Little Caesars (Park Street)
507 N. Park StreetLate night and early mornings.
I worked in Detroit last Monday night and it was a late night. I walked in to the house at about 4:00 AM and went right to sleep. My Tuesday morning alarm went off at 7:30 AM. I had to get the boy to school.
I worked about a 16 hour day on Monday so I probably could have asked for the day off, but I like overtime and I had to get up with the kid anyway, so I took a shower and went in to work for my 9:30 AM shift.
It was a long day. My shift was pretty easy on Tuesday but I was pretty tired and was just trying to get through the day.
I didn’t eat a whole lot on Monday so when I woke up Tuesday, I was hungry. I didn’t have the energy to make breakfast or pack myself a lunch so I was just going to find something to eat.
I was kind of in the mood for pizza but there’s not a lot of pizza places near downtown open for lunch on a Tuesday. I figured it would be easier if I just ordered from one of the chains.
I picked Little Caesars because there’s a location close to downtown.
Little Caesars has a store on Park Street on the corner with North Street in Kalamazoo’s Northside neighborhood. The shop is a standalone building on the west side of the street across from Park Street Market. The building is hard to mistake for anything other than a Little Caesars. There’s an orange stripe running through the middle of the white brick that makes it obvious. Because of it’s location close to downtown, that’s the store I put my order in to.
I’m gonna be honest here and it’s probably going to make a few people angry. The $5 Hot ‘n Ready pizzas are garbage. It’s probably the worst pizza out there. My wife will be like “Stop at Little Caesars” and grab a pizza for dinner and I’ll moan about it because the pizzas are so bad. They’re $5 for a reason.
That said, if you take the time to put in an actual order from Little Caesars, they have some really delicious option
I really like their Detroit Deep Dish pizza and considered ordering that, but I kept seeing the advertisements for the 4 Quarter Calzony so I ordered that alongside some Crazy Bread and a 2-liter of Pepsi. It was a little more than $5 but still a good price at $14.
I put my order in online to be ready not long after the store opened at 11:00 AM. Like I said, I was hungry.
The store is set up like most Little Caesars restaurants. It’s carry-out only with the order counter right in front of the kitchen. They have warming cases behind the cash register where those crappy $5 Hot ‘n Ready pizzas live until so unfortunate soul asks for one.
When you order a pizza, you get a three digit code that you need to pick up your items. That’s because they’re put in a self-serve tower they call the Pizza Portal. You can just walk in, find which door your pizza is in then put in the code. It will open up and you just take your stuff out, grab a pop (if you ordered one) and leave.
I drag the cheap pizzas from Little Caesars but the one thing I would never stop eating is the Crazy Bread. We usually try to get two when we do order the Hot ‘n Ready pizza….if they have them…because everyone in my house will tear through those bags in just a few minutes. I had the whole order to myself this time and I had to show some restraint so I wouldn’t fill up on bread. The bread sticks are actually pretty simple but it’s the garlic parmesan they put on the top that just make the Crazy Bread something else. I don’t know what the secret is but this stuff is so good that you don’t need the marinara cup it comes with to dip them in.
The 4 Quarter Calzony was something unique. This thing is kind of a pizza but kind of a calzone. Really, it’s just a pizza with the ends folded over like a calzone but it’s a unique idea with good enough marketing that I wanted to try it.
The pizza came with pepperoni, sausage, and ham which works for me. It looks like it’d be a pain to eat but it really wasn’t. The pizza is still cut in to eight pieces. Eat the pizza part of it first then eat the calzone part. It’s simple and pretty tasty. There was some garlic butter and parmesan on the calzone part to give the crust a little more flavor. I also used the marinara I got with the Crazy Bread to dip it in as well.
I think I’ve been fairly clear I’m not a fan of Little Caesars main gimmick…the $5 Hot ‘n Ready….but I do enjoy some of their other creations. As I mentioned, the Detroit Deep Dish is delicious and so is the pretzel crust pizzas. I will die on the hill that it’s always better to order a pizza from Little Caesars than to just stop in and get what’s sitting there waiting for you.
I was hungry and tired the day I decided to order this pizza and it was a good call. I didn’t eat it all for lunch that day but I did come back to it the next day. The price is better than anywhere else even if you order a pizza. Don’t go the cheapest route just because it’s the cheapest…..pay a few more bucks and get something that’s worth eating.
SW Michigan Dining 