Pizza Hut pop-up review: Does the all-you-can-eat buffet live up to childhood memories?

The Pizza Hut all-you-can-eat buffet and dine-in experience is back for a limited time to celebrate the chain’s 50th anniversary. New Zealand Herald reporter Raphael Franks reviews the pop-up event.
OPINION
Perhaps some memories are best left in the past, as they often fall short of our expectations when we try to relive them.
As a young lad, celebrating birthdays at Pizza Hut’s dine-in restaurants really did seem like the height of fine dining. It was an exciting opportunity to indulge in the culinary delights of endless pizza slices and dishes of jelly and ice cream.
The branch at Northlands Mall in Christchurch was my go-to. The building, with its iconic tiled roof reminiscent of a stylised sombrero and its retro-future cladding, is still standing today. The last time I was in the city it was sitting derelict, a reminder of my disappointment when it closed.
So with Pizza Hut putting on a limited run of its all-you-can-eat buffet at the City Works Depot in central Auckland for its 50th anniversary, I jumped at the chance to enjoy a nostalgia trip and gorge myself on limitless food.
I was eager to once again sit at the Formica tables, gaze past the sneeze guards at the array of different pizzas, and tread upon the stained carpets in a room with dated decor.
After revisiting it now, and seeing an attempt at a recreation in 2024, the excitement experienced as a child was not quite brought back.
For one, the decor left me wanting. What’s been dubbed the “Pop-up Hut” was fitted out in a contemporary industrial-chic style with only a smattering of throwback features like lampshades and photographs of those iconic old restaurants hanging on the walls.
And with reservations for a table in high demand as Kiwis jostle to relive their memories and scoff down as much pizza as they can, the place was packed and restrictions on how long you could dine were in place. This made the buffet an all-you-can-eat-in-the-space-of-an-hour affair.
I managed six slices of pizza, one glass of Coca-Cola, about two handfuls of crinkle-cut chips, two slices of garlic bread and a bowl of ice cream. The ice cream was my highlight, and I covered it with chocolate sprinkles, M&Ms, marshmallows and jelly like I was still a 5-year-old.
The food itself seemed no different to what I could buy from my local Pizza Hut today. Maybe my memory fails me, but I am sure there was a greater selection of toppings in decades past.
So did it live up to what I remembered as a child? No.
Did I enjoy it? Definitely, if only for the fact it did offer an opportunity to stuff my face. With all proceeds from the pop-up going to Hato Hone St John, it’s also good to know money spent on junk food will go towards helping save lives.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.