Pizza Hut Express

Not professional to have some old dude screaming profanities in the back while waiting to pick up an order.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Don’t order delivery. I never got my delivery and it took over two hours, never was contacted I had to contact the store and ask for a refund myself and they couldn’t guarantee I’d get it. Order Uber eats they are not equipped to deliver.

For me, Pizza Hut evokes a plethora of wonderful childhood memories. The great majority of these have to do with family: Sitting with the grandparents, parents and siblings enjoying a nice slice of pizza; checking out the pizza buffet; trying the “stuffed crust” pizza for the first time and being massively disappointed; watching the early 90s commercials featuring “Pizza Head”; watching the old man enjoy a “mug of beer” while eating a “mountain of spaghetti”; listening to my grandmother complain about her lasagne (“It was bum, but I was hungry so I had to eat it!”; and getting delivery many a time to my hotel room when traveling on business. In short, Pizza Hut has woven itself into not just foodie memory, but personal as well. When Pizza Hut launched WingStreet in late 2003, a slight shift came to the standard Pizza Hut wings menu – it diversified. This, to me, wasn’t a bad thing because the wing flavours jumped from “buffalo” and “naked” to include teriyaki, garlic parmesan, honey BBQ and an expanded buffalo selection (mild, medium, hot and burning hot). Along with a richer list of flavours, the wings now also came breaded or baked with bone-in or bone-out (your choice). Who doesn’t love a little diversity? Indeed, I certainly welcomed this change – Pizza Hut’s buffalo “burning hot” give many other a wing place a run for their money. The one thing I lamented, though? The taste and flavour of Pizza Hut’s “mild” buffalo wings – their original offering pre-WingStreet – changed. I’m sure most don’t miss it because they’re basically reminiscent of wings you can get in a gas station or 7-11, but I always thought they had a most pleasing flavour. Is this lamentation the result of childhood and teenage memories? Probably. Thankfully, though, the original Pizza Hut buffalo wing offering still exists at Pizza Express locations. You can usually find these compact units in major airports, malls, some gas bars and, interestingly enough, US Target stores. I remember one of the first times I stumbled across these “original” wings at the Pizza Hut Express location in Vancouver International airport. It filled me with such joy – probably too much – to be tasting these gas stationesque wings after an absence of at least a few years. I later made it a point to stop at the YVR “Express” unit each time I passed through . . . until it closed sometime in early 2017. Fast-forward to October 2018. M and I were visiting Las Vegas and she wanted to check out a Target store because she missed them in Canada (probably the only person!). We decided to visit the location on Blue Diamond Road because it isn’t too far from the Strip and many people spoke highly of it via other social media forums. The shopping experience, for me, was pretty underwhelming (I’ve never thought highly of Target), but I did get excited when I spied the Pizza Hut Express unit near the entrance ways. Why the excitement? Because I knew I could order Pizza Hut’s classic-style buffalo wing here. And so, upon checkout, I did exactly that. I strolled up to the counter and placed my order for some wings. They came in good time and tasted just as I’d remembered from the days of yesteryear. You can’t buy memories like this! Now, a brief comment on the physical space: Because this restaurant is located inside Target, and is an “Express” unit, the menu is fairly limited and does not contain the same variety as one might find in your typical stand-alone Pizza Hut; however, what they do have is sufficient for its purpose: personal pizzas (pepperoni and cheese), wings and two basic pasta selections. Beyond that, this location also offers a couple of non-standard – even surprising – items: chicken tenders, grilled cheese, NATHAN’S FAMOUS HOT DOGS (!!!), and popcorn (hey, who doesn’t want a little popcorn with their pizza?). The official Pizza Hut website says this location is “Carryout Only,” but that’s not really accurate because there is a small seating area available, which is shared with the adjacent Starbucks. FOOD: 4/5 SERVICE: 4/5 VALUE: 5/5 RECOMMENDATION: If you

Definitely didn't have fresh chicken wings, they have them sitting under a lamp.

This place has amazing pizza! I recommend it to everyone

This place has amazing pizza! I recommend it to everyone

Best pizza hut I've been to recently. Food is always fresh and the workers have good customer service skills

They have really fast delivery.