I personally know people that think sbarro (and Olive Garden as a proxy) is on par with “other pizza” as its own thing. Those people recognize it’s not “real pizza”; they just like it for what it is.
Tbf, sometimes I’m right there with em, I’m not above drunk ordering some dominos, or on the rare occasion I go to a mall I may hit the Sbarro (but the fake Chinese food wins every time, let’s be real), but it’s literally the same thing just more fresh and made to better specs! It’s not even “real tacos V taco bell,” it’s such a close approximation of the “real” thing but lacking soul, whereas taco bell is so far from real tacos that it’d be more understandable to prefer the fake version. Like even Olive Garden V real italian I get, because it’s americanized enough, but Sbarro is not far enough removed from real pizza as to necessitate this phenomenon.
I could understand getting Sbarro in Chicago, for those averse to deep dish, because it’s a whole different style. I could understand some Chicago chain in NYC, for those who want deep dish. I could even understand Jets “detroit” style, because that’s different too, but Sbarro in NYC is literally just “worse and more expensive version of the same thing you could have got in 20 different shops on your way here.”
I personally know people that think sbarro (and Olive Garden as a proxy) is on par with “other pizza” as its own thing. Those people recognize it’s not “real pizza”; they just like it for what it is.
Tbf, sometimes I’m right there with em, I’m not above drunk ordering some dominos, or on the rare occasion I go to a mall I may hit the Sbarro (but the fake Chinese food wins every time, let’s be real), but it’s literally the same thing just more fresh and made to better specs! It’s not even “real tacos V taco bell,” it’s such a close approximation of the “real” thing but lacking soul, whereas taco bell is so far from real tacos that it’d be more understandable to prefer the fake version. Like even Olive Garden V real italian I get, because it’s americanized enough, but Sbarro is not far enough removed from real pizza as to necessitate this phenomenon.
I could understand getting Sbarro in Chicago, for those averse to deep dish, because it’s a whole different style. I could understand some Chicago chain in NYC, for those who want deep dish. I could even understand Jets “detroit” style, because that’s different too, but Sbarro in NYC is literally just “worse and more expensive version of the same thing you could have got in 20 different shops on your way here.”