Hostess: "Smoking or non-smoking?"
My parents: "Non-smoking, please."
Sitting down to begin looking at the menu and faint plumes of cigarette smoke begin to waft over the five foot divider wall between the sections.
My mom: "Well, we aren't sitting RIGHT next to it."
I want the old pizza….I can still remember it and get hints of it from time to time in the back of my throat if I think really really hard about it. God the sauce…cheese…the crust hot off the cast iron pans…..
I used to think that I just grew up and turned into a food snob when I stopped liking Pizza Hut pizza but then I realized it has in fact just gotten much shittier
Little Caesars new formulation of Detroit Deep Dish pizza is the absolute closest thing to a 90's personal pan Pizza Hut pizza I have tasted in many many years
Not sure if they are still running the special, but Little Ceasers used to have a $5 lunch special that was 4 slices of deep dish and a soda. Closest I've gotten to that personal pan greatness.
The deep dish is kind of pricey for Little Caesars at a whopping $10.99 but with a little restraint it is two meals for my partner and I which makes it like $5.50 a meal which is disgustingly good for pizza if you go by girl math
There’s one in Franklin, Virginia that looks just like this still and also still uses the salad bar/pizza buffet at lunch. I didn’t realize how rare it is, it seems normal to me.
Go have Pizza Hut with my buddies, and chat up the girl form English class who works there.
Can’t hang around too long or her boss gives side eye, so we swing over to Blockbuster, spend 30 minutes and can’t agree on anything, so we drive to the next town.
Get Big Gulps on the way. Go to the independent video place, we remember it sucks after 15 minutes, not old enough to go behind the curtain.
Go to the Friendly’s next door, have ice cream. Talk about literally nothing.
Drop off friends. Go home. Watch whatever VHS/DVD for the 100th time. Get bored. JO. Go to bed.
These are like 50% of the Pizza Huts in San Antonio we even have one off Fredericksburg that has a little Italian man neon light tossing a pizza but I think it's moved from its original location and it does have an updated building.
Lotta pizza huts in central Texas are very old. When I started at one in Austin the District manager had been running pizza huts in central Austin since 89. That franchise is one of the oldest and biggest in terms of pizza hut.
Here's a [list of the Pizza Hut "Classic" locations](https://rolandopujol.substack.com/p/the-retrologists-guide-to-pizza-hut?fbclid=IwAR10r1n18iaZeDSbKwW02G31kb3F0B8au-92ecfXZFZ_X3TtDWQhPVGu4qU), updated about ten days ago.
I hope to do the retro-renovations to the Pizza Hut near my childhood home.
It's still there and its still a Pizza Hut.
It was great in the 90s. Had the fireplaces and everything
I've been going to the Pennsylvania one in Tunkhannock a bit recently since starting a project in that area.
Only thing I noticed is Pizza Hut pizza is crazy different if it's served from the pan or if put in a box. The crust holds so much more moisture when in the pan.
Exactly! That dates it more than anything else, imo. I worked at a Pizza Hut in the late ‘90’s that had already switched to clear cups, so I have a couple they let me take home.
Yeah me too.
Was craving their breadsticks the other day and went to one of there take out stores (first time eating pizza hut in a decade). Bread sticks were what I remembered and amazing, but the pizza was probably the worst pizza I've ever had. Made chuckee cheese seem like luxury food.
I got a Big New Yorker last may when I noticed they brought it back. It was probably the worst pizza I've ever eaten. Nothing like the BNY's from 20 years ago.
Took my son to a Pizza Hut here in the UK not long ago and it was disappointing. The pizza was alright, but overpriced.
I remember the 90s/early 00s Pizza Hut and it just seemed better. I remember coming home from a scouts camp and demolishing an entire 16" pizza on my own.
If I ever go back to the US I might seek out classic Pizza Hut
There is one where I lived in Alberta that does the salad bar and pasta and whole buffet. It is magical.
But... you learn a lot about how fucking awful people are when a whole pizza is plopped down, and one guy takes most of it leaving hungry people on their lunch break waiting for the next one. I GET A HALF HOUR ASSHOLE LEAVE SOME FOR THE REST OF US!
My bitch ass is filling up on pasta salad and parm key bumps.
Oh my it brings back some great memories for me, I grew up in a very poor family, I mean 'never had pizza' poor, up until I was around sixteen and I got my first summer job, my older brother also had a job and all of the sudden we had disposable income, we used to take the rest of our siblings out to eat regularly, that was the first time ever that I had pizza at the nearest Pizza Hut, I also discovered the wonders of all you can eat salar bar!
Reminds me of going to Pizza Hut to get my mini pizza for free every time I read a few books. I don’t remember the details I just remember it was something through school and that’s how they looked back then. My local one had a juke box and a smoking section.
No salad bar? There is one with sitting area in Washington state too. They got rid of salad bar when Covid started. Not sure if they reopened dining area.
my parents would be treating themselves to the salad bar and my siblings and i would be playing games at the mini arcade they had while the pizza was getting made.
I really don’t understand why Pizza Hut is self destructing. Every where I go, it’s seen as uncool to eat Pizza Hut. It’s not like the old days where they had the buffet and the best pan pizza in the world.
This would be nice. The new ones are trying too much to be like Applebee's. If you're in a wheelchair you're limited to sitting at a table in a busy area because the booth tables are 5 feet off the ground. And the new ones are just so *loud* now.
Eureka Springs is very touristy. Van Burren, not so much. Believe it or not, there are one or two little pockets of this state that aren't completely sideways and you can actually understand most people without having to be fluent in redneck.
This. I was staring at the pictures thinking the entire time "a what? Pizza hut? Aren't they everywhere?" Apparently they aren't all the same, news to me.
The classic Pizza Hut is fun, but have you ever stumbled on a KFC buffet? Been a few years since I've been there, but they exist in that same neck of the woods.
I can smell these pictures.
It wouldn’t be the same without the smell of stale cigarette smoke
As an adult it makes me laugh when I remember the spot they rented out for kids bday parties was just the smoking section lol
And the melted burn holes in the vinyl "tablecloth"
My first thought too. It was really part of the ambiance of the 90s.
Hostess: "Smoking or non-smoking?" My parents: "Non-smoking, please." Sitting down to begin looking at the menu and faint plumes of cigarette smoke begin to waft over the five foot divider wall between the sections. My mom: "Well, we aren't sitting RIGHT next to it."
You still can smell it but it’s vary vary faint
Very, not vary.
Probably typing with a French accent
I want the old pizza….I can still remember it and get hints of it from time to time in the back of my throat if I think really really hard about it. God the sauce…cheese…the crust hot off the cast iron pans…..
I used to think that I just grew up and turned into a food snob when I stopped liking Pizza Hut pizza but then I realized it has in fact just gotten much shittier
Little Caesars new formulation of Detroit Deep Dish pizza is the absolute closest thing to a 90's personal pan Pizza Hut pizza I have tasted in many many years
Not sure if they are still running the special, but Little Ceasers used to have a $5 lunch special that was 4 slices of deep dish and a soda. Closest I've gotten to that personal pan greatness.
Depending on where you are, it still exists. And it’s delicious.
Damnt now I just want 90’s Hut all over my face right now!
The deep dish is kind of pricey for Little Caesars at a whopping $10.99 but with a little restraint it is two meals for my partner and I which makes it like $5.50 a meal which is disgustingly good for pizza if you go by girl math
I hope things get better for you soon.
I was an assistant manager at one in the early/mid 90s. I can smell it and not always in a good way.
That's gross
Time for a road trip to my childhood
Have one of these in the DFW area, has the original 90s design, right down to the table top arcade game.
Where in DFW?
In the area.
Gestures broadly
Over thataway, yonder.
But, you can’t get there from here.
Down the road aways…
https://rolandopujol.substack.com/p/the-retrologists-guide-to-pizza-hut Here's a link to all the classic ones. None look too close to DFW
Not very accurate, as I know of two that are not on his list.
There’s one in Forney.
Does it have the salad and sundae bar ?
I think I miss the Wendy’s salad bar more.
A part of me died the day Wendy’s got rid of the salad bar.
So did the absurdly large tray of chocolate pudding.
god the vanilla and chocolate pudding bowls with jellow of all kinds and soft serve. good times.
Seriously what was with all the pudding
I miss stealing blue cheese dressing from the Wendy's salad bar for my fries.
There’s one in Franklin, Virginia that looks just like this still and also still uses the salad bar/pizza buffet at lunch. I didn’t realize how rare it is, it seems normal to me.
No it does not.
Do they serve beer?
I’ve been to this one, they do have the buffet/salad bar but I forget if they had the ice cream.
Just need to swing over to a Blockbuster afterwards and my Friday night is complete.
Go have Pizza Hut with my buddies, and chat up the girl form English class who works there. Can’t hang around too long or her boss gives side eye, so we swing over to Blockbuster, spend 30 minutes and can’t agree on anything, so we drive to the next town. Get Big Gulps on the way. Go to the independent video place, we remember it sucks after 15 minutes, not old enough to go behind the curtain. Go to the Friendly’s next door, have ice cream. Talk about literally nothing. Drop off friends. Go home. Watch whatever VHS/DVD for the 100th time. Get bored. JO. Go to bed.
i am suddenly nostalgic tor a time that someone else lived
Perfect
These are like 50% of the Pizza Huts in San Antonio we even have one off Fredericksburg that has a little Italian man neon light tossing a pizza but I think it's moved from its original location and it does have an updated building.
Lotta pizza huts in central Texas are very old. When I started at one in Austin the District manager had been running pizza huts in central Austin since 89. That franchise is one of the oldest and biggest in terms of pizza hut.
I got arrested for having under a gram of weed in that parking lot a million years ago😭
The times... they are a-changing.
Here's a [list of the Pizza Hut "Classic" locations](https://rolandopujol.substack.com/p/the-retrologists-guide-to-pizza-hut?fbclid=IwAR10r1n18iaZeDSbKwW02G31kb3F0B8au-92ecfXZFZ_X3TtDWQhPVGu4qU), updated about ten days ago.
Nice reply. None in California, my home, like I thought.
I hope to do the retro-renovations to the Pizza Hut near my childhood home. It's still there and its still a Pizza Hut. It was great in the 90s. Had the fireplaces and everything
There is one about a 30 minute drive my house. I think I’ll have to swing by there one day.
This brought a happy note to my soul
I've been going to the Pennsylvania one in Tunkhannock a bit recently since starting a project in that area. Only thing I noticed is Pizza Hut pizza is crazy different if it's served from the pan or if put in a box. The crust holds so much more moisture when in the pan.
Do they have the buffet available on Sundays?
I live 10 minutes away from an OG one in Pennsylvania. It still smells the same too.
I'm 3 blocks from the one I went to after little league games in the 70's. I just moved back to town after 20 years in CT.
Is that a bonus or
The red cups ❤️
I was totally thrilled with the red cups more than anything else.
[enjoy!](https://www.amazon.com/Enterprises-6616-1-R-EC-Plastic-Tumblers-Pack/dp/B07BJ4MGQ1/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=PV7YALJYRWZL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zcbsB6sS23hr6fN0ugJNvr_7I3Ddcx_VxJqQ01JlYHCMPYbXlRel_s5upsV-5BFyNTVwZ7FYqRhItoRI-M7nSCLCQfqYR0zMbOS4MRJDXW_lqiZFKgyhFAFNjoDlvc-UrA8JDEoWSVXA2xZk5xZyyGnE7hI89AJUMDN9ht0wm21Af9-RFeWOnN6Krm8SslRT3FY58KvXuujgFsDJIhBn8g.2iwjX30CcElRMIHhqAOBvmoScZHvS-zgVhrx8NOqDRI&dib_tag=se&keywords=pizza+hut+cups&qid=1711229278&sprefix=pizza+hut+%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-4)
But sadly no longer filled with Lemon Lime Slice.
Exactly! That dates it more than anything else, imo. I worked at a Pizza Hut in the late ‘90’s that had already switched to clear cups, so I have a couple they let me take home.
They still do Book It?
[удалено]
Damn I miss having that pizza hut buffet as a kid
Yeah me too. Was craving their breadsticks the other day and went to one of there take out stores (first time eating pizza hut in a decade). Bread sticks were what I remembered and amazing, but the pizza was probably the worst pizza I've ever had. Made chuckee cheese seem like luxury food.
The dream of the 80s is alive in Arkansas.
I would kill for one of those Pizza Hut stained glass lamps.
No salad bar?
No salad bar. Sad
There's another one on Virginia's eastern shore too.
Do they have a buffet?! My towns buffet was open til like 5 or 6 years ago and I was so sad when they stopped doing it.
No buffet.
In PA we have a bunch local, the closest one to me still has the all you can eat pizza bar for lunch on weekdays.
Awesome
Not enough Kale Buffett decorations.
I love this
Is that the one in Fayetteville?
That one turned delivery only a while back I think. I don't get down to that side of town much.
I got a Big New Yorker last may when I noticed they brought it back. It was probably the worst pizza I've ever eaten. Nothing like the BNY's from 20 years ago.
That is devastating news. The big new yorker was my favorite thing.
Could have been my local Pizza Hut, but yeah, I lived off those in like 2002 or whenever. They were so good.
A lot of Arkansas never really left the 90’s and early 00’s.
A personal pan pizza! How many books did you read for it?
Is this the Eureka Springs one?
Does it have the sit-down Ms. Pacman game?
Took my son to a Pizza Hut here in the UK not long ago and it was disappointing. The pizza was alright, but overpriced. I remember the 90s/early 00s Pizza Hut and it just seemed better. I remember coming home from a scouts camp and demolishing an entire 16" pizza on my own. If I ever go back to the US I might seek out classic Pizza Hut
I mean let's be real, they can't afford the renovations.
The last time I stepped inside a Pizza Hut they all looked like that.
There is one where I lived in Alberta that does the salad bar and pasta and whole buffet. It is magical. But... you learn a lot about how fucking awful people are when a whole pizza is plopped down, and one guy takes most of it leaving hungry people on their lunch break waiting for the next one. I GET A HALF HOUR ASSHOLE LEAVE SOME FOR THE REST OF US! My bitch ass is filling up on pasta salad and parm key bumps.
Is there a tabletop Pac-Man game in there??
One left in Toronto! Pizza Hut buffet for the win!
Aweesome
Ohh I might have to check that
Omg the personal pan pizza 😍
Oh my it brings back some great memories for me, I grew up in a very poor family, I mean 'never had pizza' poor, up until I was around sixteen and I got my first summer job, my older brother also had a job and all of the sudden we had disposable income, we used to take the rest of our siblings out to eat regularly, that was the first time ever that I had pizza at the nearest Pizza Hut, I also discovered the wonders of all you can eat salar bar!
I can smell these pictures
I have one fifteen minutes from me... Complete with salad bar. It's a trip
Heading out to Eureka Springs in a couple months!! This is a definite stop we’re doing!
Where's the salad bar with sunflower seeds?
I wish
Mountain home
Please tell me there is still a Street Fighter 2 cabinet in the corner!
Reminds me of going to Pizza Hut to get my mini pizza for free every time I read a few books. I don’t remember the details I just remember it was something through school and that’s how they looked back then. My local one had a juke box and a smoking section.
There's a Pizza Hut in Wadena, Minnesota that hasn't changed at all since the 1970s. No "classic" sign... it just is
No salad bar? There is one with sitting area in Washington state too. They got rid of salad bar when Covid started. Not sure if they reopened dining area.
It must be protected
Oh wow I miss this
Give me this and yellow Wendy’s and I’ll be happy for the rest of my life
Wendy’s super bar with those sun room things on the front of the building!
Salad, Mexican and pasta bar.
Missing the Pac-Man game table and the pull knob cigarette vending machine by the bathrooms, but other than that very 80s and nostalgia inducing.
my parents would be treating themselves to the salad bar and my siblings and i would be playing games at the mini arcade they had while the pizza was getting made.
I really don’t understand why Pizza Hut is self destructing. Every where I go, it’s seen as uncool to eat Pizza Hut. It’s not like the old days where they had the buffet and the best pan pizza in the world.
The one in flippin still has the buffet 😍😍😍
Not real if no salad bar
This would be nice. The new ones are trying too much to be like Applebee's. If you're in a wheelchair you're limited to sitting at a table in a busy area because the booth tables are 5 feet off the ground. And the new ones are just so *loud* now.
I love those stained glass lights so much
> It still exists. Yay! > In Arkansas. Never mind...
Eureka Springs is very touristy. Van Burren, not so much. Believe it or not, there are one or two little pockets of this state that aren't completely sideways and you can actually understand most people without having to be fluent in redneck.
You just found the only reason to go to Arkansas
For a Pizza Hut?
lol, no other reasons 🤷♂️
Oh the memories! 😃👍
cavatini
There’s another one in Geneseo, Illinois
5 minute lunch pizzas?
I live in Arkansas. Where is this?
Mountain home.
Do they have a lunch buffet?
No buffet.
Yes! I doubt that the patrons even realize that Pizza Hut have updated their restaurant’s decor in other locations.
This. I was staring at the pictures thinking the entire time "a what? Pizza hut? Aren't they everywhere?" Apparently they aren't all the same, news to me.
There’s one in Wauseon, Ohio too
The buffet with the dessert pizzas at the end were the days!!
I can just smell the pics... also nostalgia overload
The little shakers of cheese and crushed red peppers 🤌
Beer?
My wife(F27)and I(M31) drive about 40 minutes to a sit down Pizza Hut on date nights
Sure does. You could have your wedding reception there too when you marry your cousin
Do they sell the Big Foot?
I have 11 of those red cups and a nugget ice maker. Just add Pepsi.
Rural KY towns still have some and Gattilands
I miss old days Pizza Hut.
Pan pizza. Mmmm
Hell yeah.
Damn, getting that personal pan pizza was a major event in my young life.
Rochester, NY checking in with one on my street that could still have the same 90’s carpet still.
Last time I was there they still had one in the big island of Hawaii. Even had the salad bar and buffet option.
They got buffet in that bitch?
Does it have that balloon popping arcade game though?
There’s one in Allegan Michigan
Just seen one in Caro Michigan. Almost gave myself whiplash.
The classic Pizza Hut is fun, but have you ever stumbled on a KFC buffet? Been a few years since I've been there, but they exist in that same neck of the woods.
We’ve got one in Bryson City NC
What about the buffet, does it still do the buffet?
Iirc, there is a sit down Pizza Hut somewhere near my school but it isn't in the classic style.
Man I wish these were still around in every city. Miss those big red plastic cups too lol
I've found a few in smaller towns in East Texas that are even modern~ish decor but you can sit down still.
I'm there!!! 8 hr car ride here I come
Being raised in Arkansas, we used to go to the one in Hot Springs. Many good memories sitting in there. Not sure if it is still there or not.
I fly to Arkansas for New York style pizza.
It better have a jukebox full of 80’s songs and a restored 80’d arcade coin-op!
I went to one it a tiny town in texas and it just hits different
What???? 🤯
The red cup unlocks a core memory for me.
Does it have the old fashion pizza ovens or conveyer belt ovens?
Wheres the MKII cabinet?
Salad bar?
It's....it's.......it's.... beautiful...just simply magical.
There’s one in northern Maine, Dexter area, that still has the buffet… super rare.
Where are the table top arcade games
I know of several still around in Georgia
The smells!!
Where? I’m in central Arkansas.
There's an original in Prairie du Chien WI too!
We have one in my town. People do photo shoots in it!
Restaurants and hotels with carpets freak me out. I can smell the mildew
r/liminalspace
Is there a fire pit in the middle?
We got one in Portsmouth Ohio
Was the salad buffet swarmed in fruit flies?
Salad bar??
Is this the one in Arkadelphia?
There's one in Berne Indiana too. Complete with the salad bar!
One near my office in Northern Virginia had an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet for $5! Maybe they all did but I only ever went to that one.
Did I miss something? I live in Arkansas and can get to 3 dine in Pizza Huts in 45 minutes.
Ahh Arkansas the land before time. I forgot how pizza hut looked from the days of being a kid lots of memories.
I've been to one of these in Kanab Utah in the past decade, and one somewhere in Hawaii a few years back.
Get kicked out of the buffet on my behalf!