When I say the words "Pizza" and "Hut," what comes to mind?
Perhaps it's late-night orders of extremely cheesy pizzas that you don't quite recall in the morning? Or moments of solemn regret after convincing yourself that you can handle another over-stuffed stuffed crust?
Or maybe it's haughty derision as you scoff at the mere notion that an evening at a local Hut may well be the finest culinary experience for a young mind?
What if I was to tell you, as @Super70sSports pointed out on Twitter, that Pizza Hut in the '90s was a wholly different experience? Nay, that the Hut of decades past was a treat, an honor, an art form unto itself?
Remember when Pizza Hut pan pizzas were basically a goddamn culinary delicacy? They’d bring them out in a real fucking skillet that was piping at about 700 degrees Fahrenheit right as your third song kicked in on the jukebox after you’d played a game of Galaga. We were kings.
If the glorious image of a panned pizza isn't enough, here's a series of tweets about old-school Pizza Hut that will either make you very nostalgic or say, "Pizza Hut used to be like what????"
1. Firstly, the IRL Hut of the '90s was an entirely different restaurant:
Twitter is nostalgic for Pizza Hut tonight and now it's got me all emotional thinking about the old style locations
2. Lit with the soft glow from branded stained glass lamps — lest you forget that this was a classy establishment:
@Super70sSports Sitting under these lights with your hot pizza and the cold sodas in those red cups...good times
3. Complete with checkerboard tablecloths, like every homely Italian restaurant:
@Super70sSports And you better have a checkerboard tablecloth
4. And a salad bar, because even the Hut respected vegetables:
What if we kissed by the salad bar at Pizza Hut
5. Should you be parched from all the pizza, a specific red cup had your back:
@Super70sSports And your parents let you drink gallon of Pepsi out of one of these bad boys. Good times, good times...
6. Indeed, there was a certain magic to those cups:
@Super70sSports Your soda just tasted better in those red cups
7. And this was not the limit of Pizza Hut's good in society — the company even encouraged children to read:
you an OG if you remember when doing your reading assignment for Book It got you a personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut
8. For who among us would not be tempted to read more in exchange for glorious free pizza?
Anyone remember scoring personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut through the Accelerated Reader program? Maybe that was a regional thing, but it was amazing. Read a book, take the quiz, get points, redeem pizza. https://t.co/0D6yQm6FLp
9. The economic value of Pizza Hut knew no bounds:
@Super70sSports I remember when They were sit down restaurants with a salad bar and pizza buffet. Get the jugs of pop sitting on the table. My mom used to bring Tupperware to put extra slices in for school lunches the following morning. I miss those days
10. A dinner and a movie paled in comparison to the endless adventure offered in a single Pizza Hut:
While Pizza Hut seems to be trending how many y’all saw these in them back in the day.
11. Alas, it appears that this version of Pizza Hut may well be a bygone relic that only previous generations may hold dear:
since people are talking about '90s Pizza Hut let me tell you, if you never experienced the sheer THRILL of putting that fifth star on your Book It pin because you read five books and could now cash in that button for a free pizza that came in a frying pan you never truly lived🤤
12. But, it will always have a special place in some hearts:
To some it was just a Pizza Hut, but to us it was a Pizza Home https://t.co/mO2WFyDJH8
In short:
@Super70sSports Take us back! 🍕🕹️🎶