I usually order my Jet’s Detroit style pizza well done.

I don't hesitate to do it in places that I already know make it a bit underdone for my liking.

I've had PJ's pizza in several countries... they were all fine (except the one I had in China... the taste was off (I assume the ingredients were local as they had a taste similar to local ingredients). A PJ opened up recently nearby. Haven't decided to try it or not but maybe one day just to see.

For me it depends on the chain. Pizza Huts here tend to be a tad soggy so I generally order it well done there (also for Pizza Nova). But the others here (IME) generally do crisp up the skin a bit.

OMG! Are you referring to rectangles with a bit of cornmeal on the crust to prevent sticking to pan? I LOVED that crap!!!

As a former Papa John's General Manager let me illuminate a couple things. You ordered crappy chain pizza on a holiday. Want to guess who was working that day and why they were forced to work it? I'm sure no one did the things you have to do in order to make it halfway decent. On holidays it's either mind numbingly boring or insanely busy, either of which will degrade product quality. Crappy chain pizza will never be as good as real pizza made by someone who actually cares, just like you aren't going to get the same burger from McDonalds that you will at a place with a chef. I put Papa John's behind Pizza Hut but ahead of Domino's and way ahead of Little Caeser's.

Ah, the memories. I consumed far too much Papa John's in the mid-90s whilst watching NBA playoffs with a group of fellows. At that point in my life, I found the pizza to be...edible. But the star of the order was always the breadsticks. Well, to be precise, the garlic butter dipping sauce that came with the breadsticks. Many an ounce of that sauce found its way onto the pizza as well, and thence my stomach.

Nowadays, yeah, I can't get within a mile of that stuff without suffering gastric consequences.

I don't disagree with anything you said, except that I didn't order anything. And after this experience, even if I imagined that this product, using the same ingredients but somehow made with love and a magic wand, could be made better, it would still not be very good.

All that said, the other three, who were consuming more fermented and/or distilled beverages than I was, effed up everything else, other than the one slice I consumed, along with a piece of the Stuffed Jumbo Spicy Roach (I think it was some jalla peeno popper thing), which was less bad than the pizza.

The pizza was Ay Trow Shus.

Pizza of any kind is about the least healthy thing one could ever eat. Loads of enriched white flour, processed meats, low-grade cheese and little or no veggies. So, I suppose arguing which is the worst of the worst is a worthy discussion but not one that matters to me. Even "good" pizza is a crappy thing to eat.

You can make much better pizza at home pretty easily and quickly. Especially now on work from home - it takes about 5 minutes to start dough in the afternoon to be ready to bake later when you want. And if you use good quality cheese you can use much less and as more of a flavoring than a mass of grease. Lately I've been doing a lot of cauliflower pizzas that are cauliflower, chilis, olives, a bit of olive oil, and a bit of finely grated romano - basically a modified version of the one in Lahey's bread book. If I have fresh baby arugula, that goes on top as soon as it comes out of the oven so the steam from the cauliflower can lightly wilt the arugula. I got a half-sheet sized steel plate a few years ago that I preheat to 500 F for getting a good crust.

Papa John's and Pizza Hut are the most "undercooked" pizzas of the major national chains, but most chains seem to undercook the crust but for Dominos. Dominos seems to have publicly told us they were trying to "improve their crusts" since the early 90's.

Pizza Hut mostly uses frozen dough since I still have some I bought in bulk last year. Papa John's and Dominos have central dough plants which deliver dough to stores daily or every 48 hours. Little Caesars makes dough in house.
The major chains receive their own cheese blend from the same privately owned cheesemonger, Leprino Foods of Denver.

IMO, Little Caesars Deep Dish is the best chain pizza, followed by anything from Domino's. Marco's is cheese bread is the best of that item, but their pizza is not a better value.

You’ve not had real pizza then!

Sorry any pizza place that uses a conveyor type oven (Costco included) does not cook the pizza properly. The places that use a real pizza oven, whether it be a brick, coal fired, or the "standard" type that most all mom and pop places use have the better pizzas.

I will admit I will order a fast food pizza once in a while, the last being this past Tuesday from Pizza Hut. My go to used to be Domino's, but the shop closest to me (delivery) was actually closed by the health department more than once in the past year, so I refuse to order from there. It is the same management team so I don't trust that they have cleaned up their act.

A friend posted this on Facebook not too long after I read this thread...

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2d2c542494.png

Me: and lower in lactose than the other pizza chains.

I don’t like Little Caesars pizzas. But I can eat them without distress. For the longest time I assumed they used something other than dairy. But I looked it up (if you can believe what the internet says) and their blend consists of two or three very low lactose cheeses.

As bad as it is fresh, it’s worse cold. I would throw out leftover Little Caesars pizza if I couldn’t reheat it. The crust takes on a terrible consistency as it dries out.

Agree about the oven type changing the taste of the pizza. Even the take and bake pizzas from Costco or Sam’s taste better when cooked as you describe.