Paxia

I order take out from here once a week because I love their enchiladas and alambre de res. The chips and salsa they provide are also amazing. The only entrée I would recommend avoiding is their garlic shrimp. It’s definitely not worth the price nor is it all that tasty.
This is a BYOB and they offer mixes for your tequila or wine if you want to make sangria or margaritas which I think is great. Typically you get this for free when you order an entrée but sometimes they charge $ 6. I’m not sure why they charge some times and not others but more often than not you get lucky.
I used to eat in more often in the past but their service is a bit slow as there is typically only one server working the entire dining room. If you go in on a night a large group is having a party be prepared to wait a while for your food. Just enjoy the chips and salsa while you wait and you should be fine.
— - CORRECTION — -
I was contacted by a Paxia staff member after posting my review and need to correct some errors. All mixes are $ 8 and only the lime mix is free when you bring an unopened, 750mL or larger bottle of tequila and everyone in your party orders an appetizer and an entrée.

My boyfriend & I were in Philly last night in dire of need of food — without a 1.5 hour wait. Near impossible in that neighborhood. We wandered into Paxia because it wasn’t full and we felt confident we’d get food fast, even if it would probably be mediocre — you know, since it wasn’t packed and the décor was rather ho-​hum.
But WOW, what an excellent and pleasant surprise! The food was really terrific. Here’s our rundown:
* Empanada’s were delicious, if a bit overfried. A lighter touch with the oil would make them more appealing.
* Seafood Soup: Amazing. Really, really delicious, with tons of seafood in it. A nice smoky flavor. Four thumbs up.
* Duck Mole: pretty good, but not great. Wasn’t a great cut of duck & it was drowned in mole, which overpowered the duck. A little mole goes a long way — a better presentation on this dish, with less mole would have been better. The sausage/​beans side was delicious mixed with the salty rice.
* Guacamole: ranks in my top 5 best ever. Very EXCELLENT. The salsas were delicious too.
If you live in the neighborhood, please do support them. They aren’t as precious as some of the other restaurants in the ‘hood; they’ll need your support. I would say with a little interior makeover and some dish refinement — this place would be stellar.

We live in South Philly where there is no shortage of Mexican restaurants. I had read about this place and decided to try it with friends for dinner on a saturday night. Jeff and Kim were our servers and it turns out they pick the music as well. A samba, lounge and ambience mix that created a very pleasant atmosphere. The food was slightly more upscale than most of the other Mexican joints in the area but just as tasty. I ordered the vegetable soup which to my delight was made with vegetable stock. If you’re looking for reliably good Mexican food in a relaxed atmosphere with friendly service, you can’t go wrong here.

We ventured here for brunch at the suggestion of a friend and were pleasantly surprised so much so that we headed back the next weekend. Brunch is very reasonably priced and offers a variety of mexican style breakfast offerings such as huevos rancheros as well as the traditional pancakes etc. The mexican hot chocolate is amazing– normally I don’t even like hot chocolate but if you visit here, this is a must. Both times my boyfriend and I both ordered the Huevos Mexicana served with fresh tortillas black beans and avocado. All the food we had was very tasty and service was good as well. An excellent addition to the brunch offerings in Philly!
Also, noted that while there are vegetarian offerings on the brunch menu, the dinner menu seems mostly focused on meat.
They are byob as well!

Decided to try something new; this was it.
We brought wine because we thought we were going to Italian (place was closed). But they made sangria which was nice. It needed brandy though; bring your own brandy.
The décor and atmosphere is closer than any i’ve seen in phila to what i think a Mexican restaurant should be (one of the pictures shows the place).
The food that i orders was really good: tortilla soup and the duck molle. The molle sauce has a very milled/​refined texture but has really good flavor. The duck was PERFECTLY cooked and the soup was great!
My friend is a vegetarian and they did not have many options for him. He orders the tres quesos and the tres rellenos (i’m not going to figure out the spelling; i have work to do). The tres quesos were really cheesy (duh) which i cant complain about but i dont think i’d order it again unless i needed a salt/​cheese fix (I ate some of the churizo one and it was extra salty). I didn’t taste the rellenos, but my friend said that the texture was a little strange. He only had one though because we were already so full from chips and apps.
The chips are wonderful; nice and greasy and the perfect amount of salt. and the red salsa is perfect (while the green could be spicier).
The rice that comes with the meals is kinda a salsa+rice thing. But it is not strange like it sounds; it is really good.
Ok, I am from Oakland CA and have been eating GOOD mexican food all my life. So me giving this place 4 stars (it should actualy be a 3.5 but i am rounding up) says good things about it.

wow, reviews for paxia are all over the place. i for one am definitely a fan. i organized a last minute dinner for 16 friends this past saturday and everything was delicious with two exceptions (the tortilla soup was good but wasn’t super flavorful and there was too much tortilla in it and the chicharones looked and tasted like plastic bag pork rinds. they had no meat on them!). the tres crepas was outstanding (can’t believe that someone (previous reviewer) didn’t like them, it must have been an off night for them. everyone agreed that the goat cheese one was the best). my mans ordered the arrachera and it was delicious, as was my alambre de res. everyone who ordered the enchiladas loved them and their special appetizer (lamb flautas) was outstanding. we ordered many pitchers of sangria (they supplied the mix) and a few margaritas and the bill ended up being $ 27 per person. not bad at all and many of us brought home leftovers.
i wish that i had made it to molcajete mixto before it closed. i live around the corner and knew i had to get to paxia before it potentially succumbs to a similar fate.
and the service was pretty good, accomodating, timely, didn’t get an order wrong, however…14 out of 16 of us got there on time and they would not give us guacamole until they took our orders. wtf? and why??? we waited a half hour for the pokey puppies and were hungry dammit!

Went for Sunday brunch. Had the pork ($ 10) and the tamales ($ 6). I found the pork to be tasty but dry, the all too common sin of pork. The 3 tamales were all lovely, but on the smallish side. This would not make a meal for me, but perhaps would satisfy the dainty eater. The mexican hot chocolate was good but nothing out of this world. The service was friendly but a bit slow given how really empty the place was. They just started opening for brunch, and, compared to waiting 90 mins for a table at Sabrina’s a block away, this would be a most welcome respite.

I knew Molcajete Mixto, and you’re no Molcajete Mixto.
It’s hard for me to be down on a restaurant that lives on my block, but my meal was all low points.
Tough, tasteless pork al pastor in a bland sauce? Bland guac? Tres Crepas smothered in a shoddy tomato sauce? I didn’t know it was even even possible to screw up goat cheese.
Service was friendly enough, and there was nothing wrong with the lime margaria mix, but I’ll pass.