Manolo's Pizza & Empanadas — Restaurant in Urbana

tl;dr the available pizza slices were not fresh/overbaked but the frozen pizza is good. Probably won't come back unless i'm around at start of business when slices will be fresh.

I went there on my birthday (Jan 12 2024) due to all the good reviews I saw. First time there. I tried 3 different slices of what they had available & bought a frozen chicken parmesan pizza. The 3 slices I had were really crispy, fairly dry (except the pepperoni), and one had the tip end completely charcoal (like what happens when I microwave leftover pizza slices too long). It felt like they had baked the slices, kept them out for too long making them dry out, and then when they rebaked them to warm them up, it just made them really dry and unappealing. Also, there was extremely limited seating (something like 4 bar stools) & it was crowded because of the 5 customers standing in the space.

I prepared the frozen chicken parmesan at home. I thought the flavor was delicious, the crust was amazing & buttery, and everything was good. My wife doesn't like the marinara sauce but I thought it was fine. Therefore, I believe the quality of the pizza I ate at Manolo's was just really poor due to the pizza not...

I have mixed feelings, my mother is from Chile and I have always enjoyed empanadas from any nationality, being a townie this location gave me great experience with experiencing part of my childhood again.

Since then what I have discovered is the quality and cleanliness have taken a hit. The once beautiful, and quaint little shop with high quality empanadas has suffered with time. The dough remains moist and falling apart, many of the old recipes that had ingredients that were more unique to Central and South America were replaced with US American food items, becoming more like miniature calzones with soppy exteriors and small portions.

They aren't terrible! They just aren't great anymore, and that is a disappointment. I would rate them above fast food still, I would still like to attend occasionally, but after moving back I had hoped to make it my quick stop like...

We were on the last leg of a cross-country trip from San Francisco to Michigan and hungry made itself known. We made a flying drive-thru tour of UI-UC and ordered pizza and empanadas from Manolo’s on the way into town. While zooming down I-57, we noshed on a cheese and chicken pizza as well as three empanada varieties: inferno chicken, jalapeño chicken, and potato and cheddar. Everything was awesome! I especially appreciated the pizza crust: thin, pliable, chewy, flavorful but not too salty. The one-man show running the operation during our quick stop on 12/29/21 even took time to use a clean cutter on the pizza so the PN/TN allergic diner could enjoy the feast. Is a desire to try the rest of the empanadas a valid reason for the offspring to attend UI-UC? Maybe it validates a return,...