I realize that's not the best choice in many locals, but looking for something to try around here that might be here or close. Had a local place that was very satisfactory, but they just kept getting worse. Quit them before all the covid excuses.


Don't care much for Papa Johns, Pizza Hut 20 years ago was a fave but they've gone down hill to a point I'd eat 7-11 roller dog slices first.

Marco's

+1

Once you go to Frank Pepe's, Sally's Apizza, Worcester Street, Zeneli's or Modern Apizza in New Haven, CT; you learn quickly.....chain pizza suck.

www.Marcos.com

When they offer it, Detroit Style from Pizza Hut is really good. Otherwise, Marco's, especially their Philly Cheese Steak.

We live in a pizza desert. 16 miles to a Pizza Hut. One private pizza joint 8 miles away. The non chain one makes better pizza.
When we traveled a lot it seemed Dominoes was at least consistent.
Dayum, now I want a pizza.

I love some Grocery store Red Baron about as much as anything....I'm not picky!

I'd load up on those and could be happy.

Pizza King

Domino’s was absolute garbage in the 80’s and 90’s. At some
Point, they did a pretty decent job of turning it around. It is what it is, but it’s far better than what it was.

I remember liking Papa Gino’s as a kid. I do t even know if they’re still around, and/or National or regional.

I know this sounds off but we are minutes from Little Caesars, Round Table, local place called Pizza 101 and another local called Dominicos but Little Caesars still beats them. I will say I have seen Little Caesars quality all over the place from different stores.

For Pizza, Pizza Hut, for a buffet meal, Pizza Ranch.

Godfathers

Cici's.

Hands down.

When I was a kid little ceasars was shidt. Now it’s awesome

Papa johns for the win.

There are NO good national pizza chains unless you can show one that sells pizzas like these

Papa John’s got a lot better about 10yrs ago. Cottage Inn has a few combinations that are great for chain pizza.

For Michigan guys, 112 Pizzeria in Rochester Hills is the best in Michigan for my money. I’ve made the 90min drive just to pick it to surprise the wife on our anniversary. Check it out if you’re down that way.

112 Pizzeria

Thats very generous for toppings but too much dough for my tastes. I prefer pizza Hut because of the thin and crispy option.

Sbarro for the win!

Monicals aint bad ( get it at burg we turkey hunt near )

Papa Johns Mediterranean pizza was good

Got a Caseys close by and their Supreme was decent today.

We have a small place that isnt a chain and theirs is very good, but not cheap.

I aint picky, but Pizza Hut and Dominos are no go.
Papa Johns dumped their Mediterranean pizza and while the Works was OK.....i can get same thing w less hassle closer.

Was a pub that had big pepperoni, great pizzas and good prices. Alas they retired/ shut down.

Pizza is similar to Mex food, there are NO good chains.

Papa Johns

Marco's. I like Papa John's too.

Its all good when u high as fook

Marcos

Costco

👍👍👍😄😄😄

That looks delicious!

I’m about 40 miles south of Chicago. Independent pizza places abound. Pick your favorites.
As to chains, if you have a Casey’s nearby, I’d go with that. Best bet is make your own. Get some decent sauce and good sausage. A good crust recipe, and you are well on your way. Buy good mozzarella or make it yourself. Recipes abound. Making your own is cheaper, more rewarding, and if you don’t have a good place nearby, making your own is a great option.
You can order sausage online from some places in Chicago. Real Sausage is a great place. The also make a great German Thuringer.

No national chain pizza gets my money

Excellent assessment of Pizza Hut!

Not national but I grew up on that stuff. Gimme a Large royal feast and a pair of elastic Waist sweats

MM good.

I like Papa Murphy’s. Their Gourmet Vegetarian is kickin’…!

for a national chain around here i would pick dominos. pizza hut is friggen garbage. theres a chain around here called foxes which sucks too. not sure if they are national but they are big here.

Papa Murphy's is good. You can add topping of your own at home if you choose.

What the hell happened to Pizza Hut? They were good 20 years ago, smorgasbord bar, thin crust, good choice of topping.....

Somehow, they lost the recipe for pizza that included cheese, their buffet is a complete joke, with very little choice, new pizzas not added until everything is gone - compare Pizza Ranch's buffet and you'll never throw your money away at a Pizza Hut again.

Marco's

You are all missing the best. Chuck E cheese baby. Best damn pizza by a mile! One of the best reasons to have kids lol

I would agree with Marco's.

I know a loaded question, but had no alternative. Like has been said here, a pizza desert here as well for the good stuff.. We have them, but taking frozen & tying to pass them off for gourmet. Big disappointment. My pallet is not ignorant .

Sbarro only name mentioned local(25 miles), will try.

Obvious answer; keep trying locals to find what ya like.

Oh well, I tried.

Here in Yuma, our gun club used to go to Pizza Hut for lunch after our shoot. They had a buffet line that was pretty good, good prices, etc. Then a group of Purple Hat Ladies got to coming in about the same time as us, that quickly deteriorated the buffet line to where it was like slopping the hogs, you didn't want to get between a Purple Hat Lady and the serving line!! We finally quit going for that reason.

Our Pizza Hut in Lander WY is still pretty good. Clean place, good service, pizzas are the same as they always have been, that is, servicable to really good. We go there maybe once a month or more.

Best pizza ever was Shakey's in Novato CA , 1965 just outside the gate at Hamilton AFB. Real California Girl running the place. Shakeys, the Air Force base and the California Girl are all gone now. Alas.

Too easy to please maybe, but loved he Pizza Hut Pan supreme. My town lost ours in the flood of 97. Afterward, we liked them so much we went to other towns to have them for a couple years until a local joint duplicated. All good for 10-15 years. Then I guess the local joint got into money trouble or got greedy. Started using reconstituted crap & shorting on all of the toppings.

Like I said, my pallet is not ignorant.

some years back my boys and the other cub scouts went on a behind the scenes tour of pizza hut. pre-made crusts. i think thats what killed them. i agree it used to be awesome 30+ years ago and i could spend hours at the buffet. now it is cardboard garbage.

Papa John’s got them all beat but I only get it when others buy it I stick with the $5.99 lil ceasor 2 days worth of lunch

Plus you also get to scope out all the other cats ole ladies just like they are scoping out yours.


I used ta love chuck e cheese when the kids were young.

LOL!!!!

And I was really good at the star wars sit in the booth game.

Ticked the kids off.
They would get gakked 1 or 2nd stage.
Dad get in that thing go thru 12 or 13 stages while they would wait for me to get gakked.

Fair is fair girls once you get gakked for good the game is done....


Hot milf at skee ball bending constantly over helping her kid out.

Hey girls lets go play some skee ball!!

👍👍👍😄😄😄

Pizza Hut or Domino's

Buy the 5 pack of pre made crusts with sauce packs at Sam's club. Then buy there shredded mozzarella and parmesian and then pepperoni or whatever other toppings. Throw one together quickly and bake for 8 minutes.

Bb

Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Crust is pretty good. And about the only “chain” I’ll eat at besides for CC’s

I didn't think there were any anymore

We have Pizza Hut and Fox's.


I like pizza.
So much that I look at different places as a different food.
And depending on what I want, thats what I get.

There is a local chain, and OIP in both local towns.

Never understood OIP. They are everywhere, but an owner was
explaining that they are totally independent.

National.

Probably Papa Johns.
PH, Domino's, Foxes, are good, but not great.
Little Ceaser's is something to eat.
Cici's is a cheap gut bomb. Maybe worth what it cost.

California pizza kitchen?

Totino’s …chain

We like pizza in my house, so it is totally worth it to quickly and easily make your own. Way healthier and tastes way better than any chain and most specialty shops....

Uno's Pizzeria, Chicago-style pizza:

https://www.unos.com/

Sir Pizza

UNO's one of the highest rated joints in the US.

Lexington had one & I had a gyro there once. But in this area, nobody knew who the hell they were & they didn't seem to bother to inform who they were. They built the place, it set there for a couple years & left.

Later, with complete internet info, knowing UNO was in Lex & left was a heartbreak. They never seemed to help their case in my recollection.

Ate there in Merrellville (sp?) Indiana was very good!

Too bad they aren't in the dirty south.

GregW, yours look over the top, envious, wish I was there.

I've been making them lately but not satisfied yet, a lot to learn here, especially when looking at yours.

A whole lot to be said for having a good pizza while in your socks & sweats vs. driving 30 minutes & waiting another 30 for a pie.

Of course GW shows up with his home made hoity-toity pie.

Whos next? Paul?

Not exactly a chain, but nationally franchised, is Ledo Pizza, which began as a local joint in Adelphi, MD frequented by University of Maryland notables like Lefty Driesell and many others. I’ve eaten pizza from Ledos in at least three states and it’s consistently excellent. Always tastes the same, everywhere. Sweet sauce, smoked provolone, and great sausage on a thin, tender crust.

When there was only one, a line would form outside, folks waiting an hour or more for a table. I worked at the High’s dairy store a couple of doors down while in H.S. ($1.60 an hour) and would spend most of an evening’s pay for a small one.

Round table pizza. Unfortunately I think they are only in the western US and furthest east one is in Elko NV.

Probably Papa Murphy’s. It wasn’t a chain but years ago Joe Francisco made the best pizza in the universe probably.

Grow up in Chicago
I hear ya

Hank

No votes for Shakey's Pizza?

I never went to that location, but I loved Shakey's pizza when I was a kid.

Plus 1

🦫

Shakey's pizza parlor was the first pizza I had out beyond Chef Boy R Dee frozen.

Friend was going to UK & wanted me to come to Lex & have pizza. Told him I didn't like pizza. He told me I'd like this. He was right, that was different.

About 1974?

Visiting Chicago tried P quad and Lou Malnatis thought OMG why do people back home not make pizza like this.

Good folks, I was over ten years old before I ever heard of pizza.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but IMO there can be too much topping on a pizza just like there can be too much filling in a poboy.

i'm with you. it can make the crust a sloggy mess. i prefer mushrooms and pepperoni

to really be in the minority, i also like ham and pineapple.

Round Table Pizza is the best pizza on the planet imho.

I remember the Qbert game at Shakeys Pizza would give you free games if you pushed the coin return just right.

Dig Dug wouldn't though and Qbert Kida sucked.

Abby’s ain’t too bad either...Maybe more regional than national chain, idk.

🦫

Did all Shakeys have a player piano in them?

Lots of good pizza around. Usually the best is a local shop somewhere. I like Papa Murphy's take and bake myself. Its great.

A good godfathers is still very good. Mr. Jims pizza has been pretty good most of the time I try them as is Marco's pizza.

The only chain pizza worth eating is Round Table

What makes it good?

Those are some excellent looking pizza's. Way to go!

Zito's, Shakey's

That sounds like we're treading dangerously close to something so disappointing as Neopolitan pizza.

That mess doesn't have any meat on it. No way.

Pizza Crust with a bit of topping is a waste of time. A handful of starch is not a meal. They tend to make them like that in Italy, basically just crust with tomato paste spread....

I ain't talking about that extreme either.

If I have to eat chain pizza a deep dish Little Cesar’s is my pick

Blackjack is pretty good

Haha thats fantastic!!
Still one within 30 miles of us

I cant recall one in the Shakeys I mentioned earlier. Sure do remember the California Girl though.

I’m quite disappointed and downright dismayed that no one has fallen in to aid gunzo with this. Of all the contributors of tbis thread.

There may be some crossed connections of recollections. It here goes

So....at Chuck E Cheese, Mr Munch a purple dinosaur barney knockoff played a keyboard

Showbiz Pizza had the Rock-Afire Band with a bear on guitar and silver back gorilla on organ




An animatron bear played a piano in the Country Bear Jamboree at Disney World but that was not a pizza thing.

Fox’s for me but I don’t know if that’s national.

Local pizza shop in Corning NY, Aniellos, makes the best pizza I’ve ever had and I’ve been eating there for the last, wow, 35 years. It’s still the same pizza I had 35 years ago.

Not sure what I’d say favorite national chain is…

Pizza Ranch if there is one in your area

No one for that greasy mall food court jew pizza?? Sbarro ?

Like $4 a slice but it was alright

Wasnt really a favorite but after several hours of your mom draggin you around making you try on back to school corduroys and toughskins jeans...you was glad to get something

there is some pretty good pizza in Tucson, but I don't think you are going to do better than those, in Tucson.

Equal maybe but not beat.

Donato's

Hunt Bros?

lol

Salami on the left/pepperoni on the right - onions, green peppers, jalapenos and mushrooms.

When I was in Tucson 32 years ago I enjoyed the pizza at Zachary's near the U of A campus. They had an impressive beer list for those days too.

If forced to eat chain pizza it's Mazzios or Minskys.

Foxs for sure. Great pizza as well

In town if we eat out it's local restaurants not chains but while traveling around NC to my out of town jobsites it's Village Inn for me. Plain but I really like the thin slice. And the salad bar is also average but it's OK.

Cici's, hands down. Every year I'll lay in a good supply of extra large. I keep 'em in the back of the truck in case I get stuck in the snow. I throw 'em under the rear wheels and eureka, I get traction.

Lotta West Coastie love for Round Table.

Gunzo I remember those player pianos and live music in Shakey's as a kid in the 70's.

I never heard of Marcos until this post. Heck there is oneca few miles from my place. I will give them a try if I ever decide to eat pizza.

Marco's. For the most part, you can get a pizza like a pizza before all the Mexican spicy crap came along. You can get that too, I guess.

YES!

I'm the kind of person that thinks there is no such thing as bad pizza, some is just better than others.

That being said, my first choice would be Pizza Hut, back in the early 90's when I worked for them. Still had the cast iron "deep" pans, mixed our own dough and cut our own lettuce for the salad bar. Don't remember if we got much of a discount on pizza, but a "take out" salad was $0.75 for employees. Usually got free pizza if you closed.

Godfathers, Sbarro, and Domino's are ok. I've got 4-5 mom and pop stores in my town I try to use more than the chains.

Mellow Mushroom

We eat at Mod’s about once a week. One price and u point at what toppings you want and add extra if needed and pile it as high as you want. We make our own at home pretty regularly.

These threads always highlight ho far I am from much of the world.
And that's funny, because we are kinda rural, dam sure aren't remote.

I agree. There's something magical about baking cheese, sauce and toppings on top of a crust. I even have an appreciation for cheap Totino's made in a toaster oven.

Back in the day, I liked Pizza Inn and Pizza Hut both. Pizza Inn is the first pizza parlor I can remember eating at. But I haven't eaten pizza from a chain in a long time so can't make a current recommendation.

Yep. Pretty dang good.

Sbarro's is okay if you don't mind the grease and just want something simple. Our other national chain choices around here are Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Little Caesars. Hard pass.....