• shalafi@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Old guy here. I remember when Pizza Hut was great food. And so was Red Lobster. Don’t remember the last good Pizza Hut I had and it’s been since 2002 or so for Red Lobster.

    Wherever I am, I stay the hell away from chain restaurants. They slowly chip away at quality until you wake up 10 or 30 years later and say, “Why am I still eating this bland crap?!”

    • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      I can tell you it’s probably when they transitioned to frozen dough for the pan pizza vs. mixing it fresh each day. I will say that the frozen wasn’t terrible, still better than other chains, but it was not the same as fresh.

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        They changed to frozen? Admittedly I haven’t had any in years, but I remember those huge fucking mixers back when I worked there.

    • zib@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I can still just barely remember the days when Pizza Hut was an actual restaurant where you could sit down to eat and while you waited for your pizza, you could play some arcade games. Society has lost its way.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I remember the last good Pizza Hut I had. It was a personal pan pizza I got from the Pizza Hut kiosk at my college’s student center, sometime in the '00s.

      • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
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        2 months ago

        That Pizza Hut Express kiosk at college hit different! Maybe it was the small bit of childhood sticking around as the world is slowly sucking you into adulthood, but I have fond memories of that pizza and playing Puzzle Fighter in the little arcade next to the cafeteria.

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Even more makes you wonder how much it costed 40 years ago to construct this building in their brand and style (must have been worth it at the time) just to abandon it later after failing to compete because they fucked their customers on quality.

      Same with red lobster. When I was a kid they used to actually have lobster. Last time I was there like 16 years ago, they didn’t even have lobster. Like, it’s in the fucking name.

    • Nikls94@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Over here in Europe, McD had some advertisements 2~3 years ago that now the buns are fluffier, the burgers juicier and saucier, the meat hotter. I did some digging and the calories stayed the same, meaning they basically put more air in the buns and more water in the patties to save on money, and to mask it all they put more sauce into it, which is the cheapest thing. I can’t go there anymore, it’s lost quality and you bite into a burger once and it looks like you’ve made out with the Hamburgler.

      Oh and: McD over here used to be some real gourmet stuff. It’s extremely regulated.

      • roboto@feddit.org
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        2 months ago

        I also thought it tasted as shitty as always even after the update, but when was McDonald’s ever gourmet? It was always terrible.

        • Nikls94@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I once was in the Netherlands on holiday and the McDonalds there had some sort of Italian burger, a soft panini style bun with with grilled chicken, mozzarella, tomato and basil pesto - that was amazing.

          • roboto@feddit.org
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            2 months ago

            Oh yeah you’re right I almost forgot, in the Netherlands they have some premium burgers that are actually kind of good just way too expensive for what they are. In the Middle East I found McDonalds also much better.

            In Germany imo it still sucks especially compared to other burger places that do fresh food.

  • WagnasT@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    dad gives me a quarter so I can immediately lose in some claymation caveman game. i got a personal panned pizza for reading some books. there’s a pitcher of diet pepsi on the table, i think the condensation looks neat. The waitress vacuums up the straw wrapper my sister missed shooting at me with a rolling sweeper thing as she asks my parents “the usual?”

    I miss those days.

  • realitista@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    I wish the old Pizza Huts would come back with the deep dish pizzas and everything. The pizza was so much better back in the day, or is that just me?

    • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      It’s called enshitification, only way you’re ever seeing that quality of Pizza again is if you make it at home,

      Thus sayeth the all demanding shareholder value increase

      • undefined@links.hackliberty.org
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        2 months ago

        It took me a long time to finally get into cooking but now I’m realizing just by cooking the most basic of recipes I’m already making meals 100% better. It’s a curse really because now going out to eat is disappointing.

        • homesnatch@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Don’t go out to eat at chains. There are some truly great restaurants, at least in my area, that are family run.

        • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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          2 months ago

          Depends what you mean by going out to eat. In Europe: these days we mostly cook, we only eat out if we’re going to a proper restaurant, in which case the food is made by a proper chef and is usually delicious. We very rarely order in because instead we have a subscription where we get two dinners a week delivered in reheatable format, the food is designed by dieticians so it’s not always super tasty but it’s healthy, especially compared to what we have available for delivery and it does the job of not having to cook that night. I’ve cut off fast food entirely except maybe a nice kebab here and there (very rarely). It all started when I went on a forever diet and counting my calories/macros, my partner, being amazing, helped me out with the healthy cooking and grocery choices.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Yep. Seems like all chains go down the path of we need MORE profit! So they cut the quality of ingredients and just up the salt and fat content. Pretty soon it just tastes like garbage and they are shocked that no-one wants to eat their shit and they start closing down locations…

  • frunch@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I still remember earning my Personal Pan Pizza™ for reading 5 books over one summer… Anyone else have a Book-It pin from back then?