Amazing from day one. And the new location at River Walk in Madera Ranchos is a spot you can't miss. Perfect for an afternoon margarita session, lake day pre/post game, or family dinner. The food and drinks are amazing. And service is always excellent and welcoming. read more

Very un-fulling was waiting for any sign of meat to show in the surf and turf burrito but there was no chicken and a single shrimp in the burrito. Not sure why advertise this as a chicken and shrimp burrito when there was only beans and rice in it. Not worth any money at all. Very deceiving reviews, not a 3 stars restaurant. read more

Papi's Mex Grill - No chicken burrito - Mexican Near Me - Madera, California

I just discovered Papi's has breakfast on the weekends. As with most sit-down Mexican restaurants, once you have ordered your drinks, they bring out chips and salsa. Their tabletop salsa is delicious. It's pretty mild in spiciness but rich in the roasted tomato flavor. Speaking of drinks, Papi's has a full bar. Their signature drink is s "house margarita". The rim of the glass can be salted, sugared, or spicy. The drink itself is full of flavor. We tend to get one when we come in. This location has a feature that I think is awesome. The bar has a roll-up door. It opens up to the patio and allows the fresh air in. There are large TVs all around the restaurant tuned into different sports. I came in on a Saturday, so they had 3 different college football games showing. My favorite Mexican dish is chilaquiles. Its fried tortillas topped with scrambled eggs, crumbled cheese, and sauce. Every restaurant does it a little differently. The difference at Papi's was how the tortillas are cut into smaller strips before the frying. This makes the bites easier to eat. All the breakfasts are served with fried potatoes and refried beans. The chorizo and eggs is among the most iconic Mexican breakfast combinations. Chorizo is a heavily seasoned sausage that kind of melts on a hot pan. Eggs are scrambled and then mixed into the melted chorizo. I recommend getting these with the corn tortillas. They have corn and flour tortillas. All are handmade. It makes a great difference in the texture and flavor when handmade. My next one to try will be the carne asada and eggs. My friend ordered it. They must have been good because the plate was cleaned off so quickly. read more

Only had two other tables with customers when we arrived. We were greeted and told to pick a seat anywhere. So far nothing special about this place. I had the steak rolled taco and she had the wet burrito. My taco was very dry and the steak way overcooked. The refried beans had good flavor and the rice was just so so. Her burrito was very good! It's a good size and definitely not dry. If I try this place again I will try that burrito and definitely not the dry boring rolled taco! So one was really good and the other not worth it. read more

Papi's was a mixed bag. Food was fabulous. After a lifetime of laments from my Hispanic friends regarding the poor quality of store bought tortillas, I finally get it. Papi's had fantastic homemade tortillas. The fish tacos were incredible because of the tortillas. Guacamole was good except that it is served on shredded lettuce, so a bowl is half lettuce. And not inexpensive. We sat at the back wall of the front of the kitchen. Unfortunately, this means we had the glorious opportunity to hear the profanity from the staff when they were in the back. Don't sit there. Staffing is the real problem at Papi's. Jared G was our server in the most minimal sense of the word. We were his second table, yet he acted hurriedly and bothered by our presence. He couldn't remember who had what for us or the other table. If he had spent the time serving us that he spent chatting up the female staff we would have been thrilled. No such luck. His service was so bad that we started asking anyone who walked by in a Papi's shirt for help. Jared didn't care, too busy talking to other staff. I don't see a reason to return. read more

The food is fantastic when Chef Gilbert is in the kitchen working his magic! Gilbert's plates have a beautiful presentation, great proportions, the food is always hot and cooked to perfection!! I would recommend calling first to ask when this man is working and those are the times to go! He won't disappoint. I tell all my friends, family & co-workers to try out this location because of Chef Gilbert. They also have great margaritas! Selena the bartender is wonderful! read more

Papi's has the best chips and salsa! The food and Service are great, especially our favorite bartender, Selina!!!

Food has always been great. Service is the slowest in the area. The restaurant is simply too busy to have two servers. I don't blame the young men and women working here, but the manager/owner that doesn't know how to balance labor costs with good service. This is my 4th time here and it is very consistent in both the great food and horrible service. I'm hoping the 5th time is a charm. read more

It was my first time coming here and I ordered a Southwest Salad to go which was suppose to have corn and avocado in it. It had neither. I had already left and went back to work so called to let them know I didn't get what I paid for. I was told that they didn't have corn or avocado. It is standard restaurant practice for cooks to keep staff updated on 86'd items and to let customers know when they order an item that won't be fully delivered. Instead of making it right somehow for my next visit or anything, I was also told to double check if they have all items before ordering something next time. The staff needs proper training because that is unacceptable. Had I known about the missing food items, I would've gotten something completely different. read more

Mediocre food and terrible customer service. Don't waste your time unless you'd like to deal with shitty attitudes from the servers there.

Not great service. Terrible bland unseasoned non spicy Mexican food. Orders to go are hit and miss on if they're correct or not. Also prices fluctuate depending who checks you out. Sucks that we live in the Central Valley and this very Americanized Mexican restaurant doesn't do justice to reflect our actual community and culture. I'll go down to arsenios off the ave 15 than come here. Atleast the food is fresher hotter and better service. This is Mexican food for caucasians and elderly people who don't like spicy or flavor. read more

Customer service is great, bartender is friendly no love the drinks. Food is delicious. Nice scenery and great place to hang out with friends... read more

See all

I was super excited to come and check this new mexican restaurant in Madera. And I was not disappointed. Very open feel, beautiful bartop read more

See all

Long time patrons of Papis from their original location. Came out to check out this new place and very impressed with the spot. Great food, delicious drinks and super friendly atmosphere. Happy to see the Papis brand branching off into new ventures. Cheers! read more

Papi's Mex Grill - Papis Mex Grill - Madera Ranchos - River Walk - Happy Hour - Mexican Near Me - Madera, California

Keep giving this place chances and then regret it. Madera riverstone location. Service is so slow and inattentive that we started only doing pick up. Waiting 30 minutes just to acknowledge and to take our drink order is just too long for us. After our last pick up order, they didn't put the chili verde sauce on the chili verde enchiladas. There was just cheese on top. Was already home so didn't bother calling to complain. Just done with this place now. That was the last straw. read more

We give this place a chance because we live very close by. It disappoints Everytime. Flavorless Mexican food, service takes a long time, inedible albondigas soup that was ocean water salty. They only care about people sitting at the bar and their drinks. We will now drive the extra time to river park or El Rinconcito. read more

Service was great! Waitress was very sweet & patient with us, since we were talking to much , had not even looked at our menus after a half hour. Our group of friends had a lot to catch up on! Plus our cocktails were excellent & kept us happy! We eventually ordered an appetizer, then ordered our entrees. Our experience with Papi's was awesome! It's nice going to a restaurant where we are not rushed & having a very pleasant waitress! read more

We were delighted when Papi's opened a branch in Riverstone. We've been going there two or three times a month; it's our go-to place for casual get-togethers with family. Some of them tell me the margaritas are excellent (I don't drink, myself) and their guacamole is top notch. (The salsa's pretty good too.) As other reviewers have noted, the sports bar aspect makes it a bit noisy inside (but a great place to catch several games at once), so we like to sit outside. I'm a particular fan of their Acapulco special (shrimp-stuffed chile relleno and enchilada suiza), which I've had at least four times now. read more

We are super disappointed with this business. Our take out orders have ALWAYS been wrong, and talking with management has gotten us nowhere. Don't waste your money. read more

Only reason not a 5 the kitchen is so busy it always takes awhile to get there. Not a bad thing for them gives you time enough to order a second drink. Can't wait until they can reopen the patio. Food was very good it was worth the wait. Very nice informal family or couples place to eat. Good food, cocktail and relaxed place to be. read more

I was not expecting this. Homemade everything including tortillas. Definitely worth the drive.

The food and the service (if you want to call it that) was absolutely horrible! The first time we went, people walked right by us as if we weren't there? We stood there for 20 min while the workers were chatting among themselves. We left! We gave it a second try and this time we were seated service was very slow (only about 4 tables of customers) when the food arrived it wasn't worth the wait. We will never go back, very disappointing. We've been to other locations that were much better read more

This is our first time at the new Madera Papi's. We came on a Saturday afternoon around 2. The service was pretty good for only have 1 waiter, 1 hostess and a bus boy. The wait team was definitely hustling. Our waiter recommended the Macho Tacos which were delicious! My wife ordered the vegetarian enchiladas which she enjoyed. The place wasn't to loud even though they had the playoffs on. Overall great place. Will definitely go back. read more

My husband and I love coming for their breakfast! Unfortunately they only have it on the weekends but it's well worth the wait, I order chorizo burrito wet with meat sauce (recommend by our server Vanessa) it's been a go to since! and he'll order French toast. Attentive service, even when it's busy our server communicates with us and it's always great catching up with. read more

It was ok. I had the shrimp tacos one fried and one grilled I preferred the grilled. The shells were not my favorite. Husband had the chicken fajitas. He liked them came it with a huge slab of grilled onion on top read more

Friendly atmosphere, great bar, food is delish!! Reasonably priced food and love the margarita tower!!

Out of a party of 7, 4 of us fell sick with food poisoning on Friday. Beware. We have always enjoyed it since it opened, but we will not be returning :( read more

Food was DELICIOUS! Ordered bacon wrapped filet, chili Colorado & chicken enchiladas. Great customer service. Will definitely return:)

Added cold potatoes to burrito when the menu never mentioned there would be any potatoes inside the burrito. Waitress/manager were polite. Seating was okay. read more

Papi's in Madera on Ave 12/Hwy 41 has great service and great food! Staff are always very attentive and make sure you get the best service!! read more

I give a three star because the carne asada was well seasoned and cooked. Unfortunately the fries we had for the Bach fries were not even cooked all the way so I had to throw what I could in the air fryer. My sons quesadilla was super greasy but not too bad since it was a cheese quesadilla lol but yeah my husbands guacamole had avocado skins in it which was not fun to try to chew. Hopefully the next time we go it gets better ! read more

Fabulous food. Thank you Gianna for the great service! The salsa is delicious. Guacamole and tortilla chips are fresh and wonderful. Highly recommend the chicken fajitas. We'll definitely be visiting again! read more

Ordered two burritos to-go to give Papi's a try. Burritos had to be some of the worst I've had. Beans were completely dried out, overall lacked any true flavor. Chile relleno burrito was bitter...would not recommend. Way over priced. Potentially a good place to have a drink but would skip the food. read more

Excellent first time experience (Madera location) -- flawless service and food. I was greeted by a cheerful hostess. I did take out at busiest time of evening. The young lady taking my order said that it would take 20 minutes which was fine and then they BROUGHT my order to me EARLY in 11 minutes!! Food was VERY tasty, light and plentiful portions. I expected it to be good based on recommendation of Fresno location but EXCEEDED my expectations. read more

This place is perfect for Monday Night football or a quick bite to eat during lunch. The staff and owner are super friendly. Use your go here 2 times a week minimum. read more

There food is not real Mexican food me and my great aunt went there and had lunch and the price was 18$ per person but there service was good me my great aunt left something and they kept it in till I was there read more

A bright, shiny, new location of another Mexican restaurant is what brought us there. The ambiance was good as far as decor and it wasn't crowded. The service was average for this area but the food.... A little white washed. When we try a New Mexican place, we order our favorites to see how the place measures up. Hubby had a burrito grande with rice and chicken. Yep, mostly rice. He knew it would have rice just not the grand quantity that dwarfed the chicken. I had my standard, chicken tacos. It presented well but, if I wanted my hard shell tacos from an Old El Paso box, I would've cooked at home. The chicken was good but plain. The salsa was a little too vinegary but the chips were warm. The rice was rubbery and lacked flavor, as for the beans, just a tad too runny for me. If this is the spot where you want to go drink and watch one of the huge television screens, then you've found it. The food might even be a little more tasty after a few drinks! But as for me, if I want real, quality Mexican food, I'll eat somewhere else! read more

The staff is amazing and very welcoming! We can always count on a good meal when dining at Papi's.

Found this restaurant on my way home from San Jose to Clovis. Driving passed the new subdivision brought me to stop for the first time to here. Restaurant is clean, nice, air conditioned, and amazing friendly staff. My mom and I shared the fajitas and side of guacamole with the works and it was plentiful. Look forward to future visit. read more

Great food and excellent margaritas. It is a popular place so it can get a little loud some nights