Pa Pa Pia’s

Unilocal did me right again. The reviews encouraged us to go and What a treat this place is. Great atmosphere. Fabulous service and just a block or so from the Peabody. I had penne with meat sauce — spag Bol with penne instead of pasta. Change was happily made by lovely server and it was divine. My friend had eggplant and said it was amazing. I’m not a big one for praise unless it is valid but this truly is. If you are down on Beale walk the few blocks to get away from the chaos and have a lovely atmosphere and great food. Tiramisu and cannollis rocked too!

I can’t explain my excitement when we were driving down Union and my husband asked if I’d ever heard of Papa Pia’s. There it was — the Italian food I’d been longing to eat again. There was one in Southaven that I went to a few times, but much to my dismay, they closed it right after I moved back home. I was thrilled to see there is one in downtown Memphis!
We tend to eat late because my hubby works late, then has to come home and shower. I hate walking into a restaurant 40 minutes prior to closing, but sometimes we don’t have a choice. They didn’t make us feel rushed at all. Our waitress was Ukrainian. She seemed edgy at first, but we quickly realized that was just her mannerisms. She was super sweet, delightful and attentive. The chef/​manager even came out and chatted with us for a bit about food, and gave us the story behind the place. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience!
The food is incredibly good. We started with the calamari. It was good, but nothing special. The entrees were phenomenal. I had the Chicken Saltimbocca, which is similar to a Marsala. It was very, very good. My hubby had the Pesto Primavera Tortellini with shrimp. It was fabulous! I will order that next time, only with chicken. I can’t stop thinking about it. We also ordered a couple cannolies to go. We were too stuffed to eat another bite, but we can’t resist a good cannoli. My sons, who stole them out of the fridge the next day, said they were great. I’d love to try their lasagna, homemade ravioli and fire grilled pizza in the future. I’d like to try the cannoli too. Next time I’ll either eat dessert first or hide them. Most of their dishes, and all of their sauces, come from old family recipes dating back over 100 years when the owner’s great grandfather immigrated from Marigliano, Italy. I’m very familiar with authentic Italian food, and this is the real deal.
This place has the atmosphere I would expect of an Italian restaurant, between the deep rich wood and old family photos, with a few paintings here and there. I really wish they would take down the picture of the man that resembles my ex-​husband, but I guess I’ll just have to sit with my back to it. Other than that, it has a nice upscale feel to it, but it doesn’t feel stuffy.
The prices were reasonable for what it is. I think our dishes were between $ 15-​$ 20 each. My small bottle of wine was $ 10, and hubby’s imported beers were $ 5 each. They have a great selection of wines and beer, and those are reasonably priced a well.
I have a theory that bad things are usually just blessings in disguise. I didn’t realize at the time we were driving to three different restaurants, but couldn’t find a place to park at any if them, that there was a little blessing waiting on us on Union Avenue. I’m so, so, so happy we happened to drive right by it, and that he happened to notice the sign! We will put this in our regular rotation of favorite places to grab dinner (and cannolies.)

I have to be honest, this place is delicious. The staff love to recommend things for you… if you’re indecisive, let them ask you a few questions and they’ll recommend the perfect fit for the palate you have that day. Every pasta I’ve had there has been divine. They have great wines to pair with your meal and are happy to help choose one if you’re inexperienced in that area.
I love Italian food, and this is one of the better Italian places downtown.

Went on Wednesday night for Half price pizza and wine. A little crowded when we got there and never really had any one try and seat us. We like sitting at the bar so after 15min or so we grabbed a few stools and checked out the menu. The pizza was pretty good (the sausage was weird in taste and texture) and the person helping the bar was nice but we did have to work a bit to get cheese, peppers, etc. I felt the space was a little cramped and didn’t feel super comfortable. All things included it was pretty good and while I won’t rush to go back I would not reject it if the group wanted to go there. If you want a pretty good pie (cheap) and a cheap glass of wine you could do worse.

My experience here was not so great. The staff were friendly enough if not a bit indifferent (maybe because it was pretty late?). The food left a lot to be desired. First, they were out of a lot including pizza (I assume that meant they were out of dough?), lasagna and the beer we wanted to order. No big deal, we picked other things.
The food came fast, but it just wasnt… something. I had the rigatoni and sausage. I asked for regular tomato sauce instead of the creamy tomato sauce and told them it was because I had a dairy allergy, and then my pasta came out with a bunch of cheese melted on top. Fine, no problem. Its my annoying allergy, but it would have been nice if the menu or server would have mentioned the cheese. Otherwise the dish was just a bit off. It had a weird combination of what must have been ground sausage as well as something like andouille. It was strange and not a great flavor. My companion was equally disenchanted with his dish. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing?

Great small local Italian place here, great service and the food also fresh and tasty. Portion is @normal human size (something that I can finish)
skip the tiramisu. one of the worst desert I ever had.

The positive reviews here do not reflect our experience. We went on a thursday night around 8:00. The restaurant was almost empty, except for two parties and us and one tired-​looking bartender/​waitress who slowly and reluctantly served the entire room.
There was olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but they never brought us any bread. We ordered bruschetta, and the bread was stale (like a rock) and the tomato toppings were excessively oily and tasted more mexican than anything. For entrée we had the Pizza Primavera, which was just OK. Tried the Tiramisu for dessert based on the reviews here, but it was the mousse/​spongecake ratio was kind of gross and wet (it had probably been in the fridge for a long time). Server was inattentive, rushed to slam our plates and cups down and walk away quickly, and ignored the fact that we stayed away from the inedible bruschetta.

Okay, we must’ve hit this on a REALLY bad night. Severely understaffed the bartender was the server for the entire restaurant. (8 tables) So we can’t hold the service against him but shame on the manager or whomever left one guy there to fend for himself. We got the toasted ravioli for an appetizer. The ravioli was horribly overcooked (burned) but the sauce was so good I could’ve downed it straight from the cup. Bread was brought afterward and tasted really strange. It had a chemical taste to it so I didn’t eat it. I was starving for the lasagna which was plentiful, 2 pieces of thin lasagna but where was the sauce?! I mean there was a baby ladle full on the plate that we both were desperate to scoop up for some flavor but beyond that this was al dente to the nth degree. I had to gnaw on it to chew it! I finally gave up halfway through and we stopped by a drug store to get something to eat on the way back to the hotel. We should’ve heeded the front desk when I asked if they were any good and she hesitated to recommend them. Apparently 3 years ago it was some other restaurant and I suspect in 3 years it’ll be something else.

Real authentic Italian. Service was great. Meal was delicious and felt like eating at home around the table. Great place to eat at while in Memphis!

5 stars because the prices, the quantities and the quality deserve it. the good is good, not awesome but definitely good. The prices are very good considering you are guaranteed to bring home leftovers. We will be back.

One word. Tiramisu! This place is incredible. If I’m not mistaken, they make all their own desserts, in house, and they are unbelievable. Please refer to the third word in this paragraph.
I’ve only eaten the pizza (and tiramisu, in case you didn’t catch that). They bring the pizza to you with a large (coffee) type can that has a votive in the bottom of the can. That acts as the warmer… they place the pizza right on top of the can! I give it a 10 for creativity! The crust is like your grandmother would have made… if your grandmother were Sicilian. They kneed herbs right into the dough (a wonderfully easy, yet delicious trick I learned years ago & was thrilled to see that they did this!).
My one complaint is the service. Dear lord, why can’t more restaurants be respectful of people’s workday lunch hour? We sat down and ordered rather quickly. Our food arrived in a reasonable amount of time. Then, our server disappeared. It took a good 20 – 30 minutes to pay the ticket. It seemed like they only had one server working the lunch crowd, so I can’t really blame her. However, that’s unacceptable in my book; it shouldn’t take that long to get and pay the check. At lunch. On a weekday!
Overall, it was great food (and extremely generous portions) at a very reasonable price. I’ll definitely go back… maybe not during my lunch break, though!

I started out loving the chicken piccata and I figured I would try something else… Then I found the love of my life, THE CHICKEN PARMIGIANA!!! oh and of course that bread… they have good wine and staff too :) I’m a fan and so are my friends

Located right off of Main Street, Pa Pa Pia’s has a true Italian theme with Michael Buble music playing, and paintings of Venice on the wooden walls.
Sliced bread is brought to the table, with a little olive oil on top. There are three parmesans on the menu that come with a salad for a little extra. The Italian salad looked flavorful with a big tomato slice, and the caesar salad has fantastic parmesan cheese; a well-​portioned salad that came with a small salad fork. The meat, sauce and cheese of the chicken parmesan was delicious, although I found the pasta portion large and not flavorful.
The service was lovely, and Pa Pa Pia’s is a nice place for an Italian lunch in Memphis.

We had almost given up on finding decent food in Memphis until this place.
Yummy food, good location, good atmosphere, good prices, fresh bread and a nice wine list. We really liked it!

Pa Pa Pia’s sits in the space formerly occupied by my beloved Café Samovar, so I was a little reluctant to go for quite some time. I suppose I was in some sort of mourning for one of my fave places. I’m so glad that I finally got around to it, though, because Pa Pa Pia’s is quite good.
The food is so yummy– I had a flatbread pizza with gooey cheese and flavorful toppings. The pizza was actually enough, but I seriously cannot pass up a mozzarella/​tomato salad on any menu, so I started with that and still managed to wolf down most of my pizza.
The atmosphere is really cute, and the prices are incredibly reasonable. I still miss Café Samovar, but Pa Pa Pia’s is an excellent replacement.

It’s Friday, the sun is shining, and I was feeling a little indulgent around lunchtime, so I walked down to PaPa Pia on Union Ave. for some pasta.
I had the lunch portion of penne alfredo. It was great — the portion was insanely reasonable, and the alfredo sauce wasn’t too thick and cheesy. There were chunks of fresh tomatoes scattered on top.
PaPa Pia’s is a casual Italian restaurant on Union Ave. downtown. I like them for lunch because they’ve got smaller, more manageable (and less expensive) portions of their entrees.
I can’t say the same for dessert, though. The piece of ricotta cheesecake I ordered was massive.
I couldn’t finish it. I tried, but it was so amazingly rich that I gave up when I got down to the last inch and a half. I just couldn’t do it.

I like this place… i forget about it all the time though. BUT it’s yummy cheap italian food in a cute atmosphere. I love their plane spaghetti with meat sauce so good!

Yummy food, decent prices and a nice staff. I’d totally go back. The Chianti was great.

The restaurant is a little on the small side but still had great ambiance. The service was great and the food was good. They had a great deal on the Wednesday I was there which was half price pizzas!

Vegetarians are not meant to survive in the south. I learned this on my short trip to Memphis this past weekend. I was saved and nourished by Pa Pa Pia’s awesome selection of vegetarian dishes. Two of the four salads were vegetarian, three entrees were vegetarian, and a couple of the appetizers were vegetarian.
It’s a medium sized place that has awesome 6 person booths.
I’m glad I walked by and didn’t have to go to Hard Rock Café again for an under par veggie burger.