hello everyone this is running on empty Food review well hello ladies gentlemen
and everyone watching welcome one and all to this newest edition of The Running on
Empty Food review series I'm your host the report of the week thanks for checking in
I always enjoy doing these sorts of Pizza reviews I'll say it outright right off the
bat Pizza reviews I would say are my favorite of all the different things that I try out I
mean I've always liked Pizza who doesn't really so it's always fun when there's a new release
that comes out on the pizza side of things and uh it's always it's always enjoyable to uh to try out
this time around checking out the latest I can't say the latest and greatest because I guess that's
what I'm here to figure out but the latest released from Little Caesars so right around
the New Year Little Caesars has brought back these slices in sticks combination and they've
made a few adjustments to it now I first tried out the slices and sticks as they say because I
guess that's how you're supposed to pronounce it combination back in 2020 when I think they
first released it what it is is you have yourself something that would be the size of a large pizza
half of it are pepperoni pizza slices so you have four slices of the pepperoni pizza
the other half though right those are the slices now the sticks
half of it contains eight of their Italian cheese sticks so you'd have the base of the dough but
then it's kind of like a cheesy bread we have a various cheese blend on top of it no sauce with
some Italian seasoning and it's a combination it'll come with some dipping sauce and that way
it's like if you want to get your pizza and your cheese sticks all in one now you have it half and
half and they try to say it's an affordable deal you're getting a little bit of everything portion
size maybe it's a little less overwhelming compared to having to get the whole pizza
and the side as I mentioned a little affordable too so there's definitely a lot of appeal to it
price for this all right so first and foremost let's just get into how the HS did it because
that's what the original thing is now they have the slices and sticks jalapeno variety for 2023
so the slice part is exactly the same this has four slices of pepperoni pizza they're
standard hot and ready pepperoni pizza then it has eight Italian cheese sticks
topped with cheese and jalapeno as well as Italian seasoning
it comes with crazy sauce on the side for dipping price for this nine dollars 36 Cents and I should
mention because this was information that was provided front and center it's purely up to
you what you wish to do with this but it has two thousand 330 calories so that's what it has to it
it's a pretty straightforward item as you'll see in a moment it has a little bit of everything
you'll see very distinctually separated the pizza and the sticks and I have the sauce
right over here on the side I'll try to do a well-rounded assessment where I shall try out
the pizza I'll try out the sticks try out the dipping sauce and see how this winds up being
there's the Box
there's the uh that Beast
and here we go
all right take a look at that I don't know how well it's showing up on the camera but at least
what I could see through the well through what I see portrayed back to me I see that contrast
I just find that interesting from an aesthetic point of view the contrast between the pizza and
the sticks and it looks to me that topping wise there's a good amount of everything you can see a
good amount of jalapeno a good amount of pepperoni looks well seasoned there's a thickness to it
so far so good purely at least in terms of how it appears
I think I mentioned the price but if I didn't it's 9.36 for this
and also it comes again with this sauce so what my plan is going to be I think
because I think it's pretty straightforward I can smell
this little bit of a spicy scent from the jalapeno very potent it's not overwhelming or anything
but it's definitely there definitely discernible
so what I'm going to do I think is I'm going to try a little bit of everything
I'll take a bite of the pizza take a bite of these sticks try it with the sauce assess the
quality make sure that everything just tastes good because really this isn't stuff that you're
necessarily going to be eating in the same bite it's just about having this variety here so I
just want to check everything assess the quality see what sort of standard there
is and let you all know if this is worth your while so that said we will start with the pizza
right there you can see standard pepperoni greasy and oily it looks like
so I'll try out the pizza first and then I'll work my way to the sticks let's do
it these slices and sticks have a Pinot Edition from Little Caesar is going in
foreign
addition to doing these reviews I also do a podcast and a radio show as well if you would
like to check out some of my work and support what I do and access some exclusive content
likewise you're always welcome to check out my patreon page at patreon.com the report of the week
as much as I dislike Hawking these sorts of things uh you know you just have to let everyone know
that they exist from time to time so that's just what I'm doing but if you want to check it out see
what it's all about welcome to do just that you can find out more information in the description
and the pinned comment all right so try it out the pizza and I'm going to try out the sticks
getting a view of it there
foreign
thank you
thankfulness
quality wise there's not a ton to talk about here and I don't want to sound
like I'm trying to be I don't really even know the word I'm looking for I don't want
to try to sound underwhelming or anything um but in reality these are two distinct items
they are distinctly separate right like I said you're not going to be eating these in the same
bite this is essentially you got pizza and the side and they remain separate from each other
all right the pizza itself I'll say this first and foremost if you just want to cut to the
chase everything here is standard and exactly what you would expect from Little Caesar it's
not deviating from the expected quality so it's your fast food takeout type of food but
if that's what you're looking for and that's what you're interested in just know it's the
basics it's the basic the standards that you may expect are being maintained nothing extraordinary
nothing extraordinarily special but it's all right for what it is it's again exactly what
you'd expect so that's if you just want to cut to the chase if you're pressed for time
but getting into the specifics here the pizza in and of itself is your standard
a hot and ready pizza from Little Caesars there's still a good amount of toppings you could see that
there's a bit of pepperoni and nearly every single bite it's a very greasy very oily very salty Pizza
not too spicy this pepperoni is more on the salty aside from what I've seen and again it's just very
very oily once you get this you'll definitely see that the Box the pizza box itself is going
to be drenched in the grease from the pizza and you're going to be tasting that grease in
every single bite probably a good reason why the calories are as high as they are with this item
but yeah very greasy and very salty at that so the one thing that does help in terms of the pizza uh
you know that helps in terms of the greasiness from getting too overwhelming is the sauce now
the sauce the tomato sauce that Little Caesars uses is always very very strong and very robust
and it does a good job cutting through all of that grease and that saltiness that really it works
their sauce is a must of course and uh toward the end I'll try out a little bit
of the dipping sauce as well but that tomato sauce on the pizza it complements it so nicely
and even though it's still a very greasy you know fast food takeout type of pizza it prevents that
greasiness from getting overwhelming so that's good it balances everything out but again it's
your standard uh fast food pizza from Little Caesars that's all that there really is to say
about it now as for the Italian cheese bread I think they call it let me just see what they're
vernacular describes it yeah Italian cheese sticks these are the jalapeno ones of course
they're all right for what they are one thing because I like these sorts
of cheesy bread things I I do if I am to get aside these days I'll usually go with that
and sometimes the results can can vary from one establishment to the next
speaking it looks pretty good I mean you could see that there's that good thickness to the dough
that there's a good amount of the jalapenos there a good amount of the cheese and a good
amount of the seasoning as you surely could observe however the only thing and I guess
this is to be expected right you've had things with jalapenos on it before I'm sure and you
know that in some cases the jalapeno can be uh quite spicy and it steals the show essentially
right so while you could really taste for the most part is that spiciness from the jalapeno
and I guess that's to be expected and obviously there's an alternative if you
don't want the jalapeno then you can just get the regular Italian cheese sticks and honestly
that's what I would probably do because while the spices is there and it's strong
it just gets a bit overwhelming and I can't really taste much of everything else after
like the first bite or two because you bite in there's one jalapeno then the next bite there's
another and then another and then another and very quickly the spice builds upon itself it compounds
and before you know it you can't really make much of the cheese you can't really taste the seasoning
you can't really even discern much texturally all you could taste is that Spice from the jalapeno
not that it's the strongest Spice in the world it's a stronger than everything else that you can
that you can really uh discern here so I don't know if you could really get the full impact
of the cheese sticks I wouldn't describe this as a negative quality I would merely say that
it all depends on what you're going for with this if you're looking for that cheesiness and
you want to taste let's say the garlic of the uh the seasoning and you're looking for something
like this then just go with the Original Italian cheese sticks because you can get that and don't
bother with the jalapeno variety because again all you're going to be able to really taste very
quickly are the jalapenos and it's going to be a lingering aftertaste however if you're just
looking for some spice maybe you're looking for the novelty or maybe you really like jalapenos
then get the jalapeno variety there's no flavors that really Clash here everything
works in this case everything Blends together nicely there's nothing here that tastes what I
would describe as bad whatsoever however just understand that with the sticks the jalapenos
are going to be the most discernible characteristic by a long shot and that's
all that you're really going to be able to taste and that just comes down to is that something that
I'm looking for if it is then by all means go for it you're getting a lot of food at a pretty
affordable rate and if not but the idea still interests you my personal suggestion would be just
go with the original I think that would be more to your liking if that's what you have in mind
people there is no because I know they call these sticks but there is no actual bark in these sticks
so they are they are not sticks of the uh wooden variety just uh just for clarification there
so I know I've been talking about spice and the Heat and all that but there is
no flammable risk or any of that but yeah so far so good I'll try out the marinara
sauce see if that makes much of a difference I don't think it really will but let's find out
pairs pretty nicely with the sticks there's a little bit to quell the spice not a ton I would
say but uh does add a little bit of flavor there so I would say most likely if you want
to pair this with something probably pair it with the sticks but real quick
trying it with the pizza as well
very similar with that as well it's just like the sauce that you get on the pizza however I
just bear in mind it's just going to add to it it's going to help counteract some
of the excessive greasiness that the pizza may have in and of itself though this sauce
works with either of these items be that the sticks or the slices so uh the sauce
that's complementary it comes with it I would say definitely utilize it it adds to it so all in all
pretty decent for what it is nothing extraordinary that let's say knocks this out of the park as you
may say but still all things together I'd say it's a meeting and maintaining the standards a
lot of food at a pretty decent price I can't complain therefore out of 10 I'm going to be
giving the Little Caesars slices and sticks jalapeno variety a 7.2 out of 10. yeah it's
pretty good for what it is if you're interested check it out and give it a go that's all that I
have for you thanks for watching and until next time I'm your host of the report of the week