The Mall Food Court Chain Reddit Calls 'The Nickelback Of Pizza'

When you're spending an afternoon shopping at the mall and you need to refuel, the food court is the most obvious choice. It's on-site and there are plenty of options, from the sweet, like Mrs. Field's-TCBY joint storefronts, to the less-than-savory, like mall barbecue joints. What you'll find in most food courts, though, is at least one pizza spot, and if you're lucky, it'll be the chain that sells it New York-style (one of 15 different types in the U.S.), and which Reddit deems "The Nickelback of Pizza" — that is, Sbarro (per Reddit). Opened in the mid-50s, the original location was actually a salumeria (delicatessen) where the pizza became so popular that the couple who ran the place switched focus almost exclusively to pies.

The author of a thread on the unpopularopinion subreddit, which is titled "Sbarro is decent pizza," wrote, "...everyone loves to trash it like it's the worst thing on the planet," but the OP felt that it's actually fairly good pizza, and it smells quite delicious. We suppose the metaphor only stands up if you also think the band Nickelback is good despite everyone hating on it (we, personally, will reserve judgment), but the comment section was actually fairly receptive.

"I love Sbarro, it's not fancy but it's tasty," one respondent agreed (via Reddit). A second echoed the love, and said they weren't sure why it gets hate (it probably has something to do with its unfortunate locations in, you know, shopping malls). Another stated that while they hadn't tried Sbarro's pizza, they did enjoy the stromboli, and said it was their favorite food for a good long while.

Of course, Sbarro is just one of many mall food court restaurants that actually taste better than they might appear or sound. In a different corner of Reddit, on the AskAnAmerican subreddit, one person asked what food court spot others swear by, even if others don't look on so favorably. And the commenters came through, with the most upvotes going to the person who responded with Cinnabon, calling it the "most delicious snack in the world."

Another commenter shouted out Auntie Anne's, saying they'd "be damned if they don't drop $3.50 on a pretzel every time [they] visit the mall." In response to that, someone remarked that the pretzel chain is located in Walmart and toll road stops near them, but the mall locations are especially good.

And finally, a Redditor gave a nod to random, unnamed Chinese places that are not Panda Express, saying that the food can be bad for you, but the deliciousness of it is sometimes the point of a mall. One person responded to that with faultless logic, stating, "The fact that you mentioned a nameless Chinese place, which is the real answer here, is a real testament to nameless greasy Chinese places" (per Reddit). What we think that person was getting at is, don't judge a book — or a mall food court restaurant, for that matter — by its cover.