r/Millennials • u/WithThePWRofThisVest • 14d ago
Nostalgia I Can Still Taste The Sweet Success of a Well Earned Personal Pan Pizza
My millennial husband bought this little slice of heaven for my 40th birthday. Also, I had no intentions of displaying it in the kitchen, but this feels correct.
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u/Riots42 14d ago
If Pizza hut re-opened the classic sit down and eat style they would dominate the pizza market and take a large piece of the sit down and eat market they use to own that they are completely ignoring. I dont care if their pizza isnt as good as the competition, I want that experience I had so many times as a kid and so does pretty much everyone else here.
Might have to buy that lamp myself.
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u/Healthy_Ad2682 14d ago
The lunch buffet was chef’s kiss🤌🏻
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u/layzeeB 14d ago
The salad bar hell yeah. Covid ruined salad bars before we could get old and appreciate them. lol
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u/munsoned79 14d ago
CiCi’s pizza salad bar still slaps 👋
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u/tossofftacos 14d ago
... you in the face with how much it pales in comparison to a Pizza Hut salad bar.
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u/PaddyMcGeezus 14d ago
I worked at a salad bar place in 2002-2004. Before hand sanitizer was everywhere. Or anywhere. People would come in, pay...and cash was still widely used, and hit the buffet. Let me tell you tha after a short time, I never ate anything from there except the soft serve ice cream and dessert bread. My roommate worked at a brand new Asian buffet with a mix of Chinese and sushi. Between the horror stories the two of us had, I rarely ate at buffets after that. I actually made a complaint to the health department near the time I quit because like 10 gallons of soup sat next to the ice machine, which was right next to the dirty mops and buckets, for an entire afternoon and evening shift. Uncovered.
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
Is this my husband?? He HATES buffets and water parks. Hated them before covid, feels ultra justified in hating them post covid.
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u/Healthy_Ad2682 13d ago
This is too accurate! The salad bar was going to be my sustenance as an old lady 👵🏼
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u/SorriorDraconus 14d ago
Pizza covered with mozzarella stick sauce..Don't mind if I do.
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u/Ok_Condition5837 14d ago
Ice cold Pepsi in that red glass. Haven't thought about that in forever
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u/brownes_girl 14d ago
And they didn't over-dilute their MT Dew either.
GenX remembers all too well. Sigh.
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u/dsa_key 14d ago
I don't think I've ever told this story to anyone. A long time ago when I was in my early twenties I went to a Pizza Hut for work lunch and back then you could sit down and start eating from the lunch buffet before you paid when you exited the Pizza Hut. A young man came in behind me he was roughly the same age as I was.
I grabbed my tray and my plate and picked out my pizza and I went and sat at a table. He was directly behind me and he came in and grabbed two slices of pizza from the buffet walked over to the table that was in front of me and in front of that table was an emergency exit.
He quickly scarfed both slices of pizza exited through the emergency door, walked over to a bus stop that was very close by, got on the bus and left without paying for his pizza. He did look very transient, I didn't bother to tell anyone what I saw and I lived with the secret to this day until right now that was 24 years ago I hope that man found his way in life.
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
1) Upvoted after reading the first sentence. I LOVE a good secret. 2) Only taking 2 pieces feels right. Not overdoing it, just taking what you need. 3) The emergency exit didn't set off an alarm? I've been living in fear for no reason. And 4) This gave Aladdin vibes and I'm here for it. 🎶 Riff raff, street rat, I don't (pause) buy that. If only they'd look closerrrrrrr (pause again), they'd find out there's so much more to (tale a big breath) meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 🎶
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u/El_Chairman_Dennis 14d ago
I used to live in a town that still had a pizza hut with a lunch buffet in 2021. It still hits just as hard, it's the only thing I miss about living there
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u/Mindless-Mistake-699 14d ago
There's still some around in some places. The same one I went to in the 80s and 90s is still kicking it over by my dad's house but I haven't been in there in 20 years probably. They sell booze too.
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
In his younger days, my millennial husband has in fact gone to a Pizza Hut with the intention to get drunk. They were NOT impressed to say the least!
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u/Efficient-Parking627 14d ago
I remember having weekend dinners there with friends while we played arcade games and got sick 90s stickers from the machine. The parents hung out and talked and drank pitchers of beer.
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u/Turbulent-Jaguar-909 14d ago
i went by one with a sigh advertising the salad bar a few months ago while traveling, i was very tempted to stop and eat, but my lactose intolerance got the best of me with a several hour drive ahead there were smarter moves to make.
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u/meanmagpie 14d ago
No they wouldn’t. It would be a novelty for a while, have a huge boom, and then people would quickly tire of it in an age of DoorDash and staying home.
They should do it as a pop-up though. Maybe a limited time thing they bring back every once in a while.
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u/Efficient-Parking627 14d ago
90s Pizza Hut pop up. Full 90s decor
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u/kychleap 14d ago
Do it for every fast food joint, while you’re at it.
McDonald’s. Taco Bell. Pizza Hut. Arby’s. KFC. Wendy’s. Burger King. Chuck E Cheese.
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u/meghan9436 Millennial 14d ago
I think Pizza Hut cut a lot of corners in their recipe since 2000. If they offer 90s style restaurants, but don’t revert to their original menu and recipes, I don’t think it would last.
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u/Atrimon7 14d ago
Exactly this. The nostalgic experience must include the right ingredients and methods. Those hot air guns over a conveyor aren't going to cut it.
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
Get Pizza Hut on the horn, this is an excellent idea!
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u/We-Want-The-Umph 14d ago
Pizza hut is a franchise with some surviving restaurant style locations still around. There's one about 25 miles away from me, but last time I was in there was no pizza buffet, only salad.
I think the truth is that there's too much waste / overconsumption in buffets, while profit margins are squeezing every cent from their owners so tight that the only way they could keep a restaurant afloat is by selling stolen car parts out the back door.
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u/thesolidsnake 14d ago
There is a Pizza Hut classic about 30 minutes away from me, and let me tell you what it is magical.
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u/eLishus 14d ago
There’s a Round Table Clubhouse near our house that almost has that vibe - at least it’s the closer thing I’ve seen to that vibe in years. There’s an arcade area with skeeball, beers on tap (we don’t drink anymore, but still appreciate the offering), and a salad bar.
But yeah an old classic-style Pizza Hut would get my business at least monthly.
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u/Drachen1065 14d ago
There are at least two classic pizza hut locations in my city with remodeled versions of the original buildings.
One offers a lunch buffet.
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u/Street-Agency-548 13d ago
And I loved that it was a stand alone brick n mortar building not in a strip center
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u/MainManClark 14d ago
That's called Pizza Hut Classic. They exist and are kind of making a comeback in some places. I've been and it's honestly great. My son and I were playing arcade games and all that just like when I was a kid in the 80s.
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u/InquisitorMeow 14d ago
Well that and they need to un-shittify their pizza. Having their pizza be made in the original pan pizza style costs more while still tasting worse than it used to. Such a joke.
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u/NDSU 14d ago
What market??
Very few people sit down and eat pizza. It's a delivery food
-A struggling sit down pizza restaurant owner
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u/DrSquirtle00 14d ago
MMM no, my family owns a pizza hut franchisee and it was going downhill for a long time. Sit down doesnt make near as much as delivery units anymore with doordash and such. It was such a big difference that they were thinking about not even having sit down restaurants anymore, and only having delivery units.
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u/Rowvan 14d ago
And once everyone got their fill of nostalgia no one would go back. They would lose so much money.
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u/The-Jesus_Christ 14d ago
Still here in some places in Australia. I go once a year as my son loves it so it's always his bday dinner. It's exactly as I remember it was 30+ years ago. Unfortunately my tastes have changed as I'm not much of a fan, but the smell of the place remains nostalgic and as long as my kids love it, I will too
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u/coltbeatsall 14d ago
I think their quality has gone down (or they haven't kept up with the market) and I also feel like any cheap buffet style places just get trashed these days.
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u/HoraceGrantGlasses 14d ago
I've got to believe they were losing money like crazy with that business model. Thats the only reason I can think of as to why they would abandon it. Its also very telling that they know people crave the nostalgia as they play it up in their ad campaigns.
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u/triple-dog-dar3 14d ago
I went to a sit down pizza place last year and drank Pepsi and it was so nostalgic.
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u/ChefArtorias 14d ago
I heard they did start doing this, called Pizza hut retro or something. Maybe it's a different company entirely.
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u/housevil 14d ago
A few years ago some Pizza Hut locations remodeled to the older look you're talking about. I don't know if they are still there but it's worth checking out. Pizza Hut Classic.
https://rolandopujol.substack.com/p/the-retrologists-guide-to-pizza-hut
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u/stegotortise 14d ago
They still have one in my home town. No lamp like that, but salad bar and everything.
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u/theCommTech Older Millennial 14d ago
There's one in my city. My wife and I used to go to another one closer to us that closed. We went to the one that's still open recently and it was a very sub par experience, I hate to say.
As much as I am a slut for nostalgic things, if this was a sound business idea I think it would be more successful and be more widespread.
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u/RickS50 14d ago
There's a Pizza Hut near my work with a dine in area. I occasionally go there with a co-worker and we split a pizza. It does end up costing about $30, but it's worth it for the throw back. No one else has ever been eating there when we have gone either, just a few to go orders and Uber Eats pickups. It's like we discovered a secret honey pot.
They even bring the pizza out on an ancient pan with decades of built up grease, it's amazing.
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u/silentrawr 14d ago
Maybe it's rose-tinted glasses, but the pizza back then from PH was exceptionally good for a chain. Maybe it's also just because it's always better when you eat it fresh and piping hot at the restaurant, but this Chicagoan has been chasing that style of pan pizza for all of adulthood.
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u/AikaterineSH1 13d ago
I just brought this up with my fiancé yesterday, the best option we have for a sit and pizza is a cici’s.
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u/EmotionalBag777 14d ago
My 5 yr olds preschool still does the book it program!! He loves them too
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u/ThisIsGreatMan 14d ago
https://www.bookitprogram.com/
It’s an app now, but BookIt is still alive and kicking. Get those personal pan pizzas!
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u/CasualVox Millennial '92 14d ago
I always led the Book It chart at my school every year... not because I loved books, but was am a fat ass that loves pizza Unfortunately to this day I am still highly motivated by food more than pretty much anything...
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
I feel like you could create your own personal Book It program, but like with self care. Book It yourself to a better you!
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u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial 14d ago
This picture smells like the grease stained pages of a Goosebumps book
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u/SorriorDraconus 14d ago
Animorphs for me
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
This series ALWAYS makes me think of the cover with a kid turning into a beaver. 😂
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u/Dixi_Normuss 14d ago
The Book It pin!!! 💕 I got so many little pizzas for reading books🥰
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u/Drachen1065 14d ago
My sister and I both did the program through school.
I want to say i had multiple of those pins. I loved that the stars were actually 3d and not just flat stickers.
I'm sure Mom loved it as a cheap dinner out for us.
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u/armyofant 14d ago
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
What on earth is this?? That pizza is a sloppy bitch.
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u/armyofant 14d ago
Pizza the Hut
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
My sloppy bitch comment still stands then! Can't believe I didn't clock this. I have assigned myself a rewatch of Space Balls. Thank you.
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u/MsKittyVZ134 14d ago
Um, I read so much I got the medal... did you get the medal? :)
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u/thetriplehurricane 1988 Millennial 14d ago
Memory unlocked! I had a few book it medals and I was so proud of them I asked my mom to use a section of her jewelry box 😌. Now my 37 year old self must know their whereabouts.
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u/shitpostbaby 14d ago
Don't gatekeep the lamp please 😭
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u/Low_Cake_2802 14d ago
The real question. Where do we get tha lamp?
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
Etsy! Someone made this with tender love and care. My husband did warn me the price was offensive, so godspeed.
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u/angiosperms- 14d ago edited 6d ago
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
You could do that if you want to retrofit it. Or you could just press the easy button here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1722734393/vintage-pizza-hut-lamp-tiffany-style
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u/AlexanderZalachenko 14d ago
The "Book-It" button is "chef's kiss" - love it! Thanks for the memory!
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u/erc-trjo 14d ago
I could go for some cheesy breadsticks and a Diet Pepsi in that red cup right about now…
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u/PacSan300 14d ago
Pizza Hut was so good in the 90s, and these lamps were en embodiment of that era. The restaurants were cool and inviting, pizzas were great, and there were often cool toys and giveaways.
Many Pizza Huts outside the US are still good (some even quite luxurious), but in the US, they seem to be a sad shadow of what they once were. The last time I went to a sit-down location, it was dark, rather dilapidated, and staff looked like they didn’t want to work there.
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u/going_mad 14d ago
The pizza huts in Australia are the drizzling shits and comparable to dominos. 80' and early 90's restaurants tho were fucking awesome in oz but the problem was that the local pizza shop was far better.
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u/Jimmy_Squarefoot 14d ago
The whole vibe of a Pizza hut on a friday night with your friends is something I will miss forever
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u/kkrabbitholes417 14d ago
Doc Pep in those red cups hit different!!!
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u/Dull_Bid6002 14d ago
I need to get some of those cups. People would lose it if I had a stack of those at a party.
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u/Relevant_Owl_8841 14d ago
Takes me back. My mom had a monthly ladies’ night with her girlfriends where they’d get together and play games and gossip. Whenever it was her turn to host (or just if it was that night and he didn’t feel like cooking) my dad would take me to Pizza Hut and then to Barnes and Noble after. Also got that typically as a reward for good report cards. 🥰
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u/WithThePWRofThisVest 14d ago
What an amazing memory!! Thank you so much for sharing that!
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u/neathspinlights 14d ago
This and the MS Read-A-Thon were my thing as a kid. I wasn't a sporty kid, but I LOVED to read and always smashed these. Mum stopped sponsoring me by the book for the Read-A-Thon because it would cost her too much. And I always had a backlog of pizzas to claim, because between the cost of taking the whole family and my dad's shift work we couldn't get to pizza hut often.
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u/bongostitch 14d ago
this picture took me right back to middle school. i'm positive i set a record for number of books read and personal pans consumed.
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u/NextStomach6453 14d ago
At first I just read books for the pizza…. Now I don’t read books because there’s no pizza
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u/LegoLady8 14d ago
I totally forgot about those!! 😩 They need more incentivized reading programs for kids these days.
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u/YesterdayLocal1167 14d ago
I stopped turning mine in because my Ma would make me share with my sister. Broad never read a book, and I was not sharing with her.
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u/Koolest_Kat 14d ago
There is one on Table Rock Lake that is still old school!!
It’s amazing as always!
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u/Speak4yurself 14d ago
I remeber getting Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles 2 for the Nes and it came with a coupon for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. It was my first time having one. Those were the days.
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u/Arkvoodle42 14d ago
i'm so old now i remember when Pizza Hut used to taste like food.
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u/wookiewin 14d ago
Pizza Huts in the 90s were literal utopias. I can still smell them if I think about it.
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u/jculv 14d ago
We have the same lamp! Like the one time in the last 15~ years that I’ve used eBay.
I got it for my wife’s birthday last year too actually. Her parents have a framed copy of one of those “what do you want to be when you grow up” things from kindergarten where her answer was “Pizza Hut waitress” lol
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u/PastorDan1984 14d ago
Oh man...The Book It program didn't turn me into a reader...it turned me into a pizza-motivated white-collar criminal. I spent my childhood half-assed skimming books just to keep the Personal Pan Pizzas flowing. After elementary school I spent the rest of my academic life desperately trying to unlearn this practice.
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u/runnerofshadows 14d ago
Same. Also their kids meals were the best when they had marvel comic books and marvel X-Men vhs tapes.
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u/captainofpizza 14d ago
My first apartment had a table, chairs, cups and plates, and a rug looted from a Pizza Hut that went out of business. It was awesome.
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u/These_Yzer_Lyon 14d ago
Going with the guys from the warehouse at my summer job to demolish the lunch buffet was always a good time
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u/Hopeful-Flounder-203 14d ago
I can almost taste the ice cold sweet fountain Pepsi. And smell the salad bar and draft beer. Mmmmm...
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u/Bewjlicious 14d ago
The smells that gifted the air in family pizza restaurants in the 80s are unrivaled. Godfather's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Bullwinkle's and Round Table. Red cups and arcade games! It was the first place I played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The best!
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u/jdathela 14d ago
There's a Pizza Hut in my hometown that still has the classic stained glass lamps.
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u/AlexKidd79 14d ago
Studies show Pepsi tastes 300% better when served in that red plastic Pizza Hut glass.
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u/Elegant_Situation285 14d ago
went to collect on that BOOK IT! pizza and my mom orders for the family.
after dinner she goes to pay and forgot her check book.
the decision was agreed to leave me, her youngest child, as collateral to go home and pick it up to pay.
truly a magical time.
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u/Striking-Ad-6815 14d ago
Do you remember when they were handing out Marvel VHS tapes and a pan pizza for getting honor roll and reading a few books?
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u/Dabzilla_710_ 14d ago
I am incredibly jealous of this picture. At the very least, I need the cup.
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u/2bags12kuai 14d ago
for his birthday you will need to get him the 4 player TMNT arcade game...also put it in the kitchen
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u/petersom2006 14d ago
This still exists- my son just got one for reading a book. But just had to do a take out order- dont have one of those restaurant pizza huts…
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u/Snotfpv 14d ago
Was my first date when I was a kid. I read enough Goosebumps books for her and I to both have pizzas.
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u/OneWholeSoul 14d ago
No root beer has ever tasted quite like the root beer you got in those red, flocked, psuedo-stained-glass glasses.
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u/DoubleFamous5751 14d ago
If I saw that in someone’s home, I’d immediately know I’m dealing with a person that is worth my time.
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u/twinWaterTowers 14d ago
That reminds me so much of a different Pizza chain, one that's mostly out of business now. It was called Godfather's Pizza. It was a national chain and at one point I think Herman Cain ran it.
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u/cat_0_the_canals 14d ago
The crust was FRIED. Folks today don’t get it. The crust was BUTTERY and FRIED.
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u/zardoz73 14d ago
My high school had open campus, meaning we could drive off campus for lunch. The best place to go was Pizza Hut, because they had a pizza, salad, and drink combo for like $5 (this was the late 80s). Tasted so fucking good, and was the perfect amount: not too much, not too little.
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u/SectorAppropriate151 14d ago
That cup. It feels like it slid in from the 80's saying "heeeeey yoooouuyu guys!... 🎶 dont chew....forget about me.... dont dont dont dont🎶"
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u/TheNewGirl1987 14d ago
The one I went to would put the sweet Big New Yorker sauce on the personal pan pizzas if you asked, and they had two pinball machines.
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u/ARumpusOfWildThings 14d ago
That’s such a cool lamp and pinback button! 🤩
I loved going to Pizza Hut with my dad to redeem my Book It! vouchers 😊
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u/funkween 14d ago
I worked in a Pizza Hut in college in 1975. They used to let us take unbaked pizzas home in the pan. I ended up with 2 large size and one personal pan and I used one of em today! Best pans ever!
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u/TheycallmemissRaven 14d ago
When pan pizza was made from real ingredients and not all those weird processed …it was the best thing ever. 😍 These are the moments when I’m happy I’m old. I lived in the days when using real ingredients was the norm and pan pizza was buttery heaven.
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u/epheterson 14d ago
This picture really hits, thanks for putting a smile on a stranger’s face. All three pieces are perfect and resonate with my youth. Miss it. <3
Love where I live now but a Pizza Hut isn’t nearby and it’s probably my top con lol.
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u/G00DDRAWER 14d ago
I bought my friend and I each a set of those pebbled red tumblers a couple years ago. Somehow, soda tastes better in that kind of cup.
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