Papaye Restaurant

Good price, poor quality! The place is dirty and not professional! I ordered a waakey and it came with some hair on it! Also the soda can was completely dirty!

The food was excellent and very reasonable. We have visited quite a few restaurants and so far this is our most favorite Ghanaian restaurant so far. The fried yam with fish oh my my was my most favorite… The jallof was good also. I just don’t know why Africans don’t like to cook the meat till its soft though??? Lol no matter the restaurant the meat is hard, good but hard. The kabob was really really good. My husband ordered 5 to go. We will visit anytime we are in NY…

My brother and I purchased two orders from Papaye. I was craving friend rice and he was craving jollof. Each of our orders came with an option of chicken or fish and we decided on getting chicken. Once home I started eating the food and after my first bite of chicken I noticed it wasn’t fully cooked. I decided to call and tell someone at the store just so they know for the future. But once I made the complaint, I was told «So what» and got cut off. Very rude and unprofessional to say the least!

I come here when I have a craving for jollof rice and spicy fried chicken. The food here is ok, definitely a bit on the heavier side with the rice well coated in oil but the heat level is a draw for those who like spicy food!

To clarify, this address (McClellan) is their original, less formal place. Their website focuses on the newer place, further north on The Grand Concourse. I think that explains some of their variation in the reviews — people are expecting the newer place and getting the more basic, older one.
You don’t go here for the atmosphere — it’s a cafeteria with a tv on. This is a place to go for authentic Ghanaian food. They have a nice picture menu for those not used to the food, but feel free to ask the woman behind the counter questions. I love the emotuo and peanut soup. Nice and spicy. The Emotuo (rice balls) are a great contrast to the spicy soup. The goat meat is nicely stewed and so, not chewey. Huge portions so a good value
If you’re going to feel uncomfortable being the only «foreigner» (I was), then probably go to the Grand Concourse location, but if you’re okay with a few quizzical looks, this place is easy to visit (close to the 167^th St. D stop and very near the Bronx Museum of Art).

When reviewing restaurants of cuisines that are beyond the ‘mainstream diet’ of residents of even our country’s most cosmopolitan of cities, it can be easy to let the establishment serve as a proxy for the culinary merit of the country as a whole. That’s problematic, because a restaurant serving the traditional, or even modern takes on a particular regions, shouldn’t be held to account for the entire agricultural and societal development that has evolved over hundreds or even thousands of years.
That’s why I’m happy to have trekked up to the South Bronx recently with ten friends to try not one but three different Ghanaian restaurants. This wasn’t my first time with the cuisine, I’d had it three times before, and certainly some of the elements that were present are available in other West African and Caribbean traditions. But for everyone else, this was their first exposure to the food of Ghana.
There are two locations of Papaye in the Bronx, the first a small countertop, and then this one, a boisterous corner location that was almost full on a Saturday afternoon. Televisions showed African soccer matches, while most tables were occupied by groups of young men using the place as an alternative to a bar. This gave me a great reason to head over to the next door bodega and return with a dozen bottles of Guinees and a chance to explain the East African predilection for stouts.
The thickness of the beer helped wash down the food here, which tends to run a bit more towards West African classics, with a touch of the Caribbean mixed in. Fried fish and fired chicken weren’t particularly distinctive, but the boney fish and moist meat of the poultry both were big hits at the table. We also polished two big plates of jolof rice. This dish, with its original in Senegal, uses tomato paste pepper, and spices to create a mixture that’s closer to fried rice than briyani. It was a hit with the vegetarians at the table. They also enjoyed the banku with fermented and cooked corn balls in a stew.
Papaye is the heaviest of the options we tried in the Bronx. Many things touched the fryer making for a caloric but satisfying meal. It was a bit dangerous placing it in the middle of a three restaurant experience, but the friendly and loud environment were a hit with the crowd.
This place also serves many traditional Ghanaian recipes, including the stew and suya that we sampled earlier in the day at Ebe Ye Yie. To avoid duplication, I focused on things that we didn’t try elsewhere.

Let me start off by saying I’m not African but I love trying new foods!
My my my the jolloff rice is really good and spicy. I also tried fufu for the first time and eh I didn’t like it at all, even with the chicken stew sauce it’s served with I didn’t like it.
The customer service was also good can’t complain.
You get a lot of food for your money!

The food was ok but I got a little stomach uncomfortable afterwards. I think it is because the food sauce was quite thick. I recommend go earlier in the day so you have more time to digest before evening. Friendly stuff.

The food is great. I’m used to steam tables for Ghanaian food so it’s often too salty. Here it is very well flavored. I’d give it five stars if they served ginger juice or a better selection of beverages. Everything I had was excellent including the tilapia, palava sauce, and tuwo.

I LOVEEE coming here. I am always here getting the same thing. THE TILAPIA IS — don’t even think about it just buy it! Tip: if you do not like spicy food then this probably isn’t the place for you. Ghanaian food is known to be hard cooking so most of the dishes are spicy. I can’t get enough. I would love to see better service though. In any case, I love me some Papaye!

Food is great and could not ask for better service.

100 percent authentic Ghanaian food. Dried fish, kabob, jollof, fufu, light soup, stew and everything in beween, They tend to skimp on their stew actually… I make sure to tell the lady who portions out my waakye to be generous. It’s a hike but it’s well worth it every time. Extremely well priced for the portion size. 4 stars for being consistently good year over year. You could have multiple parties of 10 and they would fit btw s I wouldn’t call it exactly small. 2.5 blocks away from the D train stop.

I know a few Nigerian restaurants, but have always had trouble finding a Ghanaian place to eat. Papaye, which carries the same name as a big chain back in Ghana, makes Ghanaan food. Loved the groundnut soup they made, but their Waache could use some work. Heard from others that their Banku is on point, I am a Banku lover myself, but I am yet to see. For an African restaurant especially in NY they have a clean establishment. The portions they serve are large as well, and you guaranteed to be full. This is not a first class experience, but worth your money if you’re searching for a place to try Ghanaian cuisine.

Filthy, too expensive ($ 2 for a 16 oz. bottle of Poland Spring water, in the Bronx no less!) and filthy. I’d definitely recommend passing this place by. If you have a craving for fufu or other Ghanaian delicacies I’d wait until a new restaurant opens up like Obaa Koryoe, which unfortunately closed a few years back and was located on Broadway in Morningside Heights. I spent one and a half years living in Ghana and my ex-​wife is Ghanaian (and an awesome cook), so as an abroni I know something about Ghanaian cooking, and the food served here at Papaye is mediocre at best.

A great no frills place to satisfy your tastes for Banku and soup :) A curious patron (I think everyone is an Ashanti here) asked me «where did you learn to eat this food». When I explained Ghana, he smiled and encouraged me to sit down and eat :)

Ghanaian Fast Food at it’s finest. I know it’s three stars, but when I’m lazy and don’t want to cook my mom and I will trek up here to get comfort food. Compared to home this is three stars, sorry. :)
Soups are good. Fried things tend to be greasy, but hey, I’ll take here over Afrikiko any day. good stuff.

Papaye is a pretty small place serving up some Ghanaian food up in the Bronx. Everyone that works there is incredibly friendly and the place radiates positive energy. Both times I’ve been there it has had a crowd that is friendly and excited about eating there favorite dish. It is moderately priced and the food kicks ass!
The fufu with goat meat and okra is probably my favorite dish. Fufu is a dough-​like substance made from cassava or plantains. The stew in which the fufu is served has a bit of spice to it and has one of the most unique flavors I’ve tasted in awhile. The goat meat is tender and the okra is on the verge of completely dissolving in the stew. No utensils needed for this dish – just rip off a piece of fufu off with your hands, dip it in the stew and you’re good to go. This really is a meal in itself. However, given that it’s not everyday that I head to the Bronx, my friend and I ordered two additional dishes – the fried fish and the taro. The fried fish was tilapia and we destroyed it! It’s served with two dipping sauces and again, no utensils are needed. The taro isn’t my favorite, but it is also served with chunks of fried fish and a hefty side of this spinach dish that is mixed with fresh fish meat. This spinach dish will weaken your knees! I really don’t know how to describe the flavor. It’s just something that has to be tried.
So get on up there and try a few dishes. You won’t be disappointed.

This place is unimpressive and a bit dicey looking. Their soccer tv looked like the ironically placed one at «Welcome to the Johnsons» and the fish behind the counter looked a bit dry. Glances were exchanged and knowing looks, but since there was a line it seemed like a good bet. Besides, we really had no other options. Fortunately, we lucked out.
We quickly discovered that appearances aside, Papaye specializes in tasty fish cooked Jamaican or Ghanaian style, loaded up with a variety of delicious high carb sides. Do watch for bones though. I missed some, and ugh, hack, ulp… that was a mistake. Also, it is byob, but a guy offered to get us some Ghanaian beer from the corner grocery so you can’t beat that. 3.5 stars.