Big Papis

One of the best Mexican restaurants I have ever eaten at. Best Mexican rice ever. Not overly expensive. Everyone should try it. You will be impressed just like we where.

Overview — One of my new favorite Mexican restaurants with a new standard in food! Food ⁴⁄₅ Customer Service 3.5÷5
It’s a place I’d been wanting to try for months and after my first pleasant experience, I’ll be back!
The chips (4.5÷5) are homemade and you can taste the difference. I tried the lunch Chicken Chimichanga (⁴⁄₅) with rice (4.5÷5 — different from your standard Mexican restaurant, authentic) and beans (³⁄₅). I would get it again!
Lunch on a Thursday was not crowded at all, which I enjoyed. Nice server who took care of everything.
All to say, we’ll be back!

Well I came back last night for my second visit.
The food was just as good as the first time so I salute you on your culinary accomplishments.
It was salsa dancing night, I thought that was a neat idea and touch. I didn’t join in for that but still thought it was pretty neat.
Had a full order of guacamole this time. It was great and wasn’t able to finish it.
Had also tacos and sopes both were very delicious. Had enough for another meal leftover and it was very good for that as well!
Service was much better this time around and much more attentive but still slightly lacking.
I think you have a great thing going but need some minor improvements. I really hope more people will come and try the fantastic food you have and help keep this place open.
Thanks for another tasty meal, I will be returning again!

I really loved this place. The guacamole was fantastic, the chips and corn tortillas are home made by the owner’s mother every morning, everything tasted great! We had shrimp fajitas, beef chimichangas, and enchiladas. We enjoyed every bite of it. Definitely coming back.

I ordered the combo plate #3 (burrito, tostado and enchilada) all steak. It was pretty good. The steak was a little dry but for $ 12 the portion was awesome. I prefer the red Mexican rice instead of their white rice with corn and peas mixture. It still wasn’t bad. I also order the fish and shrimp ceviche and 3 orders of rice and beans. Total was $ 37. Can’t complain about the price.

Delicious food! Great environment! The steak tacos were phenomenal (homemade tortillas were an added bonus). The tortilla soup was very good as well! I will return for sure because I want to try EVERYTHING on the menu! I highly recommend this restaurant!

Our neighborhood Mexican place and one of our faves. The key to enjoying this place is expectations. It doesn’t pretend to be a gourmet 5-​star restaurant. The service is usually pretty good (sometimes excellent and sometimes not awesome) but the place is great for families, has great specials and the food is fantastic. Last week the had the Cubano and it was legit! I will go back for it soon! Never too busy either. Just don’t set yourself up for something just to be disappointment. If you’re looking for a casual, laid back latino restaurant with touches of Cuba, Brazil and Puerto Rico in their menu, you’ve found the right spot.

This is a small place with comfortable seating. Service was great. I was amazed that I had no grease on my plate. Presentation of the plate was really nice as well. I think for the Milwaukee area this is the best restaurant. If you are going for atmosphere but are looking for mediocre food I would suggest another restaurant. If you are looking for great food! This is the place.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been back since my first visit. For me it’s a complete turnoff when salsa is made from canned tomatoes — no excuse justifies that.
I am used to fresh food and there’s certainly no shortage of Mexican restaurants in Milwaukee county. I think any place has to step it up to be considered by diners!
My other issue was with presentation. The food and plating wasn’t inviting to eat, no garnish or finesse. I remember some unnecessary plates on top of plates type action.

Went for lunch… and I will be back. Good food and fast lunch time service without the fast food feel. Easy ordering menu and clean authentic atmosphere. You won’t regret it!
Looking forward to being a regular :)

Just ok. No real flavor. Salsa was like tomato sauce. I’ve had better. Wouldn’t drive here from anyplace far. We only stopped in because we were in the area. Plus side, the waitress was very attentive & the place is kept very clean. I’m a neat freak that hates smelly restaurants. So, cleanliness won them a third star.

We usually do not have high expectations when it comes to Mexican food in the area however Big Papi’s was a pleasant surprise. The margaritas were fantastic and during happy hour, extremely reasonably. Even the beer prices were so incredibly cheap we were thrilled that the low prices included Mexican beers!
The food is incredible. On our first visit we discovered home-​made chips and delicious salsa. I tried a couple of tacos which I ordered ala carte because I made an assumption that the rice would be that awful yellowish-​pink stuff served at most Mexican restaurants. Boy, was I wrong. When my husband got his chicken fajitas (which were amazing and so much that he had to take some home), he was served a rice with cilantro and beans in it that were so deliciously buttery and fresh I was sorry I did not order them for myself.
On a second visit, it was Puerto Rican food night and I was disappointed when I found out the rice was different until I got my order. They were wonderfully seasoned with black beans and spices that were out of this world. I ate the rice before I even considering trying my sopas. And the sopas were fantastic as well.
By far this is one of the best Mexican restaurants we have found on the south side. Our server mentioned that they were expanding the menu because some people asked for more selections. I do not understand why. When you do something this well, there it is hard enough to choose from the current menu.
Their prices are not terribly high and considering the quality and taste, it is a fantastic value. And the staff is friendly and inviting. However, I did see a child following a server around during not one but two of our visits which was a total turn-​off. Some advice: stimulate the economy by hiring a babysitter.

Very surprised how authentic the food was. I was expecting the same old Mexican restaurant but would go back. Great service too.

My family loves Big Papi’s! We are slowly becoming regulars now. The menu selection is not very large, but I’m ususally overwhelmed in other restaurants because of the volume of options. I usually order shrimp tacos, but have tried other items on the menu. My fiancée absolutely loves the fajitas, and after trying them myself, I agree. The guacamole is very refreshing, and delicious. The chips are homemade and unique as they are double layered (so extra crunchy). Two kinds of salsa, one red, the other green (both are tasty). All in all, the food is great, but the staff is really the impressive part. We are always greeted with smiles and friendliness. The wait staff consists of mainly younger kids, but they are very respectful and haven’t messed our order up yet. I’d recommend Big Papi’s to all of our friends. Definitely give it a try.

I work in the area so some coworkers and I decided to swing by after work for a few margaritas. They had some great happy hour deals — $ 2 beers and $ 3 margaritas. Big Papi’s had a good selection of beer and for $ 2 you can’t go wrong. The margaritas were light on the alcohol but refreshing nonetheless. Our waiter was very attentive and served us chips with two different salsas — a red and a green. The chips are homemade and were out of this world plus the salsa complimented the chips nicely. We will definitely be back!

My husband and I ate at this restaurant and were surprised at the reviews below. First I have to say that I am of Mexican decent and Mexican Food does not have to burn in order to be good. Authentic Mexican food has a strong European influence. The flavoring is subtle, indigenous ingredients, smokey in some cases, presented well with friendly ambience. When we were there, our service was excellent leaning towards over attentive, and my margarita was not from a mix. I was disappointed to read that the food was being judged by the price and degree of hotness. As far as price, it is comparable to what we pay at the popular south side restaurants and I work in the south of Milwaukee often so we know. Truthfully, if you’re looking for tex-​Mex food, the best in town is found in the taco trucks, not the restaurants. And even then, some are better than others. The owner of Papi’s comes from an upscale white tablecloth Mexican restaurant environment and you will find evidence of this in the food of his new casual restaurant. If you are looking for Mexican cuisine in a relaxing and casual environment, I would give this a try.

Had the carne asada. It was just ok. Excellent homemade corn tortillas which bumped it up to two stars. Other than that nothing of note. The staff was friendly and accommodating. Price on beer and food were way too high. Still need to drive to national avenue for great Mexican food.

The food was freshly prepared. Prices are a little high. Was not forewarned that my cilantro and onions was $ 2.00. One refill on soft drinks. The salsa verde is tasty, mild heat and the red has a slight smokiness. The décor is nice and clean. Our service was very attentive and pleasant. The red salsa, onions and cilantro added much needed flavor to the creamy beans. Worth a try! We’ll be back.

When we arrived, seemed like it would be a fun and good place to eat. That turned out to be a different story. EXTREMELY disappointed. Our server forgot about us, no help for about 10 minutes. Once she came over, she took our order for drinks. We got them pretty promtly, however we did not get our chips and salsa until we asked for them THREE seperate times. We then placed our food order, and after 40 minutes of waiting, we assumed she forgot to put it in and we left due to the wait. While we were there other guests also got up and left due to being forgotten. I do not recommend this place at all.

We thought we might try the New Mexican joint & were pretty excited for a new option in town. When we got there everyone was very
Nice & friendly! A young man opened the door for us, a hostess greeted us immediatly! We decided to order at the bar since it was early & not very crowded. We usually like to get to know the staff & owners of the places we frequent. I was disappointed they had no beer on tap, so we ordered a couple of Dos xx’s. I had to ask the bartender for glasses. She brought us chips & salsa in a fancy apparatus that wasn’t easy to navigate. It Came with 2 types of salsa, bland green & bland red. We had to ask for another with a little zing in it. My wife ordered a fish taco that did not come with anything besides fish and cilantro in the shell. The bean sopa was plain, but it was a bean sopa. My steak enchiladas were fairly grissley, but the red sauce was actually pretty good. Oh yeah, the chips were home made, but very greasy as well. All and all, very underwhelming. And I didn’t feel like we received a value at all when the bill came out for over $ 52. (no happy hour drinks on weekends) It looks like we still don’t have a good Mexican joint in the south burbs. We will still have to drive north for good food.