Papa Lopez Mexican Cantina

Reviews 8

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Jesse S

Let me start by saying the food here is really really good. The salsa is spicy and excellent. I ordered the large guacamole appetizer which is $8. For the entree, I ordered the brisket tacos and my wife ordered the chicken fajitas for $16. For the "large" guacamole, I was given a large plate full of lettuce with 3 tablespoon-sized scoops of guacamole on it. I thought this was some kind of mistake so I asked the waitress if this is really the large. She said yes this is really the large. I asked her how they can serve me such a small portion and think this is OK and she just said whatever and walked away. For the fajitas, my wife was given 4 small strips of chicken on top of a plate full of onions, a small scoop of rice and beans. When I got the check, I couldnt bring myself to pay for the food Id gotten, with such comically small portions and insultingly high prices. I asked to talk to the manager and told him that their portion sizes are wrong and didnt understand how they can think its OK to serve food like that. I told him I cant pay $8 for $0.25 worth of avocado. The manager was very nice and apologetic and said that hes heard a lot of complaints about the small portion sizes and took $16 off of my check to compensate. Although the food is good here, I absolutely cant ever return here based on their ridiculously small sized portions and high prices for so little food.

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Meg Correa

I had a bad experience here several years ago shortly after they opened and havent been back since. We gave it a shot last Saturday night on a whim, and I was pleasantly surprised by our experience and meal. We walked in around 7pm and were quoted a 10 minutes wait time. Within 8 minutes we had our seats, drink order taken, and received our chips and salsa. Chips - arent greasy and seasoned just right. Salsa - mild flavor, not very spicy but still good. The appitizer we chose was a cup of queso that arrived pretty quickly. It was a good size bowl and delicious! Not the kind from a can that has congealed like some places. As we waited for our entrees, our chips and drinks were refilled quickly. My boyfriend and I both ordered the chimichanga - mine with queso and his with chili con carne. I find that most places dont actually fry the tortilla, but Papa Lopez does! The tortilla was actually golden and flaky while the beef fajita was flavorful, tender, and had just the right about of char from the grill. The entire meal was delicious and the service was outstanding! We will definitely be back!

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Robert Peterson

When this place first opened, they were the best. Wonderful customer service, food, and drinks. Over the past few years theyve gone down hill. A month ago we were there and the service was okay - food was okay - drinks were still good. However, we went back on October 30, 2014 and it was absolutely horrible. After being seated, we had to wait 5 minutes before I got up to ask the hostess who was our waiter/waitress. She did not understand English well. When asking for a manager, he/she was not available. Finally our server came to our table. We immediately placed our drink and meal order. Food came out quick which was nice. My first drink order was incorrect and my guests meal was incorrect. When asking for it be corrected, we were served a side of attitude. There are 100s of restaurants in the DFW metroplex area. How are you going to compete with the others when you have employees that dont care about their guests? We will never return to this restaurant again.

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Slappy McPhee

This was our first visit. The waiter was very attentive and personable. The salsa honestly a bit of a disappointment. The main course however was absolutely delicious! I purchased the Pollo Monterey a chicken dish. The other half picked up the Chicken Fajitas which were sizzling so loud we had to raise our voices to talk. The meals were served very quickly. My chicken breast in the dish was almost able to be cut with my fork. It could have been easily cut with only a butter knife. The course melted in my mouth. I gave four stars mainly for the salsa. The other hitch was my frozen margarita. I know that most would say to not complain about a strong drink with so many restaurants serving watered down drinks, but the amount of alcohol actually kind of burned my throat. Due to this and the salsa being somewhat runny and not very enjoyable (I take salsa seriously) I docked the last star. Either way totally worth the visit.

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Lindsay Anderson

Our family enjoyed dinner here. We started with guacamole with our chips. The disappoinment was that we ordered a small and that small was too little scoops on a plate with lettuce and a tomato wedge. We will check out a large in the future because it was so fresh and delicious that one of my littles devoured near the entire plate. The blue corn enchiladas, sour cream enchiladas, and chimichangas were good. The rice was ok, the black beans and refried beans were ok. Service was good but we would have liked to have our check earlier and a refill of water for our sopapillas and churros. The churros were filled with vanilla inside of them. The sopapillas were an order of four and one was flat and a couple others almost over cooked but all in all we would go back and try something different. Price was normal for the food ordered.

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Andrew Chetwood

Best Tex Mex North of San Antonio Being Hispanic and growing up in San Antonio around authentic Mexican and Tex Mex food, I can say that Im extremely picky about my food. Ive lived in the Dallas area for 17 years and have tried several Mexican food restaurants that have fallen short of my taste bud scale. I was pleasantly surprised to eat at Papa Lopez and actually taste familiar spices and seasoning of authentic Tex Mex. There are still some "American cuisine" differences, but its the closest and best Ive had while here in North Texas. The gorditas, enchiladas, Margaritas and Super nachos are delicious. I wasnt impressed with the flats; Im used to shredded beef or chicken but they use the same ground beef they use for the gorditas...nope, not how its done.

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Neil Nance

I came to McKinney for a corporate shareholders meeting arriving early, as I ask anot attendant at Raceway Fuel Stop what was the best Mexican food near 121 and he said: See Papa Lopez across the freeway and I looked...and said: Yeah...I see it....He said: God over for their lunch specials and the food is delicious ....sooooo....I went over to Papa Lopez and ordered the beef lunch fajitas...sheese...they were awesome and there salsa was homemade and very flavorable....good ice tea...nice waitstaff....What more could Ya want? ILloyd be back when in McKinney, Tx....Check it out....I donthe believe that You be disappointed.....besides...Imiss a Mexican food expert....Read my other reviews on Google maps! All the Best! Neil

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Kevin White

Today is the 3x in a row Ive come here to get poor service. Im usually pretty forgiving when it comes to the service industry. Papa Lopezs has fallen off. I walked in sat at the bar. Ordered water. Bartender doesnt offer a menu or anything. This is the 2nd time shes done this. Im trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. But both times the restaurant has been empty. She just behind the bar being busy All of the other staff are the same. You should have to flag a person down to get a menu, chips, to order, and to pay. If it wasnt criminal Id just walk out. LAST VISIT AND NOT TIPPING. AVOID THIS PLACE

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