Pizza Chain Cheesy Bread Ranked Worst To Best

Portable and filling, pizza is the perfect food for parties, getting together with friends, or just taking a night off from cooking. But, pizza's sidekicks — salads, breadsticks, pasta, wings, and, of course, cheesy bread — are perhaps the best parts of a pizza night dinner. The side options available at a given pizza chain might even be enough to sway you one way or the other if you're trying to decide between two restaurants. If cheesy bread complete with butter, garlic, Italian seasonings, and flavorful marinara sauce to dip it in is your thing, you might consider picking the chain most known for having great, melty cheese bread. 

We're on team cheese bread ourselves, so we've ranked a selection of America's most popular pizza chain restaurants from worst to best based on their cheese bread. Now, you can be sure that you've made the best decision the next time you're craving an appetizer with an irresistible cheese pull.

Almost as bad as cheesy bread that you have to bake at home is Cici's cheese bread, which is often sitting out for a long time at the pizza chain's buffet with nothing but heat lamps to keep the cheese warm, but not quite melty. Cici's may be known for serving a variety of all-you-can-eat pizzas at one low price, but some locations have been given citations for letting their pies sit for longer than is safe to consume. The chain may claim to have invented the pizza buffet, but apparently, it's not executing that business model as well as it could.

Outside of food safety concerns, Cici's menu items, including the chain's cheesy bread, are not known for having the best quality or flavor. Cici's describes its garlic cheesy bread as made with the chain's pan pizza dough, savory garlic butter, 100% real cheese, and herby parmesan oregano seasoning. The pan pizza crust used as the base does have a good crunch on the outside and a soft texture in the center, but hours under the buffet lights means overall unreliability that we just can't rate highly.

Blaze, home of the "Fast Fire'd" pizza, is a pizza chain that allows customers to customize their made-to-order menu items, which include pizzas, salads, and cheese breads. Fans of the chain enjoy that Blaze has a lot of variety and freshly prepared menu items. However, Blaze didn't pass our test on many items, including Caesar salad and cheesy bread.

Blaze cheesy bread is made with all of the ingredients you'd want in cheese bread, including the chain's scratch-made dough, whole milk mozzarella, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil. However, we found that the melty cheese quickly cools down and congeals, resulting in an overly chewy bite that is not helped by the tough dough. Texturally, the bread absolutely requires a dip of the chain's marinara sauce for moisture, but even that is disappointing, as it's not quite as flavorful as we'd hoped. Unfortunately, Blaze's cheesy bread leaves you wanting more.

The next mid-list chain is Papa John's, which lands in the center of the pack due to inconsistency and general disagreement between pizza lovers as to whether the chain serves up quality dishes.

Officially, Papa John's says its cheesesticks are made with the chain's signature pizza dough and "mounds" of mozzarella cheese. However, the verdict is out on whether that claim is true. One review knocked Papa John's for its ingredients, citing that there was not enough of the cheese. In addition, the reviewer thought the cheesesticks had a "thin and cardboard-like" crust. Not all pizza fans feel that way, though. A Reddit user said the cheese sticks are "the best thing papa has."

In our experience, Papa John's cheesesticks are just okay. Of course, Papa John's does win some points thanks to its signature garlic sauce, but not quite enough to kick the chain's cheesesticks to a higher spot on our list.

You might be surprised to see a menu item from Chuck E. Cheese this high on a Mashed list but hear us out. It's true that no one has ever claimed that Chuck E. Cheese, a chain known more for being an arcade and children's event venue than it is a pizza place, has amazing food. But, as far as cheesy bread goes, this one is well-loved.

Chuck E. Cheese's cheesy bread is garlicky, melty, and complete with a garlic spread and freshly shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. The bread is served with pizza sauce and light ranch for dipping.

It's hard to mess up cheese bread, given that it is generally just crust topped with a blend of cheese. It still takes some extra care to craft a truly great cheesy bread. As it turns out, Chuck E. Cheese actually makes its cheese bread in-house, as confirmed by a former employee. This helps to elevate Chuck E. Cheese's take on the classic pizza side dish and means diners aren't subjected to reheated frozen cheese bread.

Some may think it's bold of us to rank Little Caesar's this high, but when thinking about the best cheese bread available across the country, many factors come into play. Not only do things like taste, ingredients, and consistency matter, but we also have to consider availability and cost. When it comes down to satisfactory-to-high performance in all of those different categories, it's hard not to consider Little Caesar's a high ranker. In fact, this isn't the first time Little Caesar's has nearly outranked its competitors. Mashed previously found the chain to be better than Pizza Hut for affordability.

In terms of the budget chain's Italian cheese bread, it's akin to a Detroit-style crust with crispy and browned cheese edges. Some feel that the bread doesn't have enough cheese, but generally, fans of the chain say it's just the right amount of cheesy and garlicky. Little Caesar's Italian cheese bread is made from the same dough as the chain's pizzas but features a coating of butter and a parmesan topping. All of that for $6? We're in.

Marco's is a standout pizza chain loved by diners across the country. In 2019, it was named "America's 'Pizza Chain of the Year'" by The Harris Poll. So, it's safe to say that the company is doing something right. One of those things Marco's is definitely doing right is its Cheezybread.

Marco's Cheezybread starts with the chain's signature dough, which is made fresh in-store every day. Although the dough for the cheese bread is similar to the chain's pizza crust, you'll find the Cheezybread to be a bit airier. Then, the dough is topped with three cheeses and garlic sauce and baked until it's golden and bubbly. The bread is served alongside both pizza sauce and ranch, so cheese lovers can have their pick of which flavor they're in the mood for. If you prefer one or the other, you can choose which suits you best. Marco's Cheezybread is so good you can eat it on its own as an entrée ... we won't tell.

The award for best cheese bread on our list goes to Domino's! As one of the biggest pizza chains in America, Domino's wins for a variety of different reasons. Firstly, the chain's stuffed cheesy bread is just plain tasty. It features a hefty blend of 100% mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Domino's absolutely loads its cheese bread with melty cheese, making for a wonderful cheese pull that actually looks like the commercials. Some may say it's a little too heavy-handed on cheese, but for this ranking, we think any menu item with "cheese" as its primary descriptor should be heavy on cheese.

Cheese amount aside, Domino's bread alone is perfectly soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. It's topped with seasonings like garlic oil and parsley and served alongside the chain's flavorful marinara sauce. Try Domino's garlic sauce or ranch for something different. The perfect dipping sauce is, in our opinion, a must for any solid cheese bread, and Domino's has a good variety.

Domino's is also a readily available chain nearly anywhere you go, making it win out for accessibility. Its price point of around $6 also helps it win for affordability, especially given how much cheese is piled on. Lastly, Domino's wins out for consistency. Its cheese bread is always on point, no matter when you order it or which location you choose to order from. It's never overbaked or lacking in cheese or seasoning. Overall, it's a solid cheese bread that never disappoints.