Papi Tacos & Churros — Restaurant in Santa Ana

I’ve been a loyal customer at Papi Tacos & Churros, eating here countless times because it’s conveniently across the street from my home. However, today’s experience has left me extremely disappointed and questioning if I’ll ever return.

I placed an online order and paid over $31 for 7 tacos 2 of which were quesatacos. When I got home, I was shocked to find they had given me street tacos, which are significantly smaller, but charged me the same price as their regular tacos. Each taco was barely the size of my palm!

To make matters worse, when I arrived to pick up my order, they hadn’t even started it yet. I had to wait an additional 15 minutes. What’s the point of placing an online order if it’s not ready when you arrive? It seems like they don’t even pay attention to online orders when they come in. While I waited, the employees were talking and taking their sweet time.

When I got home and saw the tiny tacos, I called the restaurant to ask if they had changed the tortillas. The employee initially claimed, “No, they’ve always been like that.” When I explained I’ve eaten here before, have photos to prove the size of their tacos, and know they were much larger in the past, his story shifted. He then admitted, “Oh, that’s what we had today.” So, they knowingly substituted smaller tortillas and still charged full price.

When I told him this wasn’t fair and asked for a refund, his dismissive response was, “I don’t know what to tell you.” No apology, no solution, nothing. This is completely unacceptable.

It’s clear they ran out of their usual tortillas and decided to cut corners at the customers’ expense. If you’re going to charge full price, the food quality and portions need to reflect that. Instead, I feel ripped off and disrespected.

Between the unprepared online orders, the lack of care from the staff, and the rip-off with the taco sizes, I’m reporting this location and sharing my experience so others don’t waste their money here. If this is how they treat loyal customers, I can’t imagine how they treat anyone...

oh my gawwwwsh. i almost want to move back to socal (almost) just for this spot! located in santa ana attached to a sleek chevron station is this taco spot. on the weekend they have this pop up bbq menu that they serve on the side window but you can sit outside or inside after getting your food. we came for the tacos but wanna come back to try those lamb ribs on the weekend menu.

my mom and i can’t stop raving about the birria tacos to our family. they’re not joking about the slow cooking 16 hours part. we got the OG plate and an extra birria taco for me. i also got the pineapple drink and it had little tiny pieces of pineapple on the bottom, yum. we ended up devouring the plate together and ordering two more birria tacos for dessert lol. the mulita was our favorite set-up of tortilla, meat, flavor, and cheese. that’s what the OG plate is, 4 different fonts of the same formula. i literally drank the rest of the consumeh. i imagine their ramen is delicious because the broth is not just the leftover drippings, there’s effort and time put into it. there was no room left to try the churros so we’ll just haaaave to come back.

place is super clean and big windows to let in plenty of sunlight. the larger tables could probably seat a party of 8 or party of 10 people. easy street parking or in the lot of gas station if you’re also filling up or...

I've been here twice now. First time, I ordered their birria plate, burrito, and a churro. The birria was okay. You can find better at other places and for cheaper, but the churro was very tasty.

Second time, I wanted to bring some churros to a potluck at work, so I placed an online order using their website for 6 churros at $26.15. I get there, and they tell me they didn't receive the online order. So, I wait while they prepare my order and pay $26.15 at their register again, because they told me they can refund me one of the payments. This happened on 5/4/2023, and I still have not received my refund. I have called the store 7 times. Either the manager is not there and they will leave a message for the manager to call me back, OR I reach the manager and they will leave a message for the general manager to call me back. I never received any calls back until today, and Michael (the general manager) apologized but also had excuses. There was a lack of accountability, proactivity, professionalism, and communication. The churros were a hit at the party, but I doubt I will be visiting them anytime soon. Please let me know if you guys have any recommendations for another churro place!

I basically paid $52.30 for 6 churros and to waste a...