The Facts:
Pizza: Pizza Inn
Business Category: Regional Chain (locations in 16 states)
Website: http://www.pizzainn.com/
Location: 515 Roe Center Court
in Travelers Rest, SC
Date of Review Visit: October 18, 2014
What I Ordered: weekend pizza buffet; Dr. Pepper to drink
Price: $9.91 (includes drink and tax but not tip)
The Micro:
Crust: Because Pizza Inn offers a pizza buffet, the most
obvious comparable national chain is Cici’s.
As with most buffet pizzas (including Cici’s), the crust is not this
pizza’s strength. The crust has an
unusual texture: it is thin and crispy but flaky. The real problem is that this crust is almost
completely tasteless. Therefore, the
points earned on this criterion are almost completely nonexistent. Score: 1/10.
Sauce: This pizza has very little sauce. What sauce does exist is unremarkable in
terms of taste or texture. Score: 1/10.
Cheese: I don’t mean to sound repetitive, but this pizza has
very little cheese. The taste of the
cheese is unremarkable, but the fairly low amount of grease keeps this mark
from being super low. Score: 3/10.
Toppings: As usual with a pizza buffet, the quality of the
toppings varies with the topping. My
favorite topping at Pizza Inn is the pepperoni: it has nice flavor without
being overspiced. The other toppings are
average at best. Score: 4/10.
The Macro:
Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is
passable but uninspiring, and the semi-carnival kids atmosphere is similar to
Cici’s. The table service for your drink
is a nice touch you don’t get at Cici’s, but if you have to serve yourself
pizza off of the buffet, is it too much extra effort to serve yourself the
drink also? Score: 6/10.
Value: The pizza quality is slightly better than Cici’s, but
the price is more expensive. Thus,
although the value for almost any pizza buffet is above average, Pizza Inn does
not present the great value that Cici’s does.
Score: 7/10.
Taste: Let’s be straightforward here: this pizza has very
little taste, plain and simple. Moreover,
some of the pizza on the buffet was cold.
Much improvement is needed here.
Score: 9/20.
The Final Judgment:
In the battle of chain pizza buffets, Cici’s wins by a
decent margin. Whether you want good
quality or good value, you can do better than Pizza Inn. Score: 31/80.
