Papi’s Stuffed Sopapillas

I give 5 stars for the steak and fontina stuffed sopapilla! I couldn’t even wait for my next order to take a bite and by the time I got it, it was half way done. They nailed it on the flavor and it was a good size for lunch. My friend had the panini sopapilla and said it was just okay and needed more flavor.

I stopped here this past summer and got Smores sopapillas with my family. Sooo good!!!

Popped over for a late lunch Avocado BLT sopapilla today. Very tasty and fresh. The bacon had wonderful flavor and the entire sandwich tasted the opposite of all that processed junk out there! I would order it again and try the ribeye too. My order was quick and everyone was so friendly. My only wish is that it were a touch bigger and cheaper to accommodate my student status!

What’s sad is that the place can get 5 stars off flavor alone but service and portions definitely leaves something to be desired. First, there is no reason why I should wait over 15 minutes for an order at a food truck unless that time is consumed by waiting in line. However, that was not the case. There were 3 people ahead of me, all whom were waiting for their food when I got to the truck. I can imagine that the lines aren’t long because once you try this place out once, it’s not something you would want to experience again. Nonetheless… I waited over 15 minutes to get a handful of meat and cabbage. Tasty bulgogi beef. In fact the flavor was dynamite… Only reason they are getting two stars instead of one. But the portion was as too small. I mean I waited 15 minutes paid 9.50 for a scoop of filling. If you are going to have «stuffed» in your name, you need to live up to it. This place has potential but needs to step it up a notch.

The truck was at SomerStreets in August and I had their buffalo chicken/​mac and cheese sopapilla. 100% worth the money– I’m hungry again just thinking about it. The staff were friendly too, not abrupt like some food truck staff can be.

I’ve been trying most of the food trucks in the Boston area, trying to determine which ones are worth a second visit. I visited Papi’s at Somerville StrEats.
Atmosphere/​Experience: Its a food truck so you can’t expect much for atmosphere, the staff was friendly and the cooks were working very quickly to get orders out. Your experience here may vary depending on how many people were in line, there were not too many people ahead of me and i would wager my whole transaction took about 25 mins. Not bad but I could see how they could get backed up quickly at more crowded events.
Food: Delicious and fresh, they fry and stuff as they go and their fillings are relatively unique. I ordered the bulgogi w/​kimchi slaw and the mac and cheese w/​buffalo chicken. I enjoyed both immensely.
Cost: Here is my biggest issue with this truck. I ordered 2 sopapillas, neither of which was very large and ate them quickly, most likely could have eaten a bit more. I have good appetite but I wouldn’t call it huge. The price with a small tip was $ 18, so I felt it was a bit steep for what I got.
Overall: Pretty good experience for a relatively uncrowded event. I would say don’t go in hungry because you could easily spend almost $ 20 dollars to get your fill.
Would I return: Possibly, most likely wouldn’t eat dinner there again but would be willing to try the dessert sopapillas. They looked tasty from what other people ordered and were about the price I would expect.
Papi’s is a solid 3.5 stars in my opinion but I cant give half stars.

Today I got stuffed for my very first time. Yes it took 15 minutes in line and then another 15 – 20 to get served but once the wait was over it was pure bliss. I had the ribeye. It started with immense excitement as I went in for my first few bites and they were excellent. As my consumption continued, I incredibly never hit a point of diminishing returns. The sauce, warmed by the beef, collected in the bottom of the perfectly done sopapilla to make my last bites even more amazing and flavorful than the first. Of course, this just made me want to get in line and start the cycle all over. Can’t wait to get stuffed again and again by Papi.

I had a fire green chili mac and added the hickory bacon for $ 1 more. Oh my goodness it was delicious! I love spice and didn’t find it spicy but the delicious flavor more than made up for it. At SOWA today they had a long line but it moved fast. I waited 5 minutes max for my food once it was ordered. All the sopapillas are made to order and you could taste the freshness for sure. I can’t wait to go again and try more. Highly recommended!

I’d never tried a sopapilla, let alone even heard of it before. But I love trying new food so I tracked down this truck and ordered myself an avocado BLT sopapilla. The sopapilla bread was very doughy and fluffy, much similar to naan or roti bread. The truck was quite generous with sandwich filling, with bacon strips falling out. Great flavors overall.
Would not recommend for lunch break though. I was the only customer in line, yet my order still took at least 10 minutes to fulfill. I can’t imagine it being much faster during lunch hour.

We had Papi’s cater our son’s graduation party. I cannot say enough about the quality of the food and how nice the owner was. Each stuffed sopapilla was prepared made to order. I had both a savory, Bulgogi Kimchi Fusion, and a sweet, Nutella Banana. Both were superb. Our guest were highly complementary of the other dishes. This is not a fast food restaurant, so give yourself some time so they can prepare a fresh meal.

I’ve been to Papi’s a few times. Rib eye and buffalo chicken are my favorites. I do like that the dough is made to order, delicious. The banana nutella dessert one i got is fantastic.
I was lucky and didn’t have long lines when i caught them in cleveland circle and chinatown. Based on some of these other reviews, i guess i beat the rush, though i’d expect to wait to be relatively long at most Sowa trucks.
Will be back.

I only ordered the desert sopapillas, but they were better than I thought they would be. Coming from Texas, sopapillas are a staple, but so few up here have heard of them. I treated my girlfriend to a standard and myself to a fluffanutter-​filled one. Fan-​freaking-​tastic. The size of each will fit in a large hand, so it’s definitely a good size
The staff were also super friendly and courteous.
I’m looking forward to trying the others, especially the avocado BLT.
Wait: it took about 4 minutes for mine to cook. I went at 2:00 to avoid any lines, but you risk them not having some ingredients by that time; I’m okay with that to avoid lines. When walking by around noon/​noon-​thirty, the line is around 6 people deep with 5+ people waiting, so my assumption is that the wait will be quite long.
My advice: show up early or late, unless you don’t care about waiting.

Walked by the truck when it was at Chinatown RMV, and decided to give them a try. There was no line so I got to chat with the owner for a bit, asked him what the most popular item was: the rib eye, so I ordered it.
The dough is hand pulled, then fried to order, and it is a doughy, crispy, warm cloud of awesomeness! The steak comes with an asian slaw that compliments the sweetness of the beef.
I am definitely looking forward to my next visit to Papi’s!

STIFFED BY PAPI’S
I expect my Papi to take care of me when he offers me his mouthful. At the grand opening of SOWA Market, Papi made us feel like the unwanted fries under a heatlamp.
Rookie truck Papi’s hawks fusion sandwiches based on the South American delight of sopapilla, a flaky and fried-​to-​order pillow of puff pastry that serves as the delivery device for sweet or savory toppings.
They ran out of corned beef by the time we got to the window at 2:15. So after settling for an Avo BLT and Korean Bulgogi ribeye, we had to wait another 1.25 hours only to learn that Papi had run out of dough. They offered us a full refund if we were unsatisfied with a bread-​less sandwich. The free bulgogi samples offered to appease customers were insipid and needed more time in the marinade, so we took the refund and went to Pita off the main drag, which gave us access to seating in a quiet park.
A word to my Papi. Cut down the menu to get the orders out quicker, or stop taking orders if you have no more product, but don’t hold the line captive and make everyone wait for your bumbling incompetence.
I will revise my review upon seeing Papi’s system and timing and food improve, because the presentation looks fresh and delicious. That said, Papi’s is not ready for the big leagues. We came to get stuffed by Papi. In the end, we got stiffed.

TL, DR: Terribly managed, a bit unsanitary, and not worth the time, money or effort to try.
Strike 1: Waited in line for 35 minutes to order, got up to the window only to hear that they were running out of dough and wouldn’t be able to give me an actual sopapilla — so for $ 2 less (aka $ 8) I could just get the filling. Rip off? Definitely, but I was still curious, so I handed over my money. That being said, they should have announced this issue earlier on, especially considering that there were about 50 people behind me.
Strike 2: Watched the cooking staff prepare the ingredients and stuff the sopapillas without gloves. Filling went on their hands and then was scooped back into the dough. That’s got to be a health code violation.
Strike 3: After waiting for another 30 minutes after placing the order, someone in the truck sticks their head out to inform the ~40 people waiting for their food that they just ran out of frites and to go back for a refund. How did they not realize this earlier on? Oh, and by the way, that means they’ve now fully sold out of one sopapilla type, fries, run out of dough, and are giving super skimpy portions on the orders coming out.
Strike 4: (Should there even be one). Checked the time and it turns out we had already been waiting for over an hour and still hadn’t gotten any food. My friend went to ask if our order had been forgotten about or where it was in line (others were doing the same, and one guy said he had been waiting for an hour and a half), and they said they still had 20 orders ahead of ours! 20! Mind you there were four people in the truck, and all they were doing were stuffing filling into pockets. We asked for a refund.
So disappointing, such terrible service. You lost my business and I’m sure many more.

Great food but the wait times are long. That’s the price you pay for yummy food I guess. We had the mac and cheese sopapilla and it was super good. We wanted to go back but the line had gotten so long!
Definitely can’t wait to go back and try more.

Argh I was so excited to try this place on Sowa’s opening day but the wait time was RIDICULOUS. I waited in line from 1:30 — 2:15ish and then for my food from 2:15 — 3:15 — yes that is OVER 1.5 hours, people, and I was keeping track of the time because I needed to be somewhere at 3:30. By the time 3:15 rolls around, I had just gotten my first order and the owner comes out and says they ran out of dough for the remaining orders. Although my BF gets a full refund, we’re both upset that we had waited that long for them to just give us our money back. Halfway through eating, my lip starts itching and I realize there is avocado in my sopapilla. I had ordered the bulgogi ribeye and they had given me the wrong order. Thank goodness I’m not deathly allergic to avocado but I’m still allergic nonetheless. I had to throw it away.
From reading other Unilocal reviews, it’s clear they really need to work on their timing since it seems customers regularly face 40+ min waits. It would’ve been nice if staff had informed customers, not only of the wait time, but also that they were running out of supplies. At one point, some guy got fed up and started yelling at the owner right in front of the food truck. Kudos to him for expressing what the rest of us were feeling internally — extreme frustration and disappointment that we wasted our time for nothing.

Came here during SOWA’s opening day. If you think you’re beating the rush going @ 11:30, you might want to add another half our to that. Lines were HUGE by that time.
I ordered the Bulgogi Ribeye with bacon (extra $ 1). I thought it was pretty good. I’ve never had a sopapilla before so I have nothing to benchmark it against. However, I feel like there could’ve been a little more flavor in the sopapilla itself?
I am going to dock off for the wait time. It was a little ridiculous in my opinion. My friend also ordered after me, but I didn’t even see his slip on the holder until the next wave. His order came out a good 20 minutes after mine. They definitely must’ve dropped his slip or something. Staff was friendly but definitely displeased with their wait time.

Really good… worth the wait! I got the Reuben and S’mores, so delicious. They were more like pitas because they aren’t enclosed, and one is sufficient to fill you up. I got the combo, so 1 savory, 1 sweet and an iced tea for $ 12. Definitely will return

Super long wait. I felt bad for the guy. He was frying every sopapila to order though, which I was told by the person behind me is necessary. I’ve never had them before. I stopped when I saw the truck because they’re not on NU’s campus often, it smelt good, and…
…one of the options was mac n cheese. MAC N CHEESE IN (basically) FRIED DOUGH? YES. Needed more cheese though. And was definitely sitting there for a long time because some of the pasta was crunchy. Also wasn’t spicy.
I also got the s’mores one which was really good. I wish it has melted more though.
The pineapple ice tea was not pineapple-​y at all.
If there was a second person working I bet the pasta would have been better and the line faster. I would definitely try again, if I’m not in a rush or I see two people inside.