Po’ Boys has long been known for barbecue, but perhaps scandalously, my favorite thing on the Urbana restaurant’s menu is the pie. I’m talking both kinds of pie here, dessert pie and pizza pie. So imagine how thrilled I was when I saw that Po’ Boys had special pizza on their Restaurant Week menu.
For this review — which is the first in our week-long series of Restaurant Week reviews by Smile Politely Editors, I ordered all the Restaurant Week pizza specials: the pickle pizza, smoked salmon pizza, and deep-dish pizza by the slice. Oh, and a slice of double chocolate pie, too.
On day one of Restaurant Week, I walked in to Po’ Boys with my husband. A server greeted us and said to sit wherever. The dining room has tables for two, four, and six, plus high tops and bar seating. We picked a table and put our order in: RW pizzas and chocolate pie — and also the breadsticks.
The breadsticks aren’t a Restaurant Week special, but I really like them, so we ordered the appetizer breadsticks with butter ($8.75) from the regular menu. The six skinny sticks were soft and totally covered in Parmesan dust, but the best part was that side cup of herb butter. I saw god in that butter. Full of herbs and garlic salt, the melted butter was the perfect drippy dip for the sticks. What’s not to love about warm, fresh-from-the-oven bread covered in cheese dipped in hot, salty butter? Nothing, that’s what.
Then our Restaurant Week pizzas arrived: the salmon pizza, a slice of deep-dish pepperoni, and the pickle pizza.
First, the pizza I’d been waiting to try since last February: the pickle pizza ($13). Let me preface: I’m not a crazy pickle person. I like pickles, sure, but with other foods. On a sandwich? Yes, please. On a burger? You better. Fried up and dipped in ranch? Count me in. But noshing pickles straight from a jar? Pass. So for me, this pickle pizza had the right amount of pickles: just seven pickles for eight slices. The pickle in the center ensured that there was no waiting for what a pickle pizza tasted like. Every slice started with little pickle teaser right at the first bite, which was awesome. With a gritty cornmeal bottom, the pizza’s crisp crust tasted great with garlic cream sauce and could handle the weight of the thick pickles. Made in house, the pickles tasted really good, and baking in the oven softened them a bit but not too much to lose that satisfying sour crunch. To me, this pizza tasted like a reimagining of a deep-fried pickle dipped in alfredo, and I would definitely recommend it.
We also ordered a Restaurant Week slice of deep-dish pizza ($5.50). There was only one kind available, but it was the best case scenario: pepperoni. The slice was very bready. The bottom layer of crust was topped with pepperoni, dried Italian herbs, cheese, and that was sandwiched under a second layer of folded doughy crust beneath a layer of chunky marinara. It was hard to tell that this was a pepperoni pizza because the pepperoni were hidden between layers of crust and cheese, but we still enjoyed the slice. There wasn’t too much sauce, and I really liked the yummy fresh garlic among crushed tomato.
We ordered the third Restaurant Week special: the salmon pizza ($13.50) was a thin-crust pizza with smoked salmon, red onions, and capers over garlic cream sauce. To be honest, this pizza scared me a little bit. Fish on pizza sounded sus, but it actually really worked. Despite there being a lot going on, nothing was overwhelming, and it tasted really good. The red onions were soft and sweet. The salmon bites were salty, smoky, and so delicious. Po’ Boys’ special garlic cream sauce was the same as the pickle pizza, and it tasted just as good on this pizza. The fresh parsley garnish ever-so-slightly wilted on the hot ‘za, but I think dill would have hit harder — kind of like a pizza take on a lox bagel.
It’s actually a crime to eat at Po’ Boys and not get a slice of pie. Believe it or not, straight to jail. So, we ordered a slice of double chocolate cream pie ($4.75).
The pies here are made by a special in-house pie-maker, so they are always fresh. As per usual, this slice was served cold in a to-go box with a cup of housemade whipped cream, but I asked for (and slid the slice onto) a plate. This double chocolate pie was absolutely delicious. The chocolate crust was thick and sturdy, and every single bite had a good cookie crunch. The chocolate cream was truly amazing, so sweet, so fluffy, and so full of chocolate flavor. Anyone who loves chocolate will need this in their life. Because the pies are made daily — and are quite popular, every flavor is not always available, but usually, there’s a chocolate kind even if it’s not this double chocolate version.
Lastly, I ordered a cocktail because they have a drink called the Manbana ($8.25) on the menu. Served cold, the Manbana has Maker’s Mark, sweet vermouth, cherry juice, and two cherries. It’s kind of like Manhattan but adorably, it’s Urbana. The drink is not amazing by any means, but I like whiskey and I liked saying Manbana out loud.
Here’s a look at the full 2024 Restaurant Week menu at Po’ Boys.
Po’ Boys has that mom-and-pop feel with a simple printed menu in a little plastic sleeve and only one server for the whole dining room. I think it’s super fun that a barbecue joint has pizza on the menu regularly, and the thin-crust Restaurant Week pizzas are both hits. Since these pizzas are only available for Restaurant Week, diners have until Saturday, February 3rd to try.
When it first opened in 1953, Po’ Boys was in Champaign before it closed in 2006, and then re-opened in Urbana in 2009. Since then, the unassuming restaurant, nestled between two now-closed restaurants (I Heart Mac & Cheese and Rainbow Garden Urbana), serves a menu of barbecue including the original BBQ sauce in addition to po boys, Italian beef, pizza, and more. For more about the regular menu, read Carl’s review, and check out their website.
Po’ Boys Restaurant
202 E University Ave
Urbana
W-Su 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
