Since my first meal at Papi's about 6 years ago, I have been hooked. My only complaint over the years would be about the service, and even that was only occasional. I have never had an issue with the food, the portions, the prices, or anything else about the restaurant. When the new owners took over I was pleasantly surprised that little, if anything changed...apart from some nice improvements to the restaurant itself.
I had lunch there today and while it was far from bad, it was nowhere near as good as it's been in the past.
The one thing that made Papi's famous and sets it apart from every other restaurant in the area, is the sauce "a la Papi". Today, it was nothing like in the past...it seemed like a cheap imitation, still tasty, but not what it once was. It was all butter, no cream, and barely had the interesting flavors that has made it famous...
Equally disappointing was the portion...literally about half of what it used to be. I did notice this the last time I was there, but it didn't seem as bad...maybe 20-30% smaller portion, but I wrote it off to my imagination. This time there was no doubt. We ordered a full portion of shrimp and one of langostinos. They were served in one Paella dish and I honestly thought they made a "half and half" combo, which they used to offer. Obviously I was wrong and what was served was supposed to be two full portions.
In addition, the salad we ordered as an appetizer was served with the meal, instead of before, no bread was served until we asked for it (another thing that used to be pretty special, today was a sliced baquette), and two little "nice touch" things they have always provided, a complimentary small appetizer of some sort before the meal and complimentary mamajuana shots after were not given.
So, I don't mean this as a trashing of Papi's...it was still good, just not stellar as I've always considered it to be. And for the first time, I definitely felt it was not worth the money.
I had lunch there today and while it was far from bad, it was nowhere near as good as it's been in the past.
The one thing that made Papi's famous and sets it apart from every other restaurant in the area, is the sauce "a la Papi". Today, it was nothing like in the past...it seemed like a cheap imitation, still tasty, but not what it once was. It was all butter, no cream, and barely had the interesting flavors that has made it famous...
Equally disappointing was the portion...literally about half of what it used to be. I did notice this the last time I was there, but it didn't seem as bad...maybe 20-30% smaller portion, but I wrote it off to my imagination. This time there was no doubt. We ordered a full portion of shrimp and one of langostinos. They were served in one Paella dish and I honestly thought they made a "half and half" combo, which they used to offer. Obviously I was wrong and what was served was supposed to be two full portions.
In addition, the salad we ordered as an appetizer was served with the meal, instead of before, no bread was served until we asked for it (another thing that used to be pretty special, today was a sliced baquette), and two little "nice touch" things they have always provided, a complimentary small appetizer of some sort before the meal and complimentary mamajuana shots after were not given.
So, I don't mean this as a trashing of Papi's...it was still good, just not stellar as I've always considered it to be. And for the first time, I definitely felt it was not worth the money.