Original Pizza Hut

[PollyannaMom]

I loved Pizza Hut back in the day! (Pan pizza and making my own salad - yum!!)

I'm pretty sure my home town still has a stand-alone restaurant, but I live several hours away now. My current town doesn't even have one of the mash-ups. (KFC is paired with Taco Bell.)

 

[NightGuardianAngel]

To add, the good old days when kids in school used to read books and earn free personal pan pizzas (reading goals were established by the teacher ranging to at least a certain amount of minutes per month, certain amount of books per month, earning a certain amount of points on the accelerated reader, etc.). Free personal pan pizza = Free family night out.

 

[tvguy]

We have a couple of those still but I think in my area, the biggie was Straw Hat Pizza.

Same here. But now our go to is Mark and Monica's.

 

[bushdianee]

The one I frequent looks like that on the outside but is just a take out now. I have no idea what they did with all that space from the dining room and salad bar.

 

[_19disnA]

Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell are all owned by Yum brands now.

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/kfc-pizza-hut-and-taco-bell-put-a-big-change-on-the-menu

I sometimes wonder if any of these corporate types who run the place have ever eaten there recently?............LOL.

 

[Micca]

I loved Pizza Hut back in the day! (

Pizza Hut was actually pretty good back in the day. It wasn't pizzeria good, but it was way better than it is now. Not sure when they went downhill, I suppose when Dominoes/Papa John's/Lil Caesars etc. started competing for which place could sell the cheapest pizza, rather than one that actually tasted good.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

What do you mean fresh ingredients? My brother worked at Pizza Hut through high school in the 80s. Their dough was made daily on premises. They were undeniably better “back in the day”, much like every restaurant was before they were bought up by some corporation like Yum or PepsiCo. Pizza Hut was never traditional pizza, but it was good when you wanted greasy pan pizza and kids loved it. It’s like Panera Bread. Panera was legitimately excellent food before they started hot bathing everything out of a plastic bag. Most companies don’t grow to that level without being good to begin with. It’s when they are bought out and cost cutting happens and all food is made off premises in the name of safety and consistency. Chili’s, Dunkin’, Panera, Pizza Hut, the list goes on and on of places that were good when they cooked real food in house.

No Pizza Hut wasn't undeniably better. They stank. And they always stank. And nobody that knows what a real pizza is would ever say anything different. As for Panera, it was pretty good before it got that particular name. But it's been what it is ever since it became Panera. And before it became Panera, it wasn't nation wide. Chilis has always been what it is too. And yes, chains most certainly can become big without being great. Just look at McDonald's. When it comes to becoming big, lots of capital is more important than great food.

 

[dioxide45]

I miss the lunch buffet they used to do many years ago in those buildings with the red roofs. I can still find a few KFC buffet on long road trips, but none of the Pizza Hut offer the buffet anymore.

 

[Smugpugmug]

This is going to make me sound very young, but I never knew Pizza Hunt was even focused on in house dining. The only places I've ever had Pizza Hut were in the Czech Republic and it was actually really good. It had a full bar too where you could order cocktails and not just beer. I've seen a full fletched Pizza Hut like the pictures on this thread in Germany on the way to the Netherlands. It had a bar with a selection of beers and the pizza wasn't too bad either. I only go to local pizza places in my area so I probably wouldn't go to Pizza Hut now.

 

[firefly_ris]

I loved Pizza Hut when I was a kid. I still remember those red cups, salad bar, and how I wanted those Land Before Time puppets.

Pizza in Maryland is not good in general so it was good to me.

 

[mrodgers]

We still have one red roof Pizza Hut nearby, but I think that is the only one in our area. They just started the lunch buffet again.

I went to Pizza Hut a lot in my teens and early 20s. It was the place to go after a Friday night football game.

Yup, spent plenty of nights after the game at Pizza Hut.


It was mentioned fresh ingredients earlier in a post. That was the best part of Pizza Hut back in the day. Love mushrooms on pizza and they were the only ones who did fresh. Even the best pizza shops was canned mushrooms. Still is with most, other than the fancy sit down restaurant style. I can't think of a single good pizza pickup no tables cooked in a real pizza oven with non-frozen dough and real cheese ever in my locations that used fresh mushrooms.

 

[mrodgers]

No Pizza Hut wasn't undeniably better. They stank. And they always stank. And nobody that knows what a real pizza is would ever say anything different. As for Panera, it was pretty good before it got that particular name. But it's been what it is ever since it became Panera. And before it became Panera, it wasn't nation wide. Chilis has always been what it is too. And yes, chains most certainly can become big without being great. Just look at McDonald's. When it comes to becoming big, lots of capital is more important than great food.

I never called Pizza Hut, pizza. I called it pizza hut. "Hey, want to get a pizza?" "How about pizza hut? I'm kind of craving a pizza hut right now. We always get pizza."

We shouldn't compare Pizza Hut to pizza. It's a different product entirely in my opinion. Like saying a stromboli isn't real pizza. Correct, it's not pizza at all just like Pizza Hut isn't pizza at all in my eyes.

Like saying Chicago pizza is pizza. It's not. It's a casserole. That doesn't mean those who like it shouldn't, but calling it and comparing it to pizza is wrong.

 

[mrodgers]

This is going to make me sound very young, but I never knew Pizza Hunt was even focused on in house dining. The only places I've ever had Pizza Hut were in the Czech Republic and it was actually really good. It had a full bar too where you could order cocktails and not just beer. I've seen a full fletched Pizza Hut like the pictures on this thread in Germany on the way to the Netherlands. It had a bar with a selection of beers and the pizza wasn't too bad either. I only go to local pizza places in my area so I probably wouldn't go to Pizza Hut now.

Don't feel bad. I'm 50 and wondering what everyone is talking about Pizza Hut is only pickup or delivery with no dining. I don't know where that would be, all Pizza Huts I see and know about are the red roofed buildings and have dining. They're everywhere I go.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We used to have half day Fridays once a month when I was in school. Which mostly meant kids swarming the neighborhoods in the middle of the day. It was the 80s so we were left to our own devices. My group of friends would always go to Pizza Hut. I fondly remember that scalding hot pan and soda out of those red cups, plus quarters to play the arcade games. A simpler time and the pizza tasted so much better.

 

[tvguy]

I never had Pizza that wasn't made at home until I was almost an adult. Grew up in the 1960's and started College in 1975, and money was very tight and all Pizza Parlor pizza was expensive. But as I got older Pizza Hut was our favorite. All the dine in locations here are gone now, just the pickup locations, most in old Winchells Donut Houses.
The price spread these days for a pizza is amazing. Dominos large is $7.99 and the local family owned pizza place is $28.99. Yes, the ingredients are far better on the more expensive pizza, but NOT $20 better.

 

[NightGuardianAngel]

Also, to be honest, some of my most precious childhood memories from the 1980s of Pizza Hut were made dining in at Pizza Hut and not dining at home on food made and delivered by Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut really killed that tradition when it eliminated the dining rooms. The buffet, the red and white table cloths, the red drink glasses, the cocktail pac man video game tables where you played pac man sitting down, team dinner for all sports team players at Pizza Hut after a ball game no matter if they won or lost the game, etc were priceless memories. None of that is possible at a delivery or take out only storefront.

 

[DisneyHardin]

The Pizza Hut by me still looks like that one. We order it for delivery every now and then. The Pizza Hut in my hometown closed and became a Mexican restaurant called Guadalajara, but everyone calls it GuadaHut