Papago Brewing

*This is a review for the food
Came in last Friday for a quick bite to eat. My boyfriend and I ordered the soft pretzel, personal Belgian pizza and the personal bbq chicken pizza.
The pretzel was insanely good. I’ve had numerous bar pretzels over time but this one is by far the best I’ve ever had. I would come back for the pretzel alone.
The pizza on the other hand, may have been some of the worst I’ve ever had. I’ve had frozen pizza better than this. Bland. Just bland. The Belgian pizza had sour cream, swiss, bacon and onion on it and I couldn’t taste a thing. Even the red onions on the bbq chicken pizza had no flavor. I stopped eating it out of sheer boredom. What a bummer.
On the plus side they do have board games which proved to be a great distraction from our sad pizzas.

I’m not much of a craft beer fan, but they have hard cider which makes me happy. I went with some friends and we got our beers and then went to the party room to have it out over the shuffleboard table. Lindsay was the ONLY person working when we came in, but she still took the time to come and check on us in the other room. It clearly says no table service in that room, but she came to check on us anyway. She even remembered our names and our drinks. I hope we see Lindsay the next time we come in!

After having gone back many, many more times since my last review. it’s time to give Papago Brewing the 5 stars it truly deserves.
Service has been consistently great and my favorite waitress and waiter are still there. The rotating tap list is AMAZING. The reach in fridge is always stocked with a plethora of fantastic beer. just be sure to have your server pop the top for you — don’t do it yourself.
One of the things I really enjoy about Papago Brewing, aside from the stellar selection, is the atmosphere. It’s not a quiet joint and attracts an eclectic crowd. But it’s about as unpretentious as you can get while still making you feel like you’ve arrived at someplace special.
Food is still good. It’s not why I go. But it’s still great to be able to order something tasty to eat while drinking something new and rewarding or that reliable old standby. I stop in a few times a month.
See ya there!

My favorite brewery around. It’s quaint the beer is great and the boys are cute. What more could a girl ask for?

I had a really enjoyable experience at Papago Brewing! I arrived shortly after opening, so there weren’t many patrons inside. I sat at the bar and enjoyed a glass of their hibiscus beer poured from the bottom of the keg, so it was on the house. I really appreciated their comping the beer, which was velvety smooth with a sweet fruity/​flowery tang. I also ordered chicken nachos, which came out piping hot from the kitchen with perfectly proportioned toppings. The wait staff was very friendly, engaging, prompt, and offered several suggestions for places to check out while I was in town visiting.

This was my first time here and I can’t help but wonder what took me so long. It’s just a great layout for a couple of drinks after work or hanging out with friends. The beer selection is incredible. There are 20+ solid selections on draft and then about 200 in cans/​bottles found in coolers. The staff was friendly but a little overwhelmed at times. Happy hour knocked off a buck a beer so pints started around $ 4.
Best of all it has that great bar lighting that makes day-​drinking perfect. You know the light. Dark and soft but not so dark that you squint when you walk it. But when you walk out you’re reminded your whole day is still ahead of you.
I can certainly see this being my go-​to place for drinks in South Scottsdale.

Came two times this week read the reviews, but still came to try it our. first time we waited forever to get a drink, there was only one waitress visable and she was doing everything she could to serve us, but when it’s 20 to one it’s hard.
Second time we walk in, this time four servers takes 10 minutes to get someone to ask us our order. after we finish we try to get our check one server walks by two times looks and sees we are done, keeps walking. I start my watch to see how long it takes to get service, two employee look at us from the bar, no movement our way. finally at 16 minutes a waiter comes we close our bill, I let him know about their service and how poor it is, he apologizes and tries to give us a deal for next time we come in. but this was two for two terrible service and dont recommend going here unless you want to wait an eternity to get a drink or even a hello! save your money.

Long story short: Come here for beer, not food.
I ordered a «southwest» chicken salad. The salad did not resemble a southwest chicken salad in the slightest. It was obvious that it was half-​hazardly put together with spare pizza ingredients (see pics) and cold diced chicken that my fiancé thought was tofu. I wanted to order something else since I was absolutely starving but the waiter never came back to check on how we liked our food. We had places to be so unfortunately, I left hungry.
Kind of musty and dark inside and smelled a bit like a basement. There’s a lot of spare draft handles around which were neat to look at and a lot of beer memorabilia (signs, stickers)
With places around like O.H.S.O. and Four Peaks that nail food AND beer, I don’t think I’ll be returning anytime soon.

Papago has maybe one or two local brews and is mostly a bar serving different craft beers from around the area and the US (pretty sure I saw Green Flash).
Anyways the beer isn’t expensive and they have pizza. Staff was accomodating to us.

I have lots of reviews of Pizza locals and I know it’s odd to start a review for a Micro Brew Pub with a pizza review but here goes.
I have made thousands and thousands of pizzas, and felt qualified to say that The T Rex at Papago is the Best Pizza in town. I have been saying that for years! I qualify that by saying it has to be the large, not the small. I will now say that it has to be eaten there.
Recently we got one for take out and it was just barely OK– Something happened and I am not sure what! It wasn’t burnt or raw, it wasn’t cold, it wasn’t as generous as I remember but It wasn’t returnable, it was just OK.
The Pub is great, tons of wood and on the funky side. Lots of reach-​in beer coolers to grab beer to go or enjoy in house. (let the bartenders open it for you) at a cost. I usually just stick to the great selection of drafts.
Service is always fine but occasionally you have to compete with a full rail of irregular regulars, but the bartenders here are fair and will get to ya.
I hate to think that all these years I have been eating that large T-​Rex Pizza with my beer goggles on, but alas I think that might just be it. From now on I will skip the take out and have my pizza with a few goblets or pints, and try and sneak away before sunrise.

I haven’t eaten pizza in months, and after a long day renovating, I couldn’t stop dreaming about eating a pie and having a beer at Papago.
We fell in love with their pizza years ago and were frequently stopping by after weekend days of work. Per my previous reviews, I thought their pizza was some of the best I’d ever had. It was crispy and light. The crust had a hint of saltiness. It was so damn flavorful!
I’m not sure if they changed cooks or recipes, but the pizza we had yesterday was quite the opposite. In fact, I’d put it up there with one of the worst pizzas I’ve ever eaten.
We thought maybe it needed firing again, so after 2 slices, we asked the server to take it back and fire the crust again. But that didn’t really help. The crust was so flat, and my jaw got sore from chewing the darn thing. It had no redeemable quality, but we were so hungry, we ate. As they say, bad pizza is still good pizza. And the toppings were so minimal. The cheese was so thinly spread and I couldn’t tell if there was any red sauce. I never put the pepper flakes or parm or anything on my pie, but after the first slice, I basically covered each slice in parm, chili flakes and hot sauce just to have some sense of taste.
I hope this was just a fluke because I loved our previous pie purchases there.
Service was as usual, spot on Papago. .good, laid back, friendly.

Came here exhausted and ready for some beer after a long hike up in the McDowell Mountains. I ordered a flight of their four flagship beers and would have to say they were pretty mediocre except for the Orange Blossom (vanilla orange wheat ale) which was phenomenal! I can definitely see now why it’s so hyped.
Aside from the quality of the Orange Blossom, the other reason for 4 stars is the wide selection of bottles craft beers. Moving away from So Cal, I thought my days of finding my fav craft beer like Mother Earth’s Cali Creamin’ were gone – until I found this place! I will definitely be back if not for their own beer just so I can get my hands on some of that SD craft beer gold.

Their pizza and beer deal on Monday is crucial!!! Love this place. Their pizza is amazing and the beer selection (on tap and in the coolers) is superb!

For the beer aficionado, this is one of the best beer spots in the area. Constantly rotating taps, a large & well thought out selection of beer to go in their fridge is what sets this place apart from all the new places hopping on the beer nerd bandwagon.
They’ve been serving up great beers for many years & I look forward to each & every visit to Papago Brewing.
With that said, it would be nice if their food wasnt just an afterthought. A little more effort into their menu would go a long way. I can only eat that bbq chicken pizza so many times.
This is a great place to bring a group, the place is huge & there is usually plenty of space to settle in with several drinks.

This review is only for the beer. YES! Excellent selection of beers from the area. Friendly, knowledgeable staff will help you find the right one. Nice selection of games to play. Clean bathrooms! You have to try their orange blossom beer. It is perfection.

I love that you can pick out a bottle from the cooler and have it there or just take a mixed 6-​pack home.
Never had food there but the pizza looks good. They typically have a few tap takeovers each month with breweries, follow them on facebook to see the calendar.
Great place to have a conversation over beers with a friend, don’t let the dark dingy appearance fool you!

Best selection of beer! In addition to their own brews, they rotate tap selections from other micro breweries. The selection never disappoints. They also have a huge selection of bottled beers you can take home or drink on site.
For eating, their pizza is delicious. I’ve had a few other menu items that are also great. The appetizers are also great, but I much preferred their in-​house salsa to whatever they’re serving now…
I personally love the laid-​back atmosphere. The bartenders and wait staff aren’t overly attentive and kind of just let you be until they’re needed (I personally hate when a waiter comes over every five minutes to interrupt my conversation and ask for the millionth time if my food is okay). If your beer is starting to get low, they come over. If you’re done eating, they come over. Perfect.

Fun, chill atmosphere with decent food and a variety of beer!
I had driven by this brewery so many times on the way to Sky Song but did not realize it was here. It’s in the middle of an odd shopping strip. However, enter the building, and it’s like I was transported to a ski town in New Mexico. To me, it reminded me of a chill /​laid back bar in a ski town!
Parking: Super easy and plentiful.
Atmosphere: Very chill. Some people arrived with gym gear on, and others were dressed up for some sort of party. I wear jeans everywhere, and the guy I was with also had jeans. No one cares. It was casual! It’s a bit loud but a fun bar.
Service: Pretty decent though just semi-​friendly. We did have a server come by every few minutes, though, and our waters were refilled.
Food: I had the caprese salad and the soft pretzel with mustard and cheese. The caprese salad was good, and the tomatoes seemed quite fresh and flavorful. The pretzel had cheese dip that I enjoyed; I dislike mustard so did not try it. The guy had something, and I don’t even recall — some kind of sandwich or wrap.
Drinks: I had the cider on tap; it was a quality cider. We also ordered some type of beer, and it was rather strong. They have a ton of options. My friend recommended the Orange Blossom.

Great house and outside beers on tap. I enjoy the Lambic selections they have and of course the orange blossom citrus. The Caprese salad is also top notch, it’s not often you find healthy and fresh food at a brewery.

Good food, great selection of beer. We tried the Coconut Joe, a coffee coconut stout, it was one of those «meal in a glass» beers but not overly heavy. It was like a dessert.
We also tried the Odell Barrel Thief IPA, which I would highly recommend, and I’m not much of an IPA person myself. Ordered the white pizza; delicious. Also had the quesadilla which was good and their caprese is legit. I will definitely be coming back here.
Don’t let the desolation of the surrounding shopping center fool you, this place is definitely worth stopping in.

Meeting a few friends from Havasu. The cubs are playing the meta and me and my girl Amber are having the Mud Shark Watermelon Ale. Light and refreshing and we’re going to taste the Belgian pie soon. Excited! Keep doing your thing Papago!
I would recommend this place to others but there are a few highlights to mention. The pizza is cooked very well, the ambience is definently on point especially if you love beer or are from Colorado which in this point, you love beer! The mozz sandwich is definently up there with the Citrus Salad!
Come check out this brewerie. Very affordable and fun for any day of the week!

On our trip to Phoenix, we wanted to go to breweries, and this one was close to where we were for the day, so we decided to hit up Papago Brewing. Kind of strange that it’s in a strip mall, however once you walk inside its a pretty cool place that smells like a pizzeria and looks like a brewery.
We sat down and got our menus, and as far as their beer goes, they had a lot of selection, however only maybe one or two that were actually from Papago Brewery… most of us, including me, chose their Orange Blossom. It was good, nothing phenomenal, but a decent beer. We also got some food too… we had their nachos, and their beer bites, which were baked pieces of pizza dough with different dipping sauces. Both were OK, once again, nothing special but not bad either.
This place did the job of giving us food and beer in the area we were in, and I have to say the atmosphere was pretty cool as well, definitely a beer-​pizza-​cave sort of feeling, with lots of cool paraphernalia on the walls. I would definitely come here to sample lots of other breweries beers, as they had a wide selection, but as for just getting Papago’s brews I was less than impressed. With the food being just OK its a toss up if I would recommend this place or not, and I’m not sure if we will be back or not when we return to the area.

I am and have always been a fan of Papago’s brew the Orange Blossom. It is smooth with a vanilla background and a non-​overpowering palette of orange citrus. They need to sell more of this on tap everywhere! The only other bar I know of that carries Orange Blossom on tap is the nearby Hang 10 bar on Washington St. Here, though, Orange Blossom is served in a nice, large glass at a price that is almost a steal.
Seriously though, Papago has a great rotating tap of local brews and some imports, my favorite being from Belgium. If you do not find something to tickle your fancy, Papago also has a huge selection of beers available in bottle.
This place can get a little busy during peak hours. However, in addition to sports on the TV, there are a huge number of board games and a couple dart boards if you’re feeling competitive.
My favorite item on the menu is the soft pretzel appetizer served with warm cheese and Dijon mustard. Get a second cup of the cheese, if you can. It is a great companion to your beer of choice, which should be an Orange Blossom. :)

I love me some beer, especially those locally created and have a flavor profile punch. Papago is one such place where you’ll find that! I was invited here to meet some fellow Elites and try a new #DrinkLocal Valley place. Being new to the Valley, I had a little difficulty trying to find the place since the brewery is tucked away in Papago Plaza. Since that is a mini mall, parking is no problem.
It wasn’t terribly busy, so our service was fabulous. Our first round of drinks came out quickly even though I had no idea what to order. I ended up with a nice flight for all of the house beers. At first sip of all 3, I became hooked! I fell in deep love with the Orange Blossom and Oude Zuipers. OB is definitely alcoholic creamsicle. OZ is definitely bright and syrupy but not overly sweet. One tall cold glass of either can put you on your ass. I liked the Coconut Joe, but it didn’t grab my taste bud’s attention as the other 2 did. Definitely a great chocolate flavor behind the coconut. Once I finished my flight, I went with a pint of OZ for our group’s shared dinner.
Our group decided to get a variety of things to share — pizza, nachos, and the dippable pizza crust bites. Holy cow was it all delicious! I noted that the food took awhile to get out, but probably due to us ordering a lot of stuff at once. They do not skimp on pizza toppings — the crust was maybe a little to thin for it all. Definitely a great place to grab a brew [to drink in or take to go], dinner or both!

This is another one of my type of places. The parking lot is large which is convenient and the restaurant/​brewery pretty large inside as well. We came during the day so if was not very busy. We had an interesting young man helping us and although he seemed a little high he was helpful and pretty chill (see the part about being high). Didn’t have any food but it seemed that they had plenty to choose from. I love places that have their own beer but also have other beer. The selection was large with a good focus on local stuff. I liked their own orange blossom the best. They also have a ton of bottled beer to drink there or take to go.

I had a really nice happy hour UYE here with fellow Unilocalers. The place is easy to find (in Papago Plaza on Scottsdale Rd. corner McDowell) and parking was no problem. Very casual inside with a variety of seating arrangements; we chose a comfortable round booth near the bar. I had the Orange Blossom Ale, which was refreshing and excellent. We shared a T-​Rex pizza, nachos, and a quesadilla — all were very good, especially the meat-​loaded and very tasty T-​Rex. Service was efficient and friendly, and there’s free WiFi — always a plus for me.

This place-​in theory-​is awesome. A brewery with guest taps, a huge bottle selection (That you can enjoy there or to go!) and food? Yes. This sounds awesome. However, we were left wishing for a bit more on all fronts.
The actual Papago beers were nothing I was fond of. The orange cream ale thing was WAAAAY too sweet for me and almost had a cough syrupy taste. Like a bad version of a kriek, but that’s not at all what they were going for with this «ale.» The other coconut coffee brew was ok, but nothing I would order again. It was awesome to get to enjoy a Bruery Sour in the Rye for cheaper than I can buy it at a liquor store. It was cool that they have good games to play and lots of TVs.
The service was crap though. The first waitress was grumpy and very clearly did not want to be working or serving us. She seemed to have been cut during our time there because we stopped seeing her soon after getting our first round of tasters. And after that, we stopped seeing anyone. We had to order our bottle at the bar because no one had come to our table in a long, long while.

I was very excited to check this place out with my boyfriend because people have said great things about Papago Brewers beers. I was greatly disappointed. When we first walked in there was a big giant bear that said «Please seat yourself» so we sat down at a high top table. The place honestly wasn’t that busy, there was five servers and about 8 tables. I worked at a restaurant for 5 years so i understand when a server is busy and can not get to a table right away.
We waited patiently, the server finally came and got our drinks right away. The Rose cider was really good. We ordered the spinach and artichoke dip, which honestly was not worth the 8 $. They served a small cup of the dip and a lot of chips. Which was irritating because I am paying for the dip not the chips that are like 2 $ at a grocery store.
After we got our appetizer and drinks, our server abandoned us. He never came back to check in on us. We were ready to order entrees and more drinks however after waiting for 15 mins we decided not to order anything else and opted for the check. I had to flag down another server to bring us our check.
I watched all the servers hang out by the bar, chit chatting away, sometimes the servers just walked around the place but weren’t checking in on tables or anything. They were just pretending to be busy doing something.
I was very disappointed with the service, not everyone has the luxury to spend money on dining out so when people do, it should be WORTH their money.
Papago’s beers were good, can’t say much for the food cause I wasn’t able to get service to try anything else but I might give it one more shot to update the review.

Okay, first experience was awesome. I can’t believe I’ve lived a mile from here for two years and haven’t been in.
A+ for awesome atmosphere, very laid back, enough music to enjoy but not too loud. Good crowd and awesome service. It’s seat yourself and no wait on a Saturday around 8pm. Everything on the menu sounded fantastic. Meatball sliders, caprese pizza, buffalo chicken pizza were all awesome.
Of course, the beers. Tons of selection and they brew their own. Check it out! It’s a hidden gem.

Some of the coolest things:
1. ever-​rotating beer list so you have an awesome ability to try something new every day that you walk in there.
2. They have board games to keep you entertained
3. The people that work here, know their shizz and are always willing to answer questions.
4. They have a HUGE fridge of beers to take home
4a. The carry small-​brewery beers, Alesmith is one of my favorites and I miss living in San Diego and going to their brewery directly.
4b. You can make your own 6 pack
5. They have darts
Only thing I don’t care for is the pricing. It’s rather expensive for a pint compared to other breweries I’ve been too. But the beer is pretty much worth it.
Just don’t go here planning to get buzzed. Your wallet will leave in pain. Or maybe I just have a high alcohol tolerance. Or both. Or whatever.

My husband and I stopped by to finally check this place out. It’s in a strip mall, so we weren’t expecting much.
I ordered nachos (safe bet) and sampled a couple of beers. Food is OK, ambiance is better and beer is great! It’s definitely a very casual place where you can play darts, watch TV and visit with friends.
I wouldn’t consider it a place to bring your kids (kind dark inside), but it’s a cool place to hang out and watch the game. I’m sure we’ll stop by again.