One of the many fun things about my job as The Mouth is that when I visit restaurants, it gives me pause to remember, as a coast native, the history behind the buildings and businesses themselves. Some long-time residents may remember when the Youngs Bay Plaza housed a Thriftway, for example, and a Lamonts clothing store that later became Gottschalks. I seem to recall a small fitness center somewhere along the strip, and a wonderful video rental store (remember those?) that I was sad to see close, called Aardvark Video.

I was a kid when Pizza Hut opened in the Youngs Bay Plaza, and it seemed terribly exciting at the time. There were not many franchised businesses of any kind on the coast then, and I can remember thinking that the new Pizza Hut, with its shiny green booths and its quasi-Italian artwork, seemed impressively big city.

Of course, as an adult, I have removed my rose-colored glasses, but its still sad to see a business that once seemed so new appearing now as rather tired and run-down. As I often say, I am willing to forgive a lot in terms of atmosphere, provided that the food is good but unfortunately I dont think I can do that here.

I visited Pizza Hut recently during its lunch-time buffet. Although the restaurant was not terribly busy, and there seemed to be quite a few employees milling about, I stood at the door for several minutes before being noticed; in fact, I actually had to approach the counter to ask to be seated. When I was finally seated, I noticed that the carpet was incredibly dirty and covered in crumbs not just at my spot, but everywhere and the booth seat and tabletop were greasy. The wall near my seat was also streaked with marina-covered fingerprints. Though I can overlook a restaurant atmosphere that is a little worn around the edges, cleanliness is another issue altogether; people do not want to eat food in an environment that seems dirty.

The lunch time buffet offerings seemed a little paltry and picked over. The salad bar itself was fine, albeit uninventive, but the salad dressings were positively room temperature. I am certainly not a qualified restaurant inspector and so cannot speak to salad bar regulations, but at home I would make sure that dairy-based salad dressings were kept cold.

One menu offering I will admit to occasionally having the odd craving for is Pizza Huts breadsticks. With a crisp exterior and Parmesan sprinkled on top, they are tasty and probably the best part of the buffet.

I sampled a few pizzas, beginning with the meat lovers pizza. Given the name, I was expecting a pizza covered in meat, and the toppings of Canadian bacon, pepperoni and sausage seemed a little sparse, but since I dont necessarily classify myself as a meat lover I wasnt too bothered by it. The flavor of the marinara sauce seemed a little sweet, and the crust was too soft for my liking.

A cheese lovers pizza had a curious consistency, with the cheese a bit grainy and breaking apart easily, not the long, stretchy threads of mozzarella I might normally expect. I cant speculate about the reason behind the grainy consistency, but I found it off-putting.

I much preferred the veggie lovers pizza with roasted peppers, mushrooms and olives atop a thin, crispy crust. This pie seemed more artisanal than the others being offered at the buffet, and had a more zesty flavor, owing to the peppers, I would imagine.

Lastly I sampled a Hawaiian luau pizza with Canadian bacon and pineapple. Though I know Im in the minority, I dont understand Canadian bacon and pineapple as a pizza topping to me, marinara sauce and fruit shouldnt mix but I know that it is universally a popular pizza variety. I appreciated at least that the Canadian bacon atop the version offered at Pizza Hut had crisp edges and good flavor.

On a subsequent visit I ordered a carry-out pizza, the supreme pizza with a stuffed crust, a Pizza Hut innovation that is literally a pizza crust injected with mozzarella cheese. I found the same, grainy texture in the cheese that I noticed before, and moments after picking up the pizza the crust was already quite soggy.

Since Pizza Hut is a franchise, I dont know how much leeway local owners have in terms of tweaking recipes, but if I were an owner, I might push my corporate parents to revisit the quality of some of the recipes and ingredients being used. I think it would also be nice if the interior of our local Pizza Hut could be improved a bit, to make the overall dining experience more enjoyable.

All in all, my visit to Pizza Hut was somewhat unfavorable, but I do sincerely hope the restaurant can make improvements in the future.