Papa's and Beer, Simpsonville — Restaurant in South Carolina

Posted comments from approximately 2016: We've dined at this restaurant many, many times, as well as the older, smaller location (still open) about 1.5 miles away in "downtown" Simpsonville. We've also dined at the location on Haywood Road, in Anderson, and in Spartanburg. Many years ago I dined at Papas and Beer in Ensenada, Mexico. I grew up in California and have enjoyed Mexican food my entire life. So many popular Mexican restaurants serve "Mexican" food that is not much different than what Taco Bell serves. I like Taco Bell, but the only thing Mexican about Taco Bell is the names of some of the items on their menu. The food is not Mexican. Since I mentioned other Papa's and Beer locations I want to be clear that this review is about the 1100 NE Main St location. If you are in need of a fast meal Papas and Beer staff will get you in and out quickly. They don't rush you, but their service is prompt and most of the staff are very friendly. Portions, no matter what you order are large. You will not go away hungry. Upon being seated you'll promptly be served a basket of chips and a creamy bean dip. Their salsa bar is great, with 3 mild salsas, 3 mediums, 3 hots, and a reservoir of huge Mexican pickles (Jalapenos) and pickled carrots. One of their medium salsas is a deep red, thick rich chile sauce that I am especially fond of, reminding me of Pico Pica, a hot sauce found in some markets in Arizona and California, but not here. This savory salsa has a rich smoky taste and I enjoy it on whatever I order. All of the hot salsas are good also, and they are NOT too hot, so be adventurous with the salsas. Doing so will increase your pleasure. I've had everything on the menu. If you go to Papas and Beer only once you must order Mexico City Tacos. The order comes with three tacos, each loaded with 2 or 3 times as much meat as a "regular" taco, and garnished with pico de gallo. You get one pork carnitas taco, one steak asada taco, and one chicken, and a bowl of pinto beans garnished with pico. They are so awesomely good. Al carbon, deliciously seasoned and smoky and...how do they make them???? I'd love to have the recipe. On a number of occasions after enjoying them I have jokingly (but hoping ) offered the waiter $100.00 for the recipe for the tacos. Taking my offer with humor, they laugh, and of course refuse. Another great stand-by meal I have enjoyed many times is Plato De Chile Verde which is roasted seasoned pork (carnitas) pan fried to be made crispy and covered with a mild green tomatilla salsa. beans and rice. Wholesomely good and satisfying. I could go on and on and their fajitas, burritos, steak, tortas, chimichangas. Now, the one disappointing item on the menu, one which I would recommend not ordering is the Hubrache and any of the sopas dishes. I had is once, and maybe it was an isolated case of a dish gone wrong, but for me there was way too much masa. With so many great other things to choose from I have no need to try it again. Importantly, my wife is vegan and, for the most part, the staff at Papas and Beer know what has dairy and what doesn't and they do a good job "holding the cheese" for her. She loves their veggie fajitas and avocado tacos. One final recommendation: Have them make a carnitas and chorizo chimichanga for you. So good. Ok,...

Something changed. I've eaten there for years and since I usually don't like fish but have slowly found that I liked this place's fish, thus it's the ONLY place I go to get fish. I've enjoyed all their food, trying different dishes, until my last few visits. My companions, who also use to love this place, noticed the changes as well. Today, the food was LOADED in salt so badly that I couldn't eat my food. After trying to eat it because I didn't want to waste my money, and getting about 1/4 eaten I gave up. The salt was burning my mouth and so overwhelming I could not taste the food. It's now been 6 hours and I still keep chugging water because my mouth feels parched. My tongue feels withered like dry mouth. Not only was the food over salted but even the different salsas that we usually enjoy were packed with salt. For fun, I checked my blood pressure and no kidding it's up. That may be a coincidence but I have no way to tell for sure and I just got curious since I keep a check on my blood pressure every morning and night. I'll see how it looks tomorrow. That aside, my friend got the fish plate that we love so much (we go there specifically for that plate) but I noticed the fish, which is usually a nice fillet, all one piece, with reddish spices rubbed on top, and perfectly cooked on a large bed of veggies with a generous portion of avacado, was instead a mangled unidentifiable mess of overly charred fish with no spices. It appeared to have stuck to the grill and burned along the edges. I tasted hers because we were so shocked but there was only a heavy salt flavor and plenty of char if you like that burnt taste. There was only about 1/2 the normal amount of veggies that we usually get and one small sliver of avacado. They wanted to charge more money if we wanted a few more slices of avacado. The beans were so salty I just gave up. My previous visit, I brought the beans home and tried rinsing them under running water to remove the salt but had to toss in the trash because the salt flavor was still overwhelming. The rice was still tasty for the most part, but now they do some fancy molded shape with it, that I guess is supposed to make me ignore the overly salted food because it is supposed to look fancier than just spooning some onto the plate like they use to. Salt is meant to compliment or bring out flavor not overwhelm it and make my mouth burn after eating several bites. If it were just me, then I would assume I was having a taste bud malfunction but my friends and I have spent hundreds of dollars, maybe more, eating there and other papas and beers over the years. We usually choose this N. Main Simpsonville location because it had the absolute best fish, food, salsa, etc over the other local papas and beers. We seriously pass greenville and mauldin locations to drive to this location because of their cook and food quality. You can see by their thousands of reviews and good ratings how good this locations has been in the past, but now after our last few visits, something has definelty changed. The cook? I don't know but we aren't going back. I wish I had taken a photo to show the mangled charred fish with no flavor. Oh wait, it had flavor, it tasted like...

DO NOT EAT THERE! I will never eat at papas and beer again. Their menus have not been updated with the correct prices in 1 1/2 years. (Per an employee at simpsonville location)I orginally went go to the one on Haywood Road maybe Fall 2021 and i noticed my charges on my bill did not reflect what the menu said. I asked the server about this, who brought the manager over who explained that they were waiting on menus to come in with updated pricing. They said there is a notice on their front door that says the prices are different than what the menu says. I know i dont stop and read all signage on doors and windows in a restaurant before i sit down and eat. I suggested they put a “notice” in their menu or at the tables somewhere where one would see it. Now today, i went to simpsonville location, sat down and decided what i wanted. When the server came over, the first thing i asked her if the prices were correct on the menu. She acted as if i asked the strangest question and replied they WERE correct. I started to explained about the Haywood Road location incident and she assured me they were correct. So when i got my bill, of course the price wasnt what the menu said. I went and asked woman at register. She started to tell me about her notice on the door, i stopped her and said the waitress assured me prices were correct on menu. She got another worker to sift through a pile of menus until she found one that had price stickers on top of old prices. I told her i didnt receive that menu. She said they are still updating menus and they have been doing so for 1 1/2 years and she is doing it by herself. I also said i asked the server if prices were right, and she saud they were. She starts to tell me the server is new. I dont think it takes 1 1/2 years to update menus. They are charging people what they want and getting away with it. She refused to fix the bill. I have seen other complaints about this. I will not go back ever and definitely...