A national franchise is entering the local pizza game. Domino’s Pizza is scheduled to open its doors at the corner of 45th and Chestnut streets next Monday. The space was formerly occupied by the restaurant Demetris, which reopened last winter after being closed for remodeling, but closed again shortly after that.
Unlike many Domino’s restaurants that specialize in take-out and delivery, this location includes a half-dozen or so eat-in tables. This is the second Domino’s Pizza restaurant in West Philly. The other one operates in the Overbrook area (60th and Lancaster).
October 23rd, 2012 at 10:44 am
I thought it was going to be a clown store. I guess I was wrong!
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:16 am
Painting the cornices so they look like little hats makes the place kind of jaunty, I guess.
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:52 am
I won’t be eating there, but I wish them luck. That corner could use an anchor restaurant.
October 23rd, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Disgusting – looks like an even more putrid McDonald’s, on a block that has much to offer as it is.
How did a franchise land this corner, and why. There’s even a taunting sign in the restaurant that reads “Oh yes we did!,” as if they knew we’d be here…
October 24th, 2012 at 8:27 am
I hear that they will be serving $5 footlong pizzas to compete with another locally owned hoagie shop.
October 24th, 2012 at 8:36 am
I just wish it was a Pizza Hut!
October 24th, 2012 at 10:25 am
Can I just say that every time I walk by the Subway on Baltimore Ave., I never see any customers in there. Let that stand as a testament to our neighborhood.
October 24th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
You can’t be looking too hard. In support of industry and the economy, I eat at least one meal a day there.
October 24th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Seriously though, guys. It looks like it was built out of Legos.
October 24th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
To quote a British comedy, “it’s hardly in keeping with the village’s rustic aesthetic.” The red and the yellow…look up “garish” in the dictionary and it’ll show that. I love a cheap chain pizza as much as the next guy, and having one closer than Overbrook or Passyunk will be nice, but…man, could it be any louder?
October 25th, 2012 at 11:21 am
It’s almost too hilarious to even be visually offended. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of the think tank that made this decision.
“Say, what colors should we paint our new Domino’s Pizza?”
“I don’t know, the blue and white from Demetri’s isn’t too bad.”
“Ehh. Boring. Plus didn’t those losers go out of business, like, twice?”
“WAIT! I got it. Primary color — wait for it — TRIFECTA.”
/end scene
October 25th, 2012 at 11:42 am
I’m someone who is doing a lot of research into moving to West Philly (though I’m not unfamiliar – I’ve always lived outside of the city, and one of my jobs takes me into Philly very frequently). What I’ve read about the corner of 45th and Chestnut is that it’s a drug corner. I got that from a message board (possibly City-Data, I can’t remember), where a woman had just moved from that corner because she was tired of all the drug activity, and someone else chimed in to say “Oh yeah, 45th & Chestnut has been a drug corner for a long time”.
Which is not to say that’s true, but assuming it is, might not a stable anchor restaurant, even if it is a chain, be good for that corner? I don’t like chain restaurants any more than the rest of you. But it’s not as if this is 47th & Baltimore, or some other piece of prime real estate in University City that’s already pretty stable and is a likely spot for the next great mom & pop BYOB.
That’s just my thinking, but I could be completely wrong. As I said, I’m an outsider (and possibly future resident).
October 25th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Outsider, yes chicken charga is a highly-addictive substance. I don’t know how they get away with selling it out in the open like that.
October 26th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
I had Domino’s Philly Cheesesteak Pizza when I was in Kansas City last weekend. It was actually quite good.
October 27th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Have you seen Gold Star Pizza’s new paint job? Obviously Domino’s is just trying to stay competitive.