Papa's Italian — Restaurant in Zimmerman

The food is usually pretty good (but sometimes they must have a random cook because it's off).

We ate there last night. I ordered the lasagna and my fiancee ordered a 12" pizza. My meal came with soup or salad, I ordered soup. 25 minutes later, I still didn't have my soup. I watched our waitress stand by the table ahead of us for half of that time talking to a man and a child (when they later got up and left ... she hugged the man and the child ... think it was her dad and brother or uncle and his kid). Then she hung out at another table with two other men and gabbed away with them. It wasn't lost on me that the cheese bread that these two men were eating was LOADED with cheese (way more than we've ever gotten on our cheese bread in the past).

Finally, after over 30 minutes, our food was ready. She came and plopped the pizza down and my lasagna in front of me and was about ready to dart away (she never mentioned that the ramekin my lasagna came in could be HOT. I then asked her if she would please serve me the soup I ordered, she looked at me half dazed, hesitated as if she were considering the order we placed, then went to get the soup. I watched her as she went behind an enclosure and dished up the soup, when she came back she set it down and walked away ... no apology for her failure to bring it out upon ordering, and after having to ask.

We were nothing to her but a nuisance while she entertained two tables of men. She was laughing, flirting, cutting up, and ensuring they had over the top food (extra everything).

I really hope my fiancee left her no tip.

Thanks for leaving me sit there for over 30 minutes while I was famished ... the soup would have been nice had it been served per custom.

The pizza and other dishes are above the standard pizza joints, but the service is repeatedly LOUSY. (Like the time we paid for deep dish pizza delivered, which is significantly more expensive than your cracker crust, we paid you handsomely (plus a generous tip), only to open up the boxes and discover burnt cracker crust and scant toppings ... for nearly 60 bucks).

The help are very young (high school kids) and we rarely see the same help in there from one visit to the next. Service really needs...

First off I would like to state that this is an overall score, if I were just talking about the pizza it would be closer to a 4/5 stars.

I have had a few different pizzas from this place now and they really are a good pie, I want to try the thick crust (I am skeptical of calling it a deep dish even though they call it a Chicago style deep dish because it isn't close to it Given the description the waitress gave, she said the sauce wasn't even on the top of it, I will have to check that out another time).

The salads looked standard but the croutons were kind of a throw away but the dressings all looked good. The spaghetti pie smelled really good and the presentation was unexpected.

The service was better than what one might expect from a group of high school looking people, respectful and were pretty attentive, though it wasn't that busy.

But apart from the pizza the food was alright, the "bread with cheese" was living up to its name of being bread with a little cheese... Kind of a disappointment, buy the only real knocks on this place is the atmosphere and food just being okay, save for the pizza.

Would I go back? There are Italian places I like way better but in a pinch it will do, and their pizza is probably the best you will get around the area and probably farther, if I were receiving the pizza alone, I would certainly give it a 4 star review, it's worth it especially some of the specialty pizzas.

Should you go? If you are looking for a good pizza, I have yet to have one I didn't like, the rest of the food is good enough but the pizzas are...

Update: downgrade from 5 star to 3 star...Ever since new owner took over, this place has been going downhill. I can speak with lots of experience as my wife and I have been here a lot. We both understand that change happens with new owners, but this is excessive... Twice this place has lost its liquor license since the new owners took over. Also, they close even earlier now... how can this be a pizza place when they close so early. Then they painted it to look like an apartment and removed some of the art that made it what it was...so now it doesn't even have a feel good look anymore. Now entering original review. I love eating here, I'm not sure how many people realize how good it is! ☺ Great food with an excellent value! Plus always friendly staff. This is where we go when we want to eat out but the account is somewhat low... and sometimes we just go here because the food sounds...