A man named Joe Croce opened the first CiCi's Pizza restaurant in Plano, Texas, in 1985. His vision was for CiCi's to be a family-oriented restaurant that served fresh pizza at affordable prices in a buffet setting.
   Now, more than 20 years and 600 CiCi's locations later, I'd say Croce's vision was realized.
   And CiCi's is a friendly place. When you enter, at least one of the smiling employees will loudly say, "Welcome to CiCi's," and sometimes several more will chime in. As for the restaurant's interior, it's warm and inviting, with lots of wood tables, and accents in brass and glass.
   Customers proceed first to the cashier, where they pay for their food and drinks. Moving on, diners get drinking glasses and plates and find a table before heading toward the all-youcan-eat salad bar and buffet that are well worth the price -- $4.49 for adults, and $2.75 for children ages 4 to 10, without soda.
   The salad bar is adequate, and actually, a lot of ingredients are packed into a tight area. You can choose the regular garden salad lettuce mix and toppings such as sliced mushrooms, onions, black olives, carrots, croutons and several flavors of dressing. Or, you can opt for the Caesar salad mix and Caesar dressing.
   Overall, CiCi's pizza is pretty darn good. Along with regular offerings like pepperoni and beef pies, the buffet features an interesting array of specialty pizzas that include Alfredo, Spinach Alfredo, BBQ, Mexican-Style Pizza Ole, Zesty Ham and Cheddar, Classic Chicken, Zesty Veggie, Sicilian Deep-Dish, and the very interesting Macaroni and Cheese. I can vouch for the Alfredo, the Spinach Alfredo, the BBQ, the chicken, and ham and cheese versions, but I'll have to say the Macaroni and Cheese Pizza is, well, odd. But it's probably because it's just so far from what most of us are used to when we think of pizza.
   The buffet also includes delicious cheesy breadsticks, and pasta with your choice of marinara sauce or Alfredo sauce. The Alfredo also makes a great dipping sauce for the breadsticks.
   And make sure to leave room for dessert. CiCi's dessert selections include cinnamon rolls, a pizza-like apple dessert and brownies sprinkled with powdered sugar. CiCi's carryout options are very reasonable as well. A one-topping 15-inch pizza to go is $4.99, a 12-inch is $3.99. Or for the same price, you can choose an Alfredo, Spinach Alfredo, BBQ or Pizza Ole large specialty pie. One-topping deep dish pies are $5.99 for a medium, $6.99 for large. Dessert or garlic bread is $2.99 for medium, $3.99 for large. The salad bar is $1.99.
   CICI'S

PIZZA Address:
2815 Lakewood Village, North Little Rock, and other locations throughout Arkansas.

Hours:
11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

Cuisine:
Pizza

Credit cards:
MC, V, AE

Wheelchair accessible:
Yes

Alcohol:
No

Carryout:
Yes

(501) 753-1182

This story was published Friday, November 03, 2006