We just moved to the area and Papi's Mex Grill was our first meal. We ordered one of each of the taco salad (chicken and steak). While waiting for our food, Papi had provided some chips and salsa, which is a great touch especially coming from a long drive. We didn't wait too long for our food to come and when our food arrived we loved it! The ingredients was perfect and it tasted fresh and healthy. The staff was friendly and on top of our refills. The 2nd time we came to Papi's we had ordered out. We ordered the same meal as we loved the taco salad. Usually when you ordered out especially certain food like taco salad, it wouldn't taste the same as it would when eating at the restaurant. But Papi's proved us wrong on that. We loved it as much as we had it for the first time. Maybe next time we'll try their other menu. For sure, Papi's Mex Grill will be on our to go to restaurants for sure. read more

Papi's Mex Grill - Chicken Taco Salad and Steak Taco Salad - Mexican Near Me - Madera, California

If I'm desperate I would dine here. Living in the California Valley, there is no shortage of Mexican food restaurants/cafes. The food here was not appetizing at all. I'm a little shocked that people flock here for the food. Maybe there is a secret menu I don't know about because this is not even close. I did need some refried beans once and came to get a side of beans and in all fairness they were very good! That being said, tacos were flavorless and the chicken soup was just a throw away. Service is okay, nothing memorable. The vibe is that of people who don't know good Mexican food haha! Maybe I'm ordering the wrong thing but it's hard to mess up a taco. read more

Terrible service!! The last two times we've gone they were very very slow at providing waters yet alone taking our orders. We noticed they are short handed when it comes to waiters. The last time we decided to eat here for a simple midweek dinner, the hostess sat us down and we waited close to 20 min for a waiter to bring us chips/salsa or even water.... Well They never came and after waiting there with a toddler who started to get antsy we just got up and left. So disappointed. Won't be coming back. read more

Sat at bar...waited long time to place drink order....took even longer to get drinks...food OK....bar area by refrigerators filled with stuff and receipts....very unorganized and messy. Staff focused on talking with each other why patrons wait. read more

It's always a great time at Papi's in Madera! Happy hour all day Sunday and Monday with some great deals. Also happy hour throughout the week! read more

Great spot to hangout. Wish Selina was working nights! 5 star with her at the bar during nights.

Can't say enough about this place. Forgot my phone and Oscar honestly put it up. With all the scamming going on. That said a lot about how they treat their customers. All your info on your phone. I was like damn. Didn't know where my phone was. Thank God. Thank you Oscar for giving Great service and being honest. read more

By far the worst service ever for a restaurant. Can never get the order right and service is horrendous.

I live close by & always order to-go when I do order. I usually always order the steak fajitas & no complaints. Steak is always tender & flavor is good. Today we dined in with 10 of us for special occasion. Everything was good, no outstanding wait.., but what I would like compliment on was our service. Our waitress was very friendly & constantly checked on us! I loveeee good customer service, and our sever, Johana was amazing! She did not let anything slip. I appreciate that so much, especially with having small kids, and one with special needs, sometimes it can be overwhelming eating out, so servers who make our experience go smoother does not go unnoticed! read more

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

Food was eh. Wasn't what we were expecting, great for kids or elders. Service was eh, they didn't really sound like they knew the items we were ordering.. Wish it was better. 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

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

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:)

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

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

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