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[Caliga]

Papa John's breadsticks suck.

I don't recall if I've ever had them.  The last time I had their pizza they seemed to be in a 'good' phase, though.  The time before that, circa 2007, they were definitely in a 'bad' phase.

[C.C.R.]

Papa John's is my "PBR of pizza" -- I know that its crap & its not my first choice, but if I'm in a position where I need/want to settle for bland, generic, inexpensive mediocrity then that's what I'll go with...

[Ed Anger]

I've got a confession: I like Little Caesar's. Sure, I know it is the pizza equivalent to a can of Spaghetti-o's, But for 5 bucks? can't beat that. Especially now that I am feeding a platoon of kids.

[dps]

I've got a confession: I like Little Caesar's. Sure, I know it is the pizza equivalent to a can of Spaghetti-o's, But for 5 bucks? can't beat that. Especially now that I am feeding a platoon of kids.

I might feed Little Ceasar's pizzas to my kids when I have some, but that would be no reason to eat it myself.

[C.C.R.]

I've got a confession: I like Little Caesar's. Sure, I know it is the pizza equivalent to a can of Spaghetti-o's, But for 5 bucks? can't beat that. Especially now that I am feeding a platoon of kids.

Wow, I haven't seen a Little Caesar's in years.  20 years ago they were all over the place in the Chicago suburbs, but the only reason that I know prior to this thread that Little Caesar's was still in business was from the ads on the boards in Joe Louis Arena...

As for Little Caesar's vs. Pizza Hut vs. Papa John's vs. Domino's vs. et cetera:  its a lot like arguing the merits of Pabst vs. Schlitz vs. High Life vs. Hamms vs. et cetera -- you're going that route for generally the same reasons, its just more a matter of Personal Taste...

[Ed Anger]

I've got a confession: I like Little Caesar's. Sure, I know it is the pizza equivalent to a can of Spaghetti-o's, But for 5 bucks? can't beat that. Especially now that I am feeding a platoon of kids.

Wow, I haven't seen a Little Caesar's in years.  20 years ago they were all over the place in the Chicago suburbs, but the only reason that I know prior to this thread that Little Caesar's was still in business was from the ads on the boards in Joe Louis Arena...

As for Little Caesar's vs. Pizza Hut vs. Papa John's vs. Domino's vs. et cetera:  its a lot like arguing the merits of Pabst vs. Schlitz vs. High Life vs. Hamms vs. et cetera -- you're going that route for generally the same reasons, its just more a matter of Personal Taste...

Let us agree that we all hate Vegan's and their godawful pizza.

[C.C.R.]

Let us agree that we all hate Vegan's and their godawful pizza.

[garbon]

That's cool, but at some point they will need to increase profit margins so will cut back on quality/quantity of ingredients again and it will once again suck.  Papa John's goes through cycles like that all the time.  In the case of Papa John's, it has to do with whether or not John Schnatter is actively involved in managing the chain.  He has repeatedly stepped into and out of an active management role over the years, and when they're in a "Schnatter is hands-on now" phase, quality improves but profits drop.  Then the board gets angry, so quality goes back down and Schnatter gets mad and 'retires'.  Rinse, repeat.

I've never experienced Papa John's during a "good cycle."

At $10 for two mediums, Domino's is a good deal in New York - as opposed to many of the many small outfits here that want to charge 5 bucks for a slice where the pepperoni was placed on the pizza after it was cooked.

[derspiess]

I've got a confession: I like Little Caesar's. Sure, I know it is the pizza equivalent to a can of Spaghetti-o's, But for 5 bucks? can't beat that. Especially now that I am feeding a platoon of kids.

Hell yeah.  Came in really handy when I realized the wife hadn't gotten any food other than cake & potato chips for my kid's birthday party. 

And I like Spaghetti-O's as well

[Ed Anger]

And I like Spaghetti-O's as well

[derspiess]

Wow, I haven't seen a Little Caesar's in years.  20 years ago they were all over the place in the Chicago suburbs, but the only reason that I know prior to this thread that Little Caesar's was still in business was from the ads on the boards in Joe Louis Arena...

I can remember all the locations going out of business in Huntington, WV in the early 90s.  The only locations that remained were in KMart stores.  We had one in Delaware that was hard to get to, but worth the trip when I wanted a change of pace.

When I moved to Cincinnati in 2002 there were no locations, but once they figured out how to sell $5 large pepperoni pizzas on demand and make money off them, they started popping up all over the place.

As for Little Caesar's vs. Pizza Hut vs. Papa John's vs. Domino's vs. et cetera:  its a lot like arguing the merits of Pabst vs. Schlitz vs. High Life vs. Hamms vs. et cetera -- you're going that route for generally the same reasons, its just more a matter of Personal Taste...

I guess you were lucky enough to grow up in a place with good local pizza.  I can remember back when all we had was a local chain called Gino's (http://www.ginospizza.com/) and it was terrible.  Still is-- dunno how they are still in business.  We did have one Pizza Hut location, so for us Pizza Hut was top notch-- if we got to go there for pizza it was like the highlight of my week.

In the early 80s, Domino's opened a couple locations, and that became the best pizza in town (and was actually fairly expensive at first IIRC).  Then Little Caesar's hit the scene in the mid/late 80s and supplanted Dominos.  The pizza tasted much better (particularly their pan pizza) and their "buy one get one free" gimmick was a huge draw as well.  And then in the early 90s we got Papa John's, which quickly became top dog with their own gimmick (garlic butter dip for your crust). 

Nowadays in Cincy, if I'm getting pizza just for myself & Tommy I'll pick up a Little Caesar's.  But if the wife wants pizza we always have to order Donatos, which is guess is a regional chain now, or a local gourmet-ish pizza place called Dewey's.

[derspiess]

And I like Spaghetti-O's as well

That's the wife's reaction (any kind of pasta from a can would be considered a sin in Argentina).  But for me it's one of those things from my childhood I just never lost the taste for.

[Ed Anger]

Spicy, you ever try Marco's? It isn't bad for being a regional chain.

I don't even know if Cassano's is still in Cincy. Still a pretty good small chain.

[derspiess]

Papa John's breadsticks suck.

I don't recall if I've ever had them.  The last time I had their pizza they seemed to be in a 'good' phase, though.  The time before that, circa 2007, they were definitely in a 'bad' phase.

Their breadsticks are bland & boring.  But their cheese breadsticks (or whatever they call them-- they are basically a small pizza with cheese only & no sauce) are pretty good.

[dps]

I guess you were lucky enough to grow up in a place with good local pizza.  I can remember back when all we had was a local chain called Gino's (http://www.ginospizza.com/) and it was terrible.  Still is-- dunno how they are still in business.  We did have one Pizza Hut location, so for us Pizza Hut was top notch-- if we got to go there for pizza it was like the highlight of my week.

Gino's actually wasn't too bad up until about the time that I was a senior in college, and they were cheap, too.  IIRC, you could get a large pizza with about 3 toppings for like $2.25 in the early 80's, and even adjusting for inflation, that was a good deal.  But sometime when I was a senior, not only did the quality go way down, the price jumped up at the same time.