Pizza Hut in Liliha Just Brought Back Its AYCE Lunch Buffet
From the plates to the soundtrack, the ’90s are alive and well at this blast from the past for $14.99.
Photo: Thomas Obungen
What’s old is new again. That’s what my mom would always say when a trend came back in style. The same can be said about Pizza Hut Liliha’s all-you-can-eat lunch buffet: For $15, you can let your inner child have the pizza party they’ve been reminiscing about.
According to the local franchise, the AYCE buffet is here to stay for the time being. They also confirmed via Instagram DM that the Liliha restaurant is the only location in Hawai‘i offering the dine-in buffet because all others are carryout- and delivery-only.
Photo: Thomas Obungen
The buffet is available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. You add your name to a sheet and pay before a host leads you to your table. Once seated, you have the option to start with a romaine salad and a choice of bleu cheese or ranch dressing. After that, you’re free to visit the buffet line as many times as you wish. The deal also includes self-serve soft drinks, iced tea and water. What it doesn’t include is parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes, which are $1 each and come in cute little shakers you can take home.
Photo: Thomas Obungen
Pizzas of all styles and toppings begin arriving on a trolley. Pans of pepperoni and jalapeño, pineapple and ham, sausage, barbecue—even hand-tossed and thin-crust, too. If everyone’s jamming, a new slew of pizzas will come out every five to 10 minutes. There’s also penne pasta with alfredo and marinara sauces to douse in at will; mini breadsticks and cinnamon sticks round out the selection. It’s a total carb fest.
Photo: Thomas Obungen
By noon, the dining room is full of young families, blue-collar workers, college students and couples. It just goes to show that all walks of life converge for cheap pizza and soda. There’s even a queue waiting for the next available table. We notice that the plates are probably from the last time they ran the buffet and the jams playing are all hits from the ’90s. It’s a true time capsule.
Photo: Thomas Obungen
When I first saw Pizza Hut’s announcement on social media, I gasped in excitement. I get the same reaction when I tell others about it. Whether the Pizza Hut buffet was a core memory of our youth or part of the zeitgeist we associate with a joyful point in our lives, it’s exciting.
Missing from the current lineup is the cinnamon dessert pizza. It’s my most prominent memory of the buffet—a thin-crust pizza loaded with gooey-sweet cinnamon sugar topped with a frosting lattice and cinnamon crumble. I’m not sure if it was available a la carte, but I want to believe it was a specialty reserved for the buffet. I’m pretty sure I would eat it first, just to not miss out from being too full.
Photo: Thomas Obungen
Now, as an adult, going to the buffet hits different. Not only are you the one who has to pay, your body just doesn’t process carbs like it used to. You can even say it has lost some of its luster. Like, where’s the salad bar? But the buffet satisfied the little kid in me that always wanted a pizza party with all my besties, just ‘cuz.
And for $15, you really can’t beat it. I know there’s better pizza out there and this will probably be the last time I need to eat at the Pizza Hut buffet, but for ol’ times’ sake, forget being an adult for a few hours. You’ll make that inner little kid happy again. And that’s what matters.
Available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, 516 N. Kuakini St., pizzahut.com, @pizzahuthawaii
