The Fastest Pizza Delivery on Campus

We’ve all had those days. It’s getting late, your homework has no end in sight and your stomach is rebelling against the recently consumed dining hall food. When the urge for pizza strikes, there’s really no point in trying to fight back. The only thing you can do is sit back and attempt to determine which pizza place will deliver to your dorm in the shortest amount of time. Luckily for you, we at Spoon created a guide to help you figure it out. In order to compare the delivery times for the following pizza eateries, I simultaneously (or as close to simultaneously as possible) ordered these pizzas and kept track of the time between ordering and delivery.

Photo by Emily Waples

1. Name of Restaurant: Domino’s Pizza

            Time of Delivery: 25 minutes

            Merchants-on-Points: Yes

            Comments: I have yet to find another pizza place that will deliver to my dorm room in the time it takes to complete an episode of The Office. Major props to Domino’s for also having an awesome pizza delivery driver who was familiar enough with Duke’s campus to realize that cell service sometimes makes receiving phone calls impossible, and therefore followed up with a text message. Needless to say, Domino’s proved to be the clear winner, as its triple threat combination of speed, taste and customer service was hard to beat.

2. Name of Restaurant: Enzo’s Pizza

            Time of Delivery: 45 minutes

            Merchants-on-Points: Yes

            Comments: Enzo’s had a decisive second place finish in terms of delivery speed. It is also important to note that when I had a typo on my online order form, within ten minutes, Enzo’s called to clarify the information I had messed up. Overall, great work Enzo’s: second place was well-earned.

Photo by Emily Waples

3. Name of Restaurant: Mellow Mushroom, Devil’s Pizzeria

            Time of Delivery: 1 hour, 5 minutes

            Merchants-on-Points: No

            Comments: These delivery times are a little harder to distinguish because both Mellow Mushroom and Devil’s Pizzeria use the third-party vendor Takeout Central for pizza delivery. Let me be the first to say that Takeout Central is the best. Seriously. I had initially placed two separate orders to better determine the exact delivery times for each pizzeria, but I received a phone call shortly after letting me know that I would save a significant amount of money on delivery fees if I combined my orders. That, in combination with the extreme kindness of the driver, leads me to strongly recommend any restaurant using Takeout Central, even if the delivery time was a little slower.

It is important to note that a noticeable absence from this list is Papa John’s. Papa John’s pizza was ordered, but due to aforementioned sketchy cell service, my pizza was never delivered. The website suggests that the delivery of a pizza would take 90-100 minutes, which would place last on our list.

Enzo’s Pizza
Location: 2608 Erwin Rd, Durham, NC 27705
Hours: 11 am-12 am Sunday-Saturday

Mellow Mushroom
Location: 410 Blackwell St, Durham, NC 27701
Hours: 11:30 am-9 pm Sunday, 11 am-10 pm Monday-Thursday, 11 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday

Devil’s Pizzeria
Location: 742 9th St, Durham, NC 27705
Hours: Closed on Sundays, 11 am -11 pm Monday-Saturday