I was sort of disappointed with Papa Christo's because the signs around downtown directing you to their place state they have Chicago- style pizza. There's nothing Chicago-y about it. And the sausage is awful...those little balls that taste exactly like the type of sausage you get on a frozen pizza from a grocery store...exactly.
The plain cheese is much better. The cheese has a slight tartness to it that makes it pretty tasty, like a mild kasseri. But even though the puffy crust is beautiful to look at it doesn't have any taste, very bland.
Papa Christo's serves Vienna Beef brand hotdogs so of course those are delicious. You can't go wrong with that brand.
I got the lunch special which is $5.50 (with tax it comes to $6 even). You get two slices of pizza and a fountain drink.
The two guys who work behind the counter are very friendly and helpful and keep everything running smoothly even when it's busy.
And it does get busy. Every table inside the place was packed when I was there and even though there are tables outside, I got the last one. The outside tables aren't exclusively Papa Christo's though, they're part of Renaissance Square so people who work in the surrounding buildings relax there with their sack lunches. I'd say don't expect seating if you get there at lunchtime, especially 12 to 1. You can sit on the little two foot wall that surrounds the mini-park a few hundred yards away but it seems to attract characters. There were two homeless people really getting busy in there... it makes you think about the phrase "get a room", I guess they have nowhere else to go.
Papa Christo's opens at 7am for breakfast but closes at 3 in the afternoon and are only open Monday through Friday.