I grabbed a pan pepperoni from a Pizza Hut for the first time in more than a decade. It sucked. Nothing about it was the same. Flatter bread with no grease, flavorless pepperoni and cheese, and sauce that was just off.

No wonder almost all around me have closed. Pizza Hut used to have good pizza. Definitely not worthy of a sit down meal anymore - probably why they no longer have the option.

Funny. Little Caesars has gotten a lot better than when they sold the 2 pizzas in the paper wrapped container.

Pizza Hut used to be greasy good pizza. Now it does suck. Also, the last time I tried it they put some kind of garlic butter jizz on the crust. WTF. GROSS.

No, they’ve all become the to-go type places modeled after Dominoes which is what they really are now.

I agree, they don’t even resemble the Pizza Hut I grew up eating in the 80’s and 90’s.

Saw a Reddit post from a long term employee who documented exactly what happened: in the late 90’s/early 2000’s they stopped making the dough fresh on site every day, and went to frozen disks. The sauce recipe changed, they started using a cheaper cheese and all the calorie labeling BS the Dems pushed through forced them to stop greasing the pan pizza pans like they used to.

They’re dead to me.

They got rid of the few that still existed around here. We found one location for take out where the thin crust tasted exactly like 35+ years ago. They just got smaller. We probably ordered every two weeks on average though the Covid BS period. After Bidenomics took a firm grip around February, they went up by around say 90-100%, so we said goodbye permanently.

"pizza"

The one by me has no intention of reopening the dining area. I have a lot of fond memories of times spent in a Pizza Hut as a kid and even with my owns kids.

Since Oz_Shadow brought up Little Caesar’s, my wife had me pickup a Detroit style pepperoni with extra cheese last week. It was ok for the money, the kids like it, and I’d eat it again. It might be the only pizza our whole family will eat.

I have one near me and I'm not sure how it stays open. I rarely see anyone there. Maybe their takeout business is good.
I used to go with friends a long time ago and then their pizza started getting too greasy for some reason. Haven't been back.

Back in the early 70's when I was in high school I remember Pizza Huts being the high end fancy place to go eat. Still have one in the town I grew up in, I went back to visit a childhood friend who still frequents 'the hut' and mentioned to him that I normally pay 30-35 dollars for a pizza to go and he just about laid a brick... but then he pretty much lives off McDoubles and Frys.

The closest Pizza Hut to us is a good 30 miles away & we haven't been there in years. But now that you mention it, I've seen very few cars in the lot whenever we drive by.

If you have a cast iron pan, Kenji will tell you how to make your own. I usually do it on the BGE but have tried the oven and gotten good results. Seriously, it's almost the same as you remember and might be the same as you remember
Pan Pizza

There are only Pizza Hut Express here.

I haven't been to a Pizza Hut in about 40 years.
There are so many great mom-and-pop pizza places around here that there's no reason to go there.

Our Pizza Hut closed a couple years ago. It used to have the best pizza around. It had a good atmosphere and people enjoyed going there to eat, but it seemed to go through a series of upper management changes and their service and food quality began to drop. Local management became unfriendly and distant and people quit going there with the expextant results.

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
If you have a cast iron pan, Kenji will tell you how to make your own. I usually do it on the BGE but have tried the oven and gotten good results. Seriously, it's almost the same as you remember and might be the same as you remember
Pan Pizza

Yeah, I can't remember the last time we actually bought a pizza, frozen or even from a pizza shop. It has to be at least 20 years. My wife makes her own dough, and sometimes we make pan pizza in the oven, but mostly it's "brick oven" pizza on the grill.

We learned the "brick oven pizza" trick when Alton Brown had his old Good Eats show on the Food Network.

You put unglazed quarry tile, (Available at Lowes, or HD for about a buck a piece.), on the grate on your grill, or on the rack in the oven. Then preheat to 500 degrees, and put your homemade pizza on. In 4-5 minutes you have "brick oven pizza." And you'll never buy another frozen pizza again.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
I haven't been to a Pizza Hut in about 40 years.
There are so many great mom-and-pop pizza places around here that there's no reason to go there.

Exactly.

I don't bother with mediocre pizza from Dominoes/Pizza Hut/Papa Johns/etc., considering that for the same amount of money you can get a fantastic pizza from an actual pizza restaurant, or for less money you can just make a pizza yourself (which honestly doesn't take that much effort).

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
If you have a cast iron pan, Kenji will tell you how to make your own. I usually do it on the BGE but have tried the oven and gotten good results. Seriously, it's almost the same as you remember and might be the same as you remember
Pan Pizza

https://youtu.be/uYxB4QBlrx4

Here's another cast iron pizza recipe that I do. Better than chain pizza everytime.

I love greasy pizza and hate dry crust pizza.

Went to a place that sells pizza, tacos and burgers last year and asked the waiter if the crust on their pizza was dry or moist and greasy. Told him I hate dry crust.

He thought about it for a while and said that the toppings were so good he didn't notice if it was dry or not.

Translation: He didn't want to badmouth his employer, so he took a creative way out.

I ordered tacos.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
Back in the early 70's when I was in high school I remember Pizza Huts being the high end fancy place to go eat.

Same here, it was the only place to go in my small Iowa town back then.
Haven't been to a PH in a long long time but since then my culinary pizza taste has been refined, so much that I had to make them mostly myself.
Unfortunately, recently going KETO has nixed pizzas in the traditional format.
It is a shame because I LOVE good pizza.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

I don't bother with mediocre pizza from Dominoes/Pizza Hut/Papa Johns/etc., considering that for the same amount of money you can get a fantastic pizza from an actual pizza restaurant, or for less money you can just make a pizza yourself (which honestly doesn't take that much effort).

I discovered Dominos upped their pizza game about 4 years ago. They're actually less expensive than mom and pop restaurants. And up until six months ago, I liked them.

Then I discovered a couple of pizza places and one of them has a great take on the "deluxe" version in terms of flavors. Now, when I think of wanting pizza, Dominos may come up in my mind for a second but is quickly shut down with thoughts of "why waste time and money" when you can have great pizza."

Sadly we lost our dine in Pizza Hut last year. I always meant to take my kids to their buffet so they could experience a bit of my childhood but we have a local mom & pop pizza place that is vastly superior to the hut. Our Pizza Hut was torn down and its spot on the main drag has been turned into a 5 minute oil change shop.

It's been a hot minute since I've seen one that still uses real ovens. Most chain places use conveyor or impinger ovens now, which obviously work, but it just isn't the same.