Nestled between a now-empty tanning salon and a nail place, Pizza Kingdom is a welcomed sight between the hours of 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. But between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. during the weekend, it becomes a veritable greasy haven to those stumbling their way back to the Montgomery Hall bus stop.
With its numerous neon window signs, some of which proclaim “WE SERVE HALAL FOOD,” and pre-folded pizza boxes towering behind the cash registers, Pizza Kingdom could be just another one of downtown College Park’s six pizza joints.
But one thing sets P.K. apart: the jumbo slice.
This monstrosity is about the size of three and a half slices of pizza and most definitely bigger than your face. As you approach the chest-high counter, you will order a jumbo slice of cheese and somehow, from the restaurant’s steamy depths, a box emerges, passed from worker to worker, to be delivered into your hands as your one-way ticket to cheesy euphoria. And all this goes down in a matter of about 30 seconds.
This slice is so big, it can’t fit into the box provided. The triangle’s tip will be folded up so its cardboard carriage can be closed around it. As you open the box, you will be enveloped in a smell of dairy, tomato and doughy goodness.
Pizza Kingdom provides red pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese and garlic powder shakers in case you want to sprinkle some onto the vast mozzarella plains, dotted with grease pools. Picking up the pizza, these pools soon become streams, running down your hands to your wrists and arms, but you don’t care, because there, in the orange room, in a slightly sticky booth, bathed in harsh fluorescent light, you will reach pizza nirvana.
And all of this for just $5.
So, really, the choice is clear.
