I am not sure of the closing date and, for that matter, I am not sure of when it opened. All I know for sure I was there a lot getting the most bang for the buck at yet another restaurant that drew people like flies to the old Hills Department Store Plaza in Bridgeport.

 

I have talked before about the food inside of Hill’s. I have talked in the past about Ming Garden, the diminutive and equally impressive Chinese buffet located there. I have even mentioned the pastry shop located at the furthest point away from Hill’s, I believe it was Dorothy’s (I am certain someone will correct me if that is wrong).

 

One I have never mentioned, at least not in any detail, is the one where food was plentiful, and the price was right. And like its neighbor Ming Garden, it was a buffet.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to take you on a food trip down memory lane to Pizza Man.

 

For those of you who remember, it was in the strip of businesses between Hill’s and the Terrace Twin Cinemas. During my college days I was likely a customer there two to three times a week.

 

There was a good reason for that beyond gluttony.

 

Back in my college years when making it paycheck to paycheck was not guaranteed, living on my own meant finding affordable food choices since I could not cook. Even if I could, going to college throughout the morning and afternoons and working evenings usually meant going to a place to eat as quickly as possible.

 

Granted, it had to affordable. It also had to allow for quantity – even more than quality. Thus, that’s where Pizza Man came into play.

 

The buffet with multiple choices of pizza rang the cash register at $2.99 if you opted to drink water with it. Even with a drink, you were still looking at a price of under $4 for your meal.

 

As for the quality, I liked it. Some may not have liked it, but I am certainly aware it was not on the par of Twin Oaks or getting something from Sonny’s or eventually Oliverio’s on the pizza front. It really did not need to be.

 

The meal came at $2.99. That was the selling point and the pizza was not bad at all. It also included a small salad bar as well, which I rarely utilized, along with at least one dessert offering each day.

 

Here is another thing about Pizza Man. They offered multiple pizza offerings. It was not just cheese pizza or one with cheese and pepperoni. They had a lot to choose from, which made each trip an adventure even though I primarily stuck to cheese and pepperoni.

 

I am not sure who owned it (there were no records available from the Bridgeport Finance Department), or if it was a chain, but I do know there were at least two locations. The other was right by the campus of Fairmont State College and, for whatever reason, I only remember going there one time.

 

The other thing I remember about the one across from what was then Fairmont State College was that it was not as good. The reality of it was that the quality of my one trip there was bad enough I never went back. The Bridgeport location was an entirely different story.

 

Often, I was joined by Greg Scalise, Brian “Bubba” Hill, Kirk Cistaro, my brother Tim, the late Rusty Mazzie or any other in the herd of misfits I call my friends. Herd, in this venue, is appropriate as we would graze at the buffet for more than an hour until we could not graze any longer.

 

I am pretty sure it was there in the late 1980s at their starting point or early 1990s. And as the photo shown in this article, it was there in 1995 as the picture was taken from the Ki-Cu-Wa Yearbook at Bridgeport High School.

 

Eventually it closed its doors, but not before leaving me with plenty of memories. And not without leaving me with a full stomach at a good price.

 

Here’s to you Pizza Man. The next slice is on me.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo from the Bridgeport High School yearbook Ki-Cu-Wa shows student Carrie Gray with some takeout in front of Pizza Man, while the old Hill's Department Store Plaza sign is shown in the middle. A bottom is one of hundreds of pieces of pizza the author has eaten since his first venture to Pizza Man.