Papa Del's Pizza Factory

We had a very good experience here at Papa Del's. We chose to eat here while attending an event at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign over the weekend. Very nice setting that's family oriented. Our waitress was really nice. We tried a couple different pizzas which were all good, including the appetizers very very good sauces for the chicken tenders. I must say, the style of sausage they put on the pizza is unique, they were almost meatball sized but very good.

This place has a lunch special, which consists of a slice of pizza, most of them under $5 a slice!! They have the basic choices (sausage, pepperoni, cheese) and also offer a slice of the week. This option is probably the main reason why this was our top pick for a meal because we can never seem to agree on the same type of pizza for all of us, so we all got to choose the pizza we wanted. We also ordered the breadsticks, which are at least a foot long each!! We left with full bellies and very little to take home, also spent less than $30 for the 3 of us to eat a hearty lunch! The food was very good!! Will definitely suggest this place to others and keep it as an option when we are in the area.

LOVE the pizza! The crust is super tall, crispy on the outside, and super soft on the inside, kinda tasted like a dinner roll. Plus the bottom was fully cooked and still crispy when we got it! Unfortunately the juices from the toppings leaked out after we took a few slices and got the bottom crust wet, but it still had structure which was good! They definitely did not hold back on the toppings too! The flavors were super good. The sausage and green olives were our favorite toppings, and all of the others added to the whole experience as well. I would note that there was a lot of cheese too. Our waitress was very nice, even though we came a bit late and she gave us time to decide. The restaurant looked nice too, lots of seating. The large pizza was large enough to feed 3-4 people twice, so definitely good value size and quality wise for $56! Each slice was like an entire meal! We stuck the leftovers in our trunk and the next day it smelled amazing. Be sure to expect about 50 minutes to an hour wait after ordering for the original crust! Overall wonderful experience!

Our server Kim was delightful. She took good care of us and the food was great.

Since our first visits back in the early 1970s, Papa Dels had been our favorite pizza place. We’ve had pizza from every location they’d had. Over the years, we’ve noticed a difference in the service and the pizza. On our visit today, we did have very good service from our waiter. We ordered slices of pizza, a salad, and fried veggies. We should’ve sent the slices back. They tasted like reheated pizza that was not freshly cooked today. My slice seemed slightly undercooked in places. After years of eating this pizza, we are very aware of how it should taste and were disappointed today. With 50 years of eating Papa Del’s pizza, we’ve had it fresh, cold, reheated in the microwave, reheated in an oven, and baked from frozen pizzas we either flew home with or brought back in coolers. I do regret not mentioning my disappointment in my cheese pizza slice today. The salad was good. The fried veggies ok. Sadly, we do eat Papa Dels pizza much less often now than we expected.

Food is great but service is very sub-par. Host was not friendly and made us wait ten minutes before even acknowledging our presence. Once we were seated our server took 15 minutes to come to our table. We noticed the server wasn’t attending to any other tables as much as they should have been either. We were prepared to wait a long time for our pizza to bake but not prepared to wait almost half an hour to be seated and waited on when the restaurant was not busy at all.

Our waitress was the best. Our glasses were never empty. The pizza was delicious!!!

Our waitress was very kind, but not great at service. The prices are definitely on the higher end. Food quality was alright. CHECK YOUR TICKETS BEFORE YOU PAY!! I came in a group of 5. The checks were split 3 ways. When we got our bills, one ticket said a large drink (soda) was $7.00, while another bill showed 2 teas were a total of $7.00, and again, a large drink (soda) was $7.00. Our third ticket showed a mixed drink was $5.00….There was no way a soda cost $7.00 and a mixed drink cost $5.00. I asked the waitress about it, and she confirmed she must have messed up the ticket. While it took her three times to correct our tickets, she finally got it. How many other people have been overcharged, but didn’t notice?

The pizza is amazing. I love their sausage the best. For lunch, they sell slices until 3pm and you really only need one slice to fill you up. After 3pm they sell 1/2 priced slices until they run out which usually doesn't last too long If you plan on ordering a deep dish pizza then you need to plan on an hour for it to cook. I usually just order take out

A few things went wrong with my visit. To start off my friends burger looked like it was alive, it did not look good at all. And my girlfriend got the half and half meat and cheese ravioli (pictured below) was drowning in water almost, she ended up throwing up after only eating 2 pieces. And i got the lasagna, it was very dry and poorly seasoned tasted like it was frozen and not fresh. Our waitress was nice but didn't seem very professional seemed like she kinda just wanted to get out of there. It was a good looking establishment, it looked pretty clean, definitely if I were to come back I would wait for my pizza and see if that's good at least but definitely a poor first impression 4/10 DO BETTER.

Service here continues to be awful. Came in town from Atlanta and wanted to get some Pizza before leaving. Called at 7:28 on a Sunday and asked what time they closed. They said 9p. Pulled up st 8:06 and no one greeted us. Finally a lady came out and said we are closed. I said they said 9. She said yes we closed early

We heard great things about this restaurant, but were pretty disappointed at the food. The breadsticks were hard and lacked any flavor, the Italian salad was nothing more than a bag of lettuce from the grocery store with some oily dressing on it, and the pepperoni deep dish was pretty flavorless too. The red sauce on both the pizza and served as a dipping sauce with the breadsticks was very bland. I wouldn't pay more than $30 for the quality of food we ate, and we paid more than twice that. Maybe we came on an off day, but I wouldn't come here again.

Incredible place for pizza, and beer. Have never tried anything else aside from like bread sticks maybe. Their sausage deep dish is one of the best in our great state of Illinois and is competitive to the best in Chicagoland. An absolute favorite place and for me personally always worth the detour on road trips. The ambiance is really nice with the new space and the staff is courteous. No complaints one of the best pizzas in our great state.

The most incredibly slow service! We enjoyed the pizza but it's unbelievable that staff is so inattentive and rude.

This is a hard review to write. I used to eat here once a month when doing business at the University. The last two times have been nothing short of customer service disasters. Last night we arrived at 6. Waitress was slow getting to our table for drinks, so we got our food order in with the drinks: An order of wings with two pizzas (states 50 minutes on the menu.) This gives us plenty of time to get to the Illini game which tips at 8. They only had 7 wings, but she said they would discount that. No problem. Fast forward to our first drinks being empty. No waitress to be found. Ten minutes later she arrives with the wings. More drinks ordered. Fast forward to 7:15. Pizza was ordered over an hour ago. We inquire on how much longer. Manager comes out ten minutes later with both tickets in hand. He briefly apologizes and states the tickets got lost. He did offer to put the order in (an hour and a half after we originally ordered.) We declined and nicely just asked him to make it right. He stated he could not comp our drinks because they had alcohol in them. He removed the 7 wings from the bill. 2 hours wasted. No food. No gift certificate. Nothing. Maybe the worst restaurant experience I've ever had. Very unfortunate because the pizza used to be one of my favorites.

I've loved this place since the mid seventies but your incredibly poor staffing has done me in. When I'm home, I always walk in and seay hello and tell them I'm there for a slice and a beer snd they tell me anywhere in the bar. No different today because I'm a solitary woman I always sit at a bar table and not with all the men st the bar. I did that today and was ignored. Then a guy walked over and reprimanded me and told me I was supposed to wait be seated or that I should sit at the bar. Really? I'll never be back. Now you're just a fond memory.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. Absolutely terrible customer service and no accountability. Came in after being told we would be seated in 40 mins, but waited over an hour for help. In the hour we waited we were told numerous times that they would not serve us food at the bar, while other parties were able to order. No solutions were given, so as a guest I had to ask if placing an order for carry out would expedite the process and was told I need to take everyone's order on my own. After taking everyone's order about 2 hours later still no food. If you want to eat DO NOT COME HERE. To top it off there's mold.

Food is good, when you get it. In fact it's one of the better pizzas I have had. However, The front and back of house communication is brutal. I've been twice and then first time they forgot to put our pizza in. It took 2 hours Second time they argued on how long it takes. Messed up the order again and didn't put it in I guess and tried to blame on us. Worth it probably for take out but dining in is not a good experience

I love the super stuffed pizza and have been getting it since I was a kid. The garlic doughnuts are good as well, but a little heavy with pizza lol. Our server was attentive during the wait and checked in frequently. 8/10

Good place but a long wait for a pizza, but worth it. It's best to call ahead and save an hour or even more. Papa Del's is the best place in Champaign for pizza. Forget about the greasy crumbly crap. The pizza here is good shit, and there's vegan choices too. Came here after hearing good things about it. It was lunch and it wasn't busy, so we got seats at the bar and placed an order. The pizzas are by the slice or whole. It's about $9 for a whole pizza. We got one with the vegan cheese, and if there wasn't so much of a charge to add on anything we would have gotten more toppings. It takes about 50 minute to cook a pizza. Know that before going, and you may want to call ahead to save on the wait. As for the pizza, it was good. The vegan cheese was meaty like real cheese, and didn't have an odd flavor like many of these can have. Has a fun casual atmosphere. It has a bar so you can drink while waiting for a pizza. There's lots of TVs showing movies and sports.

Worst service ever. Every single time it's at least a half hour longer than they say.

This place used to be great, but its gone way downhill. My last review I gave it three stars, because of lousy service. This time I got the pizza to go, and it wasn't good. It was like a loaf of bread that got near sauce and cheese. Years ago they had tons of sauce, tons of cheese, tons of toppings. Now it barely has cheese and sauce. I don't think I'll go back.

Why can't you give 0 stars? The customer service in this place is second to none. It's like dating your sister, horrible and awkward. Bellied up to the bar for a beer and pizza after being told by the host it would be 2 hours for a table. The host seemed surprised I would want to wait and wasn't really certain how to handle my straight face, so he dug through some note pads and found a piece of paper to put my name on. He also suggested I order ahead so it would be ready when my table was ready. I did that, and 4 1/2 hours later my pizza was ready. Wanted to eat at the bar and was told that was not an option. Funny thing, about half the tables were unoccupied, but the complaint desk was not. While I was ordering my pizza, another customer was going ballistic that he had been waiting since 2:30 for his (it was now 5:30). Definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results. I keep hoping Papa Del's will provide the experience I had in college 40 years ago, but no such luck. Now I go in just to remind myself what a shit show their service is and ponder how they can still possibly be in business.

We loved PapaDel's when we went to school in C-U in the 70's, and so when we returned, we wanted to see if the pizza was as good as we remembered! Well, let's just say, once you've had Papa Del's, there is no pizza that's better. The original Sicilian deep dish pizza is cheesy, with a delicious sauce and light crust. Although it's no longer at the original location on campus, we were pleased that they had renovated the old Coca-Cola bottling plant on Neil Street that has plenty of ambiance and nostalgia. We had the pleasure of chatting with the originator of the brand, Robert Monti, who couldn't have been nicer. He takes pride in his business and certainly wants his customers to enjoy their time at PD's. If you want to experience a piece of C-U history, be sure to enjoy a slice of pizza at Papa Del's

This was an amazing lunch place. I came here with low expectations, but this place was one of my favorite restaurants. I ordered chicken wings, and toasted ravioli. The toasted ravioli was amazing, I added some Parmesan cheese on top and it was even better. All our food came in under 10 minutes, it was very fast. The inside of the restrusnt is very clean, there are multiple TV's and a cool bar. Overall this place is amazing, I recommend it if you are in the area

Called to place order to deliver to our hotel since this restaurant is so well recommended supposedly. I ended up hanging up on the guy. the RUDEST guy I have ever spoken to. may want to work on customer service and how to talk to people. Not a good look to tourists. Will not be ordering, will gladly go somewhere else.

It hurts to give Del's two stars. It didn't used to be like this. But when I went a few weeks ago, the place was dirty. There was trash just kind of rolling along on the floor, set in motion by the breeze generated from diners walking to and fro. The restrooms were also disgusting. The service was almost non-existent. I got one refill on my water--until we were just about done, and then the server came over three times within five minutes. I was trying to wash down pizza by chewing on ice, man. Tommy don't like that. Finally, the pizza and the garlic bread were bland. This was so sad, because Del's used to have some of the tastiest pizza ever. I live in Chicago, too, so I am used to tasty pizza. Honestly, it wasn't much better than frozen. What the hell happened? What's more, I am not sure if the garlic bread had any garlic butter on it; it tasted more like unbuttered toast. I was so disappointed with the entire experience. We also waited about ten minutes to be seated, even though there were plenty of seats. And when we got seated, we were put alone in this back room that looked like a dungeon. There's was an Illini game on that night, but of course the tv was not working. What the hell happened? Del's was the place to be when I was a student and even for a long time afterwards. I was really looking forward to this. Shame.

Beloved by alumni, I don't really understand why. They have deep dish pizza. You will wait literally 1 hr to get it.

Awesome thick crust pizza- fresh ingredients; service - attentive; ambiance- cool. The staff was great and made certain the pizza was delivered right from the oven.

Plenty of parking and seating inside. Calming ambiance with cool lights, and I could not believe how cheap the pizza was! Great service, and my friend and I waited the 50 min for our deep dish pizza. $25 for 2 appetizers and our pizza with 3 toppings. It was well worth the wait, and they let us dine in even though we came 40 min before closing. Papa Del's has been an establishment since my girlfriend's dad was an undergrad at UIUC, and I must say, they lived up to the legend.

Fantastic Chicago style pizza. I ordered to go. The Togo lady was extremely rude. She made me feel bad for asking simple questions. As other reviews stated "rude customer service"

Pizza is always good when I visit Champaign. Sometimes the service is slow but it's always been good not bad. It's got a nice easy atmosphere with cool ambiance.

I have not been down to Champaign in over 10 years. One of the places I was very excited to take my girlfriend was here to Pop's! After reading some of the reviews, I was a little nervous about what we might experience. We had NONE of the issues others have mentioned. I compare all "everything pizzas" to what I used to get here. I have had them literally all over the world and NOBODY makes it like here! 14 toppings on a thin crust, and the crust is still crispy! YES, you have to wait a while to get food here... But that wait is so damn worth it! Our waitress was wonderful. The "new" location is great. If you have memories from the 70s or 80s and Papa Del's and you are in Champaign for any reason... You sure as heck should get back in here!

The pizza takes a really long time but they tell you this up front because it's made to order. The service was fantastic. The pizza was not bad. They have Vegan cheese. Not a lot of vegan options. Their fried veggies appetizer is not vegan. Would go here again.

We loved PD's as kids in the 70s...at the UI adjacent location. Then we moved to Hawai'i in '77. So...each time I get back to Illinois I make it down C/U and always have Papa Del's. Yelp said they were open until 10:00 so we made it there around 9:05...but they actually closed at 9:00. We called and someone answered and said "Papa Del's we're closed." Click! Not a good start to our reunion! We made it over at 8:30 the next night after a long drive...we got in and ordered a sausage and mushroom pie...50 minute preparation time. The waitress said as long as we got our order in by 9:00 we would be ok. Relief! The pizza was as good as I remembered. Good memories and too many calories.

I have not written a review before. This is the worst run restaurant that my family and I have ever been to - by far. Tonight, a second waitress told us that they needed to tell the tables that they could no longer offer "hot" food items from the menu tonight. That it would only be salads, cold sandwiches, and pizzas, because the kitchen was too overwhelmed. This was after the first waitress told us that a thin crust pizza would take 60 mins. because it was too busy. But the restaurant was barely half full. We also know that 60 mins. was an underestimate, because when we went here after a basketball game last winter we were told thin crust pizzas were taking 60 mins. that night, and then our pizzas finally came out well after 90 mins. We are a U of I family through and through - and we will never, ever return to Papa Del's. It is the worst run restaurant that we have ever experienced. We had to walk out and told them that we will never be back. Drove down to the Ribeye for a wonderful meal and outstanding service!!

Probably the best deep dish pizza I can find outside of Chicago, and perhaps (if I may dare) on equal footing with the two titans. Service takes time, but it's deep dish- good food takes time (and they tell you up front). The new location has plenty of space for seating too!

I is ordered my staple- sausage and pepperoni pizza. I think the sausage was hand rolled because they were pretty big. The pizza was delicious. I also tried the sriracha cheese curds and they were good. I like a little more spice with my food so ask for more if you are the same. This being said, the cheese curds did had a little kick (spice kick) to them. I recommend trying thr cheese curds. You will not be disappointed. Overall, the pizza was fantastic!

The pizza is always great. The service while I was there was subpar. I walked in and sat at the bar to have a couple of beverages and order a pizza to go. Multiple staff members continually walked by and looked at me, and no one asked if I needed anything. After sitting for 15 minutes I decided to place my pizza order at the pickup counter where 3 staff members were engaged in conversation. I sat back down at the bar to wait for my order. After 30 minutes I was able to finally order a drink. Again, great pizza, so very thankful for the kitchen staff!

The deep-dish pizza was ample and excellent. Shared a small one and had plenty to eat. Brought one of my slices home for today, in fact. It'll make a great lunch. Topped it off with half of a truly outstanding slice of caramel crunch cake. The restaurant is exceptionally roomy and very neat and clean. The decor doesn't exactly stand out, but it's no-nonsense and comfortable. I had ordered ahead, so our wait wasn't long, especially for a deep-dish pizza. Our waitress, Mindee, was friendly and attentive. All-in-all, a very good experience, and I will be heading over there again soon.

Management was horrible!! We called ahead and were told it would be 45 min. After an hour of waiting at the bar they told us it would be another 45 minutes. They then explained to us that we couldn't order any food at the bar. We finally got seat and had to take our own orders since there was no waiter and then give it to carry out. It has now been 2 hours and we still haven't gotten food or even had a a waiter stop by our table. There is also mold in all the Parmesan shakers.

I have been a few times There deep dish is great 8.5/10 Service 6/10 the servers didn't really care it seems I would rate it higher but it takes so long to get your food so if you are eating in be ready to wait

Still the best pizza in town. I almost got scared off by negative reviews I saw here, but then I remembered, I'm no rookie! I've been loving Papa Del's since 1984! Ordered it ahead for pickup, and it was ready on time, no issues.

My wife just got home and the pizza looked like it was hit with a flamethrower. When I called to complain, the staff said they would only refund me half the price for the pizza. When I complained, they said I could drive back into town (18 miles each way. I have updated this review to a three because they did refund my money in the end.

Food is what you expect: some good quality deep dish and the appetizers aren't bad either. The problem comes from service. Usually it's standard but the staff doesn't really check in much and the wait times for the food are always around an hour or more. Last time I went with my s/o we were seated and then our waiter never came back for 45 minutes. We decided to just go eat elsewhere. I'm sure it mayhave been unlucky or something but go here only if you're really craving deep dish Chicago and nothing else.

We dined in with our son's baseball team. We were a large group and did not call in advance. Our server has been working there only for a week. She was conscientious with our son's order, as he has a dairy allergy. That was wonderful! The kitchen made several errors on several salads and pizzas - even after 2 hrs, two pizzas hadn't come out. The managing staff refused to make the situation right and Emma chose to pay for our pizza herself! She was poised, attentive, and trying her best while being the bearer of bad news from the kitchen and manager. Food was good, but there are communication issues.

The Pizza is beyond belief awesome! Sadly, they have many issues in regards to management and staffing and the service is not so great and no fault of the staff as they are extremely friendly and helpful and do their best, but can't retain any employees. Someone just needs to step in and help them run the place, great opportunity for someone! Never bag on places, but just understand they are understaffed and service is bad, but food is awesome. Exercise patience as the Pizza is incredible. Please, please Papa Del address what you are aware of as we want you to stay open and in business but have noticed the fall off of business and revenue over the years. Make some changes and restore the ambiance, atmosphere and what we all love!

We were looking for a weeknight dinner spot while passing through town. Many of the top Yelp recommendations were in a part of town/campus with no parking. Papa Del's had plenty of parking but we were frightened by some of the negative reviews. I'm so glad we decided to go for it anyway. Our server was very nice and urged us to order our pizza right away (before drinks and apps) so that the kitchen could get it started. We ordered the Sicilian mushroom and sausage. After the pizza order was in, we added an Italian salad and order of arancini. Our salad and app came quickly and both were delicious. Our pizza took approximately 50 minutes- but since we were given the heads up by our server, we were not surprised by that. The pizza was great- very cheesy, flavorful sauce, and a flaky crust. We were each only able to eat one piece and left with a very heavy to-go box. Do not be scared off by the bad reviews- especially if you are visiting from out of town. Be ready to wait an hour for your pizza- but it's an easy exchange for nice service, convenient parking, and abundant seating.

If you are in Urbana Champaign, it is a must stop because it is simply the best Chicago deep dish pizza you will find anywhere. Delicious!

Memories of college and Papa Del's seemed to last forever for me. I was saddened to hear about Pop's health issues at my last visit. I remember him as a young guy opening and working his first place on Wright street near the engineering campus. Countless students have dined on his amazing pies over the years. The restaurant on Neil St. is a clean, beautiful place. We recently attended a concert at the State Farm Center and my first stop in Champaign was Papa Del's. It may be that I have had other great pizzas in Chicago since college, but the memory of my college Papa Del's was a reminder of what used to be for me during our recent visit. It was still good, but not the great I remembered. Still...... thanks for the memories.

Delicious pizza that is completely worth the wait for the deep dish!!!! I am also obsessed with the little dough bite appetizer. Drool-worthy. The humans working there are awesome & super helpful (extra shoutout to Mindee)!!

My family relative recommended Papa Del's in Champaign and decided to eat here for lunch with my wife and kids. My wife ordered a large Greek salad, and for $14, it was definitely a large salad. Salad ingredients were fresh. My kids and I ordered pizza by the slice. These slices are already premade, so you can't add more toppings. We got mushroom, pepperoni, and cheese. Granted, I am not a connoisseur of deep dish pizza, but if what I ate is truly deep dish, then I prefer thin to medium crust pizza. The pizza dough was thick, and if you like a lot of dough, then Papa Del's does a good job of that. The pizza slice had too much pizza/tomato sauce for my preference. But for $3-$4, their slice of pizza is a good portion size. If you come here for lunch and don't want to wait for a whole pizza cause they do make them from scratch, then order the pizza by the slice. Overall would give a 3.5.

We had lunch there today. it took over a half hour to get our food. the Italian beef was super dry. the burgers were over cooked and hard. the meatballs were dry. our server didn't check on us or update us on the status of our food. we weren't asked if we wanted refills on our drinks. this wasn't a pleasant experience.

I give a zero. I enjoy giving great reviews, but in this case, I can't. I called in at 3:55 for a carry out pizza. They told me it would be an hour. I got there an hour and 15 minutes later and was told my pizza was not ready. They apparently "lost" my pizza. No apologies, just very rude workers. We finally got our pizza and this is what we got. Burnt so bad that we couldn't even eat it. The last 3 experiences were awful so we won't be going back.

Don't waste your time eating here. Service courtesy has declined over the last two years. My family and I have consistently gone there after hearing about the place from my professor. Today I was seated by a pink haired short hostess, she refused to seat us at a booth even though the booths were empty, and after asking to speak to a manager or someone in charge she proceeded to tell me she was in charge of seating people. We left before getting our order taken for obvious reasons.

Food: quality deep dish pizza and you can't beat the price. Plan to split it, and don't let your eyes be bigger than your stomach. Order Experience: I called ahead to place an order for take-out. Estimated an hour but I waited about 20 minutes when I arrived. Workers were very kind and apologetic about the wait. Environment: I didn't eat in, but the environment seemed like a good casual restaurant experience, several TVs playing the baseball game. More of a casual ambience for socializing rather than intimate dining.

We were in town for a few days, Couldn't fit a visit into our schedule. I called to see about takeout & found they had frozen pizzas you can take home & bake. We bought four! We baked one for supper after a 5 hour drive back home. Pizza was great! Hard to get a Chicago style pizza deep in the Bluegrass area of Kentucky. Nice to know we can bring a little Champaign back with us on future trips.