- Thread starter DavidZ
- Start date
Papi's in Cabarete...not my favorite restaurant anymore...
So who is the new owner? And has this person "heard" the customer feedback?
We have a group visiting us here now and would go again IF IT HAS IMPROVED back to previous standards.
We also found the prices significantly increased and the portions greatly decreased the last time we dined there. That was last summer. Right after that unfortunate meal, we talked about it and decided to not return. This thread is evidence that we were definitely not alone in our assessment.
We have a group visiting us here now and would go again IF IT HAS IMPROVED back to previous standards.
We also found the prices significantly increased and the portions greatly decreased the last time we dined there. That was last summer. Right after that unfortunate meal, we talked about it and decided to not return. This thread is evidence that we were definitely not alone in our assessment.
I would go....
Another is Otra Cosa..... my Greek friend's favourite.....
How should I know? Mac 'n Cheese is good anywhere
Another is Otra Cosa..... my Greek friend's favourite.....
How should I know? Mac 'n Cheese is good anywhere
I ate at Papi's again recently and I have to say it was vastly improved from my last two visits. Portions, service, and the food were all excellent! Hopefully this is the norm again!
You'd think.....
they got beaten up pretty badly here a while back.
I doubt they didn't read it......
My experience two weeks ago was a good one.
they got beaten up pretty badly here a while back.
I doubt they didn't read it......
My experience two weeks ago was a good one.
Here is the promised review. It's a poor one!
The service has always been too slow and unconcerned, so we expected that.
But the food is still WAAYYY OVERPRICED! The sauce is still good, but there wasn't even much of it! At first I thought they forgot to bring all four orders because only two pans were delivered to the table. And I thought that the portions had increased from our last visit, so I was thinking things had improved. But NO! We asked for our other two orders and were told they had put two orders in each pan! But the pans weren't very full, the langostinos were very small, and we went away hungry. Oh, and they were even stingy with the rice! The two "large" salads at RD$350 each were skimpy too.
And adding 28% to those high prices just went over the top.
We gave it one more chance, and it was a bust. No mas.
The service has always been too slow and unconcerned, so we expected that.
But the food is still WAAYYY OVERPRICED! The sauce is still good, but there wasn't even much of it! At first I thought they forgot to bring all four orders because only two pans were delivered to the table. And I thought that the portions had increased from our last visit, so I was thinking things had improved. But NO! We asked for our other two orders and were told they had put two orders in each pan! But the pans weren't very full, the langostinos were very small, and we went away hungry. Oh, and they were even stingy with the rice! The two "large" salads at RD$350 each were skimpy too.
And adding 28% to those high prices just went over the top.
We gave it one more chance, and it was a bust. No mas.
Ok, i guess i'll play he devil's advocate here...
1. Way over priced compared to what?
2. You sat on the beach and ate fresh lobsters right? what was your bill?
3. They put two orders in one pan because it takes up less room on the table. Have you ever seen four of those pans occupying two tables? They barely fit.
4. How much was your bill so that i can give you a perspective of what fresh lobsters costs next door and across the island?
5. the 28% is mandatory...18% is for tax--"Mandatory!" and the 10% is a service charge--it's what pays the "Mandatory" salary that all those employees must get here--including "Mandatory" insurance that they all must be provided with, etc.
6. the service is slow nearly every where on this island--but especially on the beach and at very busy places like Papi's--they're the busiest place on the beach in cabarete--i don't care what day you go there--they are always busy for a reason, and they're busier than everyone else for a reason.
7. the sauce hasn't changed since day one--it the same exact kitchen crew and nearly all the same employees. People don't get fired here unless you're willing to com up with their "Mandatory" 10% wage for every year that they've worked for you--its called a "Mandatory" severance pay.
8. Think about this...where ele can you sit in the Caribbean and eat fresh lobsters for what...$35 a pan? you pay $35 nearly everywhere else just for one lobster that was frozen as you stair at four walls of the inside of a restaurant!
We'll start there and i'll wait for your response.
Love Frank
Last edited:
frank, you do not take into the account that what is compared here is not papi and something else, but rather papi and papi.
say, when a guy is 20 it's easy to get it up and one can happily satisfy a bouncy dominicana few times in one night. but then, at 60, one needs la pela and the dominicana is quite bored.
the same guy, the same tool. only different.
say, when a guy is 20 it's easy to get it up and one can happily satisfy a bouncy dominicana few times in one night. but then, at 60, one needs la pela and the dominicana is quite bored.
the same guy, the same tool. only different.
I was there y'day for lunch... just the carpaccio and the lambi vinagrette.....my wife and I.
It was hard to finish both , we had so much, she caved half way through.
As for the bathrooms.... clean as a whistle..... even by No American standards (my wife is VERY touchy about RD banos)
Sometimes I wonder if we're all talking about the same place.
The lobster dish is costly ( IMO ) but lobster always is and I'm always squeaky w/ a buck.
As #12 says, it's a nice place to sit and enjoy a view - any time of the day.
Full disclosure - this was my second visit and my wife's first.
Well when it is busy they place the dishes next to the bathroom between kitchen and bathroom...and the smell, maybe it was the wind... it was really bad when we were there. And food was not at all as before, and yes we made that judgement before visiting the bathroom.
I second it - Papi's is no longer there!
Absolutely perfectly worded, i second every single word!!! It's not Papi's anymore, and the worst part is that the new owners are absolutely ridiculously rude and have no skills of handling customers whatsoever. Who told them they should own a restaurant? I have no idea, but definitely a wrong decision for all of us. I still like a few old recipes, but even the a la Papi sauce has changed no matter what they say - it used to have chopped fresh tomatoes and it doesn't anymore, it's greasier... It's all about cost-cutting and being unfriendly... I still go back every now and then, but nearly not as much anymore, there are still a couple of old waiters left that are old school, but the entire experience isn't nearly as enjoyable, and oh boy they come up with all kind of stuff, including newly shaped plates, to cut the portion size. Why being treated like **** when I can go to Bliss or Otra Cosa and feel welcome? And have great food too. Not worth it anymore!
Absolutely perfectly worded, i second every single word!!! It's not Papi's anymore, and the worst part is that the new owners are absolutely ridiculously rude and have no skills of handling customers whatsoever. Who told them they should own a restaurant? I have no idea, but definitely a wrong decision for all of us. I still like a few old recipes, but even the a la Papi sauce has changed no matter what they say - it used to have chopped fresh tomatoes and it doesn't anymore, it's greasier... It's all about cost-cutting and being unfriendly... I still go back every now and then, but nearly not as much anymore, there are still a couple of old waiters left that are old school, but the entire experience isn't nearly as enjoyable, and oh boy they come up with all kind of stuff, including newly shaped plates, to cut the portion size. Why being treated like **** when I can go to Bliss or Otra Cosa and feel welcome? And have great food too. Not worth it anymore!
Guys, you know what I have discovered? Papi's surprisingly has great reviews on TripAdvisor because the owners clearly PAY TO GET THE BAD REVIEWS REMOVED!!!! SO MUCH FOR THE FAIRNESS OF OPINION ON TRIPADVISOR!! PLEASE BEWARE YOU CAN'T TRUST TRIPADVISOR BECAUSE OWNERS CAN SELECT THE REVIEWS THEY LIKE TO KEEP! Thanks goodness there are sites like this one where you can actually leave a comment and it won't get erased.
Anyway, it's a shame that people who have no social skills and are rude, greedy and unwelcoming have become owners of what's used to be my favorite restaurant in Cabarete. I would love to keep patronizing it if Papi was still the owner, but I choose not to be treated badly for my own money and be part of the support network for a cost-cutting shrimp-factory sweat-shop. All my friends, including business owners in Cabarete, taxi drivers, everyone who lives here know that the new owners have changed this place entirely and basically ruined it for all of us.
Anyway, it's a shame that people who have no social skills and are rude, greedy and unwelcoming have become owners of what's used to be my favorite restaurant in Cabarete. I would love to keep patronizing it if Papi was still the owner, but I choose not to be treated badly for my own money and be part of the support network for a cost-cutting shrimp-factory sweat-shop. All my friends, including business owners in Cabarete, taxi drivers, everyone who lives here know that the new owners have changed this place entirely and basically ruined it for all of us.
when a bottle of wine costs as much as it does in papi's, then yes, its rude and unprofessional
Ok, i'm up for playing devil's advocate again.
Walk past Papi's on any given night (choose any night you want) and tell me how they're doing compared to the rest of the beach?
You think they are busy every single night because of some kind of freak accident?
Do you think they are paying people off so that Trip Advisor takes away all bad reviews?
You think their ingedients or sauces have changed?
Listen, Papi's is our competetion here in Cabarete--no, they're not any kind of direct competetion, but i'm letting you know that i have no personal interest in their business, nor do i have a compelling reason to defend them. I don't even know them. But i've been going there for 7 years now. I've been working on this beach--a few doors down from them--for a little over 5 years now. Occassionally, i eat there, and i've found the place to be consistently good. Nothing has changed in my eyes. They still make the best Shrimp and lobster dishes, hands down--with an absolute astonishingly good--? La Papi" garlic sauce--which i physically drink up every ounce whenever i'm there by getting into a 45-degree squat stance at the end of the table and physically lifting the pan up to my mouth where i drink up liters of it in one long shot of what i call: "garlic ecstacy". Later, as a party trick, i light people's cigerettes with my garic breath. No joke. I think it's the best garlic cream sauce in the galaxy.
Remember, I have no dog in this fight. If they do good or bad is not going to effect me whatsoever. However, I find them to be consistently good, consistently busy, and consistently have the same repeat customers drive to Cabarete to specifically eat there.
I'm no rocket scientist, but whatever formula they are using...that's one hell of a formula that many, many restaurants on this island would love to have. I know i would.
Frank
Walk past Papi's on any given night (choose any night you want) and tell me how they're doing compared to the rest of the beach?
You think they are busy every single night because of some kind of freak accident?
Do you think they are paying people off so that Trip Advisor takes away all bad reviews?
You think their ingedients or sauces have changed?
Listen, Papi's is our competetion here in Cabarete--no, they're not any kind of direct competetion, but i'm letting you know that i have no personal interest in their business, nor do i have a compelling reason to defend them. I don't even know them. But i've been going there for 7 years now. I've been working on this beach--a few doors down from them--for a little over 5 years now. Occassionally, i eat there, and i've found the place to be consistently good. Nothing has changed in my eyes. They still make the best Shrimp and lobster dishes, hands down--with an absolute astonishingly good--? La Papi" garlic sauce--which i physically drink up every ounce whenever i'm there by getting into a 45-degree squat stance at the end of the table and physically lifting the pan up to my mouth where i drink up liters of it in one long shot of what i call: "garlic ecstacy". Later, as a party trick, i light people's cigerettes with my garic breath. No joke. I think it's the best garlic cream sauce in the galaxy.
Remember, I have no dog in this fight. If they do good or bad is not going to effect me whatsoever. However, I find them to be consistently good, consistently busy, and consistently have the same repeat customers drive to Cabarete to specifically eat there.
I'm no rocket scientist, but whatever formula they are using...that's one hell of a formula that many, many restaurants on this island would love to have. I know i would.
Frank
YEP! I was just as stunned, but evidently you can! I posted a review about Papi's saying the new owners were rude and unwelcoming, the famous sauce lost fresh chopped tomatoes, the dishes became small and they even came up with newly shaped plates to make sure they don't give us too much food, then TripAdvisor came back at me saying I used a quote and I was only allowed to speak for myself, and I had to repost, which I did. After a few days I got an e-mail asking me to click on a button to confirm "this was really my review" (they didn't ask me this questions about any other reviews I had on TA). Of course I confirmed this was not an error! A few more days passed and my review has vanished without any additional notifications from the Papi's list of reviews AND also from my "Contributions" in my account like it was never there. I tried to repost three more times and the review was vanishing from my account before being posted and without any reasoning or notifications. So I have been clearly blocked as a user. Does it sound like an accident? *sarcastic smile*
Dear Mr. Devil's Advocate,
You've repeated so many times that you have no stake in this that it's just hard to believe it's true anymore. But let's pretend you don't.
I hope your liver is still doing okay from drinking this sauce full of grease cream and oil. The only healthy thing a bout this sauce is garlic that's still there and the fresh tomatoes that are now gone. But it does taste good.
However, the new owners weren't the ones who came up with the recipe, it's all inherited from the old Papi's as well as the great reputation and they are riding it. I don't believe there is as much of repeat business anymore like it used to be, it's mostly tourists new to Cabarete that read TripAdvisor where all the negative reviews are being conveniently "ignored". Whatever they changed in their recipes is enough for us, the old-timers, to realize it's different, but not enough to ruin the taste and the cooks are still the same, so all locals that stopped patronizing the place haven't stopped doing so because the food is now horrible or anything like that, but because they don't like the trend and are offended by the new owners' attitude who clearly stated on this site that their customers are "pigs".
Mainly Cabarete's restaurant scene is very friendly and this place just doesn't fit in anymore. If this continues going on like this it's only a matter of time when they stop being busy or a competitor with a better attitude will start cooking the same shrimp next door. Otra Cosa and Bliss both have amazing lobster (and this year both of those restaurants have been as busy as ever mainly with the locals) and I'm sure someone will belly up to the table with some amazing shrimp soon as well. This is not going to last forever.
You've repeated so many times that you have no stake in this that it's just hard to believe it's true anymore. But let's pretend you don't.
I hope your liver is still doing okay from drinking this sauce full of grease cream and oil. The only healthy thing a bout this sauce is garlic that's still there and the fresh tomatoes that are now gone. But it does taste good.
However, the new owners weren't the ones who came up with the recipe, it's all inherited from the old Papi's as well as the great reputation and they are riding it. I don't believe there is as much of repeat business anymore like it used to be, it's mostly tourists new to Cabarete that read TripAdvisor where all the negative reviews are being conveniently "ignored". Whatever they changed in their recipes is enough for us, the old-timers, to realize it's different, but not enough to ruin the taste and the cooks are still the same, so all locals that stopped patronizing the place haven't stopped doing so because the food is now horrible or anything like that, but because they don't like the trend and are offended by the new owners' attitude who clearly stated on this site that their customers are "pigs".
Mainly Cabarete's restaurant scene is very friendly and this place just doesn't fit in anymore. If this continues going on like this it's only a matter of time when they stop being busy or a competitor with a better attitude will start cooking the same shrimp next door. Otra Cosa and Bliss both have amazing lobster (and this year both of those restaurants have been as busy as ever mainly with the locals) and I'm sure someone will belly up to the table with some amazing shrimp soon as well. This is not going to last forever.