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| - I went with a large group of friends on Halloween weekend. Pretty much everyone except for me and Husband went to the U of I. The out-of-towners in for Halloween insisted there was only one true C-U place for lunch: Papa Del's! They lauded the deep-dish-by-the-slice. I was warned it would be crowded, but I'm willing to walk into the fires of Mt. Doom for some good pizza.
My experience: Meh.
So, I think that people really love Papa Del's because that's where they went in college. It brings back fond memories of late nights or drinking or whatever. I get that. I am very nostalgic for certain college hangouts of my own. However. Papa Del's pizza SUCKED.
I might be a bit unfair in my review. It might be amazing if you get a fresh pie made. It could be incredible. But the slices we got at 1:30 pm (after 20 minutes wait)? SUCKED.They were hardly warm, yet still had dark-brown spots from spending too long waiting to be served. Husband had a sandwich, which he said was decent, but everyone had talked up this pizza. Said it was better than Vinny's, better than Rosati's, etc. WHAT. It wasn't inedible, but I was far from impressed.
Service wasn't outright rude, but also wasn't fantastic. I get it, it's lunch rush on a Saturday. You're used to getting treated poorly by college kids. Still, I expect a certain level of positive attitude from waitstaff. I certainly don't want to be treated like I'm a burden upon you because I chose to eat at your restaurant.
In my opinion, if you aren't a current UIUC student, or someone going for nostalgia, there are better pizza places on campus.
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