Love this place!! Always great for the family! Love the food here, never a bad experience! Service is great and fast!

My fiancé and I had a nice New Year's Eve dinner here. We didn't have reservations but they were still able to seat us and the place filled up pretty quickly around 5pm. We started off with the calamari and cheesy bread. Both were very good and we ate almost every last bite! We planned to split the chicken parm because it's a huge entree but I noticed on the bottom of the menu it said $10 charge for split entrees. I checked with the server and she confirmed that it was accurate. Seems like a wild up charge to me.... So we opted to get two entrees. I got the Delmonico steak with gnocchi and we also got the chicken parm with angel hair spaghetti. The steak was perfectly cooked but didn't have a ton of flavor. I think a touch of steak sauce would have helped. The chicken parm was very good and definitely our favorite of the night. Pastas were good too but the gnocchi as a side (pasta is included as a side with the entrees) was $3 more. We didn't get any drinks except for Diet Pepsi and the bill was about $91. Food was decent, large portions and very filling (expect lots of leftovers). The up charges seem odd to me. Our server was absolutely wonderful. Overall we had a nice dinner. read more

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If you like Tripe, this is the place. Great Italian food. Large portions. Nice ambiance. Awesome service.

Felt compelled to update my review of Papa Joe's and for all the right reasons. The food is as delicious as it always is. The service is impeccable. The atmosphere is very entertaining. The biggest reason for the update is to give accolades to the bus staff that keeps your dinning experience neat and tidy, with a special appreciation for Clint. Papa Joe's hit the jackpot by employing Clint. read more

ordered takeout last nigt which we have done numerous times and had good experiences. Not last night. Chicken french is always the best, last night was horrible!! worst ever had. Called and let them know it. Plus they forgot extra items requested on my order. IF there was a tablespoon worth of escrow in dinner would have been surprised. No juice, VERY dry and not what experienced in past. They did refund some $ because they knew how PO'd was. They dropped the ball big time on this order. read more

The food is amazing, the wait staff are polite, and the atmosphere is cozy. This would be a nice place to take your special someone on a date. read more

Gluten free food made me sick. Chicken French is touted as gluten free but it definitely is not. Probably just lot of cross contamination!! But no thanks read more

We had a great party at Papa Joe's on Sunday to celebrate our granddaughter's First Holy Communion. Their chicken French and penne were just the best! We also had brunch selections like French toast eggs etc . Service was just outstanding! Everyone in our party of over 50 people raved about the food. I love the home cozy ambiance of the dining room and since our party was before their regular opening for dinners we were able to use all 3 dining rooms to spread out the dessert table and the candy bar . The main area has a great long bar and we enjoyed drinks throughout the party. I highly recommend papa Joe's for party events as well as regular dinners! They are in the heart of Spencerport near the canal . read more

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This is hands down my favorite restaurant! I'm so glad they opened back up for lunch because sometimes, when kids are at school, it's the only time my best friend and I can meet for lunch and to catch up. Thank you for years of great service! I do wish you would expand a bit .. but I do like the new changes you have done... sometimes because I live 45 mins away now... I will put in a to go order, when I happen to be in town... and then heat it up when I get home! read more

Great food and service... like Nona's kitchen where everyone calls you honey. Portions are huge... plan on dinner the next day from leftovers. Biggest cut of veal parmesan ever. Desserts are a must have. Nice well priced wine bottles... try one that's on your table. Dinners come with soup or salad and bread. One of the better places to go that are open for lunch. Call for a dinner reservation... small dining room gets full by 6pm read more

Small, warm, and cozy inside. Everything I would expect from an old style Italian place. The service is always good. Some of the best Calamari I have had, and hands down the best Carbonara. A must if in the area. read more

This is not even close to being "Italian" food. This place should use the slogan... "Papa Joe's, We will microwave your Chef Boyardee for you!"... I have no idea why there is a line out the door and a full reservation list, if for anything more than the portion size is geared toward the drastically overweight Americans and the place is uncomfortably small... The saving grace for the night was that at least the hostess was extremely rude.... Want actual Italian Food? Go to Pane Vino or Dominic's. read more

So much food! And all delicious! Fantastic greens and beans, over capellini with shrimp. Six of us tonight and everyone had leftovers. Beth was our server and took good care of us. Juggling a lot of tables when we arrived, Beth is totally in charge. We also met Clint, a wonderfully friendly young man. He's a great guy! Papa Joes is a family place, filled with families enjoying a great time and a great meal. read more

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Great gluten free options! The resultant is conveniently located on Spencerport Rd in the same lot at CVS & Pineapple Jacks. You can pick up call ahead orders at their drive through window! read more

Experience here has gone south. Mains are nearly $30. Short on wait staff. Bread was cold, like not fresh. Damn near froze in their men's washroom. Very cold outside, but no heat prior to opening hour. Wash hands with cold water? estimate 5 minutes to determine if there was any hot water? If the little things don't matter to management, there are several other Italian restaurants we can (and will) go to. ‍ read more

One of the worst if not the worst plate of pasta I've ever had in my life (shrimp and scallop scampi). The noodles were overcooked and mushy, the scampi flavor was nonexistent. The shrimp was not seasoned at all. It was horrible. read more

If your are looking for a family friendly Italian place this is your place Staff is very friendly, prices are good And take home Portions are big They do a good takeout business but the dine in service is wonderful read more

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Favorite chicken Parmesan in Rochester. Always great!!! I recommend to all. I haven't tried anything else on the menu but others in my party have and said the same. We've had them cater as well and it's always a hit!! read more

Had my daughter's rehearsal dinner catered by Papa Joes last month and my family is still raving about the food! Everything I ordered was delicious especially the Chicken French, Greens and Beans, and Artichokes French. The delivery was prompt and the charge was extremely fair. I will definitely be be contacting them again for future needs!!! The ambiance was great read more

Papa Joe's Italian Eatery - Dinner - Italian Near Me - Rochester, New York

Pros: Nice atmosphere, good location with plenty of parking. Cons: Slow service, waitress was nice (when we saw her-twice) and food just wasn't what we had hoped for- not that authentic homemade Italian taste we were looking forward to. Sauce tasted like maybe it's jarred. So disappointing....not thinking we will be back, and probably wouldn't recommend this restaurant to others. read more

What an amazingly good dinner at Papa Joes! Had Chicken Del Casa and my aunt had the gnocchi. Huge portions of delicious Italian food. Our waitress was Sally and the service was impeccable. Even the little things were perfect tonight, the bread, the soup, and the attentive young lady made sure our drinks were never empty. Thank you Papa Joes for a great experience. read more

Sally was our server and she was a pleasure to have. She treated us like family and that goes a long way for us. She was professional and friendly. We will be going back to Papa joes and bringing some friends so they may enjoy this restaurant as much as we did! 5 star rating!!!!! The best Italian restaurant in Monroe County! read more

This is without a doubt the best Italian restaurant in the Rochester area. Nothing fancy, but tastefully decorated, clean & the staff couldn't be nicer. It's the only place my family will order chicken parm. My youngest son says they have THE best chicken French he's ever have. Not only do we go there for dinners, we have it catered for Christmas dinner. We pick it up on Christmas Eve & reheat it for Christmas Day. They tell you exactly how to do it so it tastes just like you're eating it in their restaurant. My husband had a surprise birthday party for me a couple of weeks ago & Papa Joe's catered it. The guests raved about the food. The portions are huge. We had so much food left over there was plenty for people to take home. You won't be disappointed, theyreally are the best! read more

The food was fantastic, compliments to the chef.. It was very busy, waitresses were running their buts off! But the service was good, considering how busy everyone was. We were a party of two, so we were seated by the door, next time I will wait to sit in the back room. Definitely will dine there again! read more

There can be nothing pretentious about an eatery and there is no pretention at PapaJoes. That being said, this unpresupposing restaurant is friendly and the food is very tasty. The portions are large so expect to take part of your dinner home. There is a small wine list which is welcome. The Veal Marsella was very flavorful and enough to share but the restaurant charges an "upgrade" for sharing. We took the upgrade by ordering the Calamari which was some of the best I have had in Rochester. Dinners come with two sides. We took the Side Caesar which was very tasty but needed a little salt and extra Parmesan cheese, which was on the table. If you are a very hearty eater, you can order both a meatball and sausage as your sides. The Chicken Parm was great; both in flavor and portion size. There is plenty of parking. This is a great place for a family dinner. read more

This was one of the strangest experiences at a restaurant, ever!! Went in about an hour before closing time (they close at 8 on a Saturday!) but the place still had a line. 'Great' I thought, 'this is a good sign'...I'm not sure what it was a sign of. That it's an old area favorite? Idk. We looked at their menu; which, according to google reviews, is more limited than before the pandemic. Saw a few things that looked interesting when the server came over for our drink order. She was very nice, but didn't know the beer selections and kind of stumbled around guessing before going to check. Came back and forgot what she had just checked on. Fine--it was really busy and maybe she was overwhelmed. We had to ask about specials and she told us, my husband then asked about steak and she said 'oh yeah--steak Oscar' which she then explained was 9 oz of filet medallions topped with crab meat and bernaise sauce served with asparagus and a salad and side!! Wow!! Ok! So we both ordered it. Well, it arrived in a timely manner and that's the most normal thing I can say! It was so so bizarre! I expected to see a couple of pink-centered medallions of beef with some lump crab on it with a yellow coating of bernaise beside some asparagus. I had ordered angel hair pasta as a side and fully expected that in a separate plate, which it was. But noooo-- there was this mess--a pool of brown sauce (?) puddled to the edges of the plate with a splotch of yellow on top and 2 crabbish looking hotdog shaped things on top?!? Huh??? I finally 'found' The filet which tasted ok, I'm not really sure how it was cooked. The crab thingys tasted suspiciously like imitation crab, and given the shape and size, I'm convinced they were. When the server came to ask how things were we said ok-- but I said I was very confused by the brown sauce and mushrooms, which weren't in the description. She said, 'oh, the Marsala (!?!???) sauce' what??? why??? Just why? See the pic! We were so confused! It wasn't horrible but just--almost at a loss for words! The dessert we decided to split was called Chocolate lovin' spoon cake and was described as having a pudding filling. Sounded interesting. Idk why we expected it to be as described. Just chocolate cake with a very sweet, rich frosting-like filling. Didn't resemble pudding in any way. I can't imagine ever going back. Nice service and that's about it. read more

Papa Joe's Italian Eatery - Steak Oscar??? Idek - Italian Near Me - Rochester, New York

Super busy. Get reservations and be prepared to wait but it's a nice night out. Calamari was good. The waitress busted her butt and was so nice it was busy and they were short staffed. Will be back again. Decent wine selection as well read more

Papa Joe's on a Friday was extremely busy but with a really great staff they made our reservations happen. I know the food is great or it would not have so many customers. Thank you read more

If you grew up in Gates or Chili, it is likely you can picture Papa Joe's without issue - the paper on the tables, the italian bread, the massive portions, and the bank drive thru on the side of the building. Papa Joe's has a special place in my family, and my parents ordered takeout pretty much weekly throughout the pandemic. I've tried to turn my Sicilian father on to some other great Italian options in town, but this is his true North. Chicken parm, chicken french, greens and beans, stracciatella soup, and homemade gnocchi are all absolutely fantastic. There is a definite lack of ambiance here - real "this building used to be a bank and it is all part of the fun" vibes, but the staff is friendly and service is always on point. We've done their catering services very frequently and have never been disappointed. Order online via their Heartland website! read more

The food is some of the best I have ever had. And it's my favorite so I love to check out new places. My dinner friends have been here since childhood so they grew up on Papa Joe's Italian Eatery food! The waitress did try to trick me because my Italian isn't as good as hers, but we thought it was funny. What she didn't know is that my Father was elected president of the Italian Democrats Club about 65 years ago in Philadelphia. And that the boundaries between Germany and The City States that became modern Italy used to move all over the place. So just because I'm Blonde without the olive complexion doesn't necessarily mean that we are not a bit Northern Italian. read more

I dont get the attraction. Mediocre Italian food and the ambiance is for old people.

First time back in the restaurant and it was packed! On a Tuesday! We started with the calamari, it was tasty. We ventured away from our usuals and tried new things. I had the eggplant parmigiana. It was very good. My husband had carbonara , he didn't feel like it had a slow cooked homemade taste, probably wouldn't get it again. We will be going back but probably for our favorites! read more

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We often order takeout from Papa Joes. tonight was a disaster. I ordered online specifying in all capital letters as I always do "no escarole" on the chicken french. When it was opened at home it was floating and i mean FLOATING in a sea of greasy juicy escarole. As in I put it in the garbage disposal. When I called the "person" who answered looked up the order and said "nope, no order for no escarole" when I told him I had added it in capital letters he said "well, it's not there..have a nice day". and hung up. the cheesey garlic bread was gelatinous and cold as was the baked potato. So...guess our go to is no longer on the list. Mike drop....have a nice day yourself. read more

3 of us ordered online takeout: Eggplant Parmesan, Chicken French, Carbonara Romana. Excellent taste, generous portions. Friendly staff.

Food is wonderful. Service great!! They have a drive through if u want take out. Very convenient.

Had lasagna and meatballs. The meatballs and the meat in the lasagna was hard chunky. I've never eaten anything like this it was terrible.

Absolutely delicious food! We've mostly done takeout but have eaten in the restaurant also. Good service and the food...well like I said, it's delicious! If you like artichokes definitely try the artichokes french! The gnocchi are my fave! read more

I ordered lasagna with 2 meatballs and 2 sausages. The meatballs were the worst I've ever eaten. The texture was horrible the meat was hard. I've never eaten hard chunky meat balls. The ground beef or whatever was exactly like that is the lasagna. Something happened to the cooking staff because this is 2 times I've eaten takeout now and it was horrible. There food was tops for many years but not anymore. Disappointed. read more

My swimmer friends had heard abut the huge portions of this place, so of course we made our way here. There's plenty of parking and the building looks like it used to be a bank. Once inside, there was an interesting smell that I wouldn't call bad, just interesting. As a party of 6, we ordered quite a bit of food. We ordered the garlic cheesy bread ($4.99) and calamari ($8.99), 2 of each. The garlic cheesy bread was very tasty cuz cheese. The calamari was good too though it was a little sour for my taste, but the calamari was tender. For my meal I ordered the chicken parm sandwiche ($7.99) that came with potato chips that definitely came from a store chip bag and was very much lacking the pickle that was supposed to come with it. My knife was also not properly cleaned as there was clear residue of something on it. My friends ordered a couple seafood pastas (around $15 for half order and $20 for full order). The pastas were definitely ginormous. The friends said it was good, and it looked good, it just was very grey. This place is definitely great for big family dinners for some alright Italian food. The staff were very nice as well. read more

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I have been disappointed in the food from papa joes. We have ordered from them on two separate occasions and both were bad. They used to be one of the best but now Im not sure we will go back. The most recent 2 meals we bought were thrown away. The first order was because the sauce was just so bitter. It was on chicken parm and on the gnocchi. It was not at all like it used to be. It would have been better with the sauce out of the jar. Papa Joe sauce. The second time, I stayed away from the sauce and order linguine and clams in white sauce. It was like someone added a box of salt to my dish. The other plate was Fra Diavolo Pescatori. Granted it has clams, calamari, shrimp and scallops, but the fish smell was so great it turned my stomach and it wasn't even my plate. To say the least both dishes went in the trash. The owners were very nice and gave us a credit for the first bad order. We then used that and another $20 plus dollars just to throw both dishes away. I did send a second email. I didn't want any more credit. That wasn't the point. The point is the food has changed and not in a good way. Maybe they have a new chef? I don't know and no information was offered so they have now lost my business and my extended family as well. I don't like to post bad reviews. I just can't understand why the drastic change in the food. read more