Papi Gordo's — Restaurant in Phoenix

The good: food has a good flavor, staff is courteous, and nice decor. The bad: overpriced in my opinion, understaffed, and my food was overcooked. If you care for a little more detail read on. My friend and I each ordered a taco to start off. He had the Al pastor taco and I ordered the Korean Taco. My friend is particular about al pastor based on the part of Mexico where he is from, so nothing against this restaurant's version as it is not a fair comparison. My Korean Taco was great. I really liked the homemade tortilla, the sauce, and the meat. Something I would probably order again if it were not for the price. A single taco, rather small I may add, is $5! This is nearly triple the price of a taqueria and double the price of most restaurants that serve tacos. We also ordered our soft drinks and the bartender, who was serving as our bartender since we sat at the bar, forgot our drinks. It was not busy either, as there was only one more pair of people seated next to us. We had to remind her after a considerable amount of time had passed and she had moved from one task to another. She apologized for it but later on didn't offer a refill when both of our drinks were gone. As for our entrees, my friend ordered the birria ramen bowl and seemed to really enjoy it. I ordered the street style baked potato with al pastor. The meat was delicious and the hot sauce that came on the side paired well with the rest of the food. The negative here is that the potato was overcooked and very dry. Had it not been for the hot sauce that I drizzled over it, I may not have been able to eat the potato. Maybe being a new restaurant they're finding their way and I hope that it'll be...

We ended up having dinner at this place because there was a two hour wait at the restaurant we wanted to eat at. It was a Friday night and it was practically empty when we walked in. There was only two people seated at the bar and the baseball game was on full blast.

We sat down and the waitress came over right away. She brought us waters, chips & salsa, and the menus. We looked over the menu and settled on:

One queso fundido - to share One order of barbacoa rolled tacos One order of potato rolled tacos One bowl with chicken tinga

The queso came out a few minutes later and it was lukewarm. It would've tasted much better had it been hot and it got cold right away. Both the chips and salsa were delicious and the waitress ended up giving us more without us even asking. My barbacoa rolled tacos were decent and they had plenty of meat. I didn't really care for the toppings that were thrown on top as they tasted sweet. My friends potato rolled tacos barely had any potato inside and she said it was as if she was just eating the tortillas with no flavor. My sister had a bowl with chicken tinga and she didn't really care for it.

By the time our food arrived, more people had walked in so it started to get busy. Our water cups sat empty for a while and then finally the waitress remembered about us and gave us refills. The décor is pretty unique and we had an ok experience. Not sure we would come...

Okay, so if you just want Mexican food, this really isn't that. Think more like a Culinary Dropout taqueria. Great atmosphere, friendly staff, prices are above average, but without disappointment. Great date night place.

My experience: I just drove by and was like, "what's this Papi Gordos thing?" And said what the hell. Started with chilled patron, was as smooth as spring water. Complimentary chips and salsa, made fresh daily, amazing. Had El Rey lobster taco, all fresh ingredients on a blue corn tortilla made on site daily. Was hella good but, not as good as my 2nd order. Ahi Tuna tostada, I should have taken a photo, it looked almost like a dessert and taste out of this world. Finished it off with a fresh agua drink, cucumber lime, it's refreshing, unique, with a flavorblast.

Although I walked in alone, the staff, the people around me were all friendly, it's an open friendly...