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Is the era of taco pizza coming to an end?

Around here it's the standard and they offer zero deals. Coupon? Lol. I rarely get it, but we just moved rather close to the original delivery/takeout location in town. It's great for slices after 8pm, but the pricing and general customer service is just ridiculous. Called in a large half taco, half pepperoni last week. Of course when you do that you pay the premium for the whole thing, not just the half. $31 dollars and change for a single pizza. The kid working the register (I say kid even though he was probably 35 but the staff is full of overachievers that work a high school job as a career) apparently rings it in wrong at $26. Then gets flustered because I was using gift certificates from the previous trip I was given after waiting a half hour past the quoted pickup time in the store. Calls over what appears to be a manager of some variety. After a lengthy exchange of confusing remarks where he basically calls the guy an idiot in front of me, he deletes the register transaction. Mind you I have pizza in hand at this point, and literally already would have been home. So now I'm pissed off that I'm still standing there after presenting payment with the item in hand, and dude rings it in as $31. I was like hey man, dude told me it was $26. He just shrugs me off and says the other guy was wrong and hands me back less change. Awesome. My inconvenience of waiting 5 minutes with the pizza already in hand was rewarded with adding $5 to the price. And that right there is why that chain is finally failing. The franchises around here are completely of the mentality of you need us more than we need you. Overpriced and staffed by people that hate their job and their lives. I was at the sit down location a few months ago for an end of season pizza party for one of the kids activities. They have been doing an annual group staff photo for both locations since it's inception. It's rather sad to see the metamorphosis of teenagers in the 80s and 90s that are now in their 40s and 50s in the recent pictures still doing the same thing. But, keeping cranking poor service and $31 pizzas because I guarantee you these will continue forever because it's like crack to the people in this city and they complain about it but still throw money at it. Like the Iowa football offense of the last decade.
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HJ's taco pizza is an essential part of our trips back to Iowa. It's been like a legend to my kids, who love it and look forward to getting it when we're back. It's a big pizza with unique toppings, too, so not really fair to compare it to standard pizzas. HJ also has the sauerkraut pizza, which isn't real common.

They are going through what Pizza Hut went through back in the '90s, with the societal shift away from going out for a family pizza night at a restaurant, to cheap delivery/takeout pizza and a movie at home. That's tough competition for a slightly higher cost product like HJ. People can justify it for a family night out with drinks, but for hanging out at home, it's hard to compete with something almost half the cost.
 
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They tried to do a Chuck E Cheese style Happy Joe's Pizza and Arcade in Waterloo in the 90s. Big night out. It was a fantastic Pizza and Arcade but it was very expensive for Waterloo. I don't think it lasted 5 years before it was a rental car place.
Didn't it have a kick ass mini putt?
 
Bougie crap pizza. You are spot on, my man.
The last time I got it (probably a year or so ago) it was the absolute worst pizza I've ever had in my life. I had one slice, and threw the rest out, and I am NOT a picky eater. I'll eat damn near anything.

That was it for me though, vowed to never order from there again. 4 times was probably 3 too many.
 
The last time I got it (probably a year or so ago) it was the absolute worst pizza I've ever had in my life. I had one slice, and threw the rest out, and I am NOT a picky eater. I'll eat damn near anything.

That was it for me though, vowed to never order from there again. 4 times was probably 3 too many.
Good pizza comes from places that look like this:

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If Fong’s was in the QC you’d be raving about it. 😂
Wrong-o.

There is plenty of crap pizza around here that I don't talk up.

And there are lots of excellent pizza places around Iowa -- Wig and Pen and Paglia's to name two -- that are as good or better than anything here in the QC.

I ate at Fong's once and felt it was bougie, gimmicky and had mediocre pizza.

Fong's is basically the Zombie Burger of pizza.
 
I remember a waterfall. The reason it was pricey. Probably sunk too much of their own money into it.
They were competing with a roller disco for kids birthday parties. Basically how the roller disco worked is it would have roller disco every night and then someone would win a free birthday party for their class playing 4 corners. Few people ever paid admission, they just loaded up the video games with quarters and paid small concessions markups on items stocked at Sam's Club.
 
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Wig and Penn is overrated. Worst money I ever spent on something in IC HORT raved about. Iowa City and Johnston, actually.
No no no no no. Did you eat at an IC area location? I can't vouch for the DM area W & P quality. Eastside IC location is the best IMO, when they're actually open for business which seems to be less and less.
 
Casey's Pizza is a shell of its former self, including the taco pizza. There, I said it.
They still have the best cheese in the business. Dominos, Pizza Hut and papa John’s all have the same supplier from what I understand so they all have bad cheese. A fresh slice of Casey’s pizza has the cheese of the gods, even if the crust isn’t great and depending onwho cooked it you either have too much or hardly any sauce
 
Wow, this is a bad look:

"This past September 1, instead of receiving our rent check, we received their keys as they had vacated the building and ran in the middle of the night," Sloan said. "(They gave) no notice, attempt to work things out, partial rent, anything.

 
I used to work at Happy Joe's. There's no secret recipe, just mix in refried beans with the pizza sauce. Viola, taco pizza.
 
I used to work at Happy Joe's. There's no secret recipe, just mix in refried beans with the pizza sauce. Viola, taco pizza.
Or just light pizza sauce and bacon. Then when done baking, spread mayo on the melted cheese. Add lettuce and fresh tomato chunks. Cello, you have a BLT.
 
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Wow, this is a bad look:

"This past September 1, instead of receiving our rent check, we received their keys as they had vacated the building and ran in the middle of the night," Sloan said. "(They gave) no notice, attempt to work things out, partial rent, anything.

Would've expected to find burned bodies in the pizza ovens, or something...
 
I like the taco pizza, but the Happy Joe’s Special might be my favorite. We get it whenever I return home to Iowa. I was back for a funeral in January. My sister and I realized on Day 2 that the leftover Special from Day 1 was still in the back seat of the car. We ate it cold on Days 2 and 3 right out of the back seat while driving around the state.
 
Taco pizza will live on. When I moved to Florida, one of the most shocking things I found was lack of knowledge regarding taco pizza. When I told my wife about taco pizza(gf at the time) she literally did not believe me it was a thing. She‘s born and raised in Clearwater. First trip to Iowa and I introduce her to Casey’s taco pizza. Now, when we go back home we MUST have that tasty taco pizza. She loves it lol.
 
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Making your own taco pizza (even if using a ready made crust) is always a delight. The chains are pretty mediocre.
 
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