is little caesar's still out there?

I haven't seen a LC's (sorry, I still have trouble spelling it) in years, except in a Kmart...where everything was premade and frozen. I do rmember at one time they were pretty good pizza, but I live in a college town where everyone eats a lot of pizza. Just wondering...

It is in Knoxville and they have a all you can eat for lunch. I have never been there but I understand it has pizza less than mediocre.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

We have them in Louisville and I agree with Paul's evaluation.
When I left SoCal in 2000 we had several in the area where I lived.

They are still around and still as bad as ever. I believe the company is based in Detroit, as their founder was/still is the owner of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings. You see their advertisements throughout their respective stadium/arena.

There is still at least one in New York City, on a major shopping thoroughfare in Manhattan, on 14th Street...it does delivery, too. There always seems to be a bunch of people there, but the average age tends towards the youngsters in school, I think.

It's always been utterly crap pizza, but in the early '90s, they did some excellent TV ads. There were still some LCs in Albuquerque as of three years ago at least.

They have a lot of them in the Oklahoma City Metro. We don't go but they are lots of them around if we wanted to.

Yes, they still exist, but for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would want to eat the junk that they serve.

Good ole Plattsburgh (NY) has a L/C. Haven't been there in years, generally lousy pizza.

Wally

The concensus opinion on this thread truly amazes me.

Of course, there is still time to hear from a Little Ceasar's employee preaching the quality of his life's work.

There are still some around in K-mart stores, on long island. Recently they have been redoing our K-marts over and taking out the cafes, though I believe 1 is still little caesars.

I saw one In Rutland, VT a few weeks ago right across the street from a Ponderossa, I thought I must have drove through a crack in the time continuum that transported me back to 1987.

That was pizza!!

They're still around and headquartered in Detroit. Seems like the aren't as many as there were at on time in the Motor City though. Their latest sales gimmick is to offer a large pepperoni & cheese pizza for $5 and it's always ready. No ordering. Just walk in and get yours, although as most have said, I don't know why you would considering the abismal quality.

Score: Roughly 20 to zero. I'm not surprised.

I have never endured a saltier insult than my one LC pizza.

quote:

Originally posted by wheregreggeats.com

Score: Roughly 20 to zero. I'm not surprised.

I have never endured a saltier insult than my one LC pizza.

That is a very negative score for LC.

They must have a good banker to be able to endure. I never see very much business at their establishment in Knoxville.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by stevekoe

They are still around and still as bad as ever. I believe the company is based in Detroit, as their founder was/still is the owner of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings. You see their advertisements throughout their respective stadium/arena.

What's interesting to me is that Illitch, one of the current owners of the Tigers, was preceeded by Tom Monaghan, who owned them from 1983-1992. Monaghan founded Dominos.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

quote:

Originally posted by stevekoe

They are still around and still as bad as ever. I believe the company is based in Detroit, as their founder was/still is the owner of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings. You see their advertisements throughout their respective stadium/arena.

What's interesting to me is that Illitch, one of the current owners of the Tigers, was preceeded by Tom Monaghan, who owned them from 1983-1992. Monaghan founded Dominos.

Apparently, then, we can determine that Detroit is the home of crappy pizza? If Illitch sells the team to Papa John, then we know something is up!

I believe there is a Little Caesar's still open in Cookeville, TN. It shut down for several years then re-opened 4 or 5 years ago.

I read somewhere the Papa John's franchises had really hurt Little Caesar's.

We still have 2 LCs around Peoria. When they were advertising "Pizza! Pizza!", their reputation always was that the total toppings they put on both pizzas were the same quantity you would get on one pizza at any other place. It has been years since I have had one, but any time I go down Sterling Avenue (a main drag) in the afternoon, they have an employee standing out by the street (in front of the strip mall where they have one of their locations) holding a sign for their $5 "always ready" pizza. I think they just hired him to hold the sign and not do any other work. I have always wondered who would ever want a pizza that was "always ready", since I figure that to keep one hot, it would have to be sitting on a steam table getting soggy, be drying out in a low-temp oven, or they would have to zap it in a micro and toughen the crust up, none of which would do any good for an already poor pizza.

Yes, so tread lightly. Don't make any sudden moves if you suddenly find yourself face to face with one. Play dead.

Okay,okay, I just asked a question. I don't remember them being great, although when I was in 9th grade, it seemed okay. But, we have matured somewhat since then. The interesting part is that at the bottom of this page, there is a banner for either a $50 Papa John's pizza card or a $250 PJ's gift card

Papa John's is a major player in the Louisville Metro area. It is no accident that the University of Louisville Football team named their stadium (new) Papa John's Stadium. The Corporation recently surpassed UPS and Ford as the largest charitable donor in the city. KFC or rather YUM is in the top 10 also. These guys know "where their bread is buttered"...So to speak!

We still have a LC here in Versailles, KY, and the $5 hot 'n ready large pepperoni pizza isn't terrible. It's not "good", but it's also not horrible. It comes in handy when you have to feed a group of kids. That "crazy bread" though YUCK!
The pizza pickins are slim pickins here: LC, Pizza Hut, and Papa John's. The Dominoes went out of business (it was foul). Other fast food has not fared well here either --- KFC and Famous Recipe are long gone. We've had an explosion of non-chain Mexican restaurants though, and that is a good thing!

Andrea

Dude, I LOVE the crazy bread! I dunno if the Little Caesar's in Canada are any different than the ones in the US, but I don't mind them. I just find their pizzas are a little boring. As far as chain pizza goes up here, I think that Pizza Pizza has the best and most "exotic" pizza varieties.

If Little Caesar's has the best chain pizza in Canada, you have my sympathy. And I hope you have some really fantastic (compared to Little Caesar's) non-chain pizza up there!

quote:

Originally posted by 6star

If Little Caesar's has the best chain pizza in Canada, you have my sympathy. And I hope you have some really fantastic (compared to Little Caesar's) non-chain pizza up there!

Oh no, Little Caesar's is far from the best. Pizza Pizzais another chain entirely, only in Ontario. I recommend it highly to anyone who travels up here.

I see some every now and then,definitely not the best pizza.

They're still around:

http://little.know-where.com/littlecaesars/

Unfortunately, they are still around.

My community ran them out of business in less than eight months. HORRIBLE pizza. No wonder they offered 2-4-1 deals. The last time I went (a long time ago), I actually had to show the DM how to make my pizza. THAT pizza, was good...

Little Ceasars had great pizza, when they largely pulled out of the St. Louis area several years ago. The Square Pizza! Pizzas! were a staple of my teenage diet. When they pulled out, you could still get it at the few remaining area K-Marts, but it just wasn't the same.

About three years ago, they opened a new Little Ceasar's in O'Fallon, MO, and it is the only one in the St. Louis area that I know of since the chain largely folded in around '94, and the pizza is not the same. I ordered food from them soon afer they opened, and was very excited when they opened the new store, as it was in delivery range from where I was living at the time. I was very disappointed, it wasn't anything like the Little Ceasar's that I remembered. The cheeze was gluey, the sauce was funky, and I didn't bother with again.

Recently, though, where I am now living in Bowling Green, MO (Northeast part of the state), there was a portable wagon selling them at the local grocery store, I picked one up, and it was exactly as I remembered.

I have seen the Little Ceasar's Pizza Wagon in several small towns around the area, and there is always a line whenever its in town.

I think the quality has deteriorated since the late 80's. That was a family staple on saturday nights (not ALL Saturdays, just sometimes) and at parties (pizza pizza). And we ate it up. And we had real pizzarias which were better too, but it was a great party food.
I had it recently (a party of course) and it was TERRIBLE. Just not the same as it was.

It never ceases to amaze me that people actually choose pizza hut, little caesars, papa johns, etc. over their local pizzaria to save a dollar or two. But most people do it, and that's why the chains are the most popular...sad as it is.

for anyone who is still interested, i got my hands on some crazy bread this week. It was actually better than i remembered it to be. The pizza was still pretty mediocre, but the crazy bread more than made up for it. I still have some in my refrigerator.

As I recall, the box tasted better than their crust.

I remember their ads saying they gave you a free pizza when you bought one. Double punishment.

Unfortunately, they are still just about everywhere with more than 5,000 people. My girlfriend grew up eating Little Caesar's and swears it is the best pizza she's ever had. I have taken her to the best pizza places I know of and she still prefer's it. Because of her, wherever we are, we have to find a Little Caesars. From this painful experience, I know that they are still going strong in CA, TX, and IL. They just won't go away and will continue to serve that awful crap they claim is pizza.

All of the ones in Gainesville closed but when visiting in Crystal River I saw some poor souls standing out on the sidewalk with their "sandwich" sign on advertising for them.

This has been driving me mad, back in like '93 or so little caesar's had this massive pizza and I cant recall what the name was. I know Pizza hutt's answer was the bigfoot but I cant for the life of me recall what the name of caesar's was. Help would be appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by boojig1

This has been driving me mad, back in like '93 or so little caesar's had this massive pizza and I cant recall what the name was. I know Pizza hutt's answer was the bigfoot but I cant for the life of me recall what the name of caesar's was. Help would be appreciated.

I think it was called The Big Piece of Crap. Or the Colossal.

quote:

Originally posted by Route 11

quote:

Originally posted by boojig1

This has been driving me mad, back in like '93 or so little caesar's had this massive pizza and I cant recall what the name was. I know Pizza hutt's answer was the bigfoot but I cant for the life of me recall what the name of caesar's was. Help would be appreciated.

I think it was called The Big Piece of Crap. Or the Colossal.

I think you're wrong, I think it was the Colossal Piece of Crap!!

They have a deal now where for five dollars you can carryout a cheese or pepperoni. It's edible when hot, but after two days in the fridge, I tried to eat a slice, and GAG, crunch, Gag, Gag, TOSS IT!! My Mom, who jokingly calls herself a garbage can. She really can eat stuff there is no way I would, due to age (the food, not her or my age,lol). She said throw it away, one of the first times I've ever heard her say that!!

Pizza starts with a crust, if thats bad, there's nowhere to go. Little Ceasars is nowhere to go! Freschetta is bettah!! And when a frozen pie beats a pizzeria, YIKES!!!

We still have LC here in Lexington, KY and as of ~1 year ago there were still two in the Chicago area...Naperville and Woodridge.

As far as I know (I'm pretty sure), the Little Caesars that are in KMarts are not real Little Caesars any more. Little Caesars wanted out of that contract, and KMart wanted to keep them, so KMart "licensed" the name for some period. The Little Caesars in KMarts are now "run" and supplied totally separately from actual Little Caesars stores.

They are now part of school fund raisers - along with summer sausage and cheese logs. They have "kits" with the ingredients. I can't vouch for the quality - I couldn't be talked into buying one!

Little Caesar, Kmart, we are talking road food. Blue light special! 5 Pizza's for a buck on aisle 3.

I actually think that a Little Caesar's pizza, IF it's hot and fresh, is one of the best of the national chains. If it's been sitting under a heat lamp, it's worse than the worst frozen brand out there. And it doesn't reheat well at all.

That makes their $5 ready to pick up deal a real crapshoot. If you go during a busy period, you can generally get a fresh one, but there are no guarantees. Don't bother going during an off hour because you'll get something that's been sitting under a heat lamp and not even worth the 5 bucks. And they get really snippy now if you try to place a traditional order for a large pepperoni or cheese instead of taking one of their ready to go ones. I tried it once, late on a Tuesday night when I knew there was little chance I'd get a fresh one if I just walked in. I was informed, with some attitude, that if I wanted a large pepperoni I should come take one of the already baked ones. No thanks.

My husband brought home a Little Caesar's Supreme pizza last night because we were both too exhausted to cook and didn't want to go out. With our limited pizza places here, it was the best value because it was $5.00 cheaper than what the Papa John's had. It was edible.

Andrea

Little Ceasers has $5 pizza's full large pizza with pepperoni just $5, only thing is. It taste like it is only worth $2. The owner of Little Ceasers, Mike Illitch owns the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Redwings. Detroit is pizza capital of the world. Little Ceasers is the parent company of Chuck E Cheese also.

quote:

Originally posted by Burger Bob

Detroit is pizza capital of the world.

Based on the fact that they have more Little Caesars than anywhere else??

No based on the fact we are home to Domino's, Hungry Howies and Little Ceasers. All 3 are national powerhouses

quote:

Originally posted by porkbeaks

quote:

Originally posted by Burger Bob

Detroit is pizza capital of the world.

Based on the fact that they have more Little Caesars than anywhere else??

Burger,
As most of the country hasn't seen a Hungry Howie's much less the far better Cottage Inn from A squared or Buddys or Jets it's hard to call HH's a national chain.

And once you get outside HockeyTown you'll find the pizza offerings from other areas (CT, NY & Chicago) far outclass the mediocre offerings from the Monihan & Illitch chains.

Now if you're talking Koegel viennas or Kowalski Stadium Kilebasas or Paczki's you're talking my language but the pizza offerings (outside of Cottage Inn) in Michigan in general suck.

Sausage Dude, Hungry Howies is #10 national, and are in all 48 states, do your research before you babble goobrish gobe

quote:

Originally posted by Beer&Snausages

Burger,
As most of the country hasn't seen a Hungry Howie's much less the far better Cottage Inn from A squared or Buddys or Jets it's hard to call HH's a national chain.

And once you get outside HockeyTown you'll find the pizza offerings from other areas (CT, NY & Chicago) far outclass the mediocre offerings from the Monihan & Illitch chains.

Now if you're talking Koegel viennas or Kowalski Stadium Kilebasas or Paczki's you're talking my language but the pizza offerings (outside of Cottage Inn) in Michigan in general suck.

Burger Dude,
I guess you better do your research. As one who has a son working in the Bloomfield Hills Howies and in my travels across the country each week, I'll attest to the fact that HH's are not even close to being in all 48 states.

In fact, here's a link to an industry site Pizzatoday article of Sept 2005 that states that they have 485 stores in 15 states (second paragraph down) http://pizzatoday.com/features_articles.shtml?article=MjUwMHN1cGVyMjQ5N3NlY3JldDI1MDQ=

quote:

Originally posted by Burger Bob

Sausage Dude, Hungry Howies is #10 national, and are in all 48 states, do your research before you babble goobrish gobe.

And here I thought a culinary arts honors grad of the CIA would know something about tomato pies. I'll bet you didn't even know that the CIA originally was located near Sally's and Frank Pepe's. You are, of course, familiar with those esteemed purveyors of apizza.

quote:

Originally posted by Burger Bob

Sausage Dude, Hungry Howies is #10 national, and are in all 48 states, do your research before you babble goobrish gobe.

quote:

Originally posted by Beer&Snausages

Burger,
As most of the country hasn't seen a Hungry Howie's much less the far better Cottage Inn from A squared or Buddys or Jets it's hard to call HH's a national chain.

And once you get outside HockeyTown you'll find the pizza offerings from other areas (CT, NY & Chicago) far outclass the mediocre offerings from the Monihan & Illitch chains.

Now if you're talking Koegel viennas or Kowalski Stadium Kilebasas or Paczki's you're talking my language but the pizza offerings (outside of Cottage Inn) in Michigan in general suck.

Speaking of babbling, Hungry Howie's is in 16 of the states. By the way, there are 50 states now, not 48. It's been that way for a while now.

What a shame. Now I'm never going to get a chance to learn about real tomato pies and American geography from an honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.

quote:

Originally posted by Burger Bob

Little Ceasers has $5 pizza's full large pizza with pepperoni just $5, only thing is. It taste like it is only worth $2. The owner of Little Ceasers, Mike Illitch owns the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Redwings. Detroit is pizza capital of the world. Little Ceasers is the parent company of Chuck E Cheese also.Little Ceasers has $5 pizza's full large pizza with pepperoni just $5, only thing is. It taste like it is only worth $2. The owner of Little Ceasers, Mike Illitch owns the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Redwings. Detroit is pizza capital of the world. Little Ceasers is the parent company of Chuck E Cheese also.

this is something to brag about?? a plethora of barely palitable chain pizza shops? Perhaps if BB would quantify his statements with IMHO he wouldn't come off so obnoxiously but then he IS an HONOR grad of cia which IMHO is to being a chef as a CNA is to an M.D.

quote:

Originally posted by dreamzpainter

quote:

Originally posted by Burger Bob

Little Ceasers has $5 pizza's full large pizza with pepperoni just $5, only thing is. It taste like it is only worth $2. The owner of Little Ceasers, Mike Illitch owns the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Redwings. Detroit is pizza capital of the world. Little Ceasers is the parent company of Chuck E Cheese also.Little Ceasers has $5 pizza's full large pizza with pepperoni just $5, only thing is. It taste like it is only worth $2. The owner of Little Ceasers, Mike Illitch owns the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Redwings. Detroit is pizza capital of the world. Little Ceasers is the parent company of Chuck E Cheese also.

this is something to brag about?? a plethora of barely palitable chain pizza shops? Perhaps if BB would quantify his statements with IMHO he wouldn't come off so obnoxiously but then he IS an HONOR grad of cia which IMHO is to being a chef as a CNA is to an M.D.

The chef stuff aside. I'll gladly take a CNA over an MD. In fact, that's what you'll normally get in the best ORs. The anesthesiologist supervises.

CNA..certified nurses aid..

Whoops! I thought you were talking about CNA, Certified Nurse Anesthetist, even though it's really CRNA, or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.

So, were you actually expecting me to be paying attention?

My mother (the thrifty person she is) used to buy their pizza on the special night. The place near her closed for business. They are apparently losing traction here in San Diego because therer are only 10 LC's franchises in the entire county. Maybe people are eating more burritos? I have boticed that Kmart has Little Ceasars inside their stores.