# I pit Pizza Hut's new Italian Bistro
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 15, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849 "2005-09-15T20:11:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/1 "2005-09-15T20:11:46Z")
The local Pizza Hut recently reopened as Pizza Hut: Italian Bistro. The first time I went there for dinner it was fine, but today I went there for lunch and will never go back there again. I ordered a 10in Southwest Tostada Pizza _sans_ onion and an order of 3 boneless hotwings, the waitress said fine. Five minutes later she came out and said they couldn’t make a Southwest Pizza without onion since the computer wouldn’t let her put it in. :dubious: (Can’t ya just tell the person making the pizza not to put onions on it?) I asked it the pizzas were premade or if the toppings were pre-mixed; she didn’t know. I asked to see the manager and he said that they did make all their pizzas there but he couldn’t make one without onions because “_Pizza Hut standards require us to make all Bistro pizzas with the same recipe._” What the fuck? :mad: All I asked for was for you to leave _one_ **topping** off. I didn’t demand you make something not on the menu just cause you happen to the ingredients in your kitchen. Leaving the onions off wouldn’t make the pizza inedible (even if it did unless it made it unsafe for human consumption they should have done it). I can go to Burger King or McDonalds and get something without onions. Needless to say I walked out of the Hut and ate somewhere else.
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/2 "2005-09-15T20:21:35Z")
How were the hotwings?
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### Author:  [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/3 "2005-09-15T20:40:48Z")
Pizza Hut is terrible pizza anyway. Apropos of nothing, I’m pretty cheesed-off with Dominos. I found a coupon in a mail-flyer for 2 2-topping pizzas for $13.99, which isn’t cheap, but it’s a little better than their regular price. I phoned and told them I had the coupon, to which the person replied, "Well, we have 2 pizzas for $18.99, to which I replied, “O.K., but I want to know if you’ll honor the coupon I have”, to which he AGAIN replied by starting into a list of what “we have”. At that point, I cut him off and said, “I’m not asking what you have; I’m asking if you will honor this coupon”, at which point he started explaining how different stores have different coupons. So AGAIN I had to cut him off and remind him that I had asked a simple question that required only a yes or no answer, to which he FINALLY said that yes, they would honor the coupon. When the driver arrived, he said, “That will be $17.99.” I showed him the coupon and asked why he was quoting a higher price. He said there was tax. I explained that sales tax is only 8%. Only then did he inform me that there was an extra $1.50 delivery charge (from a place for which 99% of their business is delivery). (I’m probably not remembering the numbers exactly right, so the math may not work.) I guess they’re trying to capitalize on high gas prices. I don’t think it actually costs an additional $1.50 in gas to drive 2 miles, even with prices at $3 a gallon.
I probably got extra spit on my pizza. ☹
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### Author:  [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/4 "2005-09-15T20:40:50Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> Leaving the onions off wouldn’t make the pizza inedible
YMMV… 😛
This is sort of the same as a pet peeve of mine - “the computer won’t take it.” Remember when people in retail could count your change back to you, backwards? Now if the computer didn’t tell them that they owed you $3.47, they would be lost. Hell, half of them have trouble getting the $3.47 right…
[Additional Rant] Wow! The terms {Pizza Hut} and {Italian Bistro} should not appear in the same book, much less the same sentence. [/ar]
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### Author:  [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/5 "2005-09-15T20:43:00Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> The local Pizza Hut recently reopened as Pizza Hut: Italian Bistro. …Today I went there for lunch and… ordered a 10in Southwest Tostada Pizza…
I’m sorry, but this made me laugh. Maybe you should have ordered the Pad Thai Deep Dish or the Down Under Roo 'Roni Pie.
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/6 "2005-09-15T20:48:07Z")
> [@if6was9](#):
>
> This is sort of the same as a pet peeve of mine - “the computer won’t take it.”
Reminds me of the skit from the show “Little Britain”. The banker just sighs as she says “computer says no…”. And then looks helplessly on. It’s perfect.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/7 "2005-09-15T20:54:51Z")
> [@The New Guy](#):
>
> Only then did he inform me that there was an extra $1.50 delivery charge (from a place for which 99% of their business is delivery).
I would have responded “oh, so now they call a tip a delivery charge. I get it now.”
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/8 "2005-09-15T21:13:52Z")
Oh gosh. You just made me experience retro-rage.
I had a coupon once for papa johns supreme pizza. I asked the lady on the phone to leave off a couple of items. She said “no.” Thinking I was talking to a moron drone; I asked to speak to the manager. Her response was also “no” along with a snarky " If you want a pizza like that, you’re gonna have to pay full price."
Now keep in mind, I wasn’t asking them to ADD extra stuff, just leave some stuff OFF! :rolleyes: I even tried to reason with her that she’s actually saving the company money by NOT putting some stuff on.
She was so obtuse she just didn’t get it.
So I definately feel your pain **alphaboi867** :mad:
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### Author:  [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/9 "2005-09-15T21:14:35Z")
Heh. My policy as an undergrad (and still my policy): if there’s a delivery charge, there’s no tip.
And I happen to like Pizza Hut. I think maybe they wouldn’t give you the pizza without onions, because then, if you still wanted the pizza with those other toppings, you’d have to pay the regular pizza price. They are evil like that. Evil, but delicious. 😉
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### Author:  [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/10 "2005-09-15T21:26:25Z")
> [@Ichini Sanshigo](#):
>
> Heh. My policy as an undergrad (and still my policy): if there’s a delivery charge, there’s no tip.
Yeah, I know, but I hate to punish the driver, because he probably has nothing to do with their asinine policies. I bet that $1.50 doesn’t go to him.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/11 "2005-09-15T21:52:33Z")
Should have gone Jack Nicholson on them, and asked if you could have the onions on the side.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/12 "2005-09-15T23:36:32Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#):
>
> I’m sorry, but this made me laugh. Maybe you should have ordered the Pad Thai Deep Dish or the Down Under Roo 'Roni Pie.
I read that as “Down Underoo 'Roni Pie” :eek: 😃
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/13 "2005-09-15T23:41:59Z")
> [@Enderw24](#):
>
> How were the hotwings?
I don’t know I left before they were brought out. And I didn’t ask that the cost of the pizza to be reduced just because they left one topping off. They simply insisted that they had to put all the toppings (which were kept seperate) on the pizza cause their recipe said so. And neither the waitress nor the manager was actually rude; they genuinely couldn’t understand how to avoid putting onions on a pizza.
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### Author:  [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/14 "2005-09-16T00:04:11Z")
Where I work we can’t leave for lunch, and delivery choices are limited. So we were pretty excited when our Pizza Hut went to a Bistro, woo hoo! new food choices!
Except…not.
When we called to place our order we asked for several non-pizza like items (sandwiches and stuff) we were told they only deliver the pizza’s and wings. When we inquired why they stated “we dont have any containers to deliver sandwiches in”
😕
Um…okay, if you want to turn down a $30-$40 order because you can’t find a piece of paper to wrap a sandwich in, good luck with your business!
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### Author:  [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/15 "2005-09-16T00:17:01Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#):
>
> I’m sorry, but this made me laugh. Maybe you should have ordered the Pad Thai Deep Dish or the Down Under Roo 'Roni Pie.
I laughed as well. The idea of ordering “Tex-Mex” at “Pizza Hut’s” new “Italian” joint made me laugh. When Taco Bell finally opens their Taco Bell: Mexican Trattoria, I am sooooo there to order the Chinese General Tso’s Burrito sans beans and a side order of calamari.
I also the story was going to end with the waitress coming back because no one knew what he meant by ‘sans onions’.
It’s heartening to know that they have invented boneless buffalo wings, but disheartening to know they cant give you a pizza without onions
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/16 "2005-09-16T01:01:43Z")
Pizza Hut’s overseas (well, in India at least) are sit-down restraunts with waiters, fancy dishes, and full menus with a lot of non-pizza item. Theres no chance they sell the tandoori paneer pizza at this bistro, is there? I’d drive quite a ways to have another one of those (no, I didn’t spend all my time in India eating Pizza Hut, but my good friend worked there)…
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### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/17 "2005-09-16T04:15:12Z")
Don’t go near Blimpie’s either. They’re very obnoxious about coupons.
I’ve been there twice in two weeks because they’re close to my house. The first time I did not have a coupon. The second time I did. The first sandwich (ordered without coupon) was nearly twice as filled as the second sandwich (a nearly identical sandwich ordered with a coupon.)
That was a very scummy trick especially considering they were the ones who shoved the damned coupon in my mail in the first place.
I’ve generally found Pizza Hut to be the best of the chain pizzerias (not that that’s saying much) so I’m surprised they gave you such a hard time.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/18 "2005-09-16T15:52:02Z")
Bobby: I’d like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A #2, chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven’t broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.
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### Author:  [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/19 "2005-09-16T20:34:51Z")
I pit **you** for going to Pizza Hut’s new Italian Bistro.
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### Author:  [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-pizza-huts-new-italian-bistro/321849/20 "2005-09-16T21:47:14Z")
> [@The New Guy](#):
>
> Pizza Hut is terrible pizza anyway. Apropos of nothing, I’m pretty cheesed-off with Dominos. I found a coupon in a mail-flyer for 2 2-topping pizzas for $13.99, which isn’t cheap, but it’s a little better than their regular price. I phoned and told them I had the coupon, to which the person replied, "Well, we have 2 pizzas for $18.99, to which I replied, “O.K., but I want to know if you’ll honor the coupon I have”, to which he AGAIN replied by starting into a list of what “we have”. At that point, I cut him off and said, “I’m not asking what you have; I’m asking if you will honor this coupon”, at which point he started explaining how different stores have different coupons. So AGAIN I had to cut him off and remind him that I had asked a simple question that required only a yes or no answer, to which he FINALLY said that yes, they would honor the coupon. When the driver arrived, he said, “That will be $17.99.” I showed him the coupon and asked why he was quoting a higher price. He said there was tax. I explained that sales tax is only 8%. Only then did he inform me that there was an extra $1.50 delivery charge (from a place for which 99% of their business is delivery). (I’m probably not remembering the numbers exactly right, so the math may not work.) I guess they’re trying to capitalize on high gas prices. I don’t think it actually costs an additional $1.50 in gas to drive 2 miles, even with prices at $3 a gallon.
>
> I probably got extra spit on my pizza. ☹
This is why I’ve learned to confirm the total before I get off the phone.
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