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“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.”
Dave Berry
I know the commercials have been haunting you as they were me, but last week I gave in, I went to CiCi’s Pizza (145 Wolf Road, Albany- inside the plaza with Guitar Center). I like pizza just as much as the next person but something about a pizza buffet for only $5 made me want to shy away from it but I couldn’t help but want to try it out. I gave in.
You walk in to a register, $4.99 for an adult (add an extra charge if you want unlimited drinks) and you get a tray and you’re open to unlimited everything. The buffet starts with salad without dressing and an already dressed salad with vegetables to add and other dressing options. 
The plus side of this place being so busy is that I felt like the salad was replaced quite frequently instead of just sitting there; everything was crisp and tasted fresh. Next to the salad was pasta which I tried a bit of and I wasn’t impressed, it was pretty tasteless. Though I was at a pizza buffet, I tried my best to eat as healthy as I could (nutrition facts available on their website) and that pasta needed a lot of salt to taste better that I didn’t want to add.
As for the pizza, there were so many options of different types of pizza and since this was my first time, I took a piece of all the ones I wanted to try. Luckily all the pieces were small enough so you could do that to find your favorite. Something I learned was that if there is a pizza you’re looking for or may have tried a time before and it’s not there, you can ask for a specialty pizza and they’ll make it for you ASAP. For example, my cousin wanted a plain cheese pizza that they didn’t offer. They gave her a sign so when it was ready, they brought her over two pieces. In my personal opinion, I didn’t really like any of the white pizzas. I felt that they needed more of a flavor, either garlic or salt, that it just didn’t have. The BBQ pork pizza was very flavorful and probably my favorite out of the kinds I tried. The plus side of this buffet though is that you can try any pizza that may sound appetizing, you don’t really need my opinion!
As for dessert, they have two kinds of dessert pizza, the apple pie pizza and a sweet cream based pizza who’s taste I equated to cake batter, sweet but fantastic! 
They also have cinnamon rolls and brownies if those are more your speed, both of which were great. I think the dessert was my favorite part of the whole experience. If there’s a line and you just want a dessert pizza, feel free to walk up and bypass the line JUST for dessert, though!
If you want to take food home, either prepare yourself by bringing tupperware or sneak brownies home in a napkin like we did. They also have take-away pizzas in case you already know your favorite and don’t want to wait in the buffet line or just feel more comfortable at home.
Though it looked packed from the outside, the line moves really quickly and there’s a lot of room for seating especially in back. Even if you’re not a fan of this type of “fast-food” I’d give CiCi’s a try if anything for the experience. Where else can you have a plethora of flavors of pizza in one meal? Or request flavors you came up with? Or have a Mac&Cheese pizza? Or dessert pizza? For only $5, it’s definitely worth a try!
“A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.”
Alfred Hitchcock
Usually I write about different restaurants and other food establishments that I’ve experienced. This blog is called 518 Bites and SIGHTS so I figured I’d add in one of my favorite local sights, Scotia Cinema.
Photo Credit: Scotia Cinema Website
I’m not so much of a cinephile where I need to see a movie opening night. Movie prices have become so inflated that I tend to either wait for it to be on Netflix or wait a short period of time and see it at Scotia Cinema. For $4.50 you can see the same movies you would see at the local Regal and AMC but for a lot less (including popcorn!). Wanna see what movies they’re playing this week? Become a fan of theirs on Facebook! Make sure you bring cash, though, NO credit or debit cards accepted. Enjoy the show!
“Champagne and orange juice is a great drink. The orange improves the champagne. The champagne definitely improves the orange.”
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Today with two friends of mine, we experienced the brunch at Sushi Samba. I also attended a SushiSamba meet and tweet a month or so ago. My friends and I ate various delicious sushi rolls along with tweeting about them (we all know how much I love my twitter). We decided that night, after reading the menu, that we need to try brunch and here’s where we found ourselves this afternoon.
There are many options for the brunch menu but we opted for family style. Minimum of 2 people, $15 per person, choice of 4 things from the menu to share. Your choices are:
We decided on the Assorted Pastries and Breakfast cakes, Carmen Miranda, Eggs any Style with chorizo and the Asian Pear Pancakes. Reading what exactly these pastries are now that we were eating, they make sense. We were given the bowl of fruit, no idea what was which and I have to say the guava empanada was by favorite, that and the banana buttermilk were fantastic. With these various pastries we were given three types of condiments to put on them: raspberry jam, maple butter and some sort of tomato based jam like substance that was very sweet and very good.
Next, we received the Carmen Miranda. The seasonal fruit included raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and pineapples, just a medium size bowl of fruit- a dream. Along side was a small dish of yogurt. The yogurt was very good, with pieces of granola and I believe raisin on top. I just wish there was more yogurt for us to share, it was quite a small dish for the amount of fruit we were given.
Third, was the eggs any style platter which alone would have been worth $15. They accommodate each meal to the number of people in your party so we were given three eggs, 8 pieces of chorizo and 3 pieces of bread. Having been in Madrid last Spring, I take advantage of any opportunity to eat chorizo. It was really good. Sometimes I’ve found that restaurants make the chorizo too juicy to the point where it’s a little too oily and I find myself covered in chorizo juice which wasn’t the case here. It was the perfect amount of juicy without the actual juice spilling everywhere. Underneath the bread there was a white substance that we found to be a tad spicy. I still couldn’t tell you what it was but it was tasty as well, especially with the bread dipped in it.
Finally we had the pear pancakes. Besides the obvious fantastic taste, I loved the texture of the pancakes. I was able to cut them with my fork and they were moist but not like they were doused in syrup; they didn’t even need syrup. They gave us whipped cream but along with the fact that I can’t eat it, I don’t think it needed anything to accompany it’s flavor. Again, they knew there was 3 of us so we got 3 pancakes- perfect!
As a beverage, it being brunch, I ordered a mimosa. It was a tad strong but not noticeable in the flavor if you enjoy mimosas as I do. It was a tad pricy ($13) which I didn’t realize until I got the bill but I did enjoy it and think about it all morning. My friend Sibyl ordered hash which was spicy, something I’m not used to. It had pieces of pepper and you could taste the spices but it didn’t leave me running for my glass of water. I really enjoy food that doesn’t involve me to add additional condiments. I feel like condiments in restaurants are just a way of saying that the food doesn’t have enough flavor on it’s own (Hamburgers/Hot Dogs need ketchup/mustard, I get it, I agree). I enjoyed everything we ordered this afternoon and the best part was that after all that food I didn’t find myself so full that I felt like I needed to not eat for the rest of the day. $15 a person, how could you beat that? This is definitely a bunch I’d like to experience again.
