Review: Pizza Hut Restaurant. Where else do you go on Cinema Saturday?

Posted By Laura in Eating out, Review | 2 comments

Last weekend, as we tumbled out of the cinema after watching The Croods, we were all SERIOUSLY hungry. Fortunately, we had a plan up our sleeves for just such an occurrence (when you have four children, you can pretty much guarantee that hunger is a perpetual issue. When three of those four are either teen or pre-teen boys, you occasionally find yourself despairing of EVER reaching the point where all stomachs are filled), thanks to those rather brilliant people at Pizza Hut Restaurant (yes, they’ve separated the restaurants for the takeaway, check the new logo up there) – so we belted through the splashy streets of Salisbury in the lashing rain, and lurched en masse through the front door into the warm and nose-twitchingly inviting doors.

We hadn’t told the children (they thought we were running back to the car to get home to the convalescent dog), so when we lurched in the door they initially thought we were sheltering form the rain – much irate hissing ensured that we “can’t do this!”. Once we were properly inside and being led to a table, the hissing changed to “Yesssssss!!!” “Oh, brilliant, I’m STARVING!” (see?) “Piz-ZA, Piz-ZA, Piz-ZA, Piz-ZA…”

So – for us as a family, Pizza Hut Restaurant is a popular choice all round. It’s a quick and easy option, but it’s not junk food. We all love pizza & pasta – and as parents, we love the fact that the boys fill their boots with a couple of trips to the salad bar before the main pizza arrives. This means they don’t just snaffle up their own pizza and then instantly start eyeing up everyone else’s with hungry eyes. In fact, they invariably don’t actually finish their pizza. Win!

So; what did we have and how was it?

Childrens’ menu pizza – nice neat simple pizza on a thin base, perfect for small people who want a ‘real pizza’ too. Pink selected hers with ham.

The 6yr old went for the children’s menu option – which is simply a brilliant deal. All you can eat salad (she selected apples, grapes, cucumber, sweetcorn and tortilla chips. As you do.), a good choice of pizza or pasta plus a drink (squash or fizzy are unlimited) – all for £3.99. That’s a pretty unbeatable value.

The 10yr old went for a Thin Italian Double Pepperoni – which he managed half of. His verdict was “Oh. Yes! Awesome pizza!”

Bacon and pepperoni. Boy didn’t speak for the next 20 minutes.

The 11yr old surveyed the menu in dismay. He’s not only a total pizza fiend, but also the choosy eater of the family. And he couldn’t see what he wanted. His Dad pointed out the ‘Create Your Own’ option, and his eyes lit up. Bacon and pepperoni. in all the world, the pizza he wanted was bacon and pepperoni. And now it was his. He didn’t actually tell us what he thought of it at the time – he had his eyes closed, and was making small mmmmm-ing noises in the back of his throat. He ate the whole lot, though. Greedy.

The 14yr old went for the Meat Feast. Obviously. He didn’t manage to finish it, but decided it was possibly one of the best he’d eaten (plus all those boxed leftovers make for amazing cold pizza lunch the next day. Double bonus.).

No.1 and his Meat Feast. It’s a Love Thing.

Husband had his favourite concoction – the Veggie Hot One with extra beef. It’s his personal recreation of a Pizza Hut classic they crushed him by removing from the menu years ago – the Spicy Hot One it was called back in the early 90’s. This combination comes close though.

And for me it was the Veggie Supreme – spinach, cherry tomatoes, mixed peppers, red onions and mushrooms. Dee-lish-us.

The Veggie supreme – see? Dee-Lish-Us

The service was totally top – polite, smilingly warm, friendly and helpful. The food was prompt, hot and cooked perfectly (and the menu choices are brilliantly flexible and well thought out – I had no idea). The atmosphere was warm and friendly too – not too quiet so the children felt nervous, but not loud and irritatingly bright either. The only downside for us was the music speaker in the ceiling right above the table, which meant we had trouble hearing each other without straining unless we spoke very loudly – the music wasn’t actually loud itself, it just interfered with conversation a little.

Chatting, eating, a smattering of colouring (the kids pack is GREAT!) – all Saturday afternoons should be like this.

The total bill for all six of us came to a little over £75. ON top of the pizzas we had two rounds of cheesy garlic bread to share, too. The salad bar is free with all main meals, and all our soft drinks were unlimited refills too. Okay it’s not a cheap-as-chips meal (there were no chips eaten in the making of this review), but that’s the point. You actually feel you’ve had a ‘meal’ not a snack. We sat around the table for well over an hour and chatted and laughed and discussed the movie and made Boy try spinach and made plans for Sunday and listened to The Four have an in-depth, stimulating and baffling conversation about Minecraft.

Pizza Hut Restaurant, thank you. On a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon we couldn’t think of many places we’d have been happier being.

(but if you could remind me to take the camera next time so that I don’t have to rely on yellow photographs from phone, that would be great, thanks).