Cici’s is the place for pizza and smiles
Published 12:00 am Thursday, March 13, 2003
If you like pizza, Cicis is the perfect place to stuff yourself silly. Its obvious from the moment you walk up to the front doors that this is meant to be a high-volume eatery. They have two entrances: one for eat-in and one for carry-out. This tells me that sometimes they have a long line of people who want to eat-in. Theres a good reason. They offer an all-you-can-eat, $3.99 buffet of pizza, salad and dessert. Kids under 3 eat free. The inside has a fast-food look. Patrons pay at the register before eating. The seating was maxed out and the minimal decorations on the wall were sports-oriented. A big-screen TV in the corner is a nice touch. Overall, Cicis has a light, airy and open look. There is a small game room separated from the dining area so there was no high-noise level normally associated with game areas. Even though the carpet had a fair amount of crumbs and such, there was someone cleaning the floor in an effort to keep up. There was a nice surprise the evening we ate there. The young lady at the register smiled at us! She apparently noticed we were looking at the menu on the wall (remember: low overhead means low prices) and asked if this was our first time at Cicis. It was. She then explained about the buffet and how things work. And she did it with a smile!I tried the salad and it was cold and crisp with plenty of choices of toppings and dressings, including some that were low fat. So after a salad with low-fat ranch dressing and a Diet Coke, I was ready to tackle the pizza line. Cicis has a selection of 16 different pizzas, salad, pasta and desserts available at all times. If a favorite pizza wasnt there, the counter worker said to ask and they would prepare it immediately. Some of the slices we ate were barbecue, hamburger, Canadian bacon, Philly cheesesteak, spinach alfredo and a few slices of traditional pizza combinations. Another specialty pizza that we just didnt have room for was the Sicilian Deep Dish. Dough is prepared fresh daily, the sauce is made fresh daily from vine-ripened tomatoes and all vegetables are fresh. The crust was thick but not heavy. Obviously somebodys done homework on how to keep the pizzas at an edible temperature without burning the bottom of the crust. We found no matter how long a pizza had been on the serving line, it was still hot and tasty. I dont know who decided that pizza places should start selling cinnamon rolls, but it works. Cicis rolls were very good. We got them hot from the oven and they were light and not overwhelming with cinnamon flavor. The rolls werent overflowing with icing either, which is good because sometimes that can overpower the taste. The cinnamon rolls were on the dessert bar along with chocolate deep dish, Bavarian cream and apple pizzas. Another pretty amazing thing happened while we were there. A different teenage counter worker moved the items from one of the buffet lines warmer to the cover. When asked what she was doing, she said, I want to clean this up and make it look pretty. Pretty? Whens the last time you ever got the impression that any teenager working in a food place cared if the serving area looked pretty?The manager explained that he hires good ones and then hires their friends. Pretty good strategy in my book. Cicis caters to families and has many special offers to attract youngsters. If youre looking to feed your family some good pizza and everyone has a different idea of what toppings to get, give Cicis a try. Youll eat well and eat cheaply. Cicis Pizza2945 Scottsville Road Hours: Daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fri 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.Specialties: PizzaPrice range for dinner: $3.99 – $10.99Libation situation: no alcohol