What's the Best Chain Pizza?

[ScoopKW]

I second Costco. I find it FAR better than the national chains. It's not great. But it's still FAR better than the national chains. I think it's a stretch to call Papa John's "food." Let alone "pizza."

EDIT -- My question about these chains in general is, "Were they always so bad?" How was the pizza that John Schnatter made in 1984, for instance? Surely these places didn't get so big by originally offering the inferior products that they currently sell.

Edited August 7, 2012 by ScoopKW (log)

[gfweb]

I second Costco. I find it FAR better than the national chains. It's not great. But it's still FAR better than the national chains. I think it's a stretch to call Papa John's "food." Let alone "pizza."

EDIT -- My question about these chains in general is, "Were they always so bad?" How was the pizza that John Schnatter made in 1984, for instance? Surely these places didn't get so big by originally offering the inferior products that they currently sell.

My guess would be that they were always this bad. I think they all started up away from the pizza belt, where standards are lower. Or perhaps just identified a price point for a market that wasn't buying "real " pizza anyway.

[Lisa Shock]

I'm thinking that many of these places declined once they started using factory-made frozen dough.When I was a teenager, in the 70's, I worked a mom & pop place that got dough delivered daily from a bakery. The Pizza Hut where my brother worked used a lot of inferior ingredients (at that time, the location he worked at used a cheese-topping product to simulate mozzarella -the main ingredient in it was vegetable oil) but, they made dough from scratch.

My recollection is that the crusts weren't like this when I was a kid.

[Chef Joel]

CiCis!!!! They make every kind of pizza known to humankind, and some that may not be. And there is always plenty of it (buffet). For $4.99 for all you can eat, it is unbeatable.

For more upscale pizzas, I'd have to go with Gondoliers.

[ermintrude]

If your in London these are great http://www.firezza.com/ and from a wood fired oven

[Hassouni]

If your in London these are great http://www.firezza.com/ and from a wood fired oven

Wow, expensive....

[Rebecca263]

We have a method when we are stuck ordering pizza from a chain. We order a thin crust, VERY well done, NO cheese, with sauce and whatever fresh vegetables they offer. Sometimes I add anchovies to half of the pizza, my daughter won't eat them.We ask for basil and oregano on the side, and sometimes "parmesan", although I don't eat it. We ask for sides of sauce and if it is edible, well woohoo, we dip the crusts. IF the cheese is guaranteed to be real, and we DO ask what brand it is, and we DO check online for ingredients of said "cheese" first, we might order it on half of the pizza, but that hasn't happened in years. We have never had a terrible pizza when ordering this way- a few times we have excellent pizza. The secret to getting a decent tasting meal when ordering from a pizza chain is in ordering only the parts of the pizza that will be edible. The cheese will mostly be inedible, the meats will be disgusting, the crust will be wan unless cooked to a char. Fresh vegetables will be edible at least. BTW, my daughter worked in a Pizza Hut a few years ago when a friend needed someone in one of their shops. He was so grateful to her for taking care of the problems he was having in the restaurant that he offered us many free meals, but my daughter didn't bring anything home, ever, and she never ate a thing there except for fresh chopped tomatoes from the salad bar. The ingredients in their "fauxd" freaked my daughter out and brought her back to join me on my journey to eat more REAL food.

[redfox1939]

The food at Sbarro's can be compared favorably with such eateries as Olive Garden due to their larger than life menu that includes not only pizzas, but dishes such as Chicken Portofino, (battered, marinated, and sauteed chicken with zucchini and yellow squash), Baked Ziti and Lasagna.

[rdarby]

It simply has to be Dominos!

[Meredith380]

It simply has to be Dominos!

Agreed. The thin crust is good and the greasy deep dish goes well with beers for Sunday Funday Football.

[Shel_B]

It simply has to be Dominos!

I've disliked Domino's for the longest time. I felt the crust was flacid, the toppings, at best, mediocre. Lately I've tried a few of the local places that deliver, and was very disappointed with their product, so, reading this thread, I tried Domino's "Brooklyn" pizza last night.

It's not very good, but it's a bit better than the local delivery places. I'll try 'em again, especially because their prices are better. Why pay high prices for mediocre quality?

Edited November 14, 2012 by Shel_B (log)

[radtek]

It simply has to be Dominos!

I was a General manager for them back in the late 80's during the pizza wars. Their quality suffered a great deal in the late 90's up to recently- so much the pizza was absolutely disgusting. They have revamped their recipes and quality recently- which I think now outperforms all the competition (major chains). So if I were to order for the employees it would be Domino's Pizza!

When I went back to school I worked for a Papa Johns franchise for the interim and this particular family was great to work for; they produced a quality product. The past few years it has slipped tremendously- enough to where I cannot bear the thought if eating it. We all knew of John Schnatter's self absorbed swollen ego- he is a legendary SOB in my opinion. In light of his recent comments to the media he now rates as the greediest sorriest piece of shit imaginable and I will never spend a single penny towards his business again! And I'll spread the word for the working man.

Usually I make my own, but for economy I concur with Digiorno, Walmart, Costco etc... One of those in the freezer and you'll have decent pizza without dealing with the phone and in less time. I like to doctor one up with extra cheese, meat, spices etc..