Papa Del’s Pizza At the Crossing

Great deep dish and they serve it by the slice!!!

I don’t understand the hype about this place. I have ordered from here three times, all for takeout. The «restaurant» is nothing to brag about and every time I have ordered take out, my pizza hasn’t been ready for at least ten minutes past when they said it would be. The deep dish is a loaf of bland bread with sauce on it. Nothing like Chicago deep dish where the crust has flavor. The thin crust tastes good, but they put the toppings under the cheese so everything slides off the crust when you take a bite. And it seems more expensive than it should be…

The three stars are for the several hundred amazing Papa Dels pizzas I’ve loved and enjoyed. The Phone person just now, the one that said they weren’t sure that they delivered to Downtown Champaign??? Shaved off from the the deserved 5 stars. Really, Unilocal is dumb, I’m usually an easily pleased customer type. I’m clearly venting from a disappointing moment. But here’s the thing. I had taken a break from Dels, a little time out that was needed after my first ever lame moment with them. That moment was all about a burnt thin crust pizza that arrived two months ago. It was a pizza I’d had a gazillion times, thin sausage and mushroom. This pizza arrived with very little non dark dark brown spots on top, normally there is the yellowish tan vibe of perfectly melted cheese, with maybe a couple little dark dark brown overdone spots. I’ve never been a call the restaurant kinda guy, but I had to, I mean I was picking off pieces of sausage, and that was about the only yummy pizza edible action I could muster. So yeah, i called. I only called to let them know about the quality issues, I wasn’t angling for another pizza, or money back, none of that. The manager who happened to answer the phone replied to me that, she’d «let them know» I asked «let who know?» She said «the kitchen». That was it, then some long silence. I got the same long silence when I let the guy on the phone tonight know that I was at my friends apartment two blocks away last Sunday, when a pizza from dels was delivered there. I didn’t have a slice Sunday, because I was still salty about my burnt pie. Tonight I thought, it’s time to forgive and forget, it’s time to order a fat deep dish Papa Dels pizza. I was fiendishly ready to make up! But no, they might not be delivering to downtown Champaign. I love you Dels, this Unilocal is petty I know, it’s the gaudy actions of a Unilocal review that makes me hope you whip shit back into form soon. This isn’t some hateful mean 1 star thing, it’s a plea.

I hate to have to lower my rating, but sadly I must. The pizza is always good. Still was on this occasion. However, we had quite the long wait on my most recent visit. We were given a range for when our pizza would be ready and we arrived during that window. We waited until the time was up before asking what was going on. We were first told 5 more minutes. Then a bit later we were told that we were the next up. Then again a bit later we were told 8 more minutes. Seriously? So 20 minutes after the end of their window, we get our pizza. Any compensation for our wait? Nope. Just an I’m sorry. They could have at least offered us a coupon or a soda or something. Ridiculous. Similar situation occurred when my brother had gone with friends recently.
Oh! Almost forgot. Ordering was a MAJOR pain. I would call and call and no one would pick up. Finally someone picks up and puts me on hold. Then hangs up on me. Call and call again. Then someone picks up and takes my order right away. *sigh* Much improvement is needed. But they are soon combining with the campustown location to serve only on Neil St. So we will see what happens.

This WAS my favorite pizza place in central Illinois. .. for decades. Something happened. The pizza was bland and so was the Italian salad. They are in between stores having closed the two they used to have on the UIUC campus. They tried and failed at a Rantoul IL location years ago. The staff said they should open a new larger location by February 2016 but there is no hard date. This is mainly a delivery and pick up place. They have 3 small and one normal sized table with cheap plastic patio chairs in a very small eating area that doubles for a line up area for pick up customers. I would not have minded the facility so much if there pizza had not changed.

I ordered two pizzas for dine-​in, and I specified it over the phone twice that we want to dine-​in and not take-​away, and the receptionist said OK both of the times. Turns out that there were two Papa Del’s in Champaign and we went to the other one. After waiting there for more than an hour, and after multiple investigations they tell us they don’t have our order at all. And then only they say that maybe you placed your order on the one at Crossing but they don’t offer dine-​in. At this moment, I called the manager of Papa Del’s at Crossing and asked him about why the order receptionist confirmed for our dine-​in twice if they don’t offer dine-​in. He had nothing to say. Also, they had my number and didn’t call me even after 1.5 hours of order. Even after all of this mess, he didn’t offer me any discount and said that it’s on us if we want to take the pizza or not, which I’m sure must have been cold by now.
Pathetic service!

Good service and good food. Very limited parking is the only con but that’s not their fault.

You’ll have to wait a while for best pizza you can get around here, and it’s not cheap, so budget accordingly. Still, it’s good pie!

Every bit as good as when I was in college. Deep dish is tremendous. Thin crust and sandwiches fine also.

Same good pizza as the old location, best pizza of its kind in C-​U, hard to eat just one piece but that could be a meal by itself.

Best pizza in town!!! Pricey but definitely worth it! If you are from out of town and need a good recommendation of where to eat… This is the place!

I’ll NEVER go to either of the Papa Del establishments again. After paying $ 50 for two pizzas that I waited almost 1.5hrs to have delivered, I received subpar products (overcooked and poorly made). To make things worse, when I called to give feedback and ask for some kind of accommodation, I was talked down to by one shift manager Rob and hung up on by another Mark. After 20 yrs. of patronage, I expected better. They have lost my business forever and I’ll be sure to let the owner Bob know exactly why!

A Champaign staple. This is a must have when you come to town. Famous for their deep dish, but any crust you get is a winner. They have the best sausage in town IMO.

Location, location, location!!! This place has the same great pizza, but is somewhat away from campus. Good for carry out and delivery.

I have ordered from Papa Del’s at the crossing 3 times. Twice, they screwed up and thought I wanted carry out rather than delivery. The second time, I was very specific that I wanted delivery .
After waiting, I finally called and they would not even wave the delivery fee to bring me a pizza that was 90 minutes late and had been sitting around their store for that entire time. They were not apologetic and didn’t even offer a discount on a future pizza. I won’t be going there again.

Gotta love Papa Del’s! Be sure to get a container of their parmesan cheese — it totally beats the stuff from the store.

Hands down, absolutely the best deep dish pizza!

Deep dish is soooo good. I was stuffed on one slice.

This location is pretty much carryout/​delivery only. We made the mistake of meeting at this location for a reunion lunch, thinking it was a similar setup as the Green St location. NOPE! There are 3 metal tables with some chairs, but definitely not the same décor as the other one. Nonetheless, still good food. Prepare to wait for it!
Perk: they sell slices during lunch hours.

On our road trip, we wanted to taste Illinois deep dish pizza. We also found ourselves far away… quite late.
What stunned us first was the initial info that it would take 45 minutes to complete our order of one large cheese deep dish pie. The cost of 20.76.
We returned after the allotted time to receive our pizza. I was surprised how it is made (I’m from NYC/​NJ) – they put the sauce over the cheese and top with oregano. I had never seen pizza done this way.
Th pizza was hearty. One slice was quite filling. It reminds me of a Sicilian slice. The crust was dry and unappealling.
Btw, the bathrooms and location was bright and appears clean.
In conclusion:
Besides the crust and the price for one pie:
I would try them again, if they delivered to NJ.