Best Pizza Buffets

Pizza Ranch is a solid pull - honestly doesn't get much better and is one of the best hangover cures I've ever had. That fried chicken is incredible. Great now I have to go back.

Anyone have solid memories of the Godfathers lunch buffet? They had what amounted to an arcade closet with a monster truck game with three wheels that didn't have a right or left stop on the spin so you could just whip the living shit out of the wheel and do donuts all day.

What about Shakeys? Broke-ass Dave and Busters but was the best thing we had growing up in Iowa.

Apparently Pizza Hut offer it in the UK from £6.99. Good price but I still can't consider pizza suitable for a buffet.

The only pizza buffet I was ever around much was the Godfathers, as you mention, which was pretty nice. I lived in Nevada though and we could go to a number of different casino buffets when you wanted that (and I believe just about all of them had pizza which was solid). I do miss those buffets. Most are much better quality than your average buffet place.

I do not understand the Bomb Crew's love of chain pizza. In the Northeast pizza is something you order from your local hole in the wall place, not something you get from a giant national chain. I mean we have Dominos and Papa John's and all that, but it's all terrible and I've basically only eaten it at institutional (work or school) type events when someone needs to order a bunch of pizza on a corporate card.

I was once at a Super Bowl party where someone ordered a bunch of wings from Dominos and the pizza from a local restaurant because Dominos pizza is terrible (though the thin crust is okay as a sort of weird pizza/cracker hybrid thing.)

I expect the best pizza buffet then is some local place with one or two locations.

@bigsocrates: I moved from the Boston area to North Carolina and let me tell you the difference in local pizza places/sub shops is insane. There were so many around in Mass. and there's like 3-4 places like that in the city I'm in.

Anyways I'm pretty much with you on the matter but just wanted to say that is such a specific North East thing.

None.

I'm not saying no one else should like it, but there's no pizza buffet I find good.

In my neck of the woods in Wisconsin, going to Shakeys was a right of passage for any child. They had decent pizza, but the game room was the reason to go. They had Mad Dog McCree, The Simpsons and X-Men arcade game, a wall of Skee-Ball and Pop-A-Shot basketball.

Any real pizza buffet needs to have at least 3 arcade machines (and a soft serve ice-cream topping bar).

I've approached Cici's a handful of times over the years with various groups of friends, but each time, we've approached the threshold and decided at the last moment that we'd go someplace else.

Yup. 100%. I'm from NY originally, went to school in Maryland, and currently live in Virginia, and let me tell you: explaining this to people outside of New England is impossible. Pizza there is just... different.

That being said, my guilty pleasure is Dominos, and no pizza buffets I've been to are good. I'm personally sort of a fan of the "make your own pizza" places that have started to pop up. Blaze Pizza and Pie Five are the two chains I've been to and, while they are nothing compared to one of the smaller, family-owned NY pizza places I used to go to, they're a tier above Dominos/Papa John's and have a ton of options.

@afabs515: Let me tell you about a pretty good ( IMO ) southern pizza chain: Hungry Howie's

I'll echo @bigsocrates, @artisanbreads, and @afabs515. Good chain pizza is basically a contradiction in terms. I grew up in the northeast before moving down south (now I'm back up north) and it's night and day. And all of the good places I found down south were run by people from the northeast. They just don't do pizza very well in other parts of the country.

It also probably doesn't help that GB is based out of California, a state which has a long held reputation for shitty pizza. I was out there in the early 2000's visiting friends who had moved from the Boston area. They said it was basically impossible to find good pizza in California. We went to one place that they claimed was the best in the San Jose area. It was terrible.

Cici's is a crime against everything beautiful and pure in this world. Imagine an unholy amalgamation of cardboard and styrofoam, topped with overly sweet sauce and barely melted cheese-esque product. I ate there once years ago having never heard of them and not realizing what I was getting myself into. It was unquestionably the worst pizza I've ever had in my life. I think I made it three bites in before throwing it away.

The answer is none. Its fun until you are about 9 but then it's time to grow up and eat real food.

If you find yourself in northwest Missouri, hit up the lunch buffet at Pagliai's Pizza. They have all you can eat chicken fries.

Hungry Howies is the shit yall. You can get all the normal ass pizza you want but you best save room for dessert. CHOCOLATE PIZZA. APPLE PIE PIZZA.

Can't go wrong with Pizza Hut's $6 lunch buffet. Cici's is hot fucking garbage, and it costs a dollar or two more.

Pizza Hut : Pan Pizza and breadsticks is hard to top. Papa Johns is OK too.

If you aren't eating chain pizza I feel like you're unnecessarily depriving yourself of pizza. Because eventually you don't feel like eating local pizza that day, and that's a great chance to have something different (Pizza Hut). For every three times I get local pizza I probably do Pizza Hut once. That's 33% more pizza. I don't see how you can argue against that.

Agreed, chain pizza really isn't that bad. I consider it the middle ground between great local pizza and atrocious hole-in-the-wall shops that don't know what they're doing.

I encounter a lot of the latter, way too much honestly

Infinito's ain't half bad. I like pizza buffets. Good opportunity to try toppings and styles you don't normally go for. Barbecue chicken pizza? Kind of a revelation.

But yeah, I won't look down my nose at any pizza unless it has been soiled with pineapple and is therefore unfit for human consumption.

I've had some proper-ass pizza the likes of which make my tastebuds fly from my mouth to shake my hand and tip me a $20 for my services. I've had... DiGiorno's. I like both equally, for they are not the same food item.

When I eat low-end pizza, I'm not sating the same craving that I have when I want the real deal, and vice versa. Two separate cravings, two separate foods. Sometimes nothing will do but to get down and dirty on some pizza so bad that it still has a "Made In China" sticker on the bottom and squeaks when you bite it.

As a Canadian, the only Pizza buffet in my hometown (400k people) is Pizza Hut. It's pretty good.

I sort of like Pizza Ranch, but it can be disappointing sometimes (at least my local one), Pizza Hut is okay. I've never had a GREAT pizza buffet, just okay-slightly good ones.

I've never heard of a pizza buffet before that podcast. I've been inside a Pizza Hutt where you can sit down, but I can't recall ever seeing a buffet in there. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how this concept would work.

If I had to go to a pizza buffet. I just eat the pizza and skip the buffet part. I bought pizza from Cici's Pizza once and it was meh. The pizza from Peter Piper Pizza was okay and cheap. They have an arcade but not the cool cabinets like Street Fighter 2 or NBA Jam. Peter Piper Pizza is great when you are traveling from out of down and want an affordable place to eat.

If you are in San Antonio Texas, there is pizzaria/restaurant chain called Lucianio. Their special topping single slice is amazing. They also have calzones, lasagna and pasta salads. I go to the Luciano Express inside North Star mall which closer to international airport. There is another inside Rivercenter mall which is located downtown by the river walk.

I would recommend Grimaldi's Coal Brick Pizzaria. I went to the one in the Alamo Quarry Market which is also in San Antonio. Grimaldi's has locations in other states. It was the first time I had a freshly made oven brick pizza and I enjoyed it. The only negative is the wait time for a table.

Another pizza chain I have enjoyed is Pizza Patrón. That pizza chain is in six states are located in mostly Hispanic neighborhoods. They have pizzas with chorizo and jalapeños. Their slogan is Mas Pizza, Menos Dinero.

All this pizza talk, I remembered that I have not dine-in a Pizza Hut in twenty years. Little Caesars is not the best in terms of quality but it really cheap. The other pizza chains I had are Papa John's and Domino's. The great things about those pizzas is that my employer would buy them from time to time when we were going to have a busy sales day. Free pizza is always awesome.

@busto1299: Just looked it up. Doesn't seem like there are any in Richmond, VA </3

There's Pizza Ranch up here in Minnesota. If you don't mind the constant Christian music, and the ads for said Christian music on your table, it's alright. They have pretty decent fried chicken which I think is more the star of the show.

@afabs515: That sucks. Seems you have to go even further south.

The best buffet pizza (That I know of) in my town is CiCi's Pizza. I went to that place a lot when I was younger and loved it. I'm sure I'd feel the same I went there today.

I haven't had pizza in over 18 months as I have been on a low carb lifestyle. But, here in Louisville, KY we have a grip of awesome local pizza joints. Clifton's Pizza is the first one that springs to mind. As far as the national chains go, you can't beat Pizza Hut. All pizza buffets are terrible. However, I have been known to get down at a Mr. Gatti's.

Pizza buffet sounds odd to me. But I wouldn't mind checking one out. I just pop in to a local shop and get two slices. Lately I've been getting more sicilian slices than anything else. Sausage and pepper hero on occasion. But good garlic knots are tough to beat.

My buddies and I always hit up CiCi's. It was a ritual that only got broken because everyone moved away after high school/community college. And we love it to this day. However, I am by no means a pizza snob. I do appreciate fancy pizzas, northeast stuff, Chicago stuff, West coast stuff, so don't get started on that. I just love 90% of pizzas out there. So to me and my boys, CiCi's was great, but I can see how if you were very picky about your pizza, you'd go some other place.

My local pizza buffet place is pretty mediocre and at this point I would rather pay the $7 to get an actual good pizza from another local place than get infinite of the not especially great stuff.

Never heard of a pizza buffet before, but maybe it's from living in NY. Ton of pizza places, but can't say I ever walked into a pizza buffett (besides a Chinese buffett place having pizza for kids).

I still like a Godfather's buffet, or a Pizza Inn.

They never cook anything, almost ever. They were even impressed when Drew brought a chicken sandwich to work. If all you eat is take out, I assume chain pizza seems tasty.

To be honest, I don't even understand people's fascination with pizza altogether. Yes, it's good fast food. And that's also what it tastes like. Which means if you eat too much of it, it'll start to taste like garbage and when it does taste good, it still won't taste as good as a fine proper meal.

I would say 'opinions', but it's pretty well demonstrated that people who eat proper meals over longer periods of time start to turn on the taste of fabricated food. Still opinions though.

The whole concept of a pizza buffet is ridiculous to me, but maybe it's because it's a rarity and I've always lived in the Northeast where good pizza is easy to find. A pizza buffet to me is ordering a whole pie for myself and then eating as much of it as I can until I'm full.

It's good seeing all the midwest duders in here reppin' Godfather's and Pizza Ranch. I had the lunch buffet at the Godfather's in the town over quite a few times growing up and loved the hell out of it. When I moved to the Twin Cities from Iowa I totally forgot about Godfather's, even though there are a few up here. Might have to get some delivered this weekend.

I mean that's the general idea but it's cheaper and I have like 7 different pizzas to choose from.

I used to like Pizza Hut's buffet, but these days the idea of a pizza buffet (actually probably just buffets in general) just sounds like a bad idea. I mean, I'm 31 and top out at two slices, three if I'm being particularly glutenous. Eating 8 slices of pizza and sides and feeling like garbage for hours afterwards doesn't sound like a good idea to me anymore.

I figured it was for people who can't decide which pizza to get and want to split the difference. Or some mad way to get three different pizzas for the price of one. And a lot of public shame.

It's just a regional thing I guess. The northeast has a lot of good pizza places in it and doesn't see why you'd go to a chain. Those in california (the bay area at least where GB is at), probably wonder why anyone would ever eat shit like top ramen instead of go to any one of the multitude of ramen houses around that area. I, living in the pacific north west, can't see how you fuckers in the north east drink the swill that is dunkin' donuts coffee.

edit: But Dan's love of cici's is inexcusable no matter where he grew up or is currently living. Shape up, Ryckert.

I enjoy Taco Bell, but Dan saying Cici's is great is insane. It's trash.

I haven't seen a Pizza Hut buffet since I was a kid. Didn't know they still had them. Then again, I also haven't been inside of a Pizza Hut in well over a decade.

There's a Home Run Inn near me that has like a 2 hour window for a lunch buffet on Fridays or something, and it's really damn good. That's the best I've seen.

As for CiCi's, I DO like it, but I will readily admit that it is low quality pizza that is tasty and satisfying enough because, yo, it's a fucking $5 buffet. However, I will say that their cheese danish pizza is one of the best goddamn things I've EVER eaten. It's hard to stop going back and just taking that entire thing.

I live in Chicago, though, and any self-respecting northern Illinois resident doesn't often get chain restaurant pizza.

I will echo the sentiments of everyone else from the NorthEast: there's zero reason to ever eat chain pizza around here. There were always 7-8 local pizza places of all types in the town I grew up in, and maybe one chain at any point in time. There was one Domino's that lasted maybe fiveish years before closing and a Papa Gino's in the mall that lasted the longest There were places in town cheaper than Domino's and consistently better. And this isn't even taking into account some of the really great places in Boston.

The only pizza buffet place we really had around here was a Pizza Hut about fifteen minutes away, which was fine when you were a teenager and could handle eight slices without gaining five pounds I guess, but it was nothing special. I went to a CiCi's once in my life, and boy is it worthy of the reputation Jeff conveyed on the podcast this week. That place is sub-microwave pizza quality. It's up there with Golden Corral for worst buffet places.

Dan's whole "pizza snobbery" thing is amusing because how snobby can you be choosing to eat pizza in the first place? It's about the least snobby food on the planet. Like how many people does anyone know who like refuse to eat pizza only served in high-end restaurants? It's like people who call others beer snobs for not wanting to drink Miller Lite.

There's no goddamn public shame in a pizza buffet you are among friends making equally questionable decisions.

I live in eastern PA and my favorite pizza is Dominos.

The only time I went to a Cici's they were out of pizza. Go figure.

I like cici's

@chocobodude3: I'm sorry but that's incorrect

Cici's is bad. Back when I was a sound guy one of our crew suggested we go to Cici's and we relented. Mistake. The only saving grace was that it was cheap.

Chain pizza is generally a "safe" choice especially if you travel and don't have the time or inclination to take a chance on one of the random local places you've never heard of especially when you're buying for a group of people.

All that said I had the best pizza while living in DC. Local shop was run by a couple originally from NY and their stuff beat everywhere else by leaps and bounds.

I live on Long Island so the idea of chain pizza sounds awful to me.

One time in Florida I found a pretty good pizza place, I talked to the owner and he told me that they get water trucked in from New York and that's what they use in all their recipes.

"Papa Johns is great" - A person I no longer associate with.

Granted I grew up in a pretty Italian city so any non-chain pizza would blow even the best chain pizza away. Maaaaayyyyyybe California Pizza Kitchen but that shit is expensive.