GATLINBURG – Cicis, the restaurant known and loved for its unlimited pizza, pasta, salad, soup and dessert buffet, is celebrating its first restaurant in Gatlinburg today. The restaurant is located at 849 River Road, near the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Grand opening festivities begin at 11 a.m. with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce. The first 100 paying, dine-in customers will receive Free Cicis Buffet for a Year! (Free buffet with the purchase of an adult buffet.) In addition, a balloon artist and face painters will be on-site to keep spirits high.

“We are really excited to give the great people of Gatlinburg their very own Cicis,” said Nabeel Ansari, CEO of Ansari Pizza LLC. “We’ve assembled a great team and we are looking forward to becoming an integral part of the community and continuing our Rocky Top Sports World sponsorships.”

The Ansari family has two additional Cicis locations in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge.

Ansari’s newest restaurant is the only Cicis in Tennessee with a drive thru. It also has free parking and seating for up to 99 guests. The restaurant employs 25 team members. Cicis is dedicated to going Beyond Pizza and feeding individuality by enabling its guests to find the tastes they love. For a limited time, guests can even enjoy Cicis all-new Deep Dish pizzas now featured on the unlimited buffet, including the Cheddar Jalapeño-Infused and Garlic Parmesan-Infused Deep Dish pizzas.

Hours of operation at Gatlinburg’s new Cicis are Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. This marks the 18th Cicis in Tennessee and the 432nd in its nationwide system.

For more information on the new restaurant, visit cicis.com/locations/tn-gatlinburg or call 865-217-1102.

Cicis invented the Unlimited Pizza Buffet concept, driven by a belief in making life more flavorful by empowering guests to find the flavors they love. At nearly 450 restaurants strong in 33 states, Entrepreneur recognized Cicis on its Franchise 500 list in 2015. Cicis also won the Technomic 2014 Consumers’ Choice award for best kid-friendly quick service restaurant. For more information about Cicis, visit cicis.com or Facebook.com/cicis.