There aren't very many Chinese places in Wicker Park, and I get the feeling this place has a pretty lucrative Take-Out business. The food is a little bit more pricey than those ma' and pa' Chinese places that are usually less than appetizing to walk in to.
I ate in one weekend where only two tables were occupied. I was a little concerned, but I ordered the sushi anyways. It was surprisingly good, on the likes of Blue Fin for variety of rolls, at a fair price. My wait experience was fine, it didn't take ling at all for the food to arrive (but there would be no reason for it to take a long time with one other table). I sure hope this place gets some more business because its hard to see no one in there. There's nothing wrong with the food at all. They have a huge menu, and apparently too big of a dining area.
Great Chinese take-out food! Let me first say we rarely order take out food because it always falls short on our expectations and we prefer to cook more healthy options at home but when our neighbors turned us on to Papajin we were hooked. So when we are in need of a day off from cooking or just want a quick semi healthy meal we turn to take out from here.. The Mu Shu pork is excellent, my husband enjoys the spicy Szechuan chicken and my son loves the chicken friend rice. Â The portions are enough for at least 2 adults and make for great leftovers. Â The ingredients taste fresh and the food we have tried is not greasy so when compared to other Chinese take out places we have tried we feel Papajin uses more quality ingredients and cooking methods. Â In an effort to switch it up I did order the cashew chicken and compared to the other dishes we have had it did fall a little short on flavor but I still would say it was better then any other Chines take out food we have ordered because the quality was still there. Â We have never dined in at the resturant but imagine the quality of the food remains the same.
Review Source:The food here is ok, but the service was laughable. Â Went on Christmas, and they had decent business, actually less than you might expect from a Chinese place open on Christmas night. Â Everyone was running around like their hair was on fire, and it was not that busy. Â No one came over to take our order, so we had to seek out someone to help us. Â Food took really long. Â Right before it finally arrived a server came over to take our order. Â What a joke. Â The tables around us were also waiting for things, and complaining. Â This place is very disorganized.
Review Source:If it wasn't bad enough that our delivery was missing the chicken fried rice for the three toddlers here starving. It sure did escalate into dining hell, when there was a TWO INCH BONE IN MY FRIENDS SUSHI Â dinner that she felt stabbing her inside her mouth and actually had to pull out from inside of her cheek. Wow!
Now, as we all know, and can expect, is first class costumer service from Grub Hub! (Yay Grub Hub)
BUT from the staff at Papajim don't expect anything more than a delivery man who understand a word of  English, and reception who laughs at you on the phone when you try and explain how their dinner ruined  your dinner quests' evening.
Sadly, the owner himself who showed up, could not of cared less. Ignored my request to speak with him. And offered me nothing but a $25.00 coupon to eat at his restaurant again.
Thanks but no thanks.
If I can give no star, I would... this is the worst Chinese food I have ever tried.
My boyfriend and our friends decided to try out this Chinese restaurant in Wicker Park on a Saturday night. We made a reservation through open table but it was totally unnecessary. At 8pm on Saturday night, only 2 tables were occupied.
Service- the waiter does not really speak English and most of the time he seems lost. Also, did not put all of our orders in the computer. One of my friend had to wait for his order to be made while we are finishing our entree.
Food- you can get better Chinese food at a small carryout restaurant.
I do not know how they survive with this kind of service and quality of food at this location.
Hum...where do I start....the 1 star is for the interior, but after that, everything else was downhill. So after sitting down for 10mins, our waiter came over and asked us for our drinks, but we gave him our whole order cause we were ready. We ordered the chinese appetizer combo, 2 hot n sour soups, a calamari, a tempura appetizer, a crunchy tuna maki, 1pc of namasake, 1pc of hamachi, a walnut shrimp and a stir fry tofu with veggies dish. The appetizer combo consist of shrimp toast (bland and old oil tasting), eggrolls (very thick skinned eggroll where you would get at most cheap chinese carryouts), crab rangoon (read eggroll comment), pot stickers (again very thick skinned, generally you would want the wrappings to be as thin as possible, thick skinned is very americanized), overall, this is what you would get from all those cheap 'american chinese' carryout restaurants. Calamary was deep fried right, but no taste to it at all...yes you put chopped up peppers on it, but really? no seasoning? The hot n sour soup were the highlights of the night, but it was actually just ok.
On to main courses....I asked the waiter to suggest a popular maki for me to try, he suggested the crunchy tuna roll.........big mistake, this maki consist of spicy tuna on top, and tempura crumbs in the middle, nothing else, yes, only tempura crumbs in the center of the roll with spicy tuna on top, the tempura crumbs tasted like old oil, so after we ate 2 pieces we left the whole roll untouched. the hamachi and sake pieces were ok but very thin slices. So our tofu dish is here, which was overly sweet, we ate about 1/3 of it, but wait....where's our walnut shrimp? oh, the waiter forgot but argued with us that we didn't order it, ok ok, I don't want to argue, can you just go and get the dish already?
So finally  the walnut shrimp came, and I took 1 bite and found out that the shrimp smelled bad, we had everyone(4 of us) at the table each tried 1 piece, so now we have a whole shrimp dish that we did not eat, 1/2 a piece of shrimp on each of our 4 sharing plates. I never return food once I order it, I decided to see if the waiter will ask us if there was something wrong with the food so I waived him over and told him we're done and do not want to wrap it up. he cleared the table, with the full dish of shrimp that was missing 4 pieces and 4 pieces of half eaten shrimp on our share plates and don't even bother to ask what was wrong with the dish. Bad service Bad food, how can anyone say that this was that best chinese food that they've ever had? I'm chinese and this is certainly not the best chinese food I've ever had.
Best Chinese food I have ever had. Bold statement, I know, but just try the orange chicken and you won't disagree. I always get delivery, so not sure about the in house wait staff, but I have never had a problem with my delivery order. Mmmmmmmm
Oh ya, Crab Rangoon is the best I have ever had too!
Came in the other day with my boyfriend and sat outside. We thought it would be a good idea to eat there since it looked practically empty and we didn't want to wait too long for food (all of the other places nearby were packed!). Should've realized that an empty restaurant is more of a BAD sign.
Our food took foreverrrrr! Same with our drinks. It was kind of annoying. The only reason I'm giving this place two stars is because of proximity to my house, and the fact that our server was so nice. The sushi was ok, but nothing amazing. I agree with Crista, I'll just go to Zen next time.
Horrible experience there. My boyfriend and I went to see what all the jazz was about, just to find that the band sucked.
Service sucked.
- hard to get her attention, don't know if she was new.
Took forever to get refills on tea or even put my orders in( i mean, I'm not sure if EVERYONE just takes a full 15min to put an appetizer in).
And then the food..
-ordered garlic beef dish. That was good, but the rice was hard. Ordered two sushi rolls, one just fell apart, both rolls had tough nori ( I hate that).
Music
-I never had such a headache while I ate. Seriously, I love everything, but whatever the heck that was, I just couldn't wait to leave.
Bleh. Not worth it. Save your money.
I LOOOOOVE THIS PLACE!
Went on a date with my favorite Gal Jenise.
We shared the Sesame Chicken.Which is phenomenal.
The food is served family style.
And when they say crispy they mean it!
We also had the crab ragoon which was amazing.
Love this place I can't believe I haven't reviewed it before.
Ordered delivery from here on Saturday night after failing to convince my bf to drive to Yu's in Schaumburg.
Papajin has been around a while and I've had take out and delivery a few times over the years. I've never been wowed by it but never outright offended by it either, so I was game to give it another try.
After a somewhat painful ordering process (I thought ordering by item number instead of the name would be effortless; not so much), we were assured delivery within 40 minutes. I thought that was a more-than-fair time frame for a Saturday night.
True to their word, the doorbell rang about 35 minutes after the order was placed, and everything was still piping hot. So far, so good.
We unpacked the food, which was practically spilling out from their containers. Here's the rundown:
*egg rolls: D-; greasy, greasy, greasy. I tasted nothing but oil.
*chicken, beef, shrimp and mixed vegetables in a spicy garlic sauce: C; the beef had a weird texture and the vegetables were too soggy. We ordered it medium spicy and it was exactly that.
*beef with pea pods, water chestnuts and black mushrooms: B-; this was tasty but the beef was the same off texture as in the other dish. I think they use really cheap meat.
*pork fried rice: B; it was pretty good, but could have been a little more "fried", and I was sad that it wasn't bbq pork used; regular pork is a little boring.
I also though prices were a little high for the quality of the food. We paid nearly $50 and that seems way too high for one order of egg rolls, two entrees and an order of fried rice.
Normally, Chinese food leftovers would be scarfed up the next day and the fact that they're still sitting in the fridge speaks volumes. I don't think I'll be ordering from Papajin again.
After two failed GrubHub attempts (as I took too long to order and the restaurants stopped delivering), I decided to try Papajin. I ate there once several years ago, but only vegan maki.
I had the "Family Bean Curd" dish, which was tofu and vegetables in a brown sauce. I wouldn't call it "spicy" as the menu had; it was alright, but nothing particularly special. It was an ample serving, but not the best value I've seen. I might order again if I find myself hungry after 11pm again, but I'd like to keep trying other places.
Besides being super fun to say, Papajin was a pleasant restaurant with pleasant food, a pleasant ambiance, a pleasant staff, and a pleasant atmosphere. Â I went here with family a couple of weeks ago for a late lunch and yes, I spoiled my dinner. Â We decided to get a taste for everything this place had to offer, so we ordered up separate entrees along with a sampling of some of the finer sushi offerings. Â Everything went according to plan.
I got the orange chicken which was a delightful mixture of a sweet orange sauce and freshly-cooked chicken breasts surrounded by a forest of broccoli (seriously, there was so much broccoli I honestly thought they made broccoli extinct.) Â The presentation was nice and the sauce was just enough to add a powerful flavor to the chicken. Â I've had nightmarish Chinese meals in the past of meat and rice covered in a gelatinous goo that has a consistency closer to that of an off-brand hair gel. Â But Papajin kept everything fresh so as to avoid such an unnatural texture and flavor.
My dad got the Schezwuan stir fry which was spicy in both the literal and figurative sense. Â I kept taking swipes at his plate like a hungry bird at meal time, but there was so much food he didn't mind.
The sushi was pretty good, but not the best I've ever had. Â Some of the higher end specialty maki was quite good, but the cheaper stuff doesn't really hold a candle to some of the other sushi places in the neighborhood. Â I would choose another plate of stir-fry over spending too much money on sushi here.
Overall, I would definitely go back here again. Â The place is awesome for small get togethers and dates and has a nice, relaxing atmosphere that is somewhat hard to find in such a busy area Wicker Park.
What a lousy food.
My review is based on delivery (not eat in).
Ordered four dishes they recommended highly: mongolian beef. sweet sesame shrimp, green beans and chicken, and garlic eggplant.
Also ordered vegetarian eggrolls, fried rice with chicken, and plain rice that came with the meal.
Pure garbage.
Cheap lousy buffet quality.
The person who took the order on the phone was nice. The delivery man was nice. The food was nothing to write home about. Anyone from Oklahoma not knowing how to spell CHINA, can make better chinese food based on a simple recipe ... Everything overcooked, oily, sugary, nothing to write home about.
Ironically the spring rolls were not oily and tasted OK!!
I dream about papajin! I have been here a couple times and each time my girlfriends and I have a blast and some delicious food.
It's never crowded which is nice you can just go there on a whim no need to worry about reservations. The restaurant staff are always so smiley and excited to see us.I dont think they remember us I just think thats how they treat their customers:) Â Â {----smiley face to them
So lets get to the food! I'm a vegetarian so I always order Veggie sushi and have actually gotten my meat eating girls to convert to veggie sushi they luv it! The best roll they make is the onion tempura roll,OhhhMG its so big and spicy and crunchy. I can just eat that for my dinner. I also have had the garlic tofu its also really really .They give you big portions and its not expensive at all.
The staff definitly makes this place great the waiters/waitresses are really nice and they always make sure you have everything you need and they keep the drinks rolling.They also offer delivery.I have had their food delivered a couple times and its still really tasty and quick. Cant wait to go eat their again!
I went to Papajin for dinner last night after 9pm. I was seated. I was hungry. No one came to get even a drink order after twenty minutes. I asked the guy who refilled our water to send a server over. Still nothing after five more minutes. A couple of the tables in the back had two servers tending to them. So I got up and left and went to Bluefin for sushi instead.
I was just appalled that (1) I told someone that we hadn't seen a server yet and STILL no one came over; and (2) some tables, at the time, had more than one server. I would call it terrible service, but seeing as how I got NO service... I will just say that I will only order take out from Papajin now.
Ordering cheapo Chinese always stands the risk of getting a box of bland, saucy mush...but this is not the case with Papajin.
This is the only place where I will order Chinese takeout from now on. It's a bit pricier at upwards of $10 per entree...but portions are LARGE. We shared an order of the tofu Szechuan stir fry...and it was more than plenty for the both of us, with a sizable portion leftover to take to lunch the next day.
With that taken into account, the prices are actually quite competitive with other Chinese takeouts. Only you get fresh veggies, non-soggy tofu and great flavors. Ordering is also a breeze with their online ordering system on the web site, and if you opt to pick it up, it'll be ready within fifteen minutes.
Don't know how the sushi is...but if you're in the Wicker Park area, this should at least be your go-to place for Chinese takeout.
While I do often get sushi here, I would say that Papajin actually does better Chinese food than Japanese. Â I typically eat at Papajin when I want to introduce someone to sushi for the first time, or if I'm not sure if I am in the mood for sushi or Chinese food. Â The rolls taste good, but most are way too large (specifically the spider and shrimp tempura rolls), making them nearly impossible to eat in one bite without choking. Â There is nothing like the heimlich to make the night memorable.
Prices are reasonable, and the Chinese portions are huge enough to split or have another whole meal from leftovers. Â There never seems to be a wait for a table. Â If you go on a warm day, try to sit near the window to do some people watching along Milwaukee Ave.
Pretty decent Chinese food. A few bucks more than your average Chinese take out, but with the quality, service and decor to match.
I've only eaten here once. It was lunch on the weekend on the first nice Spring day in the city. The opened up the front windows of the restaurant and we just sat there and watched the fashion show on Milwaukee Ave until our food arrived. It was pretty hilarious. One dandy in skin tight jeans must have strutted around the block at least 5 times while we ate.
I'm not a huge Chinese food person, but the people watching here is always good.
The Chinese food is just so-so, and I wouldn't recommend the sushi at all. Â Every piece of sushi and sashimi I've had from Papajin has had that generic, grocery-store sushi flavor to it. Â It doesn't taste perfectly fresh, and if I'm going to eat sushi, that's what I want. Â
I've given this place a couple of chances, but I won't be going back.
Dear Papajin:
Yes, you are average Chinese food, and yes I do forgive you for your ill-fated rendezvous with sushi and your over-priced dishes (wicker park rent, yo).
However, why must your sesame chicken be so addictive? Is it the crunchy noodles? The sweet and savory sauce? How you managed to nail the consistency and texture just how I like it? I'm hooked, otherwise I would have dumped your ass for sure.
it's our requisite Chinese take out (ok, delivery, have never stepped foot in the place....nor ordered their sushi, leave that for Bob San). Â Still, have ordered from here dozens of times and have never been disappointed.
Standout starters and dishes are as follows:
Egg Rolls, not greasy (usually) and similarly, not laden w. a bunch of cabbage filler. 4/5.
Miso Soup. 4/5
Chicken or Beef  Satay (you can't go wrong with either).  Absolutely, positively the best in Chicago.  You're doing a major disservice to yourself for not at least trying one or both. 5/5
General Tsao's Plate (combo, shrimp/chicken/beef) is my personal top dish, followed closely by the Kung Bo Plate and the Szechuan Stir-Fry...5/5 and 4/5 respectively.
Sesame Crispy Plate is decent and is pretty much their Sweet & Sour  Stir Fry dish with some sesame seeds thrown in...both get a 3.5/5.
The only thing I haven't liked was their Vegetable Stir Fry and that was b/c of the white-ish (and quite bland) sauce, not to my liking at all...2/5.
Fortune Cookies (which I rate and there are differences) are also a bit lacking with a 3/5.
With apologies to Bob Seger. . .
"If the sun
Ain't shinin bright
And the moon the moon
Won't shine for you tonight
If the stars in the sky gone away
And you feel
Feelin real slow down today
If life gets hard to understand
And the whole thing is getting out of hand
Come to (PAPA-JIN)
Come see your (PAPA-JIN)"
"If you need a pacifier
Call me anytime
I'll try to be your satisfier
If you feel Like a horse
Blazin' at the bit
Call my number
Anytime night or day
I'll get ya fixed
If life gets hard to understand
And your whole life is way out of hand
Come to (PAPA-JIN)
Come see your (PAPA-JIN)"
But why come to Papa when Papa will come to you? Their delivery is super fast and the food is great. They deliver west of California. They have great vegetable dishes that DON'T cost $11.00. Notice the fine print on the menu--if you have ordered over a certain amount you get a free egg roll or a California roll, but you HAVE to ask, they won't give it to you automatically. Beware some of the spicy dishes, or you may get the fire down below.
While the entrees seem a little pricey, they'll feed 3 hungry people. The tofu in the Kung Pao was nicely fried, and they're generous with the fresh vegetables, but it was decidedly un-spicy. Veg dumplings (eggless!) are individually enormous, and there were six of them. The portions here are out of control.
The veg maki is disappointing, so I would avoid sushi here, stick with the larger plates, and share. Also, do not order cocktails. They are syrupy, weak, and expensive.
I'm looking forward to checking out the Japanese noodle dishes. Tips on whether they're all cooked with fish-based dashi? I'd hate to get my hopes up...
Quite possibly the worst sushi I've ever had. I've had grocery store sushi that far surpassed Papajin's in terms of texture and taste. The rice was dry and utterly flavorless. The unagi sauce was equally flavorless and had a watered-down taste to it. Who would order sashimi from here?!? The quality of the fish wasn't even suitable for maki. I threw sushi in the garbage after paying $50 for a meal for my boyfriend and I. Just terrible. I've eaten some amazing sushi- this wasn't even sushi: It was rice with some skimpy pieces of fish, and it was awful.
We also ordered sesame chicken- which should be renamed ketchup chicken- it was overly sweet and bright red in color. It turns my stomach just thinking about it. We ordered (overdone, cold) crab rangoon with no crab meat to be found, just a quarter of a teaspoon of cream cheese inside.
We also received one (!) fortune cookie.
I wouldn't order from here again even if I was held at gunpoint. I may as well have torn up a fifty and set it alight. HORRIBLE.
Feeling lazy & hungover tonight, I ordered in from Papajin. Â I've been ordering from here for a long time and the Chinese is always consistently decent, but the sushi - oiy! Â Why, why, why do I fall for this every time I order from here? Because I'm an idiot, apparently. Hope springs eternal, what can I say?
Fella had the garlic chicken, which was quite tasty. Â I had the hot and sour soup (pretty good) and the aforementioned dismal sushi. Â The spicy shrimp tempura roll was badly rolled and drowning in sauce, the California roll was standard, but the Boston Roll - I swear, I think the tuna was off, it smelled and tasted funny. Â Wooh - I only ate one piece, guess I'll find out how bad it was in a few hours. That being said, I've had edible sushi from here, but it is SO hit and miss that I wouldn't even bother.
$34 dollars and 1/2 the food went into the garbage, so 4 stars for the fast delivery and well prepared Chinese, 2 stars for the sushi and one huge lesson FINALLY learned by me - no more cross-cuisine sushi!!!!
This place is a perfect example of what a touristy area does to sushi. Â This was bad! Sorry Wicker Park but your neighborhood is just too full of douche bags that enjoy paying for overpriced crap. Whether its food, clothes, furniture or rent...
There are way too many places in the city to go to, so unless your sushi is great....don't bother.
For the record between the three of us we ordered:
Spicy Tuna
Spicy Octopus
Salmon
Mongolian Beef
Unagi...
All bad.
At some point during our Wicker Park excursion, we realized we were drunk and starving. Sushi sounded like a killer idea to everyone who was not me - as I had never HAD sushi before.
So Jen suggests going to a place that does Chinese food AND Japanese food.
Oh man. If I could remember the names of all the little raw fishy treats we had, I would totally share. The tuna was outstanding. And the yellowtail rolls were really nice and subtle. Everything was awesome and tasty and reasonably priced.
Don't order the Reisling, though. Not a good wine at all - this is the first and only thing I have ever sent back in my whole life.
I order sushi for delivery from Papajin nearly every week. It's not the best sushi I've ever had, but it is consistent and fresh...plus they always get me my food within 45 minutes. I really like the spicy shrimp tempura roll here. Rainbow, dragon, and spider rolls are good as well. The unagi sushi is generally over-cooked.
I agree with another reviewer that the duck is a travesty. Don't order it. The other Chinese dishes are par for what I would expect from a take-out Chinese spot. Visually they don't look as fresh as other places I've been, but I've always been happy with the taste.
Delivery tip: they offer a free eggroll or california maki based on your order total. Also, they recently begun adding a $2 delivery fee.
I finally made my way to Papajin the other day because my friend Katy is visiting and we wanted some sushi. I had heard pretty good things about this place, especially that the prices were reasonable. We each ordered our own rolls because Jason B. was along and he eats his weight in sushi, seriously!
I had the boston, yellowtail, and tempura green bean rolls. They were all pretty good. My only complaint is that the pieces were tearing a bit, but they still tasted the same. I was just happy to not pay $9 + for a roll of sushi. The miso soup was just okay. I have had better.
The service was a little slooow, but good overall. We ended with some red bean ice cream, which featured some whipped cream and a cherry--Yum! Â I'm not sure about the chinese entrees, but they featuerd many pictures on the menu. It looked good.
My family used to order dinner from here about once every 3-4 weeks or so, and while it was good, it wasn't stellar.
The fried rice is ok. I think they put too many peas and carrots in it. I like it when the rice is darker in color and more flavorful. I feel like there is something lacking in Papajin's rice.
The egg rolls are decent.
There's one dish that they put way to much sauce on. It looks like soup! It might be the garlic chicken or something (though I can't remember).
The Mongolian beef is great, though. Yum! It comes with crispy noodles and white rice, and has a GREAT flavor. I could eat it every day for lunch (figuratively speaking, of course; I'd probably get sick if I ate it everyday -- literally).
The prices are about a buck or two more than most other chinese places.
Don't get me wrong, the food is good for the most part. It's edible, and it's tasty overall. But I've had better.
I've eaten here a couple of times and, of all of the wonderful places to go out to in Chicago, this is not one I'd pick. HOWEVER, they DELIVER, more importantly TO US on the western edge of Logan Square, So we order from there ALL THE TIME.
It's very good Chinese take-out (much better than your average local hole-in-the-wall joint that litters your porch or vestibule with menus every week), though a bit pricier. Â That they actually deliver sushi is what nailed it for me, though. Â To get a nice cut of raw fish on a cold and snowy night when there's no way I'm leaving the house is truly a luxury. Â Their Japanese menu is short on selection, but it has the staples and they are of decent quality.
Certainly it'll be more expensive than other delivery options but, short of hiring one of those companies that will deliver you food from anywhere - at a VERY high premium, it's definately one of the best. Â Where we live, it IS the best.
This may have been consistently my favorite restaurant in Wicker Park. I was never disappointed by anything I ate here. It's a terrific menu made up of a variety of Asian specialties. The sushi is done very well- the plates offer a good variety of expertly-made sushi. As far as rolls, I strongly recommend the spicy shrimp tempura roll. The hot dishes never disappointed- the house specialties are a good starting point, like the plum pork with scallions and the lemon chicken, but the rest of the menu shouldn't be overlooked.
I found this place to be as comfortable for a casual meal midday as it was for celebrating New Year's Eve. The massive restaurant doesn't fill up, so it's a strong backup option on nights when other restaurants may be packed.
We also carried out from here several times and were always impressed- the food turned out to be just as good as it is in the restaurant.
Meh--this is some of the most bland Chinese food I've ever had. Although it's not as greasy as some of the carryout you can get in Chinatown for significantly less, it's seriously low on flavor.
I had the vegetarian egg rolls, which had portobello mushrooms (uhm, what?), cabbage, carrots, spinach, and baby corn (oh god, how I hate baby corn). And It was flavorless. It annoys me how restaurants think that if they just toss a bunch of vegetables together, it will somehow take on a complex flavor (Leona's does this all the time). Maybe if you haven't eaten for five days, then sure, anything would taste wonderful!
For any vegetarian out there who's experienced decent Indian or Thai or made it down to Green Zebra, you know that very complex flavors can be created using non-animals. Unfortunately, the "snot sauce"--that sort of generic, translucent, salty broth that most Chinese restaurant use for their stir-fried vegetables (and, sometimes the "spicy" stirfry which is just snot sauce plus chili peppers)--is in full effect here at Papjin. Imagine a plethora of random, unrelated, barely cooked veggies drowning in a liquid that resembles a nasal excretion.
Sounds pretty unappetizing, right? That's what pretty much all the Chinese vegetarian dishes here are based on.
They do have sushi, of which the vegetarian rolls are pretty decent--though it's hard to screw up vegetarian sushi. I will admit that for accommodating a group, it's nice to be able to choose from Thai, Chinese or Sushi. I would suspect the constant crowd here is because of those options.
I had the Pad Thai  previously and it was bland. My boyfriend likes their Kung Pao Chicken.  I've eaten here and had carryout, and I have to say that the staff is genuinely friendly and pleasant, which is nice. My rating is coming from the viewpoint of a vegetarian, so feel free to take it with a dish of soy sauce.
Bi-Polar Cuisine Is Not Haute.
We ordered from Papajin's tonight because of the relatively good reviews we saw here on everyone's favorite website. We snagged the pot stickers as an appetizer, my wife ordered the crispy sesame chicken and I went for the mooshu beef. The baby opted for formula, I think he was sick of Chinese.
So it arrived about on time, not the speed that we had seen with Friendship but it was also about $5-6 cheaper overall, so them's the breaks I suppose. The first thing that caught my eye was the sesame chicken was served on a bed of my very own personal favorite - them little crispy white noodles what look like styrofoam! Already an extra star for that. The mooshu looked like standardized fare, perhaps a bit less scallion than I'm used to seeing but neither up nor down on account of that.
Settling in I tried a pot sticker and I don't think it could've managed to taste like anything less than nothing, but it was trying. The tart soy sauce made it edible but just barely. The mooshu itself was soaking in its own watery tomb and the pancakes were falling apart and didn't stand up to the slightest of rolling. This place was sinking fast in my mind and the only saving grace was the sesame chicken and it's wonderful bed of crispy goodness. My wife actually didn't care for it that much, she claims it was too sweet but I thought it was just about spot on for flavor. Think something between KFC flavor-dipped chicken wings and pottery glaze. I meant consistency, not flavor. Pervert.
Overall I don't really like Papajin, maybe if - and that's an if of monumental proportions - we order again I'll try something else. But no more pot stickers. No way. Pot stickers make Matt cry. Well cry and wish I had ordered from Friendship again.
Best Spring Roll Ever
While the spring rolls were very tasty, the rest of the food left much to be desired. My wife had the orange glazed chicken and I had the sweet and sour chicken. Both looked great, but were very bland.
However, I'm a big next day cold Chinese food fan and it wasn't half bad on the second try. I'm sure my third time will be a charm.
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