Monical’s Pizza

It was early-​late night when I placed my order for a large pizza for pickup. I walked in and as I was waiting, noticed a small pizza (that was overly cooked, ok, it was burnt for lack of a better description) that was being brought out to the dining area. I guess that was my warning sign for things to come. But I was from out of town and have a hungry pregnant wife in the car. The odds are against me so the pizza is coming with me one way or another. When we got to the hotel, I unwrapped the pizza to notice it was burned on the edges and the cheese was over-​cooked all over. I have to clarify, this is not my first time ordering a Monical’s pizza. This is also not my first time ordering a pizza from Monical’s (well it was my first and last order from this particular location.) Why you ask? It was overly burned. The crust was black and the cheese was over-​cooked. It was a long day so who am I to get on the horn and complain? It was not worth the hassle. To see a small pizza get pulled from the over and it looked the exact same way just confirms this is how they make their pizzas. It’s akin to consuming burnt cardboard. That is not my idea of a good pizza. This is not the typical Monical’s experience. Will I still eat from Monical’s? Oh yes, but will I go to this particular location? Probably not.

Consistently delicious no matter when we order. The delivery folks are always very friendly and quick (though we try to order during less busy times). It’s expensive and coupons are rare, but at least we know it’s going to be good!

This place deserves no stars at all. We came from Florida to visit and my husband grew up eating here. We enter the restaurant and Moore at immediately however no one came to help us to take our order. It was very dirty in the restaurant and when we left because no one came to our table we told them why we were leaving and they did not seem to care. I would not recommend this restaurant at all

Lukewarm coffee, the Italian beef sandwich smelt funny, I would say just OK. This one will not itch me to come back, rest is up to others’ choice.

We ordered a stuffed pizza and a calzone for delivery. They turned up 40 minutes BEFORE the online delivery system said it would, which was strange. The bags seemed to have trapped the steam and caused the crusts to get soggy and hard. They probably sat around for awhile too because they were more wet than hot. The spinach and mushrooms in the calzone were obviously frozen or canned. The sauce and cheese were pretty good, but overall I was very disappointed with our experience.

My husband & I ate here for dinner on Memorial Day while headed back home from Kentucky! It was my first time ever at a Monical’s Pizza! The pizza was alright but since my family is Italian I have to say, Monical’s Pizza is certainly NOT up to any sort of Italian food let alone an american version of pizza! The sauce was pretty sweet and it just wasn’t the best! Also, there were huge groups of people in the 1 large seating area and the opposite seating area was completely empty and they still sat small parties in the room with groups of 15+ people! The noise level was OFF the charts! The noise level was enough to want to get up and walk out!
Even though I didn’t really enjoy it — it was fresh and very hot so I know it had not been sitting around for a while waiting to be served! That is a good thing so that’s a +1 in that regard for Monical’s!
I think that I may be a little harsher b/​c I live about 50 minutes from the city (Chicago) where you can find the best pizza ever! So some may not find this review helpful — but those who are used to AMAZING Chicago Pizza will probably not be recommending this pizza chain with anyone that is also from around Chicago!

I used to love Monical’s pizza but the last couple of times I’ve ordered I’ve noticed they have really changed. The crust seems different (cardboard like) and there were hardly any toppings, even cheese. We could see the crust (not sauce) through the sprinkles of cheese and the toppings were so far apart, there were several pieces that were without. Also on our salad they really skimped on the tomato & cheese toppings– basically gave us a box of lettuce. To top it all off, our soda was warm. Really disappointing– especially at $ 30 (1 pizza, 1 «salad», 2 liter soda).
The positive thing I will say about Monical’s is their staff– very friendly and fast delivery.

There are a lot of die-​hard Monical’s fans in town who swear it’s the best pizza ever. It’s almost a religion. I have to disagree. While I do appreciate the variety of toppings, which are great, I don’t like the crust. I am usually a thin crust person, but I like a crispy crust, whereas this crust is very chewy and often tough.
I have actually added a star to this place for the red dressing alone. This stuff is really great on the salads, although it does turn your mouth/​lips red so there has to be some serious dye added. I have seen folks use it as a dipping sauce for their pizza. To me, though, a good pizza does not need a dipping sauce.

Absolutely terrible. Waited an hour and a half, called, and were told our pizza was done but it wouldn’t be delivered for another hour. We changed to carry out and went to pick it up. When we pulled in, the Monical’s delivery car was down the street delivering another pizza. Why he could not take both at the same time, I don’t know. We finally got to eat and the pizza was already cold enough to need reheated and the breadsticks so stale it took the strength of ten men to pull them apart. My dog even found them inedible.

I love Monical’s pizza, I really do. However, ordered 3 pizzas and a salad tonight for delivery and was told it would be one hour. At 1 hour and 50 minutes called to find out what the status was on our order. Was told by the person that they only had two drivers and they were behind. Explained it might have been nice if they had said that when the order was placed and given us the option to pick up instead. Same person said that we should have been told an hour and a half. Ok, had we been told that we would have just gone and picked it up. When she checked on our order it was just coming out of the oven nearly 2 hours later. We said we would come and get it. Talked to the manager when we got there and they very nicely took two of the pizzas off our bill. Got them home only to find out that they weren’t cooked properly and the bottoms were completely doughy. So now, two and a half hours after we ordered we are trying to cook two of the three pizzas and we’ll never get the crispy bottom that should have come out of the pizza oven. Very disappointing.

Loooooove Monicals.
The inside is nice. Very sporty and is proud of being in Illinois! Friends staff and so much food for the price.

One of my favorite places to get pizza when I’m up here in this horrible place called Illinois. Decent prices and great food with a decent atmosphere. Try their Family Special for a deal hard to beat. Plus they have a gorgeous redhead waitress. ~swoons~

I ordered online for delivery and the pizza came in about 45 minutes. I was looking forward to the crust being crispy, but it was actually more chewy than anything else. The driver couldn’t really find my house and drove around for quite a while/​called for directions. The toppings were great, though. I just wish the crust had been better.

This is usually our go to pizza super thin super good! I grew up on Monical’s and love it the pizza that is. As far as the sides and everything else they are not as good as most around town.

If you like super-​thin pizza, Monical’s is the best. The crust is crispy and crackling, with just the right amount of char, and the toppings are perfectly proportioned to not overwhelm the whole thing. The pizza is cut into small squares and rectangles, to make you feel better when you take another piece! Love it!

I have been eating at various Monicals pizza for most of my life and they alway promise and deliver two things: their product is mediocre and it is over priced. There was once a time that the Central Illinois area offered few options when it came to thin crust pizza but now its loaded with restaurants that not only make far superior pizza but do it at a reasonable price unlike Monicals. If you are looking for a thin crust pizza please do yourself a favor and save a ton of money by trying Esquire, Jupiters, Papa Dels thin, Garcias thin or Manzellas. If you want a thick crust pizza Papa Dels still makes a fantastic deep dish pie and surprisingly so does Garcias.

This review was for the Monicals Pizza on north Mattis Avenue on June 25, 2012.
I had a $ 10 coupon to try a new style of pizza that Monicals was starting to offer. A stuffed pizza. Mine was to have sausage and pepperoni .
Wellll… they evidently didn’t know everything they needed to know to make this a success.
Complete disaster. First pizza was BURNT… badly. I’ll upload s picture of it after I’m done with this review.
After I called back and reported the burnt pizza, I arrived back to the store at the time they said it’d be ready… maybe even a couple minutes after. When I entered … they said it needed a couple more minutes. He took the pizza out. Checked inside temperature with thermometer. Then put it back in for another few minutes. Pulled it back out. Checked its temperature again. And … this time. it was evidently good enough to send home with me.
By now it’s way more than an hour after first calling to place the original order and I’m getting pretty hungry.
I arrived home. Open up my well anticipated prized pizza … and … the pizza was raw on the inside! Which is what the whole process of checking the temperature on the inside was all about.
Prior to receiving the pizza, I was lectured about how important it was for the inside temperature was to reach a certain point or it could be bad news.
Normally, when you bite into a freshly cooked pizza, the pizza is HOT to the mouth and tongue. There were still COOL parts (less than 98.6 degrees) and even some of the cheese was still the rectangular shredded shape. A fair amount of the cheese in the center hadn’t melted together to make one gooey wonderful blend of melted cheese. I’ve got a picture of that too! I’ll post it as well.
This is my favorite and closest Monicals. I’ve been eating Monicals pizza for more than 4 decades (back to the 60’s). I’ve written about this on Facebook. I’ve filled out a web survey complaint form. Annnnd … nothing. Not even a call or email saying they are sorry for such a crappy pizza. Because of that, I will not eat at this Monicals location.

What can I say, as a native central-​illinoisan, I miss Monical’s the most. They have the best pizza, although on this visit I did notice they seem to be baking the pizzas less than they used to. Breadsticks are awesome, but have shrunk in size. But they still have the famous red dressing.

When I was in high school I loved Monical’s Pizza. Has something changed because I don’t think it’s as good as it used to be? I bought one last night for carry out and I seriously think something has happened. I believe they are a victim to the franchise. They are clearly using cheaper ingredients. The cheese is slimy! Yuck! And what is up with the sausage? It doesn’t taste right at all. In fact, none of it tasted right. It just wasn’t good. Sad.
Two stars because of memories and the french dressing is still edible.

The best thin crust pizza ever! Whenever we visit Champaign, we have to go to Monical’s a couple of times so I can get my fix. =)