I visited the nostalgic underground restaurant on New Street you've been to a million times

We didn't eat out very often when I was a kid and so I remember, vividly, the times me and my brother got to go for birthday treat Pizza Hut with our older sister. It was special, eating margheritas from deep dish trays and getting off our heads on self-pulled whippy ice creams topped with enough sweets to spike the blood sugar of a thousand babbies.

As I've aged, all my favourite pizzas are those bubbly Neopolitan ones with dusty bottoms and distinct roundels of cheese. Otto's in the Jewellery Quarter and Amore Pizzeria & Caffetteria in Moseley are two of my favourite pizza joints when I want thin and crispy bases topped with with high-quality produce.

While I might have turned into a slice snob with the passing of time, Pizza Hut is still going strong round on New Street. Everything else might have changed around the doorway leading down to the restaurant but it's still there, ready when you need it, almost 27 years on from when it first opened, back when MMMBop by Hanson topped the charts.

Read more: I tried the new pizza place in Sutton Park and there was one thing I couldn't swallow

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I went in this week for lunch with my pal Dan to see if I could work out the secret of its enduring success. It wasn't long past midday and as we descended down beneath one of the city's busiest streets (more Pizza Basement than Pizza Hut really) we were greeted by one of my all time favourite sights: all you can eat pizza.

For £10.99 we could eat as much of the pizza, salad or pasta as we wanted, but for £15.99 a piece, we could have everything. One glance at the Ice Cream Factory, with its 'juices' and shakers of 'bits' and I was sold on the more expensive All in Buffet option.

We'd ordered and paid via the app but a member of staff brought our bottomless drinks over. I'm happy to say that the glasses did, in fact, have bottoms; I was going to make enough of a mess of myself with that ice cream machine. There's no full fat Pepsi on the drinks dispenser, my dentist will be happy to hear.

I'd imagined the restaurant would be looking a little tired after all of these years, but they're keeping it lovely. We sat in a clean booth, enjoyed the fun cartoon superhero drawings on the wall as well as old photographs everywhere of families eating in Pizza Huts with red roofs like we used to.

As a kid, I liked the cheese shakers and the chilli flakes (we called it 'pot pourri' at the time and I was far too beige to use it) but we didn't get that on our table in 2024. More's the pity.

The restaurant has hygiene rating of five, according to a sign on the door, and perhaps it's because it was early in the day, but the salad station and the buffet area were absolutely pristine.

Me and Dan reminisced about happy Pizza Hut visits from the past as we loaded up on fat squidgy slices of pizza and garlicky breadsticks. It was all hot and fresh from the oven and I had a little scoop of 'red' pasta (instead of the 'white' version beside it) for good measure.

The pizza was absolutely exactly what you'd expect. It's a level of consistency that I appreciate and, I reckon, a big reason why people are coming back time and time again. For your cash, you know what you're getting. Good old trusty, reliable Hut.

The salad bar was varied and fun and I piled up crunchy cucumber, little bursting red tomatoes, lettuce, fake bacon bits and a slathering of blue cheese dressing. Dan sprinkled his with sultanas and I momentarily considered asking him to leave.

I loved everything on my plate, just like I had as a kid. With the exception of the sauce, because something tasted a little bit... rancid. Not in a 'stanky blue cheese' good way either.

Staff couldn't have moved any quicker to address the issue. They're a young workforce but acted so professionally, taking my plate away and replacing the entire vat of sauce without question.

"All of the sauces are vegan now," the waiter said, "so maybe it just tastes differently to how you remembered? We've switched it out anyway." It was lightning-fast and chilled out, I couldn't have asked them for more - another reason I'd return.

If you can find me another experience that heals your inner child quite like pulling your own swirl of whippy ice cream, I'd love to hear it. When you're little, it's a moment of power and control over your own life that is otherwise hard to come by in a world where adults do everything for you. As a 37-year-old? It felt, I can confirm, just as thrilling.

I whacked loads of red sauce on it as well as loads of 'bits'. Let's not get hung up wondering about the details of the flavour, that's for the ice cream man to worry about. I sprinkled the little sweeties like I was shaking maracas and watched as a spangle of stars decorated the sauce; if this journalism thing doesn't work out, I'm getting a van and going on the road.

I was just about as happy as a clam as me and Dan ate our ice creams like a pair of big babbies, I even forgave him for putting dried fruit on salad. My belly was full and my heart was as well!

It's nowhere near the best pizza in town, it's not the highest quality and there's no windows. But if you want good old reliable slices, a fun setting for the kids, hot fresh food and loads of bang for your buck? Head for the Hut!

This review is independent, at random, and food was paid for by the journalist.