We Tried Domino's New Chicken Taco and Cheeseburger Pizzas. Here's Our Verdict.

When Domino's announced its new specialty pizzas earlier this week, their arrival on the menu was likely welcome news to anyone feeling a bit of pepperoni fatigue after many pizza orders throughout quarantine. The two new options -- Chicken Taco and Cheeseburger -- are decidedly different. But which one is better? We tasted both to find out.

To recap: The pizzas officially joined Domino's permanent menu on Monday. As the chain explained at the time, the flavors were inspired by foods that typically don't hold up well in transit when you order them for delivery -- the not-so-subtle point being they deliver better as pizzas. Unlike the chain's simpler options, these pizzas will set you back $11.99 each.

The first thing you'll taste when biting into a slice of Chicken Taco pizza is the taco seasoning Domino's used as a baseline flavor in place of its typical tomato pizza sauce. Without being overpowering, the seasoning instantly reminds your brain that this is no ordinary pizza and signals that you should be detecting flavors you'd associate with tacos. It's a great touch.

The pizza also sports grilled chicken, onions, green peppers, diced tomatoes, and three cheeses -- American, cheddar, and provolone. I found the onions and green peppers to be overpowering, and in different ways. In the case of the green peppers, their somewhat bitter flavor stood out as too powerful. As for the onions, their mushy texture detracted from every slice's generally delightful mouthfeel. The delicious blend of the three cheeses and the refreshing acidity of the tomatoes made up for these imperfections, but the chicken is what saved the day. It's tender, flavorful, and you get a decent amount of it. All it's missing is a cape.

Get a bite full of the taco seasoning, tomatoes, cheese, and chicken, and this pizza will remind you of a taco.

There's just one thing missing: spice. Domino's taco seasoning is sadly devoid of heat. And while the decision to include green peppers as a topping over, you know, some sort of spicy pepper is understandable (Domino's wants to please everyone), I couldn't help but feel disappointed. If you plan to order this pizza, I recommend subtracting green peppers and adding jalapeño peppers as a customization. Or you can do what I did and dress up your slices with some Cholula Hot Sauce.

So, does the Chicken Taco Pizza taste like chicken tacos? Not really. Will it satisfy your taco cravings and simultaneously save you from the disappointment that comes with receiving soggy tacos via delivery? If you use your imagination. Is it a tasty pizza? Definitely. 

You'll smell this pizza the moment you take off your face mask from your interaction with your Domino's delivery person. The chargrilled hamburger meat aroma that came off of this thing was intense. It was a sign of good things to come; specifically, the tasty and very burger-like ground beef Domino's uses for this pizza. The meat was certainly a highlight, but it wasn't the best part of this pizza.

Domino's ketchup-mustard sauce was the star of the show. The sweetness of the ketchup and the sharpness of the mustard tied all of the toppings -- the aforementioned beef, diced tomatoes, onion, American cheese, and provolone cheese -- together to create a combination of flavors that are unquestionably cheeseburger-like. Just keep in mind that you'll have to generally enjoy mustard to enjoy this pizza because the flavor is part of every bite. You'll also have to be into a generous helping of onions, which I personally could have done without, but dutifully ate to experience this pizza as Domino's intended.

I would have preferred slices of dill pickles to help cut through the fattiness of the meat and cheese, which the diced tomatoes fail to do on their own. Frankly, the absence of pickles on a cheeseburger pizza seems like a major oversight. I corrected this by draping a sliced sandwich pickle across my second slice and can safely say it was a major improvement despite the temperature discrepancy. I encourage everyone to follow my lead.

So, does the Cheeseburger Pizza taste like a cheeseburger? It comes pretty close despite its lack of pickles. Will it satisfy your hankering for a cheeseburger and spare you the disappointment of a soggy delivery cheeseburger? Potentially. All said, does it make for a good pizza? Yep.

Let's be real: neither of these pizzas can truly replace the foods on which they're based. If you want tacos, order tacos. If you want a cheeseburger, order a cheeseburger. You're probably ordering these things from a neighborhood spot you know is good, so a slightly soggy bun or tortilla is worth it despite what Domino's wants you to think. We can still respect what the chain is doing here, though. And if anything, these pizzas could help you avoid ordering your usual pepperoni pizza yet again. 

But if you have to choose one over the other, go with the Chicken Taco Pizza. The taco seasoning weirdly works well on a pizza. The chicken is good and plentiful. Slices are easy to doctor with a few dashes of hot sauce, which come to think of it, I probably would have added even if the pizza did pack a little heat of its own. 

No matter which one you choose (or if you just go with both), don't forget to tip your delivery person well. 

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