the entire time!!! I was livid!!! I paid for the pizza (although my entire way home I kept thinking I should of had them make it over but, I didn't have all night to wait again) when I got home the pizza was warm at best, had to throw it in the oven which is an appliance I was trying not to use tonight, hence my ordering of pizza!

Dontatos, Fort Mill...you have got to do better!! This was not a...

I am so disappointed and sad with the pizza that I got today from Donato’s in Fort Mill. This pizza is nothing like the pizza I grew up, loving in Ohio. The Donatos I knew and loved, had a crisp crust and little crispy pepperonis that turned up. The pizza I got today the crust was not crispy, and the pepperoni seemed almost not even baked. I put it back in the oven once I got home and the pepperoni crisp up and the bottom of the crust got crisp just like I used to remember. I was so excited when Donato’s was coming to Fort Mill. I moved to Tega Cay from Ohio a few years ago. I used to get Donato‘s pizza in Ohio all the time. Since moving to the Carolinas, I’ve gotten Donatos pizza at Red Robin several times. My huge disappointment was that I normally diet, so I don’t eat pizza very often and I was very excited about having a good Donato’s pizza. To my disappointment, I ruined my diet for mediocre pizza and ended up having to put it back in the oven so I had to cook today as well as spending $45 for pizza. It’ll be a while, if ever,...