Pappy’s Diner

Their clientele is usually the older generation but don’t let that stop you. Small neighborhood diner in a strip mall with your usual comfort food choices with a little Greek flare thrown in. Pappy himself is usually onsite most days. The French Dip samitch is very good an meaty. I haven’t been disappointed yet.

Search no more. It’s the pancake Mecca of Tucson and they taste great. This place is old school for sure! All the food tastes great and super friendly service! Order the baby stack unless your a family of 6 or more

I found Pappy’s Diner by accident coming out of my doctor’s office. I had just had a fasting blood test, so I was starving. I saw the sign and zoomed in. I’m a reader so imagine my delight when I opened the door and was greeted by Pappy’s Library, a big bookcase devoted to sharing paperbacks with the community. What a wonderful thing! I had breakfast and it was good, including the coffee. Nothing gourmet, but the menu stated that clearly. Above all, my toast was actually toasted and HOT, something other diners in Tucson seem to have BIG trouble with. The waitresses were cheerful and charming and kept my coffee cup filled, which earns waitresses a big tip from me even if they aren’t cheerful and charming. I will definitely return to Pappy’s.

A pleasantly wonderful experience. Great coffee shop. Good food. Large portions. My wife met the proprietor, Peter, and found him to be a very cordial, outgoing, and friendly Greek American. Our server was a pleasant costumer-​centric young lady who took very good care of us. We shall return.

Pappy’s. Where have you been all my life? Hole in the wall in name only. A good sized space in a strip shopping center. Light, airy, clean. Nicely appointed. Breakfast all day. We went for breakfast. Non breakfast items look just as intriguing. I want to try the pizza.

I stopped in mid morning and asked the waitress what was good there. «Biscuits and gravy» I hesitated because sausage cream gravy always seems bland to me, but I ordered it anyway. Whoa! That was the largest biscuit I’d ever seen and add the gravy, it filled a dinner plate. The gravy was good too, not flour pasty. My coffee cup was kept full. It was a cheap meal. I was happy. This is a blue collar restaurant, the kind I like to find that are usually frequented by telephone and construction workers. Service was fast and friendly with a focus on value.

Pappys is WONDERFULL. perfect for breakfast, brunch, midnightsnack, preworkout meal and perfect for permabulking as well. ¹⁰⁄₁₀

Old School Diner but in a strip mall so we missed it at first. The Nachos were huge. I haven’t seen a stuffed pepper in forever. Really hit the spot.

Food was good, portions are very large. But the service was horrible.
Slow and even though we told them well in advance a group of 10 were coming the waitress was repeatedly saying nobody let them know we were coming. AND she was doing her best to take care of both rooms. There were only 5 to 8 people in the place besides us at any given time.
We have been here before for lunch and breakfast but this is our first time at dinner time. Some in our group have never been here before so seeing a roach walking up the wall didn’t help the first impressions either.

My friend and I stopped into Pappy’s for breakfast based on all the positive reviews. I have a soft spot in my heart for classic diners and Pappy’s has a pretty positive rep, at least online. In fact I was hoping it would be a lot like Perry’s in San Diego. Perhaps we ordered the wrong menu items or came on a bad day but the food quality was just not there.
The waitress we had was very friendly and quick about refilling our drinks but the kitchen certainly took quite awhile, which I would have been okay with if the food had been good. I ordered the corned beef hash and eggs. The corned beef hash was, without a doubt, out of a can. And to make matters worse it wasn’t even really fried, it could have been microwaved for all I know. The texture was that of thick mush, just really unappetizing and required lots of ketchup.
My friend had the waffles and they came out lukewarm, also a bit soggy like they had maybe been frozen or been sitting under a warmer too long. We weren’t really sure. I felt bad and picked up the tab since it was my recommendation.
I am disappointed because I had high hopes for Pappy’s, still do as a matter of fact. I understand this place is really inexpensive, and usually I like inexpensive but not at the expense of decent quality food.
I plan on coming back at least one more time. I see all the great pictures of pancakes, sandwiches, etc and think maybe we both just ordered incorrectly.

GYROS are the best ever!!!
Been back several times and each time I am so satisfied! True diner!

This place was just ok as far as their breakfast goes. Nothing special. I had the corned beef hash and eggs, my wife has the chicken fried steak. The hash was very salty, still edible but to me was very salty and had an odd, almost aluminum (ney) taste, it was odd. The chicken fried steak and gravy lacked flavor. Been there done that.

The previous reviews will tell about the staff, décor, the unpretentiousness.
This review is about 3 things: gyro omelette (mine), potato skins (mine), and the huevos rancheros (my friend’s).
Pappy’s was recommended by the friend who was with me, and it was pretty darn good.
His huevos were really good, according to him. The potato skins (7 of them) were seasoned perfectly with big pieces of bacon and generous amounts of cheese. A solid B grade.
I will absolutely, positively, return to eat another or 12 of the gyro omelette. Our server told us Pappy’s is owned by a Greek, and I could tell. I was only a little put off by the description of Greek Meat (lamb/​beef) and Cucumber Sauce (tzatziki) but I’m really glad I took the plunge.
If you like gyros, you’ll really like their omelette version.
We were there late morning (11:00) on a Saturday, so I wondered if they were still serving breakfast. They were, and I’m now probably fatter for it. Huzzah!

First, I adore little family run places. I had hoped for great things from Pappy’s and maybe breakfast is their forte. As it was we stopped in for lunch.
We had the quesadilla and the nachos with a basket of fries and onion rings. It was OK but nothing great. The nachos, while huge in portion, were very disappointing with a topping of velveeta type cheese that was too much a reminder of basement parties in high school instead of the desert southwest.
The quesadilla was OK but not great and the salsa lacked any real style or personality.
The fries were a little soggy and underdone and obviously of the generic frozen variety. The onion rings were pretty good with a crisp coating and made from real onions.
The service was friendly but very slow. It took us nearly half an hour to get our order taken and delivered and we finally had to go ask for our check so that we could pay and get back to work. This was in restaurant with only about half a dozen tables occupied when we arrived and less when we left.
Maybe breakfast is great and maybe we’ll go try it but probably not anytime soon.

If in Tucson, Arizona you must go have breakfast at Pappy’s. It’s an old style dinner with few frills but the ambiance and character of the place is unusually great. The waitresses (I hope using this word is PC) are old school and would probably «tell» you what you should order if you gave them a chance. The service was great, fast, accurate. You have to try it.

Great little/​spacious holeinthewall café. 1^st visit for breakfast today, had spam and eggs w home fries and toast, $ 5.99. Will definitely be back to try more choices. Super service. Understand they serve lunch and dinner during early am if you so desire. Interesting home style choices at reasonable prices. Beer, wine, and Bloody Mary’s available.
Daily specials, fish fry on Friday. Pizza take out special of $ 7.00 for an x large pepperoni
Pie.

I really wanted to give this place more stars. I always enjoy the diner-​like atmosphere and was hoping Pappy’s would be that hole-​in-​the-​wall diner joint that dishes out great food. This place just didn’t come close to it.
The food was just not that good. The vegetables were burnt, the toast had way too much butter, the coleslaw was bland and served in small plastic cups, and the stuffed peppers lacked seasoning. Nothing special about the eggs or the grits.
Service was good, but not great. As our waitress was asking us for drinks another server came up from behind and asked us the same question while still trying to answer the first one. It was confusing as to who was our server. It takes way too long to get food, which might explain the burnt vegetables. I noticed the same thing from people’s food at the other tables. Some of them seemed to be regulars, which I could understand that they enjoy their experience at Pappy’s. This place just wasn’t for me.
They do run a book club which I think is cool. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that stood out here. I’m sure this place will do for other people, specifically those that are «regulars» here. I just won’t be one of them.

I won’t go to Pappys Diner anymore. We have been going to this place for Family Karaōke for about the last two years. The guy that does the karaōke came up to me last week and told me that the owner said that the kids couldn’t sing anymore. The owner tried telling me that the karaōke is adult karaōke even though the advertisements on the front of the menu and the table advertisements say Family Karaōke. The owner then after I spoke with him directly only agreed to let the kids sing between 7:30pm to 8pm. With two adults singing and then one child singing. And repeat the same time until 8pm. I spend between $ 20 to $ 30 each week when the family goes. This isn’t right when it is advertised as a Family Restaurant and Family Karaōke. I won’t be going back to this place because it is wrong.

This is real old fashioned diner food, a place for locals and regulars. And you’ll see a lot of them. This isn’t a fancy diner or some retro thing, this is a place for down home cooking and huge platefuls of food. You probably won’t walk away hungry from this place. It’s spacious with lots of seating, attentive service, and the coffee keeps pouring. The eggs are huge and fluffy, and the pancakes are massive. And the prices? Outrageously good deals. You can find a couple of «healthy» options on the menu and they are labeled as such, but if you come to Pappy’s looking to eat healthy, you might be in the wrong place. But you will get great food.
There is even some kind of lending library for locals and they have music acts perform there, like an open mic kind of event. Lots of fun.

Be forewarned: this place proudly proclaims that it is a non-​gourmet restaurant. Don’t expect to see lardons, canapés and eggs Benedict on the menu.
For a moment I thought, «Why did I bother getting dressed? I could just come in my pajamas and no one would mind.» Just kidding! But seriously, this place takes pretentiousness out of the most important meal of the day.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into this place was that it had somewhat of a cafeteria feel to it. Actually, the very first thing I noticed was that amazing decades-​old industrial sized mixer in the window. Freakin cool. And the restaurant has all kinds of antique-​ish ornaments and trinkets. And they even have a book exchange going. How amazing is that!
It’s worn in. It’s family-​style. All the decorations remind me of a grandmother or great-grandmother’s house. And all the servers were briskly moving around calling people tell-​tell nicknames like honey and darling and sweetie.
Reading the menu was comic relief. Do take the time and give it a full look over. It’s food convergence to the extreme. They have American, Greek, Mexican and Italian dishes. I probably missed some other culinary regions represented. They put gravy on so many things that seem not to call for gravy at all. They even have this burger that’s actually a breakfast sandwich but doesn’t quite fit on the breakfast menu.
I felt like a traditionalist. So, I went with the Denver omelette and my friend ordered the breakfast veggie dish. When the server took her order she mentioned rarely getting that request, and then asked to see the menu. Ha!
I was terrified that everything was going to be drowning in grease. But I found that my omelette was both bulky and light. The eggs were extra hardy and there were plenty of vegetables included, but the meal didn’t leave me with that disgusting sticky feeling after I ate. I also enjoyed the grits. It is so hard to find grits on the breakfast menus in Tucson! They had a tad bit too much butter, but otherwise were delicious. The toast was the only disappointment, cooked about 30 seconds too long. My friend enjoyed her meal as well, and we were both impressed with the broad range of vegetables included in her dish. There was even broccoli and cauliflower! What a treat.
All told, our breakfast cost less than $ 20. And I was surprised to see that they have a working class special where you could get a full breakfast for under $ 2. So, good find! I look forward to my next visit.