Papa Dels Reviews

It really hurts me to write this review because of my love for Papa Del's and their pizza. But after tonight's blatant disrespect, something needs to be said. I ordered a pizza for carry out and was told a time to come pick it up. After arriving 5 minutes before my time, they told me it was not out yet (understandably since I was a bit early). However, I waited for almost an HOUR before deciding to ask where my pizza was, figuring they may have forgot about it. After going into the kitchen to ask, she came back out, pulled the pizza out of the 'keeping it hot' oven in the front (WHICH MEANS IT HAD BEEN THERE AT LEAST THE FULL HOUR I WAS THERE), handed it to me and said "Someone put it in the bottom section" I stared at them thinking it was a joke thinking they would say something, but nothing. As I'm walking out the lady behind the counter sassily mutters "Have a great night, sir" . Seriously? An hour of waiting IN STORE while NOBODY was there and didn't apologize, no form of compensation or anything. I'm writing this review to make sure that YOU, the reader, does not go in expecting adequate customer service when coming to this location. Ridiculous.

My favorite pizza in the known universe for over forty years. I love the move to the former bottling plant, easy parking, lots of seating space so less waiting, and sports on every screen. "It's Pop's for pizza or nowhere at all."

Nice restaurant, unfortunately we had a table full of super loud adults right next to us. Pizza was good, service was fair.

If you figure the reviews, out of every TEN (10) pizzas, ONE AND A HALF (1.5) of them are a BAD Experience. That means THREE (3) out of every TWENTY (20) have some kind of problem. Waiting time, quality of product, attitude of wait staff or counter personnel. Many problems. It seems to me that it's like this at any Large College Town Pizzeria. Just look at the reviews for Garcia's, and it's the same story. They all are riding on their reputation from 30, 40 or even 50 years ago. Do yourself a favor. Cook up something like a Home Run Inn, or any really good frozen pizza you like. Save your dough (nyuk-nyuk) and buy some great wine with the money you saved. You'll have a great night at home with whoever you would care to invite. Make memories, NOT bad reviews! (<-:)

Take really long time! Their deep-dish tastes okay.

I love papa dels pizza . Their pizza is #1 in my book . DELICIOUS

It was extremely loud. Air conditioning was very high. It took over an hour and a half to get our food. Sicilian crust was too doughy. Sauce needs some spices. Waitress was very good considering she had too many customers she had to wait on. You need more help.

Definitely the best pizza in town, and excellent quality food in general, but what makes Papa Del's so great also causes them to be very busy. Expect a wait, though it's worth it!

I do not understand the wait times for a pizza. Maybe they should invest in better ovens. The pizza was good but not what we ordered...decided not to return it for fear of waiting another hour or so. I think they make most of their money on drinks and appetizers. On the plus side the service was excellent!!

Went their for lunch on friday hour wait pizza was cold and manager said had hard time believing that

Excellent pizza. Love the new site. Yes, there's a wait, but went in there knowing that.

Papa Del's was a mixed bag for my family and I. Let me explain:

The Good
The pizza was really good! We got the large Chicago style sausage and mozzarella pan pizza. PD'S pizza is some of the most filling I've ever had, and my whole family only were able to eat one slice apiece before becoming full.

Our waitress was great! We had a young lady named Tyranny (yes, you read that right) who did an excellent job with our order, keeping our drinks topped off, and doing an overall great job. She was very friendly, and seemed to have a solid handle on things, even though it was her first night working there.

Ambiance was relatively good, as the place was decorated in an modern industrial style, reminiscent of Panera bread or something similar.

The Bad
The wait time was definitely much longer than what it should have been. To be fair, they told us, right up front, that it would be an hour and a half wait time to get our pizza. To their credit, they got it to us in 1:10, which was 20 minutes quicker than anticipated. That being said, when you set the bar ridiculously low on customer wait times, you are bound to hit your mark. I saw no less than 4 different sets of potential customers leave because the wait time was going to be so long.

The kicker is, there really shouldn't have been that much of a wait. The place wasn't swamped. Yes, they probably had quite a few takeout orders, but it couldn't have been THAT many.

Overall, it was good pizza and service, but not good enough to make me want to regularly wait so long for my pizza.

The resturant itself is very cozy which is good because you will wait at least an hour for your food. Everything is freshly made which makes it worth the wait.

They pick and choose when they want to deliver. Several times I have tried calling for delivery just to be turned away because they don't have enough drivers, and that I should pick it up instead (exactly what I have been told several times). If you're going to offer delivery then do it, if not then don't. But don't pick and choose when you want to offer service that you advertise (for delivery). I was trying to make an advance order for an office party this last time and was turned away and told there wasn't enough drivers at that time (noon on a Saturday) and to pick it up. Won't bother calling again bevause service is just horrible.

Italian salad, small was huge, it was also so fresh, loved all topping. Pizza was great, as always.

Not a fan. 50 percent of the pizza was thick bread and doughy.

Food is amazing, staff extremely friendly, prices good, there is nothing bad about this establishment. It would be great though if there were a few more!

Absolutely terrible service. Waited 1 hour and 30mins for a table while there were over 10 empty tables. Hostess staff was incredibly unhelpful.

I was a little hesitant to go there to be honest. No question they have some of the best pizza south of Kankakee, but I've been avoiding carbs. I went along anyway and got a salad and it was excellent. All of their ingredients are just so good there's probably not a bad thing on the menu. Good prices for lunch too.

I've loved PD's pizza for 30+ years, but our first-time experience at the new location: BEYOND TERRIBLE. After a eighty-five minute wait for a pie that we expected to see in 30-40 minutes, we got treated to a pizza that looked terrible. They place was at best a third filled with customers, so it's not like they were buried in orders, just cluelessness.

How long is 85 minutes? With non-service from our waitress, that's long enough for a glass full of ice to melt completely and your water and iced tea approach room-temperature beverages.

The staff seemed to be working at half-speed and half-dedication, but they should be pleased that their air conditioning worked well, chilling the place cold enough to hang meat. I made not one, but two trips to the car to get sweaters/coats for the ladies in our party - and one for myself. Fully half the tables around us sported people in coats/sweaters/sweatshirts on Memorial Day when it was in the high 70s outside. That should have been a clue.

What else? The place looked very nicely rehabbed, but the restroom was a mess (took a photo with my phone of paper towels wadded up everywhere on the floors and the trash can overflowing.

Our waitress (more accurately described as a "non-server") couldn't even muster believable excuses when she sheepily came around a couple of times to say, "It should be up soon," and twenty minutes later, we're looking for her and our flippin' pizze with nearly empty drink glasses.

I know Robert Monti has worked hard over the years to build the Papa Del's brand, but if this is the service he's going to provide OFF CAMPUS (away from students who helped him build PD's rep), then this restaurant is as doomed as the three previous businesses at that location.

Absolutely mouthwatering pizza....i always get good service and great tasting pizza....papa Del's is and always will be 1 of the top 3 places to get good pizza in champaign.....ive been going there all my life so for the last 35 years they have been serving fantastic tasting pizza and the prices are very competitive

Pretty good pizza. Not the best in champaign, but pretty good stuff.

Great food and service. Really enjoying the slice of the week idea.

Love this pizza when I come home. Wish there was a way to get them to head to St. Louis.

The "thin crust" was not! The toppings were great but too much bread for me. The artichoke dip was the bomb!!!

Surprised at the slow service when it didn't appear to be busy. It's disappointing to see staff standing around when you need something at your table. Kind of a hit or miss, but overall great food, and nice atmosphere.

Pizza tasted good, that's the only nice thing I can say about having dined at the Champaign location. Read all the other complaints, they are all pretty accurate.

I'm not a big pizza person but I'll always try a place once. I'm so glad I did! I like Papa Del's more than any other Chicago deep dish pizza I've tried. Plus while we were there a news channel was there filming for an episode of "Chicago's finest" so that should tell you something!

Pizza is delicious and the service was great. Definitely coming here again!

My son, who is attending UIUC, was in search of a great pizza place after Rosati s closed down as that was always his favorite go-to. After I inquired with other parents, we were directed to Papa Del s. My son was blown away the first time he tried it and would not stop talking about how awesome their pizza is. At a recent visit, I was able to check out their gluten free pizza and it also is delicious! 10 size is perfect, not too filling. That and a side Greek salad was just enough. Highly recommend checking them out!!

Large, substantial portions for a gaggle of hungry gals! The pizzas were flavorful, stuffed, and satisfying (we ordered 2 medium pizzas- 1 with bell peppers and 1 with spinach).

Loss of a star for an abysmal wait-time for our 2 medium pizza orders. They were quick to sit us down and ordering took us no time at all, but we then must've sat around waiting 1.5 hours for our food! The restaurant wasn't even full- every other table was empty at the time (I suppose they could be short-staffed).

Payment has to be made with your particular server. After waiting around for her to come over and collect our check, we walked over to the front only to be told to find her again. Not a big deal, but rather inconvenient is all.

All in all, flavors were fine, but service experience left something to be desired.

I love Papa Del's! Anytime I go back to Champaign to visit family I never leave without a Papa Del's Pizza! Best pizza in town!

It's not the best deep dish I've had but it was pretty good

Went here for a kids' team party. Nice private room, decent thin crust and deep dish pizza, good bar and draft selection.

I live near this location and I happen to go to Papa del once in a while. Today I went to this place with my friends and we waited for more than an hour for the pizzas. The pizza bread was so hard that we were chewing with a lot of trouble. We told this issue to the waitress and she talked to the manager. He showed up at out table and said this is the best pizza that we make and if you don t like the pizza I can ask the waitress to collect it. He was so rude and he didn t even listen. I haven t seen such an unprofessional manager IN MY LIFE. I would ve given zero star to this place if I could. I won t go back there ever.

Great place for a sit down meal or carryout....I wasn't overwhelmed with their pizza by the slice at lunch though

The pizza quality has declined. The crust has no flavor and is so bland. Coming from chicago I'd have to say this is a big disappointment. I will give them 3 stars for the great service and for the effort, but I will not be ordering deep dish pizza here again. I'll give their other menu items a try though.

Best deep dish pizza south of I-80, been a fan since 1992

I called to see if they were open for dining in and the lady I spoke with said on no we are definitely not ready for dining in and then hung up on me!!

Slow service, bad service, and bland tasting pizza. Buy a frozen pizza and some beer, itll be cheaper and better.

Worst management my family and I have ever seen. Want in for dinner around 6, order was placed by 6:10 and we were told our two pizzas would take 45 min- we said that was fine. After an hour we asked the waitress what the status was and she told us the kitchen would tell her when they were ready. TWO HOURS after ordering and still no pizzas. Contacted someone at the front desk that talked to our waitress. Waitress tells us the one pizza will be out in 5 minutes and that they lost our other pizza but that they will make a new one and it should be out in 20 minutes. Needless to say, it was over 2 and 1/2 hours before we got our pizzas and half of our family had to eat without the rest. We never received an apology from our server, and politely asked to speak to management after. Managers told us that "they were extremely busy, had 200 other customers to serve" and told us that there was nothing wrong with our pizzas being "a little late". We mentioned that our family has been coming there for 30 years and their response was "I don't care how long the customer has been coming here". During this conversation we noticed a man peeking around the corner and listening to us, suspecting he may have heard the commotion. We ask to speak to the owner and they say "he is leaving". As we were leaving we asked for the owner's contact info at the front desk. The cherry on top was that the man eavesdropping WAS THE OWNER. Horrible management, bad service, pizza not worth it.

Food takes forever, but it's well worth the wait. But plan on keeping each other company, especially larger groups.

Best pizza in the state, and you don't have to go to Chicago to get it! The sausage pieces are as big as your thumb. If your going to be close to Champaign, you gotta get some. Call 45-55 minutes ahead so it's ready to pick up when you get there, especially during Covid. It's worth it.

Pizza is amazing! The customer service is not so good. I have one waitress I ask for when I go there and if shes not there... its hit or miss if i stay.

Great food historical pizza great atmosphere lots of seating ,full bar ,big screen entertainment upstairs for parties ,big groups ,wedding reception's

Great ambience, or party on the first floor was great fun with separate play area for the kids

Very good pizza order an appitizer because Thick pizza takes a long time to cook but great pizza

This place is hands down the best place to get Chicago style pizza in Champaign

We took the advise of a local and it paid off! Really good food. They had make the pizza and it takes awhile. They pre warned us and it was well worth the wait.

Love it. We take frozen pizza home every chance we get. Just as good as eating at papa dells!

Went to the new location for the first time for lunch. Was glad pizza by the slice was an option - so went for that along with a side caesar salad. I can't recall ever having a caesar salad made with iceberg lettuce, so questioned if the kitchen staff had made a mistake. Nope, that's their version. Really? How difficult would it be to actually use romaine? On to the pizza slice: tasty but luke warm at best. Serving the slice on a heated plate may have helped preserve the less then hot-out-of-the-oven under a warming lamp temperature. Honestly (provided you live in the area), the pizza you pick up and take home is much hotter. In the future, skipping the dine in experience and going back to ordering for pick up.

Excellent and my favorite restaurant for 17 years the best pizza in Illinois champagne

Fantastic food, a bit on the pricey side but very tasty.

This was our first visit to the new restaurant. No complaints with service even though it was Dad's Day at U of I and the football game was just getting over. Assume seating delays/empty table complaints are due to kitchen limits since a lot of pizza was being carried out and you can only cook so many pizzas at a time. They told us upfront how long it would likely take. It wasn't as long as they said. Pizza was good too, but very disappointed in toppings. We ordered a large (8 large slices) Sicilian with bacon and spinach. Bacon counts as two toppings, so we paid for three on top of the price of the pizza. There was no more than 1 slice of bacon on our entire pizza. A couple pieces had no bacon at all. There were maybe a dozen small spinach leaves on the entire pizza. C'mon, really? Seems you have to order sausage or pepperoni if you want to get a decent amount of toppings.

The place is really nice! Has a good environment! But the wait time Is a different story. The wait time was about 1.5 hours. It was so long! And the pizza wasn't as good as I expected. The cheese and the toppings slid right off in my hand. We probably won't be going again just because of the Slow service and the long wait time. and the bill was pretty big for a large pizza, an apatizer, and some drinks, $50!!! + a tip. It's a good idea to go just to try it, but never again!

The service was excellent. The food not so much. Dry toast ( no butter or garlic or parmeson cheese) to be served with ravioli . All for $ 10.
Felt it was pricey considering the quality ( or lack there of) of the food. The kids sandwiches were mostly lettuce , tomatoes & onion .
Not that much meat & cheese.

Good service. Decent cheese, sausage, and sauce. Terrible crust. Dry and crumbly. Not even remotely chewy. It was the thin crust. I have had better pizza from ALDI.

Pizza was ok, but the beer selection, service and atmosphere were good.

Great pizza. New place is huge. Lots of room for banquets and gatherings, etc.

Our trips to Champaign will always include a trip to Del's

It's hard to find deep dish pizza around here, but fortunately there is Papa Dell's. We all loved the pizza, and the price is reasonable. They have a great reputation for good reason.

We ordered pizza at 6:37 and got there about 15 min later (with a 3 yr old and 11 mo). Didn't get our pizza until at least 8:15!! Apparently, they don't keep track of orders. They did give us, at our request, some breadsticks since it would be at least another hour wait if we got the pizza we ordered. Opted for thin crust with slightly shorter time. They still charged us for the salad and a drink from the bar. Manager acted like he could really care less that we had to wait so long with the kids. With that attitude, and the service we received, DEFINITELY won't be back!! Our server gets put in a bad spot because of the incompentency of other workers there!! The owner wouldn't come out.

Pizza by the slice at lunch is an amazing deal. Service can be a bit slow at times but the food makes up for it. Slice of the week is usually pretty great.

There are two main problems with Papa Del's. 1] The service is incredibly slow. During off-peak hours, if you're told you can pick up a thin crust cheese pizza in 45 minutes, you're smart to give them 75. 2] The workers, but especially managers, are apathetic and rude. I've had good pizza in other cities, and so I'm not convinced that these problems are necessary burdens to produce good pizza. Now, Papa Del's makes fine pizza. But I tire of dealing with these problems. I've given them two years and these problems haven't improved. I probably won't return anymore.

Service was incredibly slow, it took 10 minutes for my Water to come out and it wasn't even that crowded. Once we finally got our pizza I found that it was very oily and lacked flavor.