Papi Portland

Papi's came highly recommended on several social media platforms. The Service and Atmosphere was 10/10! The food was underwhelming. I had the pernil and arroz con guandules. The pernil was not seasoned well. The rice was sofriting for sure! There were 100s of olive in the rice 🤮. The portion size was perfect. I am glad the waitress forgot to enter the manduros. I will end by saying I didn't love the food or the drinks. May be someone's cup of tea.

Papi is such a fun Portland spot with a lively atmosphere and a ton of personality. The food is flavorful, the drinks are creative, and the whole place feels energetic without being too over the top. It’s a great place to meet up with friends, grab dinner, and hang out for a while. Definitely one of the more unique spots to check out in the city.

The Truth About Papi We came all the way from New Jersey to Portland, Maine, with oysters on our mind, but decided to switch it up and try something different. We walked by Papi and saw there was about an hour wait. Reservations were required, but you couldn’t make them by phone—you had to make them in person. So I said, “I’ll come back.” Later that evening during Labor Day weekend, we made the reservation and were told there would still be about a 30-minute wait to sit anywhere. No problem. We walked around town, took in the sights, and came back. Once seated, we wanted to try several things, so we ordered multiple appetizers, entrées and sides. One thing we noticed immediately was how fast the food came out. We had been told there was a long wait, yet our food came out super fast—almost too fast. It honestly gave us the impression that some of the food may have already been prepared and was just being plated. I can’t confirm that, but the speed didn’t seem to match what we were told or what we expected from food being made to order. The empanadas ($12 for 2) were probably the best small bite we had. Medium-sized, packed with ground beef and cheese, heavily seasoned and flavorful. The presentation was nice and the complimentary ketchup-and-mayo sauce worked well with them. But $12 for two empanadas? For such a simple comfort food, that’s super overpriced. The surullos had a great presentation and were shaped like little meatballs. Unfortunately, they were super bland. There really wasn’t much flavor, and they were only significantly better when dipped in the ketchup-and-mayo sauce. Again, the sauce was doing a lot of work. The shrimp ceviche ($16) caught my attention because I saw another table having it and it looked good. The fresh-fried tortilla chips were pretty decent, but the ceviche itself was way too acidic. It tasted like cucumbers sitting in apple-cider vinegar. There was no balance. We ordered a $7 side of sauces—what I believe was a cilantro-based green sauce, another green sauce and a red sauce. Mixing the sauces with the ketchup helped balance the ceviche. But I shouldn’t have to engineer the dish myself. The kitchen should have figured that out before it hit the table. Three of the four of us ordered the churrasco skirt steak, although the cut we received seemed much more like flank steak. The steak itself was actually pretty good—nothing amazing, but perfectly acceptable. It came with rice and sweet plantains. The rice had good flavor, but some of it was really hard and crunchy. The plantains were fine. One person ordered the pernil. I didn’t try it because three of the four people who tasted it all agreed it was bland, so I took their word for it. Our final bill was around $250 for four people. We weren’t expecting cheap food, especially during Labor Day weekend, but when you charge these prices, the food needs to justify them. The ambience was great, the staff was extremely friendly, and the presentation was good. But ultimately, we came for the food, and for roughly $250, we expected significantly more. We also noticed an additional 3%–5% charge for kitchen or other non-tipped employees. We encountered similar charges throughout our weekend, but that doesn’t make it any less ridiculous. That’s not the customer’s responsibility. If a restaurant needs to cover staffing costs, why should the customer be charged extra for it? Maybe it was because of the holiday weekend, but I don’t think that should be treated as normal. Make that make sense. We even joked at the table that maybe we should open our own restaurant called “Abuelitos” because, based on our experience, we could probably show Papi how we think Latin food should taste. 😂 I’m not saying Papi is a terrible restaurant. I’m saying for the price, the food didn’t deliver. Maybe we caught them on an off night, maybe the locals love it, or maybe we ordered the wrong things. But this was our experience, and I’m giving my most honest opinion. Food: 5/10 | Value: 3/10 | Service: 9/10 | Atmosphere: 9/10 And yes… I still want my oysters. 🦪😂

We went here with my family and, unfortunately, we were quite disappointed with the food. The drinks were good, but the food (except two of the starters) was lacking flavor and, overall, didn’t live up to our expectations. On top of that, my sibling received her food at least 10 minutes before the rest of us. She ended up having to wait because we wanted to eat together as a family, which was frustrating. We were also surprised to see a 3% additional fee added to the bill. The 3% charge is mentioned on the menu, but there is no explanation whatsoever as to what the fee is actually for or why it is being charged. I don’t mind paying an additional fee when there is a clear reason for it, but simply listing a 3% charge without explaining its purpose feels unnecessary and confusing. Honestly, after reading all the reviews saying how “amazing” the food and experience were, our experience felt completely different. It even made me question whether some of those reviews were from friends or people connected to the restaurant, because our experience definitely did not match the overwhelming praise. Overall, the drinks were good, but unfortunately, the food, service timing, and unexplained 3% fee left us disappointed.

Spectacular food and cocktails and service. Would go back 1000 times more.

Wow! This is an authentic and excellent experience. My dining companion and I were seated at the bar quickly on a busy holiday weekend without a reservation. Our bartender Izzy was extremely knowledgeable about not only the cocktails ( I believe her creations) and the menu. The bar seat didn’t disappoint, we had a show with our meal and Izzy’s cocktails didn’t disappoint either. The kitchen backed up the bar game very well, I recommend the pernil (pork) and maduros as well as the pernil tacos. The seasoning was spot on and flavorful. We finished with a cafe colada a rum based coffee martini in a tall glass. This is a place has it all, excellent cocktails and food along with an efficient and friendly staff all with a beautiful space. Well worth the trip.i wish you were closer to home.

First time at Papi and had a wonderful experience. The bartender recommended an amazing drink, the food was fresh. The Caesar salad was tasty with a kick. Will be back!