Pizza Hut's "The Natural" Pizza - Crap

[Mallory]

I'm in the land of franchises, with two local pizza places (at twice the price). It's all Pizza Hut, Dominos or Papa John's beyond that. When you're feeding kids you end up eating a lot of the latter.

We used to have Godfathers around here but they all went bust. I ordered a delivery from them exactly once. Ordered at 6:30pm, delivered cold at 10:15pm. No discount, no coupons, nothing more than an "I'm sorry". They'll never see any of my money again.

 

[Alpha Romeo]

On a nutty whim the other night I ordered a "The Natural" pizza from Pizza Hut to give it a whirl. Of all the pizza places that will deliver to me Pizza Hut I like the best although there's far better places to go that do not deliver if I'm feeling ambitious.

In the commercials for this new line of pizzas it comes in a pretty red, bright, box and the pizza is rich, delicious thick and full looking.

What was delivered to me as was a dull looking standard cardboard-colored box with some of the red ornamentation on it and the pizza inside?

A cheese cracker.

Thin, shitty crust. I've had better pizza in airport concourses at 11PM from "Sbbaro."

The toppings, overall, don't taste any different than their regular pizza lines, but the crust is nothing fantastic. Any pizza fan knows that the crust is the heart and soul of a pizza.

And it's saying a LOT when Pizza Hut's normally "serviceable" crust is the better option.

Stay away from it. Go with their standard line of pizzas instead.

Unless I somehow missed an option for a thick-crust "natural" when I ordered on their website, which checking right now it doesn't seem that I did.

Oh well, the Wing Street crispy wings were pretty good.

Your taste in food is terrible.

 

[Warp Coil]

The only time I'll eat at Pizza Hut is if I actually go to one with a dining room, sit down and order a pan pizza. If it's fresh, right out of the oven and brought to your table, it tastes amazing. If it's being delivered, it's amazing how quickly the freshness fades by the time it arrives on your doorstep.

I primarily eat Papa John's if I'm ordering pizza. Their thin crust is awesome, IMO.

 

[Capn Flukie]

I can't stand Dominoes, blehhh, but Pizza Hut isn't too bad, I didn't think the 'Natural' sounded like it would be too good for a franchise.

I have a local pizzeria "The Pizza King", and I LOVE the pizza there, even pizzas with toppings I wouldn't normally like, it's that good.

Oh, if it weren't so cold I'd walk the mile to the shop and get a couple slices of his Philly Cheesesteak pizza.

 

[shapeshifter]

It's like they are saying: "We've been feeding you shit for years but you are too stupid to realize that so we fully expect you dipshits to continue buying our product despite having screwed you royally for so long."

 

[Mr Light]

I've always found the quality of delivery pizza (or ANY fast food chain) to be completely dependent on the individual store and its employees/ingredients. In my home town, Pizza Hut was absolutely delicious. In the new place I live, it's absolute crap. Only the P'Zone is edible, and even that is a random chance of deliciousness or garbage. I don't get delivery anymore anyway. Too expensive. You can get a frozen Tombstone Garlic Bread Crust Pepperoni Pizza for $3.50, it feeds 1-2, and it's absolutely delicious.

 

[Plecostomus]

Quality at a chain has to do with the "skill" of the workers and the turnover of the stock. We lost the Pizza Hut near our house, as things were winding down for them the quality dropped off because they weren't turning over the ingredients as often. The one two towns over is always busy so they always have fresh stock.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

No, that would be "organic".

Ugh. You're right, natural foods don't have milled or processed ingredients, hydrogenated oils and stuff like that.

Both are, IMHO, marketing gimmicks and nothing more. We've been trained by the liberal environmentalist lobby to believe that anything "natural" or "organic" is automatically good, and everything else is toxic death incarnate. Well, I'm afraid I'll have to call BS on that. Just because something is natural/organic doesn't mean it doesn't contain anything that might be dangerous, and items bought off the shelf...well, not exactly the sludge that the treehuggers have made it out to be. I mean, so what if it has stuff like high fructose corn syrup? You know what that's made from, of course? CORN!

 

[Smiley]

As long as we're plugging local places, some of the best pizza I've had in the state is from Magpie's in Tucson. Here in the valley, I like New York Pizza Department, Organ Stop Pizza, Rosati's, and Floridino's.

 

[Trekker4747]

No, that would be "organic".

Ugh. You're right, natural foods don't have milled or processed ingredients, hydrogenated oils and stuff like that.

Both are, IMHO, marketing gimmicks and nothing more. We've been trained by the liberal environmentalist lobby to believe that anything "natural" or "organic" is automatically good, and everything else is toxic death incarnate. Well, I'm afraid I'll have to call BS on that. Just because something is natural/organic doesn't mean it doesn't contain anything that might be dangerous, and items bought off the shelf...well, not exactly the sludge that the treehuggers have made it out to be. I mean, so what if it has stuff like high fructose corn syrup? You know what that's made from, of course? CORN!

HFCS has a number of possible health effects but we don't know all about it for sure at this point. One thing is for sure, though, sugar tastes better.

As for natural vs. organic it's a case of "better safe than sorry" consuming antibotics could possibly lower their effectivness on you when you take them for medical reasons, hormones -who knows what they can do. Not much is known and as far as I know other than the naming conventions and restrictions the FDA mandates it doesn't recognise any health benifits organic/natural food has over everything else.

It's a personal mumbo-jumbo choice, really. Some people think nautral and organic foods taste better which is enough for them.

This crap pizza isn't a shining example of that, though.

 

[Kira's Mom]

I guess there are still a few Godfather's in the Midwest, but they're getting scarce, like Howard Johnson's restaurants and Arthur Treachers.

When I lived in South Dakota, Godfather's was the only good pizza I could get (and having just been transplanted from New York City, I knew damn well what good pizza should taste like).

 

[ancient]

As a New Yorker, I'm something of a Pizza snob. I would never get some franchise crap unless there was no other option. The best places are not the ones using random teenagers and plug-and-chug method.

No kidding. All national chain pizzas are for either people who live where there's nothing else, or younger people who don't know any better.

Some are better than others, but none of them are as good as a local place. And thanks to sites like Yelp, you don't even have to play the phone book crapshoot.

Agreed. And if a Pizza place doesn't have an oven, or they aren't throwing dough in the air, I beat a hasty retreat. Real dough does not get soggy. Ever. Even with lots of sauce, the way real pizza is.

I was in ME one fall and they brought in this horrible little ball of grease and cheese that felt like eating a melted candle dipped in oil. Needless to say, I couldn't finish one bite. I think they ordered it from a f***ing GAS STATION.

And never order a Pizza from roomservice, or some other source that isn't dedicated to making them. Some friends of mine tried that once. The thing that showed up was a round pice of bread with some unknown chalky-white stuff that I guess was supposed to be cheese. And no sauce, of course. That was in Florida though.

 

[Holdfast]

Worst marketing ploy ever. It makes it sound like the other options on the menu are artificial and unholy and possibly made from petroleum and coal extracts.

I agree; it seems they're really shooting themselves in the foot here.

(don't worry though, feet pizza will be their next big idea)

I usually get Papa John's...

I must admit, pizza is not one of the dishes that I yearn to find the perfect incarnation of. I tend to think of it as an occasional junk food treat rather than a proper meal or dish.

Papa Johns is just round the corner from me, and the price if you go collect is really cheap, so I tend to order it more than anything else. I also like whatever they put in their dough (wholemeal flour?) to give it that slightly richer taste.

There's an independent pizza place in town than does some better stuff, esp. their garlic bread, but it's a longer journey for me so I don't go there that often.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

All Pizza Hut pizzas are comprised of the cardboard box with a little tomato sauce and cheese sprinkled on top of it.

Enjoy!

I dont think you have had a standard Pan Pizza. Those are "teh best".

From Pizza Hut? Yeah, that's where I got the cardboard analogy. I can stand their thin crust pizzas okay, but ever since they introduced their pan pizzas all those years ago I've just been going yuck over them.

 

[RAMA]

On a nutty whim the other night I ordered a "The Natural" pizza from Pizza Hut to give it a whirl. Of all the pizza places that will deliver to me Pizza Hut I like the best although there's far better places to go that do not deliver if I'm feeling ambitious.

In the commercials for this new line of pizzas it comes in a pretty red, bright, box and the pizza is rich, delicious thick and full looking.

What was delivered to me as was a dull looking standard cardboard-colored box with some of the red ornamentation on it and the pizza inside?

A cheese cracker.

Thin, shitty crust. I've had better pizza in airport concourses at 11PM from "Sbbaro."

The toppings, overall, don't taste any different than their regular pizza lines, but the crust is nothing fantastic. Any pizza fan knows that the crust is the heart and soul of a pizza.

And it's saying a LOT when Pizza Hut's normally "serviceable" crust is the better option.

Stay away from it. Go with their standard line of pizzas instead.

Unless I somehow missed an option for a thick-crust "natural" when I ordered on their website, which checking right now it doesn't seem that I did.

Oh well, the Wing Street crispy wings were pretty good.

Thick crust pizzas are horrible for you. If you must eat pizza, eat a thin crust. Also, minimize non-veggie toppings including cheese, and eat a wheat pizza if you can...I think they taste a lot better anyway.

RAMA

 

[Trekker4747]

Thick crust pizzas are horrible for you.

RAMA

So?

I don't eat pizza because it's healthy.

 

[shapeshifter]

Worst marketing ploy ever. It makes it sound like the other options on the menu are artificial and unholy and possibly made from petroleum and coal extracts.

I agree; it seems they're really shooting themselves in the foot here.

(don't worry though, feet pizza will be their next big idea)

I usually get Papa John's...

I must admit, pizza is not one of the dishes that I yearn to find the perfect incarnation of. I tend to think of it as an occasional junk food treat rather than a proper meal or dish.

Papa Johns is just round the corner from me, and the price if you go collect is really cheap, so I tend to order it more than anything else. I also like whatever they put in their dough (wholemeal flour?) to give it that slightly richer taste.

There's an independent pizza place in town than does some better stuff, esp. their garlic bread, but it's a longer journey for me so I don't go there that often.

EM They already did feet, it was called a "Bigfoot". Pretty much a "PANnormous" only a bit larger.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

Ah yes, Pizza - healthy....
http://www.gourmetchocolatepizza.co.uk/
Look what you're missing out on in the States

 

[Plecostomus]

They discontinued the Bigfoot pizza right at the same time some expert in Boston declared the "Bigfoot" creatures extinct. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[thestrangequark]

Ah yes, Pizza - healthy....
http://www.gourmetchocolatepizza.co.uk/
Look what you're missing out on in the States

Ahhh, those look lovely. There is a place in the East Village called P.I.E., that makes a fabulous dessert pizza: nutella and banana pizza. Yum!

I never order pizza, but I'll occasionally make some at home or get a slice out. It's not something I really crave often, but I enjoy it. Living in NYC there's not much point in picking a major chain.