For those of you that don't know me very well (which is probably quite a few of you because I'm still only a little green dot!), I work part time in a Pizza Hut in Plymouth. As you can see this review is in the category "Devon Restaurants", which seemed like the best place for me to ask Ciao to put it, because of this I am going to review my Plymouth Pizza Hut, but also Pizza Hut's in general, from both a consumer and employee point of view.

A bit of background…
Pizza Hut is the largest pizza restaurant company in the world. It has 12,000 outlets in 90 countries. The first UK Pizza Hut was opened in 1973 in Islington.

First impressions…
The Pizza Hut I work at in Plymouth has a building to itself, its got light brown walls and a darker brown roof with the Pizza Hut sign on and is shaped like a little hut almost! The area outside is kept clean and tidy, the bins are right around the back in a little shed and the staff smoking area is also around the back. There are a set of double doors, which lead into a lobby where you wait to be seated.

Greeting…
At all Pizza Huts you are supposed to be met at door and asked how many people are with your party. At some of the busier restaurants (ours included!), if there is a queue, sometimes someone will come down through the queue, giving out menus and quoting a waiting time, which normally tend to be quite accurate (if anything, where I work we over estimate waiting times, which can be a bad thing if people decide not to wait). If the restaurant isn't busy you will sometimes be asked if there's anywhere in particular you'd like to be sat.

Sitting down…
Once a table has been found for you, you are taken to your table and the menus should be opened, meal deals explained and kids given goody packs. Admittedly, this doesn't always happen, but if you ask for kids goody packs they do tend to have them.

The menu…
Starters…
The first page in the menu is the starter page, they do about ten different starters, from good old garlic bread, to my personal favourite, cheesy wraps, a tortilla wrap with mozzarella and salsa. They also do a couple of platters, which have more than one of the starters on, if you fancy a bit of everything! The starters are priced between £1.99 and £3.99 (with the exception of the platters for two people which are both £7.99).
Pasta and Salad…
The next page is the pasta and salad page. They do a few different types of pasta, which I personally don't like, these are all £6.99 each, which I think is a bit over-priced. Every Pizza Hut has a salad bar, with a variety of salad items, from lettuce to beetroot, sweetcorn to carrot and cucumber to pasta, as well as 4 dressings. A bowl costs £2.99, and you fill it you much as you can (there is actually a record for the highest pilled salad bowl and the writers of our menu included it as a bit a trivia, it's quite funny seeing people trying to beat it…oooops there goes a tomato!) WARNING, you can only visit the salad bar once with your £2.99 bowl, so fill it up!
Pizza…
Next we come to a double page spread of different pizzas, here the decisions begin. Firstly type of base: pan (thick), Italian (thin), stuffed crust (cheese in crust), golden stuffed crust (cheese in and on crust), the edge (thin, no crust), hi-light (low fat) or 4 for all (quite thin, 4 different squares). Then what do you want on the pizza. There is a huge variety of different combinations of toppings for the pan, Italian, stuffed crust and golden stuffed crust, and if you can't decide on one of these you can create your own. The edge only has three set combinations of toppings (the works, meaty and veggie), but again you can create your own. The hi-light also only has three set combinations of toppings (chicken, ham and veggie), but they don't allow you to create your own. The 4 for all comes set as one square pepperoni, one margarita, one chicken supreme and one vegetable supreme, although they do let you have two margarita and two vegetable supreme as a vegetarian option.
Deals…
There is a bit attached to this section in the menu with all the deals on: enough to share (£9.99 for a medium pizza and a choice of four starters), treat for two (£11.99 for a medium pizza, garlic bread and two ice cream bowls), feast for all (£18.99 for a large pizza, medium pizza, garlic bread and chicken wings), full works (£24.99 for a large pizza, medium pizza, two starters, 2 ice cream bowls and four refillable drinks). I think the full works is an in particularly good deal, it's basically a three course meal and drinks for four people for £24.99, it's ideal if it's two adults and two kids because the adults can have the starters and the kids can have the ice cream (apart from all the big kids, that will want the ice cream!).
Desserts and Drinks…
The final double page is desserts and drinks. The big attraction for kids at Pizza Hut is the Ice Cream Factory, it's £1.49 for a refillable bowl (or £1 with a kids meal), which can either be really good or bad value for money depending on how much your child has. It is free refills on fizzy drinks and squash.
Kids…
There is also a separate kids menu, which does a deal: pizza, pasta or a chicken meal and drink for £2.99, but the price increases with extra toppings and the drink is only a fizzy drink or squash, if they want a fruit shoot, for example, you will have to pay extra.
Buffet…
They do a buffet lunch (Mondays to Fridays excluding bank holidays), which is £5.49 for pizza, pasta and salad, £4.99 for pizza only, £2.99 for children and £1.50 for a side order.

Ordering…
Sometimes someone will come over to take a drinks order first and sometimes they won't, it normally depends on how busy the restaurant is, this can be a down side if your one of them people (like me!) that can't decided on food if your thirsty (I know it's quite odd, but someone must be the same!...anyone?). When your waiter/waitress comes to take your order they will normally ask if your ready to order, or if you need longer. When they take the order they generally verify each order as you go along to save running off a whole list at the end. I find when they run it off as a list I'm there thinking "ummm, yeah, I think that was everything".

Waiting time…
Waiting times tend to really vary between about eight minutes and half an hour for a pizza depending on how busy the restaurant is. Drinks and desserts tend to be quite quick because the waiters/waitresses make them themselves.

Food…
The kids tend to be served first and their pizzas are served on plates. The pan pizzas are served in the black oven pan that they are cooked in and all other pizzas are served on a pizza board. Starters are served on plates and some waitresses take over extra side plates with starters in case people are sharing. The pan pizza is quite a doughy pizza, normally a favourite with children, I find the Italian quite dry and floury sometimes, the stuffed crust is my all time favourite but it can be quite greasy. The golden stuffed crust is on offer at the moment, so it's quite popular, very cheesy! The edge is very thin, I don't really like the idea of no crust because there's nothing to hold on to, but if you don't like crust, this one's for you. The hi-light is as thin as the edge, but to be honest I've never tried it. The 4 for all is good for variety and if you like a lot of crust. If you order a "feast" pizza you get a blend of three cheeses, which tastes a lot better than one cheese.

Value for money…
Meals can work out quite expensive, I would definitely recommend looking at the deals because there tends to be one for most type of meal and most party size, and they do save a lot of money. On the other hand, some deals can restrict your options.

Discount…
Students get 20% with a NUS card and 10% with a Dubit card, Sunday to Thursday and not on meal deals.

Paying…
If you ask your waiter/waitress they will bring your bill to the table and also take your payment at the table, or if you prefer, some people take it up t the drinks bar.

Special requirements…
Vegetarians…
About half the starters, pasta, salads and desserts are suitable for vegetarians and about a third of the set pizzas.
Disabled access…
The restaurant where I work is only one storey, but about a third of the tables are either up or down a couple of stairs. If you have any difficulties with stairs, tell a member of staff and they will seat you somewhere convenient. Despite the few stairs, the toilets, salad bar and ice cream factory are all on the ground level.

My perfect Pizza Hut meal…
If my mum, little sister and I went to Pizza Hut we would generally order:
***Drinks: refillable Diet Pepsi's all round (unless I'm driving, then mum might have a sneaky quarter bottle of Blossom Hill red!)
***To start: cheesy wraps and a combo platter to share.
***Mains: A large, stuffed crust, chicken feast (for me and my sister). An individual, deep pan pizza and a salad bowl for mum.
***For dessert: cheesecake for me, ice cream factory for little sis and a cappuccino for mum.
That would cost about £44, depending on whether mum's having wine or not (well, a lot less for me because I work there!), but you see what I mean about the deals, the full works is only £24.99!

Mmmm! Hungry now, might have to pop in!

Thanks for reading.