The worst Pizza you ever ate!!

IMHO, the absolute worst thing you can eat, pizza wise, is a frozen pie with sausage or hamburger. Those meats, especially the sausage, look like rabbit pellets and taste like a cross between Tender Vittles and Alpo. We don't really have that many good pizza joints in Salisbury, but in Concord there's a place called Italian Oven that has brick oven pizzas and chicken marsala that are superb. I don't know if this is a chain or not, it's the only one around, and I've never neard of one anywhere else.

For me its Papa John's. Hate the stuff...no pizza should taste sweet and IMHO both the sauce and dough are way too sweet. Maybe to appeal to college students? I used to work on a campus and students love PJ! Mind boggling.

Godfather's is so greasy, ick. I've tried the only local pizzeria in our little town, and it was horrible. The Yellow Mushroom in Waseca, MN. Avoid at all costs. Tough, thin crust, sparse toppings, and to add insult to injury, over $17 for a large pie. Ridiculous!

So we're stuck with Dominos until I can find something better nearby...any ideas? We're about 10 miles from Owatonna and 20 from Mankato.

Gail

My vote for the worst pizza? Its about a 10-way tie between every frozen grocery store pizza that I've ever had the misfortune to eat. The newer "rising crust" pizzas are somewhat better, but freezing any bread product does something to it that just can't be undone. It's the nearest pizza parlor for me!

Pizza Hut, Dominos and Chuck E. Cheese's all serve pizza that's far superior to that served at Pizza, Pizza, the largest chain in the Toronto area. Pizza, Pizza is so chintzy on the ingredients that I'm embarassed by the fact that it's Canadian based!

Any pizza served in office building or mall food courts is usually very bad. The standard trick that they use in food courts is to add yeast to the dough. This of course makes the pizza thick - but with beery tasting dough and not tasty ingredients like bacon, mushrooms, ham and onions!

Worst of all is any frozen supermarket pizza I've ever had the misfortune of sampling! Somehow they all acquire that particularly vile frozen pizza flavour.

quote:

Originally posted by Hepcat

Pizza Hut, Dominos and Chuck E. Cheese's all serve pizza that's far superior to that served at Pizza, Pizza, the largest chain in the Toronto area. Pizza, Pizza is so chintzy on the ingredients that I'm embarassed by the fact that it's Canadian based!

I think that's the place where I got a "slice" (assuming it could be called a "slice") when I was in Toronto a coupla years ago. The one I "ate" in was on the Danforth. It was bad. That's an understatement.

Just last week while at Disney I ordered a pizza to be delivered to the hotel room (Port Orleans) from the on-site pizzeria called "The Sassagoula Pizza Co." THAT should of tipped me off right away The pizza was awful...the crust was like bread, the sauce too sweet, the "sausage" dismal! I'm used to NJ/NY pizza, the REAL deal Anyways, I ate half of it

Untill I ate At Pizza the Hutt ,I was unaware that grease was a topping.

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Originally posted by BigGlenn

All the National Chain Pizza joints have been slammed in this thread but..........they seem to stay in business. How can that be?

The answer is that it isn't the product that has led to the success of these and other chains, it's the systems that have been put in place to produce, market and distribute those products on a mass scale. Almost all of us can make a better burger than McDonald's or Burger King, and I think that most of us have found better pizzas at local, "mom and pop" operations, or even at home, than at national chains like Pizza Hut, Pappa John's or Domino's. But what these companies have done is create and implement systems that are sophisticated enough to earn billions of dollars and serve millions of customers, but that are simple enough to be essentially operated by high school students.

There have been plenty of instances in the restaurant and other industries where a company has had a better product than most or even all of its competitors, but has failed because adequate systems for marketing, handling money and product, and management oversight have not been in place. For example, right after the '70s mini-series "Roots," a fried chicken franchise operation called "Chicken George" was started. They had a number of restaurants here in the Washington D.C. area, although I don't know how many they had nationwide. Even though I, and many of my friends, thought that their chicken and side dishes were better than those found at KFC and Popeye's, they failed, I think because of management problems. Unfortunately, the quality of the food is not the most important determinant of whether a restaurant chain is successful.

The worst I ever ate was in - get this - London, UK. Um, they need to just stick to making fish and chips and crisps and beer.

The worst pizza that I remember eating,and in fact, eating time and time again was in my Junior High School cafeteria, talk about cardboard squares with no taste! uck!

I agree with all of the posts regarding frozen pizza, but have found if you purchase "Mama Celeste's" (I don't even know if it's still available) individual cheese pizza and "doctor" it with some olive oil, oregano, red pepper flakes & garlic and bake it in a toaster oven, that it's not half bad.

BTW - Ben & Jerry attended my Junior High School, I wonder if the dull pizza inspired them to be so creative with ice cream?

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Originally posted by flowercat



BTW - Ben & Jerry attended my Junior High School, I wonder if the dull pizza inspired them to be so creative with ice cream?

Did you grow up in Merrick NY?

It's great to know that I came from such an infamous town which hailed Amy Fisher, Debbie (Deborah) Gibson and Ben and Jerry!

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Originally posted by wanderingjew

quote:

Originally posted by flowercat



BTW - Ben & Jerry attended my Junior High School, I wonder if the dull pizza inspired them to be so creative with ice cream?

Did you grow up in Merrick NY?

It's great to know that I came from such an infamous town which hailed Amy Fisher, Debbie (Deborah) Gibson and Ben and Jerry!

Yes! In the area where Shore Drive meets Clubhouse Rd, so I didn't live close to Amy Fisher(Hewlett side), Deborah Gibson, Ricki Lake or Ben and Jerry(North Merrick or Merrick proper) .. lol .. attended MAJHS & JFK.

Since this is a pizza thread, I do miss Violetta's and know that they moved from Holiday Park to Sunrise Hwy and of course, D'Antonio's.

quote:

Originally posted by flowercat

quote:

Originally posted by wanderingjew

Originally posted by flowercat

Yes! In the area where Shore Drive meets Clubhouse Rd, so I didn't live close to Amy Fisher(Hewlett side), Deborah Gibson, Ricki Lake or Ben and Jerry(North Merrick or Merrick proper) .. lol .. attended MAJHS & JFK.

Since this is a pizza thread, I do miss Violetta's and know that they moved from Holiday Park to Sunrise Hwy and of course, D'Antonio's.

I grew up on Lowell Lane. Had no idea Ricki Lake was from Merrick! I too went to MAJHS and JFK. What year did you graduate? I went to Violetta's back in August. Took two pies back to RI with me to take to the office the following day! Where was D'Antonio's? I dont' remember it.

Wanderingjew!

D'Antonio's was on the Southwest corner of Merrick Ave & Merrick Road and closed sometime in the late 80's and I believe became a Mexican Restaurant for a short time. It was in the same center as Waldbaum's and Colony Cards, or before The Gap moved in and Waldbaum's moved to Holiday Park.

I lived on Camden Lane and certainly know where Lowell is, I'm in touch with someone who lived on Covered Bridge Rd and kept informed on happenings in Merrick.

I found the JFK site on Classmates in 1999, before they began to charge to post and somehow, I was the one who started most of the flame wars with the remarks "You are putting the cart before the horse" and "You need to get your ducks in a row" ... oh well

quote:

Originally posted by flowercat

Wanderingjew!

D'Antonio's was on the Southwest corner of Merrick Ave & Merrick Road and closed sometime in the late 80's and I believe became a Mexican Restaurant for a short time. It was in the same center as Waldbaum's and Colony Cards, or before The Gap moved in and Waldbaum's moved to Holiday Park.

YesI know where Camden Lane is. I now remember D'Antonio's, but actually remember it under a different name, Rainone's. If I recall, they only served whole pies and not by the slice. They were really good. There was another Pizza Place on Merrick Road, closer to Mc Donald's called Brothers Pizza. They were really good. They were around from the early 80's and were still around in 1992 prior to my leaving NY for Seattle. They're gone now!

Dominos here is by far the worst as far as delivery pizzas go. Pizza Hut and Papa Johns are better though not top of the line. If you want top of the line you have to go to Nick and Gios a local pizzeria and Italian restauraunt. As for my dislike for Dominos I would actually like to taste a few of the toppings instead of just the crust. I am not crazy about frozen pizza but Orv's is acceptable.

quote:

Originally posted by flowercat

quote:

Originally posted by wanderingjew

quote:

Originally posted by flowercat



BTW - Ben & Jerry attended my Junior High School, I wonder if the dull pizza inspired them to be so creative with ice cream?

Did you grow up in Merrick NY?

It's great to know that I came from such an infamous town which hailed Amy Fisher, Debbie (Deborah) Gibson and Ben and Jerry!

Yes! In the area where Shore Drive meets Clubhouse Rd, so I didn't live close to Amy Fisher(Hewlett side), Deborah Gibson, Ricki Lake or Ben and Jerry(North Merrick or Merrick proper) .. lol .. attended MAJHS & JFK.

Since this is a pizza thread, I do miss Violetta's and know that they moved from Holiday Park to Sunrise Hwy and of course, D'Antonio's.

I grew up on Leslie Lane, off Shore Drive. I went to Lakeside, MAJHS (I think it has a new name now) and Kennedy. My sister went to Calhoun, I think she was there when Ben & Jerry were. Of course now Merrick-Bellmore is gonna be infamous for Mepham Sodomy on top of everything else.

Didn't Shore Drive sort of morph into Clubhouse, and vice versa? Clubhouse went by the golf course, right? (Clubhouse, eh? )

I didn't know that there were actually any other human beings in Merrick (I didn't have a particularly happy or sociable childhood.)

Edit:

Violetta's pizza in Holiday Park(?) shopping center on Merrick Road. Walked there from Lakeside (they let us go out for lunch in elementary school!) There was just about enough time to walk there, scarf down a coupla slices and walk back. I think it was 25 cents a slice when I first started going there, I think I remember the neon sign that said "Pizza 25¢" and then it started going up, I guess it went next to 30¢ but I don't remember.

Or am I just imagining the whole thing.?

Nah.

Edit: Now I remember that next to Violetta's was a Grant's (a 5 & 10 store, anybody remember them? ) Okay, so there were two appealing things about Grants. One was that they always had candy at a great price. I think it was 3 candy bars for 25¢ and everyone else charged 10¢ for a bar. The other great thing was that Grants had a small "pets" section and they had some turtles and fish and stuff. I think that the turtles were in open tanks and you could play with them.

So the deal was that if you had a dollar for lunch you could get two slices of pizza, a drink (a quarter or less) and 3 candy bars for a dollar! Geez now I'm wondering if there was change left over or if the drink cost 25¢?

Okay, this is the wrong place to post this, but the McDonald's on Merrick road was one of the original "Golden Arches" McDonald's before they remodeled it and ruined it. I don't remember much from my childhood but I absolutely remember that place. No inside seating. The outdoor seating built into the sides of the building, the white and red tiles. I'd swear I remember ketchup smeared on the tiles and how gross I thought it was (I'm talking about when I was maybe 4 or 5 or 6 here.) The arches.

I remember what a treat it was to go there. Back then it was a really big deal to go to a McDonald's, there weren't 5,000,000,000,000 outlets; and people, especially families just didn't eat out like they do now.

Years later a Burger King opened down the street with one of those awful, boring mansard roofs and indoor seating and I recall that it seemed so modern compared to the old-fashioned McDonalds. Then at some point McDonalds remodeled and was turned into another dreary fast-food joint. But I didn't appreciate the original back then. "Modern" always seemed better, I didn't realize how banal and homogenized it was.

Back OT, the worst pizza I ever ate were the awful grease pads they used to serve in my college student building (not the cafeteria but the grab and go cafe-type place). It was branded as Sbarro's but I could not beleive that even Sbarro's would put their name on that crud. Everything that makes pizza bad afflicted these sorry things: greasy, stringy "cheez", too sweet, gloppy sauce, spongy crust, Upton Sinclair's Jungle pepperoni . . . you name it.

You only ate it if you were really desperate and had exhausted all your other food options (i.e. everything else was closed).

BTW, I went to Fordham University in the Bronx, which is just steps away from the Bronx's Little Italy, home to some of planet Earth's finest pizza creations. I mention this because it's not as if they could claim ignorance about what good pizza was . . . it was right down the street.

Bad pizza? I guess the cafeteria back in the dorms <shudder> was the worst. I've had lots of generic pizza, but very few pies that were truly awful.

But then, I'm something of a true believer when it comes to pizza. I tend to believe that pizza is analagous to sex...even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

no, more like when it's bad, it's a big disappointment. or maybe that's just the female perspective....

i hate little ceasers and dominos...and pizza hut. and i worked at major magic's a looooooong time ago.....that pizza was pretty much awful.

eeewww...bad pizza can be really bad.

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Originally posted by Penoose

Bad pizza? I guess the cafeteria back in the dorms <shudder> was the worst. I've had lots of generic pizza, but very few pies that were truly awful.

But then, I'm something of a true believer when it comes to pizza. I tend to believe that pizza is analagous to sex...even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

My wife says that bad sex and bad pizza are similar in that neither of them are worth having,and both sex and pizza are better when they're done with love!

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Originally posted by tiki

My wife says that bad sex and bad pizza are similar in that neither of them are worth having,and both sex and pizza are better when they're done with love!

Phew! I thought you were going to say something about hot pepperoni and pools of grease...

I've had some bad pizza, but the worst was probably in Barcelona, Spain, of all places. I'm from Chicago, so the friends I was visiting in Barcelona were eager to take me to this place - it was called something like Chicago Pizza Pie Co. or something. I can't remember what made it so bad, but trust me, it was terrible. What made it worse was knowing that all the locals thought that this junk was what we ate in Chicago. When my friend and his family visited me in Chicago the next year, I made sure that their first stop after the airport was Pizzeria Uno for some real Chicago pizza. So at least some people in Spain now know what Chicago-style pizza is supposed to taste like. I hope that awful place closed down.

Here in Columbus, OH there is a VERY popular joint known as "Plank's" (the one one Parsons, for you central Buckeyes). Oh god the HORROR! Cheap toppings and cheese on top of a sweetroll sweet crust. I have watched them make sauce, canned pizza sauce with a significant amount of sugar added.

Omigosh Ci-Cis pizza must be the worst on the planet. I have three pre-teen stepsons that can eat me out of house and home. They looove Ci-Cis. My husband and I went with them and were horrified at the dough balls with miniscule shreds of toppings that were presented as thick crust pizza! Please pass the water, I am choking!

I just remembered. The very worst one I ever tasted came from a local chain place in the Columbus, Ohio area. Massey's Pizza. We had some people visiting us from New Haven, and, after a long day of running around, we decided to order a pie. Massey's was the only place in the town where we live, some 30 years ago. What they delivered was the worst looking thing I'd ever seen, and, daring to taste this alleged apizza, I was unable to keep from spitting it out.

Somehow, this chain has grown locally. This is something I cannot understand.

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Originally posted by MaryB

Omigosh Ci-Cis pizza must be the worst on the planet. I have three pre-teen stepsons that can eat me out of house and home. They looove Ci-Cis. My husband and I went with them and were horrified at the dough balls with miniscule shreds of toppings that were presented as thick crust pizza! Please pass the water, I am choking!

Just peeked in on this thread for the first time and was wondering if anyone ever got around to mentioning Ci-Cis. You are right. $2.99 for AYCE (or is it $3.99). That, of course, tells you all you need to know, but I had to try it because I'm cheap and the parking lots are always packed. Utterly laughable. The manager asked me if everything had been satisfactory as I was leaving and said he hoped to see me again soon; I just laughed my way out the door. Think watered-down tomato sauce misted on stale, unsalted saltines dusted with 1/32nd tsp of powdered parmesan -- but the places are packed.

Pizza Inn was a terrible chain, tho they seemed to do well in Hipanic-immigrant neighborhoods here. Never ordered Domino's myself but have had some and it truly amazes me that they have even survived, much less prospered.

Oh yes, CPK (I've eaten a lot of bad pizza, but this will be the final entry in this post). BBQ chicken or Teriyaki Chicken pizza, can't remember which - give me a break !!!! .

I had a cold this week and could not taste food. I had to be out on Wednesday so I went to Cici's pizza. It is a buffet for only $5. including unlimited soft drinks. It filled me up, and I did not have to taste their pizza.

I went to a Ci-Ci's a few days ago. It wasn't as bad as all....wait, yes it was.