Little Caesar's Pizza Tastes like Greasy Cardboard, but I Love it Anyway

Lucinda's article, The Top Pizza in Carbondale, was published a few weeks before the new Little Caesar's Pizza opened in Carbondale. Even if Little Caesar's had been open at the time she wrote her article, I doubt she would have included it among her top choices. Her article is an excellent review of the best pizza places for those with a more refined palate, or those who prefer non-chain pizza places. But if you're looking for cheap, quick, and basically tasteless pizza, Little Caesar's Pizza is one of my favorite places to get pizza in Carbondale.

I have fond memories of getting Little Caesar's pizza while in high school and college. The best part about Little Caesar's was that it was always cheap and fast, both qualities that are appealing to high school and college students. It was a bit surprising that a college town like Carbondale did not have a Little Caesar's sooner, but the addition of this restaurant to the pizza choices in Carbondale was pretty much inevitable.

Not too long after they opened their doors for business, my boyfriend and I were in the neighborhood of the new Little Caesar's Pizza, and I had no desire to cook dinner that night. So we stopped in to grab one of their $5 pizzas. Sure, it's only one topping, and only a limited selection of those, but pepperoni is a favorite topping for both of us, and it's one of the options for the $5 pizza. We fought through the crowd of coupon waving college students and harried mothers with screaming toddlers, bought our pizza, and were out the door within a couple of minutes.

When it comes down to it, the quality of a $5 Little Caesar's pizza is about what you pay for. There are no pretentions of amazing taste or quality toppings. You simply have sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on basic pizza dough. And honestly, there's something about the combination of Little Caesar's dough and the grease from the pepperoni that really makes it seem like you're eating greasy cardboard. When it comes to leftovers, the similarity between greasy cardboard and a Little Caesar's pizza is even more stunning, particularly when reheated. I'm not sure how it tastes cold; I can't really even stomach the thought of not reheating my leftover Little Caesar's pizza.

Even though this is certainly not the best pizza in Carbondale, though not quite the worst, I probably eat Little Caesar's pizza more than any other place in town. Why? The price can't be beat, especially not when I know it will feed two adults for dinner, and leave enough for leftovers for my lunch the next day. Several of the frozen pizza options at the grocery store are around the same price, and those require work, even if it is minimal. The fact that I can go a tiny bit out of my way on my way home from work and pick up a pizza in a matter of minutes makes it super convenient. And somehow, I like the greasy cardboard taste enough to prefer it over several other pizza places in town. It may not be a favorite of everyone in Carbondale, nor even every college student in Carbondale, but it is one of my favorites.

Little Caesar's Pizza also offers cheese and sausage pizzas as a part of their $5 special, and their regular menu contains a wider variety of toppings, specialty pizzas, and pizza-related items, like breadsticks and dipping sauces. They don't offer delivery service, which probably moves them down a few notches on many people's list of favorite pizza places, but at least in Carbondale, they have a very convenient location and are located near two other stores that I frequent fairly often.

Despite the classical sounding name of Little Caesar's Pizza, the only way that this pizza could be considered a classic is in the sense that it contains the traditional ingredients of a pizza, without any fancy additions. When it comes to the taste, it's just classical greasy cardboard, nothing more. But you can't beat the price, and you know that as soon as you go into Little Caesar's Pizza that your pizza will be in your hands in a matter of minutes.