Pizza Hut East is located, appropriately, on the east side of Terre Haute, right on Wabash Avenue. There's a Pizza Hut Express* further west of the East location. There is a Pizza Hut on the north side, the south side, and the east side. However, West Terre Haute has not been graced by the presence of the big red roof.

The Pizza Hut East location is a restaurant in the old style - you sit down, they serve you. You leave a tip, we clean up after you, and hopefully you pay for your meal*. This article is being written by an employee of the East location. I'm a cook, which is a blanket statement - I do pretty much everything that doesn't involve customers. But I do cook your pizza.

Our location recently got a 100% on our board of health score. This was during the day, however, when there's more time to clean up after ourselves. During the night shifts, sometimes things can get messy. But we never serve dirty food, and the ovens are hot enough to get rid of anything bad on your food.

Tip #1: Always Tip Your Server

Because 9 times out of 10, it's the cook's fault. Here's why: Let's say you just ordered a supreme pizza without onions. The cook is getting yelled at by his supervisor*, and the normal course for making a supreme pizza involves onions. So, anyway, it goes through the oven, comes out, and another supervisor, often the manager in charge for the shift, takes it out of the oven, checks the ticket, and sees that you had no desire for onions on your pizza. The cook gets yelled at, and you get your food heavily discounted or, if you make a big deal about it, free. This happens fairly often in the course of a normal Wednesday through Sunday schedule.

However, this is no excuse for you to not tip your waitress. In Terre Haute, it's often common not to leave a tip if you think you received horrible service*. But in all of the trouble with the onions, the server had no idea what was going on. She just brings out the pizza, and it's horrible. You can't blame her for the cook's mistake.

You should always tip your waitress, even if:

• Your food is late
• Your food is incorrectly made
• The specials you expected aren't on anymore
• The pizza doesn't taste like expected
• You didn't get what you wanted

But, occasionally, you can not tip the waitress.

• She was rude

That's about it, really. Please tip the waitresses, because they work hard to serve you well. And they get paid about two bucks an hour, so they're living off your tips. Tip well, and we will serve well.

Tip #2: Think About How Long You Want to Wait

Our oven is pretty simple. It's made so we don't have to do much. There's a conveyor belt. It moves very slowly. A large pizza, on average takes seven to eight minutes to make it through the oven. There's also a door allowing you to put something half-way through the oven. This lets it cook a bit shorter.

Items that go all the way through:

• Pizzas
• Cheese Breadsticks
• Pasta Bakes
• Buffalo Wings

Items that go half-way:

• Garlic Bread and Cheese Garlic Bread
• Sandwiches
• Cavatinis

• Spaghetti
• Regular Breadsticks

Breadsticks often have their own oven, except late at night when only the main oven's on. Breadsticks are almost always pre-baked, then heated again before served. Cheese Breadsticks are the exception - they're always fresh. Usually, you can get a single order of breadsticks* out in about three minutes, if there's time to jump on it as soon as the ticket goes up. You could be very unlucky, however, and there are no more breadsticks that have been made. On the flip side, you will get very fresh breadsticks.

When you order an appetizer, you have to wait for that to come out before the pizza goes in. Cheese breadsticks and buffalo wings are the longest-cooked first courses. If you get those, your pizza will take twice the time to get out. There are several customers who ask for it all at once. Also, you get some things along with others. All pasta bakes get two breadsticks. All other pastas get garlic bread. The juggling of what goes in the oven when often causes problems.

Tip #3: Tell Us What You Want

It's as simple as that. We will do it for you if you ask.

We have a regular customer who always orders light cheese. Today I made a pizza without any sauce. There have been weird, wild orders.

If you're prepared to pay for it, we can do it. We can't do some things, but there are a lot of things we can do. If you want fresh breadsticks, we'll throw in a pan*. If you want a pizza with anchovies and pineapple, we can probably do that. Work it out with the waitress, and we'll cook what you want. It's just a matter of knowing what to ask for.

When talking to us on the phone or in person, state what you want as clearly as possible. If we can get it down on the ticket, it's not a problem.

When you say "Extra Whatever", we double the amount. When you order a pizza, try not to be vague. If you ask for "Everything" on your pizza, we automatically assume that's our super supreme.

Our Toppings*:

• Sauce (Regular and Sweet*)
• Cheese*
• Pepperoni
• Sausage
• Ham*
• Beef
• Italian Sausage
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Green Peppers
• Banana Peppers
• Jalepeños
• Tomato (cubed)
• Black Olives
• Green Olives
• Pineapple
• Anchovies

When you order a super supreme, you're getting Pepperoni, Ham, Sausage, Beef, Italian Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions, Green Peppers, and Black Olives. You can get any of the above though. And the cooks will grumble, but we're here to serve you, no matter what weird things you ask for. Just be clear.

Now, go out there and get some pizza! My paycheck depends on it!