Man Reviews 1-Star and 5-Star Pizza Huts to See if There’s Actually Any Difference

It's understandable why so many businesses take their online star ratings and reviews so seriously on platforms like Google and Yelp: who knows how many customers will elect not to eat somewhere just because it wasn't ranked so hot by the online communities of these websites?

But when it comes to fast food franchises, due to food safety and distribution practices utilizing uniform ingredients and cooking methods, a meal that you order at, let's say a McDonald's in Wichita, Kansas, or Freehold, New Jersey should taste nearly identical, even if there are some who argue this isn't the case.

So in actuality, there really shouldn't be that much of a difference when it comes to the ratings of various fast-food franchises, at least when it comes to the taste and quality of the food, right?

That's what a TikToker named Addie (@addiebowley) tested in a recent clip where he visited two separate Pizza Hut locations.

Addie begins his video by setting up its premise: is there really a difference in quality between a 1-star rating Pizza Hut and a 5-star Pizza Hut?

"This is a 1-star Pizza Hut and this one has five stars," he narrates as he smash cuts between different videos of him standing outside of the separate restaurants.

"But is there actually a difference? Starting with the one star. When I got inside I placed my order: I'm getting a small cheese pizza, breadsticks, and boneless wings."

Before he reviewed the food, however, he began to survey his surroundings: "After I ordered I took a look around. The walls, dingy, the floor: nasty, but, they did have a sanitized bucket," he mentions while pointing out the yellow bucket in the kitchen he snapped a photo of.

His verdict of the place: "Interior: 2 stars and the wait time was 15 minutes. The pizza: (oh my God it's hot) it's actually pretty good. 3 stars. The breadsticks..." after he takes a bite of the side dish, the Metal Gear Solid alert sound sounds off and he says, "No way!"

The sound wasn't an indication as to the quality of the dish, but Addie reveals that his surprised expression was due to a Seagull landing on the hood of the car. He rolls down his window, throws one of the birds a piece of his breadstick and gives the dish a "5 stars" rating.

He then takes a bite of the boneless chicken wings, dipping them into some sauce and taking a bite. His ruling? 2 stars, but still good enough to put into an opening crack of his window to see if a seagull would come and nab it. And one did!

"This animal almost hit me in the face bro!" Addie exclaims after the Seagull swoops in and grabs the morsel.

According to Addie's estimation, the 1-star Pizza Hut ranks at a 3.2.

"How will the 5-star compare?" he asks, before the video transitions to an image of the 5-star Pizza Hut. "I went in and placed my order and the inside was looking a lot better."

Addie performs a brief survey of the space showing a clean, dining room with modern fixtures and decor along with ample bench seating and table seating options, not to mention a fun "Pizza Lover's Ln" sign: "They had fun decorations, seats, and it was all clean."

He continued, "Interior: 5 stars. The wait time 12 minutes. The pizza..." he takes a bit out of a slice, but it appears that the cheese is way too hot, scorching his mouth which causes him to moan audibly.

After registering the taste in his mouth, an incredulous look appears on his face: "It's worse than the one star?"

He placed the pie at a 2-star flavor rating, and then it was time to check out the breadsticks: "I feel like half the flavor's gone!" he says, giving them a 3-star rating."

Addie then shows the boneless chicken wings off to the camera: "The chicken: these are a lot better," he says after taking a bite, slapping them with a 4-star rating.

So what was the overall rating based on his rubric system? 3.4, not that much higher than the one star Pizza Hut. So what was his final assessment?

"Honestly, they were just both mid," he says, laughing into the camera.

One commenter seemed to agree with Addie's assessment of Pizza Hut but applied it to all of the chain's locations: "all pizza huts are 1 star. gotta go with domino's"

Whereas someone else shared their own scoring system qualifiers: "Not having seagulls in the parking lot gives the second Pizza Hut a negative five stars"