Little Caesars Pizza
Pizza
8986 Jennings Station Rd
Jennings, MO 63136
(1/5 Stars)
8/12/2015
I work nearby and I've eaten here maybe 3 or 4 times since I began.
They offer pizzas that have already been made and are sitting in a warmer, for almost no money at all, and there's a lunch special that costs even less--despite weighing roughly 6 pounds--and comes with a soda. There's never any lunch special pizzas sitting in the warmer, but they don't take very long to make.
I've had both kinds of pizza they sell there, regular and deep dish. The regular can be chewy in a way that pizza shouldn't be, like it was cooked in a microwave, and is perhaps too reminiscent of the Little Caesars pizza we got for lunch at least once a week (along with an apple and a carton of chocolate milk, and maybe a scoop of mashed potatoes and gravy that no one ate) in middle school and high school.
The deep dish is, honestly, as far as I can tell, not half bad as far as Detroit-style pizza is concerned. Maybe there's way better Detroit-style pizza in Detroit, but guess what? This isn't Detroit. (Thank god.) It's only somewhat worse than the deep dish at Jet's, which I fuxwit heavy. Maybe it also benefits from being prepared fresh?
Here's the thing: I was there the other day, and I was walking out--with my Lunch Special--as an Orkin guy was walking in... with a rat trap. I could hear guys in the kitchen talking about a rat as they were making my lunch, so there's no question what the guy was there for.
But it got me to thinking a couple of things.
1) I don't know how this building (a strip mall-like structure) is situated, but I wonder: Is it normal protocol for an Orkin guy to go in the front door of a restaurant, during a lunch rush no less?
2) The rat trap they use is a colorful box that says RAT TRAP or something to that effect. How necessary is this? Would the Orkin guy not recognize it otherwise? If he can't read, he wouldn't recognize the words RAT TRAP.
I'm not the kind of brother who's about to toss $5 worth of pizza (including a 20 oz. Pepsi product) just because a rat may have nibbled on it before they handed it to me. I had lunch in the parking lot, right next to the Orkin guy's truck. He actually returned to his truck with the culprit while I was still sitting there. He must be pretty good at what he does.
I've worked in my share of restaurants over the years, mostly fast food restaurants (quelle surprise!), and I appreciate the fact that food attracts various pests. Little Caesars at least did the right thing by having the problem done away with. And for what it's worth, I heard one of the employees say that they'd never had a rat before. (He didn't say how long he'd been working there.) I'm not saying you definitely shouldn't eat at this Little Caesars. You can decide for yourself if the savings are worth the risk.
I'll be taking my $5 elsewhere for a few reasons: (1) Fool me once, won't be fooled again! (2) Did they do anything other than have the rat trapped and taken away? Did they clean anything or toss anything out? They made my lunch while it was still back there running around. (3) This is Little Caesars we're talking about. There's other restaurants nearby, and they're at least as good--though I probably won't be fuxxing with the Chinese place in the same strip mall. That's probably where Ratatouille came from.
