Nostalgia alert: Our kids will never know the joy dine-in Pizza Hut gave us

If you don't remember the mini marshmallows at the dessert bar or the bacon bits at the salad bar, you haven't lived. 

Marion Pizza Hut in South Australia was the last dine-in restaurant to officially closed its doors last year. 

“It is with great sadness that we have to announce that our Marion Pizza Hut restaurant will be permanently closing from Tuesday June 28th,” the store’s Facebook announced at the time. 

And while I don’t live in the festival state (and have a revamped dine-in Pizza Hut only minutes from my own home), I was still saddened by the news that the old classic was going, very sad in fact.

Because how can anyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s think about their childhood, without also thinking of the institution that is Pizza Hut?

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No more dine-in for us. Image: Supplied

Let’s reminisce...

‘The Works’ - all you can eat

Without a doubt, this is the quintessential Pizza Hut experience. 

The Works AKA all you can eat was a kid’s (and some adults) idea of heaven.

From unlimited pizzas and pastas, to salads and veggies (pffft, yeah right!). Even bottomless soft drinks were on the menu. 

But as good as 'all you can eat' was, it had nothing on.. 

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The dessert bar

Chocolate mousse and ice cream and brownies, oh my! 

Seriously, if Dorothy was in Pizza Hut, she’d think the yellow brick road was lame as.

I was always a chocolate mousse gal, but I must say the ice cream, with its multiple topping and sprinkle options, well, I’d usually have a crack at that too.

On my one (and probably only) visit with my own kids, this too was the highlight of their experience and the sugar high that followed was probably the low light of mine.

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All of that pan fried goodness is just a memory now. Image: Supplied

The clam-shaped bowls

Okay this might be random, but while I’m on the ice cream front, those clam-shaped bowls were a fancy change up to the ordinary bowl. Not to mention they also reduced the amount you could fit in them (clever P.H, clever).

Generous in amount, not always in taste

It has gotta be said. 

While you never leave hungry (unless you have, you know, culinary taste or self control), quantity didn’t make up for quality.

The pasta sauce often left just a hint of plastic on the palette, the salads if you dared to eat them were… lacklustre, the pizza was often a bit blah.

But the garlic bread and chocolate mousse, a consistent B.

The promotional toys

From Star Wars to Casper, the promotional toys throughout the 90s were gold!

I still remember my Land Before Time dinosaur puppet (the set now sells on eBay for over $100 FYI).

There were also Goosebumps, Blinky Bill, Beauty and the Beast and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles promotional toys/puzzles/cups/badges that made Pizza Hut even more enticing. 

The parties

I literally don’t remember there being any games or activities (maybe I was just too into the food), despite this the birthday parties were everything!

Most kids I knew would have at least one of their birthdays celebrated under the red, brown or black hut-shaped roofs. And every parent who sent their kids would always give the warning “don’t eat too much dessert,” or “It’s not a competition!” A fruitless attempt to prevent the other iconic Pizza Hut legacy, the Pizza Hut Chuck. 

Being sick

Yep. Every time.

Sore tummies due to the inability to stop gouging on the cheesy pizzas, creamy pastas and sickly-sweet desserts (mostly the latter).

Actually, sore tummies were probably the best outcome because let’s be honest, most of us either regurgitated some of the dessert bar contents or know someone else who did.

Remember all of the options? Image: Supplied

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The ‘fancy’ interiors

Does anyone else remember the stained-glass light fittings that branded the Pizza Hut logo offering a soft - yet yellow tinged - glow onto the red or burgundy vinyl coloured booth seats below?

There were also once chequered tablecloths and tiles and other fancy-like interior touches to make the dine in experience…well, they tried.

The caution signs

From ‘surface hot’ to ‘parents must supervise their kids at all times’, warning signs were a plenty. They were also mostly ignored.

I do not recall ever being accompanied to the buffet by my mum, nor any adult supervising all party goers as they cross contaminated several bain maries of foods by using the same servers. Or worse, dropping them on the floor and then picking them back up again and on occasion even utilising them to taste test while at the buffet. 

This may also be why we were always sick. 

But oh, so many memories. 

Originally published as Nostalgia alert: Our kids will never know the joy dine-in Pizza Hut gave us