Cici’s Pizza

This location is closing down. Can’t say I didn’t see that coming. Plus this one is the only one in Durham. The next closest one is in Apex. I’ve never been to that one.

Ate at this particular Ci Ci’s yesterday. The store was absolutely disgusting. I was handed a dirty water cup when I first got there. The cashier made a comment about how their dishwasher «wasn’t working» and handed me and my friend a styrofoam cup instead.
Tables were not bussed for over an hour while we were there and tables were not bussed even before we got to the restaurant. The floor looked like it hadn’t been swept all day, and NONE of the tables were wiped down or clean. I had to wipe off a table myself before I sat down.
The food was lack luster and greasy. The garlic rolls/​sticks were undercooked. None of the counters around the buffet were wiped down either and were littered with crumbs and tiny bits of toppings.
The restaurant was staffed with about 4 or 5 employees where’s two were constantly in the kitchen. The other three were not seen in the dining area cleaning at any point during my visit.
I will NEVER be eating here again. DO NOT EAT HERE!!!

I rarely go to places that offer a buffet; but since we were with 14 of our church youth I figured why not. OMG! How this place has changed! I hadn’t been in years. This was literally my worst dining experience EVER! EVER! All I kept thinking after walking around all the filthy tables, trying to find a clean one was «How is this legal? How does a place that looks like this stay open?!». All 16 of us remain standing while someone with sagging jeans slowly made his way over to the table to «clean» it off (more like push the mess on the floor). I decided to use this time to wash my hands, since sitting at that table was not an option. Again… OMG!!! 2 toilets filled to the top with only my heavenly father knows what!!! It was horrendous! After a bathroom visit similar to an outdoor camping trip, I go to the sink and it’s half full of dirty water that isn’t draining. The kids with us (and kids will eat almost anything) left hungry because the food was AWFUL! On the way out, I looked over at the kitchen to see cheese, dough, and other mess all over the floor that the staff pretended not to see… Not only will I NEVER take anyone else back, I will be complaining to the health inspector! Even the manager seemed to not notice the filth!!!

Very, very, very, ghetto and nasty. And also a bad group of people in there, excuse my snobbery. It’s a miracle I didn’t get sick, or worse, lol. I felt it was my duty to write a review.

Great place to go if you want diarrhea!
Seriously though, I’ve been to a number of Cici’s, and this one is bad. Really bad.

Good low prices for low quality food. This Ci Ci’s Pizza joint is a franchisee owner. Lots of seating with the TVs showing a children’s TV show. Also in this Ci Ci is a few other games for children to play with to pass the time. Not sure that I will be back here ever again. They had 10 different pizzas on the buffet along with salad and two soups to choose. They also had three deserts to pick from. Coke products available.
Food C (not quality)
Staff D
Décor C
Location C (plenty of parking in this shopping center)
Health Inspection Grade 97.0

My boyfriend and I went to this Cici’s location for dinner once and it was one of the most God awful, atrocious, filthy, and ghetto places I have ever been to eat… In my life. No exaggeration.
I have never been a fan of this restaurant chain. It was always a «meh» type of place in my opinion. When I think of Cici’s I think «Elementary school birthday parties». Maybe because that was the only time I ever went, when I was invited to classmates’ birthday parties there when I was in Elementary school. The ones that I have been to in the past were decent, Not good but, still not that bad. But that was in the mid to late 1990’s. Which brings me to my review and experience at this location.
My boyfriend and I decided to go to Cici’s for dinner for a few reasons. We had buffet coupons that we wanted to use, he has never been to a Cici’s before and wanted to try it out, and we both wanted pizza. I was curious to see how this location would be because if you go to Cici’s often you will know that no two Cicis are the same. When I walked in this place I was…(thinking of the correct word to describe it)… SHOCKED! The place was filthy, there was absolutely no food on the buffet line (partly because they had 2 big parties of people in there who were consuming the buffet food faster than the employees were putting it on display, they must have been very hungry), the drink machines were filthy, and it looked as if someone had been chewing on the straws. My boyfriend and I chose not to use straws in our drinks, obviously. The two parties of people there were very loud and ghetto and it made me very uncomfortable to see this middle aged lady threatening her ten kids with a switch. Yes, this lady brought a switch in the pizza place! I am not against corporal punishment by any means but I do think it is a bit classless to bring a switch in a public place and wave it around proudly just in case your kid become defiant. Seems like management would have said something to this lady but no employee seemed to mind. Maybe because this location is ghetto and they are used to seeing things like that.
My boyfriend and I took our plates and walked up to the buffet to pick from the wide selection of a few dried, cold slices of pizza, about five old breadsticks, a few mushed up macaroni noodles, and absolutely no cinnamon rolls which is the best thing at Cici’s in my opinion. We sat down and ate quietly and uncomfortably. I didn’t even savor my food I was just trying to eat those carbs as fast as I could without choking to death so I could get out of there. The longer I stayed the dirtier I felt. As we left, I looked over to my boyfriend and jokingly asked him if he wanted to go back some other time. «He looked at me and responded seriously «I’m never coming back here!»
Simply put, the place mortified us.
I am really embarrassed about having eaten there and It was not worth half of the $ 12 bucks I spent.
My advice: Avoid this place but if you absolutely have to eat Cici’s, order to go. If you don’t mind the uncleanliness, ghetto-​ish ambiance, seeing women beat their kids at the dinner table, and have a stomach made of steel. By all means, check this place out!\
gave this place one star because the staff were very nice which is a good thing:)

You do NOT come to Cici’s hoping it’s going to be fine dining. You don’t come for the ambiance, you don’t come for some fancy chef’s latest attempt at pan Asian fusion, and you don’t come to chit chat with your fellow fancy-​pants clientele. You come for all-​you-​can-​eat pizza, dirt cheap, topped with whatever you want.
You want their basic styles? Well, they’re all laid out, waiting for you! You want something different? How about the deep dish style topped with all the meats and some green peppers? THEY’LL DO IT! Give em a few minutes to throw it together, they’ll bring it right to your table. The quality of the pizza isn’t A+, sure, but I actually find myself digging on a number of their pies. The deep dish style is my favorite, with little burned bits of cheese on the edges. And I love their so-​thin-​it-​may-​break-​as-​you-​lift-​it thin crust pizza. The Mac & cheese pies always make me cringe, and IMHO, sort of taste like soap.
But NO BIG, I don’t eat em! Problem solved.
I like the cheery «Hi, welcome to Cici’s!» as you enter, and the silly songs they have to sing about the pies «It ain’t easy being cheesey, Cheese pizza on the line!» I come to this spot occasionally with my partner, primarily for the novelty of it all. And, if we’re feeling crazy, maybe we’ll swing by Walmart on our way home to bask in the glory of other people who may or may not have just left Cici’s.
I honestly find their little cinnamon buns DELICIOUS, and just the right size (read: small) to round out the size of my meal (read: large).

Well if anyone is going to be a Cici’s advocate, I suppose it’s the guy with the world’s most deceptively huge stomach and limited bank account. I’ve been back several times since my last review, and I felt compelled to update since they’ve seemed to work on some of my earlier issues, especially on weekdays where there are fewer kids running around to make a mess. The pizza is more often than not replenished at a reasonable pace and there’s usually someone coming by to clean tables at least every 30 minutes or so. The staff is also more friendly and upbeat, yelling out their quirky pizza monikers with a smile as the newest pie comes on the buffet. Now that that’s out of the way, let me give a quick rundown of Cici’s for those of you who haven’t had the «privilege».
Cici’s is a lot like a night of drunken tomfoolery. While it’s happening, you’re thinking «Wow, this is awesome! Why don’t I do this more often?» Then a few hours later, you’re clutching your stomach, making your acquaintance with the bathroom while cursing «Damn you! I’m never doing that again!» Analogy 2 — state fair. As amazing as that deep fried brownie and red velvet funnel cake taste on the way down, stomachs just aren’t equipped to handle that much greasy goodness in one sitting.
Where Cici’s gets the highest mark is value. It’s like the universal gold standard for eating out. Every time I bite into a delicious steak and think «$ 22, what a steal!», I suddenly realize I could’ve spent ¹⁄₃ of that at Cici’s for all-​you-​can eat pizza with a drink. For reference, I went today and got 2 buffets plus 2 sodas for $ 10.99 with a coupon. Seriously?
So now you’re thinking, «I don’t care how cheap it is if I have to think twice before serving it to my dog.» I personally find the pizza pretty tasty, although I have friends who definitely disagree. They’ve got more than just cheese and pepperoni. Think buffalo chicken, philly cheesesteak, barbecue pork and my favorite, pepperoni and jalapeño. They also offer both thin crust and deep dish. The ingredients aren’t high quality, but most of them are fairly yummy. There are some misses, such as the spinach pizza and the salad, but hey, it’s all-​you-​can-​eat. pick something you like and avoid everything else. And as an added bonus, if they don’t currently have something you like out, they’ll happily make you any pizza and bring as many slices as you want to the table. They also have a nice dessert section with apple pie pizza, cinnamon rolls, and my absolute favorite, brownies!
One of their newer offerings is the cheeseburger pizza, which tastes freakishly similar to a McDonald’s cheeseburger. That’s probably the best reference for whether Cici’s is right for you. If the thought of a McDonald’s cheeseburger makes your stomach turn, don’t bother. If you’re one of those people who struggle to finish the last couple bites of your Subway 6 inch sub, you’re also better off elsewhere. But if you’ve got a healthy appetite and an iron clad stomach, I dare you to find a better value for your $ 5 and change. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you when you’re raiding your medicine cabinet for the pepto bismol.

«Bottomless troughs of mediocre pizza»
I have very mixed feelings about this place. On the positive, it’s an AYCE buffet and it’s WAY WAY cheap ($ 5 for lunch!). The pizza is OK– one step below delivery. They actually have salad and soup. My kids love the place, especially the desserts. The managers and staff are really friendly, and they’ll even make custom pizza slices for you as you want them and walk them to your table.
On the negative, it’s just really not that good in quality. On some pizzas, they majorly skimp on the toppings (my daughter asked for some custom pineapple pizza, and each slice got, I kid you not, exactly one «tidbit» of pineapple). The spinach on the pizzas is awful. Worst of all, there are sometimes cleanliness issues here (which, in fairness, is at least partially from the customers touching everything with their greasy hands).
If you have many hungry kids you need to feed in a hurry, and think their immune system could use some boosting, then sure, probably a great place to go. (There were multiple sports teams/​scout troops there today, for example.) For my cheaper lunch family outings, personally, I’d just prefer hitting a standard fast food chain.

I am pretty embarrassed and sheepish about having eaten here. My husband had eaten at this chain several times in Texas about a decade ago, and it was known for having pretty cheap all-​you-​can-​eat pizza/​salad/​breadsticks. Since I’d never been there, and he was curious as to whether it still measured up in his mind, we spontaneously dropped by for a late afternoon snack.
I’ll start with an objective description of the food. It costs $ 4.99 for the buffet, which features a salad bar with iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onions, croutons, olives, and various dressings. Then there are 6 to 8 pizzas sitting under a heat lamp as well as cheesy garlic breadsticks. For dessert, there is an apple crumble pizza, cinnamon rolls with icing, and chocolate brownies.
The quality of the food was terrible. It was downright junky, not very well-​prepared, unappetizing food. The pizza crust had a thick spongy texture which you later realize is used in every single item featured on the menu (except the salad and brownie). Toppings are stingy and sparse, breadsticks greasy, pizza looks like cardboard and is dried out. The dessert was just as bad, with the gelatinous saccharine canned apple filling messily glopped onto the dough.
However, the worst part is not necessarily the food. You have to walk through the trash-​laden restaurant, sit on chairs pretending to be pizza crusts themselves (i.e. covered in every pizza topping imaginable), eat off wet dishes, and listen to frazzled mothers screaming at their children. It was downright dirty in there, and we did not see the requisite posting of any sanitation scores in the restaurant. We probably ate the fastest we ever have, and then practically ran out of the restaurant trying not to scream. My husband got in the car and said he needed to get home immediately to take a shower. Ugh.
Bottom line: Yes, it is still all-​you-​can-​eat for $ 4.99 which on the surface, sounds like a great bargain. But after having been inside and having the Cici’s ‘experience’, you will walk out thinking you paid too much and wishing you could rewind/​re-​do the last 20 minutes of your life.

I’ve never felt so unclean in my entire life. The filth… the ‘za, the horror! Getting over this experience will take years of therapy… and I’m still reeling from it only hours afterwards.
This chain is known for their cheap all-​you-​can-​eat pizza buffet. That in itself is no crime and I’m willing to accept full responsibility for choosing such a place knowing that you get what you pay for. However, the odor/​stench and complete lack of hygiene in the place was unforgivable. By round 2, I went back up and pulled a new plate from the stack next to the buffet line only to discover that a dried piece of some-​random-​leftover-​gunk that resembled primordial goo was clinging to the plate. I admit that I’ve eaten at a few Cici’s back in the day (think poor grad student), but they were never nearly as bad as this one.
Generally speaking, the food was a carb lover’s haven… lots of bread and not a lot of substance — low on sauce, cheese and toppings. Avoid this location for now… and go elsewhere if you can.