Papa's Tex-Mex Smokehouse — Restaurant in Essex

Couldn’t decide what to give them so settled on 3 stars. The food was very good and the prices can’t be beat. Unfortunately, the service was just horrendous. The waitress took our drink order right away, and then we waited almost half an hour to actually get them. We ordered an appetizer and it came within a reasonable amount of time. After that we ordered our meals. OMG. There were 4 of us and each meal came out separately with a LOT of time in between. My husband and I ordered the BBQ for 2 which was supposed to be ribs, chicken and pulled pork. No pulled pork on the platter. Our friend can’t eat pepper which was in her chips so they told her no problem they would substitute something. She ordered sweet potato fries which didn’t come for over half an hour. And her husband ordered all-you-can-eat ribs which never showed up at all. When he ordered them we were told they were the special that night. After almost 1 and 1/2 hours and still no ribs, we were told they were NOT the special and that’s why there was a problem, which of course makes no sense, especially as there were ribs on the BBQ for 2 platter. They wound up comp’ing the ribs and gave them to him to take home. They also apologized profusely. I really wanted to like this place and I plan to go back and give them another chance, but our friends have sworn them off, which is...

We came to the green room for a tournament and the food was not what we wanted. So when we left we wanted some good food and good company. Papa's was recommended. And WOW! I legit will drive an hour and 15 minutes to eat here. The food was amazing. Tina was our waitress and she was amazing. It was her first day and she will be requested by me and my friends every time we go to eat there. The chef came out to make sure the food was 👌. It was more that ok. It was some of the best smoke house bbw I've ever had. I would even consider having them cater parties for me. I cannot say enough good things about the quality, taste and texture of all the food. Just awesome. I wish we had a papa's in Alexandria Virginia! Is eat there weekly.... I'd definitely make it a hang out spot.

And I'll never forget Tina. She was so sweet, and on par with our needs and gave us great attention. Ten 🌟 for Tina!!!!

We had ribs, wings, watermelon salad (father day special...but should definitely be permanent when the watermelon is in season), crab dip....aghhhhh yummmm, and the brisket tips were so good, I got some to go!!!!!

Thank you Papa's for a great end to...

Simply amazing. Our family of food lovers have long searched local restaurants for a "wow" factor. Let me tell you, this is it.

We stopped by on a Saturday afternoon and were attentively waited on by Jennifer. Despite it being a bar/restaurant, it still had a family feel. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually had a kid's meal menu.

We ordered the pork lollipops, smoked chicken wings, BBQ pulled pork sandwich with gouda mac-n-cheese (to die for, by the way) and a kid's pit turkey slider meal with fries. While we waited for our meal, we chowed down on their in-house made chips that were served warm and crispy (had we known how large our meal portions would be, we would have probably saved more room by eating a little less of these delicious crisps...)

Our food was plentiful and flavorful. Already impressed with the portion of the food and the delectable nature of each item we ordered, I was even more surprised at our check. Can't beat great service, affordable prices, and fantastic food! This will definitely be...