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DOORDASH Meal Delivery Review (2024)

Scott Hirsch

In a Nutshell

“The service was flawless,” raves the Washington Post in a review of DoorDash’s delivery service. “Not a single grain of sushi rice out of place,” they add. Chalk that up to DoorDash’s 530,000-plus “dashers,” the delivery drivers who whisk meals from local restaurants to customers’ doors with a focus on speed and accuracy

pros

  • Schedule group orders in advance for parties or meetings
  • Real-time delivery tracking on your phone
  • “Dasher Pay Model” for drivers increases speed and quality

cons

  • Additional fees can vary by restaurant
  • Extra charges may apply if you don’t meet a minimum subtotal

DoorDash DoorDash Visit Site

Best For

  • Singles and urban professionals living in large cities
  • Busy employees and parents on tight schedules
  • Meeting planners who need to feed medium-sized groups 

DOORDASH Meal Plans

DOORDASH offers “on-demand” meal delivery options from local restaurants that range from simple burgers and fries to fancy shrimp scampi and salad. You can also choose to pick up from local eateries, grocery, and convenience stores. Options will vary by location and availability. Delivery is available throughout the US, Canada, and Australia.

How much does DOORDASH cost?

DoorDash is free to sign up and costs will depend on your orders. The restaurants range from casual sandwich shops to upscale eateries. Fees apply to some restaurants and vary from case to case.

The DoorDash subscription, known as “Dash Pass” is available in select cities and costs $9.99 per month. It includes free delivery and further discounts. Food choices, location, and other factors can impact the money spent using the service.

Membership cost
Price per plan
Price per meal
Price per week
Shipping

Free-

$9.99/month

Varies per order

Varies per restaurant

Varies per number of orders

Fees vary per restaurant.

Free delivery with a monthly subscription or with orders over $12.00

How DOORDASH Works

Sign-up

DoorDash works similarly to most other on-demand apps. Sign-up is free and easy; you can sign in through Facebook or by email. DoorDash can be used on a web browser as well as its app.

Payment

Payment is done through a credit card. Simply enter your credit card into your account profile, which can be stored for future use. You can tip the driver by entering the amount into your order before submitting it.

Dash Pass

Users in select cities can opt for a Dash Pass, a subscription service that offers incentives such as free delivery and lower service fees for orders over $15. If the Dash Pass is available in your city, you can use the Dash Pass search tab to find restaurants that apply or just look for the Dash Pass checkmark next to the individual restaurant listing. The Dash Pass costs $9.99 per month and can be canceled at any time.

Choosing meals

To start choosing the food you desire, type the address of your delivery location into the app or website and your restaurant options will pop up. You can use search filters such as cuisine, price, vegetarian-friendly restaurants, and rating to help you narrow down your choices. If you want to add special instructions to your order, use the Preferences section under the Extra Instructions box of each individual menu item.

Dietary/flavor options

The culinary world is at your fingertips with DoorDash. Choose American, Asian, Chinese, Indian, Italian, or just about any cultural cuisine available in your city. Use Doordash’s search filter to find vegan, vegetarian, or other diet-friendly options such as gluten-free.

Here are a few participating chain restaurants:

Cheesecake Factory offers appetizers, meals and desserts such as cheese flatbread pizza, factory chopped salad, fish and chips and caramel apple cheesecake. 

Chick Fil A- items include spicy chicken deluxe sandwich, macaroni and cheese, Chick Fil A chicken strips, or cobb salad. Chick Fil A offers low-carb items as well such as spicy southwest salad.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries offers hamburgers, cheeseburgers, little cheeseburgers and Kosher style hot dogs

City Bird- Choices include medium pack with 6-7 chicken tenders, sauce and fries, citybird sandwich with city slaw, city sauce and toasted potato bun or lemon thyme sandwich with shredded iceberg, lemon thyme ranch and potato bun

DOORDASH Menu types/dietary options

Menu types and dietary options will vary depending on participating restaurants and city locations. Most major fast-food chains are available as well as pizza places, local eateries, and some bakeries. Ice cream, cookies, and other treats may also be available in your neighborhood as well.

Wild Ginger (Asian)- Cincinnati- enjoy delicious dishes such as wild ginger lettuce wraps, spicy tuna salad, California roll and sushi combo.

Buddy V’s Cake Slice (Cincinnati) offers huge slices of fresh vanilla rainbow cake, confetti cake, chocolate fudge cake and red velvet.

Mixteco Mexican Grill (Chicago)- try their Azteca quesadilla, cilantro lime shrimp fajitas, pollo enchiladas or chimichanga

Moti Masala (Chicago)- Indian inspired pizzas include vindaloo pizza, masala elote pizza, samosa smash pizza and palak pizza.

Cooking instructions

No meal prep or recipes are needed! Meals are prepared at participating restaurants. DoorDash is all about delivering what you crave to your door. If you order groceries, you’re on your own!

How is DOORDASH unique?

DoorDash understands the needs of today’s modern urban eater. Career, family, and lack of cooking skills are just a few reasons why more and more people rely on delivery services. DoorDash steps in by offering customizable delivery services that cater to busy schedules. 

For example, customers who are hosting guests, holding office meetings, or planning a family dinner can schedule their orders in advance. Groups can order through a collective order cart, reducing the stress of making a last-minute order and leaving more time for other priorities.

Since it leaves the actual cooking to the professionals, DoorDash puts all of its effort into excellent delivery. This means that customers can expect speedy, reliable deliveries with food packaged just as the chef pictured. DashDoor also offers real-time tracking so customers can know exactly where their food is and when it will arrive.

In addition, the company uses a Dasher Pay Model, which ensures its delivery drivers a certain tip for each delivery. Customers are free to tip what they want, and if their tip doesn’t meet the amount the driver was promised, DoorDash will make up the difference. This guarantee ensures that drivers are well-paid, which increases delivery efficiency and overall customer experience.

DOORDASH Dietary Options

Your options will obviously vary by your location. But to give you a taste of what may be available, we entered a few random addresses into the search bar for cities across the country. These results are not meant to be all-inclusive, as the specific address, time of day, and other variables will affect the results. Here is a sample of some of the results that came up in our search:

  • Wild Ginger (Asian)- Cincinnati
  • Buddy V’s Cake Slice (Cincinnati)
  • Mixteco Mexican Grill (Chicago)
  • Moti Masala (Chicago)

DOORDASH App

Great food is at your fingertips with the DoorDash app. Order, pay, and track your food orders through the app. It stores payment information and is simple to use and navigate.

Both the DoorDash website and app have extensive support pages and FAQs. For immediate issues such as a missing delivery, there’s a self-help tool in the app that provides the quickest route to reporting and resolving urgent problems.

Real-time delivery tracking

DoorDash offers delivery status and live tracking inside the app. To check the status of your order, go to the Orders tab which will list either Confirmed, At the Restaurant, or On its Way. If your food is on its way, a live map will appear showing your driver’s location. You can also text or call your driver directly through the contact tabs beneath your order status.

DOORDASH Customer Service

Hours of operation: DoorDash operates 24/7 but delivery times vary depending on opening and closing times.

  • Methods of contact: by phone: (855) 973-1040.
  • Getting refunds: Navigate to the “Orders” tab and choose the order you want to request a refund on.
  • Click the “Help” tab and choose what was wrong with your order.
  • Add any relevant details under the “Details” section and submit your report
  • Supporting documentation and additional reading: https://dasher.doordash.com/en-us/faq

How to Cancel or Pause DOORDASH

DoorDash is a free “use as you like” service through their app or website. The monthly Door Pass subscription service can be canceled at any time through the following steps:

  1. Launch open the DoorDash app, on your device. The DashPass cancellation process is the same for all the devices.
  2. Log in to your account.
  3. Navigate to the Account tab.
  4. Select Manage DashPass.
  5. Finally, click on the End Subscription button, to end the DashPass subscription.

How DOORDASH Compares to Other Meal Delivery Services

What makes DOORDASH different from other meal delivery services?


DoorDash
Grubhub
Ubereats
Postmates

Number of dietary restrictions available

Varies per participating restaurant and store

Varies per participating restaurant

Varies per participating restaurant

Varies by restaurant and store

Number of meal plans

Varies

Varies

Varies also delivers coffee

Varies also delivers alcohol

Amount of prep work required

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Packaging

Individually packaged for safety

Packed in an insulated bag from the restaurant

Individually packaged

Individually packaged

Delivers food within 45-minutes?

Yes, 15-minute grocery delivery, 40-45 minutes restaurant

No- delivery may take up to 50 minutes

Maybe, delivery time up to 50 minutes

Yes- average time 42 minutes


Doordash vs Grubhub

Both DoorDash and Grubhub offer multiple restaurants and food establishments to order food from. You may pay a service fee to both DoorDash and the restaurant with DoorDash.

Grubhub does not usually include restaurant service feeds, but may require a minimum order for delivery. Both DoorDash and Grubhub have the ability to enter a custom tip for the delivery person.

Doordash vs Ubereats

DoorDash may be better for small orders as they don’t enforce a minimum order, but do have a 7-15% service fee. Ubereats requires a minimum order of $10.00 to deliver food or you’re charged an additional $2.00. Ubereats serves more locations than DoorDash.

Both menu prices on Ubereats and DoorDash are more expensive than if you’d eaten in the restaurant. Some of this is due to inflation in addition to delivery service and fees to drivers.

Doordash vs Postmates

DoorDash and Postmates both partner with restaurants to deliver delicious food, though PostMates partners with double the number of restaurants (600,000 VS 300,000). They each serve about 4,000 cities worldwide.

DoorDash may be a bit cheaper when it comes to delivery feeds than Postmates. Both DoorDash and Postmates offer a subscription for $9.99 per month, and both offer free delivery for orders over $12.00. DoorDash primarily delivers food and alcohol while Postmates delivers “Anything from anywhere (groceries, alcohol, flowers, “fake birds”, etc.) 

Bottom Line:

DoorDash, an on-demand delivery service that connects customers to an array of restaurants throughout their city, leaves the cooking to the pros and focuses on what it does best: quick and reliable deliveries. It currently operates in 850 cities and is partnered with more than 300,000 restaurants, from boutique bakeries to local pizzerias and national chains like Chipotle and Cheesecake Factory.

Both their app and website feature easy searching, filters by cuisine, price, and rating, as well as live delivery tracking. Other highlights, such as collective carts for group orders, and options for pre-scheduled deliveries, answer the needs of the modern schedule. DoorDash is an ideal service for urban-professionals, students, busy office workers, and parents as well.

Frequently Asked Questions
What is a “Dasher”+-

The term Dasher refers to any of the over 1 million people who choose to deliver with DoorDash. Dashing is a term used to describe the act of delivering with DoorDash.

How much do drivers earn with DoorDash? Do Dashers earn a lot?+-

What a Dasher earns depends on where, when, and how often they deliver. Pay includes base pay, 100% of tips, Peak Pay where applicable, and other promotions.

What are the peak hours for DoorDash delivery?+-

When it’s busy out and Dashers are needed to meet order demand, you may see Peak Pay in the Dasher app. Deliver during these times to make extra on top of what you already earn.

Scott currently writes full-time for top10.com and has worked as a writer, editor, and researcher for top tech companies, including Groupon. Over the last decade he has covered stories in emerging tech, consumer trends, medical and wellness technology, media, science, and culture.

*The information on this site is based on research, but should not be treated as medical advice. Before beginning any new diet plan, we recommend consulting with a physician or other professional healthcare provider. Results may vary based on various health factors, individual weight loss plans and adherence to the meal plan.

DoorDash

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