Papaya Asian Kitchen & Bar

270 Miracle Mile Dr, Rochester, NY 14623, USA

Address:	270 Miracle Mile Dr, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
Phone:	+1 585-272-7425
Site:	papayarochester.com
Rating:	4.2
Working:	11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 12–10PM

Location

Photos 33

Reviews 4

Paul Cicotta

I have to say, what happened to Papaya Asian Kitchen and Bar? When you walk up to the exterior of the place, you see an exquisite design reflecting Southeast Asia with a beautiful patio out front. The interior was equally remarkable with marble pillars, and Asian club lanterns. The question we had to ask was why is Papaya dead during a prime time of Friday Night? Little did we know, we were about to have our answers revealed. Service was 5-Stars as my server was attentive to the entire tables needs, and suggestively up-sold some key cocktail drinks. The downside, it was my birthday, and you would of thought Papaya would do something for your birthday since we spent a fortune BUT NO. I love places that spend big bucks in design, but cant produce good quality food. At that point it doesnt matter how good your restaurant looks when your just making up for something you dont have, which is the reason why I dont get past the third date with many guys. The prices are OUTRAGOUS for the QUALITY that gets served to you, almost like you are eating Chinese take-out. I went up to the chef after the poor performance only to see him chatting with servers at the bar in front of guests instead of improving the quality of food that should have been brought out to our table. Nobody likes a faker, and this restaurant pulls it off swimmingly, offering you fancy items made with low quality ingredients at over 20 bucks an entrée. Lets break down the food items from each category, but save yourself the trouble, and dont waste your time climbing over this great wall. BAR DRINKS: There Happy Hours are the way to go here, and while they dont tell you, extended happy hour is till 10 PM at the BAR ONLY. Youre going to want to take advantage of ordering your drink at the bar first then go to your table since each cocktail is going to be around $10.00 ($ 8.00 during Happy Hour). The Vietnamese Kiss is a delight, as it was combined with mango vodka, pineapple juice, Chambord, and then topped with Champagne-BONUS! The Pineapple Upside Down Martini will leave you feeling topsy turvy after. I loved the flavor combination of Vanilla Vodka, Pineapple Juice, and Grenadine. SUSHI: UNAGI ROLL- we had the Unagi Roll to begin, which should have been cooler to eat, literally. Nothing is worse than getting Sushi where its luke-warm within each bite. Nothing was BBQed fresh about the eel, as it was traditional Unagi stuffed in a tiny roll with avocado. The roll cuts where sloppy and uneven that my friends cat could have done better. SPICY CRAB ROLL-The Spicy Crab Roll was loaded with Aioli, where you could barely taste the crab itself. This will become a common theme with the Chef, covering up poor quality with sauces and aiolis. APPETIZERS: PORK BELLY- this was our favorite item of the night as the pork belly was cooked to perfection, which was put into a steamed rice bun. The flavor combination of the hoisin sauce soaked well within the pork and buns making this a wonderful treat. However, this chef puts hoisin sauce in EVERYTHING, pushing his luck. THAI CALAMARI- this calamari was a complete BOMB, as the pieces of calamari where chewy, making most inedible to eat. There was nothing Thai about this, as I felt like I was having Italian styled calamari with the oils, and herb seasonings on top. The tamarind side sauce was flavorful as it was nicely balanced with a tart start ending with a sweet finish. What a shame since the calamari was so rubbery. ENTRÉES: SIZZLING DUCK- nothing sizzling about this duck at all, since we couldnt even tell if this was really duck we were eating. They massacred the duck into a bunch a tiny pieces sucking the entire flavor out of the "duck" when putting it in the Wok. Then the chef doused it with a ton of hoisin sauce to cover up the poor quality of the duck to begin with. This ended up being a flavorless meal you could of gotten in a to-go container at Yummy Garden.

Blissful Blue

Writing my first review on a restaraunt so Id like to number my ratings. This was also our first time here. Customer Service: The Greeter - Initially was confused on where to sit us. After he finally sat us down he then just swiftly walked away without giving us any verbal expectations. We are used to at least a server sitting us with a simple "Your waiter will be with you shortly ". An unpleasant way to start our dinner night , from the initial impression of the restaurant. Below 0 on an 1-5 sliding scale. The Waitress: We tipped her for her strong courtesy skills after we mentioned to her our dissatisfaction with our greeter in return she was empathetic and offered for the manager to speak with us we turned that down although the manager (not the owner) came over to our table anyway in which she apologized and offered a free dessert. A 5 on a 1-5 sliding scale . The Food: My first entree was changed due to the unexpected style & choice of sauce used for my chicken -0 on a 1-5 sliding scale so I switched it to the most basic entree I will give that a 1 on a 1-5 sliding scale. Appearance : 10 on a 1-10 sliding scale . It is very well organized and put together given the space they have. Pricing: A bit pricey for the quality of food. The portions are not the biggest they are average. Parking : Its the mall you literally have a variety of spots to decide from on how far you want to walk and how many people have chosen that side of the mall to park at. By the way it is on the East Wing. Across from the Melting Pot. Hope this helped someone.

Alexis McLaughlin

My friend and I arrived and sat down around 8/8:30 or so. It took about 20 minutes to be greeted by our server. At about the 10 minute mark, we were looking around wondered how long it had been and saw the time when we checked in on social media. We then started a timer, when the timer hit 10 minutes, we flagged someone down. She was immediately apologetic and offered a free desert, but at no time did a manager apologize for this. She then brought water over, not telling us that it was infused with fruit that I am allergic to. I had to take an allergy pill at the table. She apologized, but didnt offer anything and again no manager apology. We ordered apps and had the desert. Food was good, nothing amazing. We sat at a table around the bar because we were there to catch up. The hours on yelp said open to 12 but on the door said that they were open until 2. At 10:58 they turned the music in the restaurant off, we were the only table in there. If that wasnt a clear sign to get the f- out, I dont know what is. Awful experience that no one there really seemed to care about.

Edward Huyer

Well, I now know why this place is always nearly empty. I was out running errands and decided to stop in for dinner at about 5:30, give or take. There were few other customers, and I was seated quickly. However, nobody came to so much as take a drink order from me by 5:45, so I got up and left. In that time I had two servers walk past my table talking and watched the hostess walk around the restaurant polishing glasses and silverware already on the tables. Im generally a pretty laid back customer. If a place seems really busy or understaffed Ill cut people a lot of slack. But Papaya wasnt busy. Maybe the serving staff thought I was waiting for someone because I was dining alone, but 1) the hostess should have let them know, and 2) a server should have come over to see if I wanted water or a drink while I was "waiting". I definitely wont be wasting my time at Papaya in the future.