211 Texas 323 Loop
Tyler, TX 75702-8727
(903) 526-9494
Hours 11AM-11PM
Cici’s Pizza is located on the West side of Loop 323 near the Brookshire’s and Starbucks. It is easy to get to and turn into the parking lot. Leaving can be a real challenge if you need to turn left as there is only one exit, and it is sitting directly on Loop 323 which is very busy at all hours of the day. I often have to turn right and do a u-turn to get home.
The most important part of a pizza restaurant is how the pizza tastes and compares to other pizza places. Cici’s is wonderful pizza. It is not on par with expensive pizza restaurants, but for its price range it does really well. You can pay five dollars for a large one topping pizza. I do this often for dinner for my family and when we have friends over last minute. I call ahead and order my pizzas then drive up right to the window. It’s the only pizza place I’ve ever known to have a drive up take out window. When these five dollar pizzas are hot, they are very impressive in taste and texture. When we get Cici’s takeout we usually order either a large with just pepperoni or a large with just green peppers. If you’ve never had a green peppers pizza, try it at Cici’s. You’ll have to order it special since it isn’t a standard pizza on the buffet.
As for the buffet, I think you’ll be impressed. I’ve heard people joke about how horrible Cici’s pizza buffet is, but I think they are just making it up. It is very affordable. The buffet is about five dollars per person, and then drinks are a little over a dollar for a fountain drink or tea. Maybe the price makes Cici’s seem too good to be true. But I think that is just it. I don’t know how it’s possible to offer such great food for so cheap and make it all you can eat to boot.
The buffet starts with a very nice but small salad bar. You have the choice of Caesar salad or a standard tossed salad with about eight different extra toppings and about four different salad dressings. We always get a Caesar with Caesar dressing, and we’ve never been disappointed. Then there is a pasta section. Here you can get pasta with either red sauce or a creamy alfredo sauce. There are also cheese covered bread sticks here. A little tip: fill a bowl with red sauce from this section and dip your crust or bread sticks into it.
Then comes the pizza. This is when I begin to really smile. They have all of the standard pizzas: pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, mushroom, cheese, Hawaiian pineapple and ham. I especially love their sausage pizza. But the cool thing about Cici’s is that they have way more than the traditional pizzas. They have at least four or five specialty pizzas that you can only get at Cici’s. My favorite is a buffalo wing pizza. It uses buffalo hot wing sauce instead of pizza sauce, bits of chicken and mozzarella cheese. It is incredible if you like the hot wing flavor. Then they have their popular creamy spinach pizza. This one uses alfredo sauce instead of red sauce. They also have a barbeque pizza, a taco pizza, and a cheese steak pizza. I usually get lots of the spinach and buffalo pizza. It seems like each of my friends and family has a different favorite of these specialty pizzas.
Next at the bar comes the dessert section. These desserts are amazing. I’ve never heard people complain about the dessert at Cici’s Pizza. They have something for everyone. There are basic chewy brownies covered in powdered sugar. There is usually some kind of super sweet apple crumble coffee cake, and then there is this thing that I am not sure what to call it. It is shaped like the cheesy bread sticks, but the consistency is like a donut or a beignet. Then it is smothered in some kind of caramel or butterscotch sauce. It is beyond good. I am not sure what it is at all, but you’ll know when you see it. You won’t be disappointed.
A really cool feature of this Cici’s is that if you don’t see what you like at the bar, you just ask an employee to make it. They don’t care how weird the toppings you ask for are. They will make it and bring it directly to your table. The customer service is incredible for such a low cost dining restaurant. Often it will be the actual manager who brings it out with a smile and makes sure you don’t need anything else.
The restaurant stays very clean. I’ve seen pizza buffets where the employees don’t seem to care. Pizza can be very messy, and pizza attracts small kids. Small kids can be very messy. But you will not find a mess at this Cici’s that isn’t currently being cleaned up. The busboys are apparently very fast and efficient. There are plenty of booths and even two televisions playing non-offensive shows.
All in all, for five or six dollars per person, you can’t do better for dine in food in Tyler, unless you don’t like pizza. But only a true pizza lover like you and me would have read this whole review. So, try out Cici’s. I promise you’ll be impressed.
