Place: Ci Ci's Pizza
Lunch: One buffet, water
Ci Ci's has arrived on the west side. We've had one on the east side for a year, but the new store makes Ci Ci's "lunch accessable". HOORAY FOR PROGRESS~!
For the uninitiated, Ci Ci's is the king of the cheap pizza buffet. For $3.99 (plus $1.39 for a drink), you get all you can eat cheap pizza, pasta salad, breadsticks, and dessert. The employees put on a happy attitude and shout a lot, like when you walk in the door and somebody says...
"Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!".
In case you didn't get the point, the entire staff repeats. "Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!"
Nervous Counter Girl doesn't know what else to say as I approach the counter and say "One buffet and one drink, please." So she says "Are you familiar with our buffet?"
"Yes," I say.
"Oh. Would you like a drink?"
"Yes."
It turns out the $3.99 price I'm used to is actually $4.49 here. So I stand corrected.
Anyway, she rings me up and says "$6.23". I hand her $6.27. She takes my money, nervously puts it in the register, and doesn't give me a nickel. She gives me a receipt, though. Then she looks down at a script she's hidden below the register and says "Oh...uh...because you're one of our first one hundred customers you get this card which you may present for a free buffet once a week for the next...y...year."
Then she looks up as if she is begging for help.
So I say "Sweet!" in my best Napoleon Dynamite. She Who Runs the Front, who has slid up next to Nervous Counter Girl, giggles. Then she notices the $5 bill sitting next to the cash register.
"Whose is that?" she asks Nervous Counter Girl.
It's theirs. It's the one I handed her. She forgot to put it in the register. But Nervous Counter Girl has no idea, and she's locked up like Windows Millenium Edition with a look of sheer terror on her face as she stares at the stray fiver.
I assure She Who Runs the Front it's theirs and move on.
Supercute Blonde is...uh...I think she's counting the salad plates. She picks one off the top, puts it in a new pile. Picks another one off the top, puts it in a new pile. I have no idea what she's doing, to be honest.
"You should try the macaroni and cheese pizza," she says, still moving plates.
"I've had it," I say.
"What did you think?"
"It was okay."
"Oh. Well, if you need anything, please feel free to..."Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!"
Another customer just walked in.
The salad bar is a moot point unless you're into salad. Except if you want a cup of ranch sauce for dipping the cheese breadsticks in. Ci Ci's has the best cheese breadsticks in the free world. You could come in for the buffet and eat nothing but them and be happy. I dip them in the two pasta sauces ("red" and "white"). I don't actually get any pasta.
The pizzas are cheaply built but fabulous. There's traditional red sauce that's a lot like Little Caesar's and..."Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!"...a garlic sauce for certain pizzas like their chicken one. There's an occasional specialty sauce like barbecue and taco too. There's a deep dish pizza that also dips well in the sauces. In the unlikely event you can't find a pizza to your liking, ask. They'll make a new one to your specs. And for dessert, there's a cinnamonish-caramelish roll that's to die for, an apple crisp of some sort, and..."Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!"...brownies.
Ya. It rules.
He Who Owns the Joint is looking out the window for his three stooges who he has stationed along the road with signs pointing drivers inward. It's very windy out. An employee is standing next to him asking "Where's Charlie? Is his shirt blowing up? I wish I brought my camera."
They're both snickering about them being out there in the gale force winds.
"Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!"
"How is everything?" Supercute Blonde asks.
"Lovely."
"Well, my name is Supercute Blonde. Just let me know if you need anything."
She's like the third employee to say that to me.
"Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!"
Four high school students are being explained the free buffet for a year deal. They've clearly hit the motherlode. An old hobo-looking dude is asking several ridiculous technical questions about his buffet card, and the guy he's asking..."Hi! Welcome to Ci Ci's!"...has no idea how to answer him.
"Need any plates taken away?" asks Supercute Blonde.
"No, I'm fine."
In fact, I'm about full. I finish my plate and open the exit door. And all the employees shout "Bye! Thanks for coming!"
Bye. Thanks for having me.
