papaya

the food and ambiance was great. our waiter joe gets server of the year award!!!!

ruth and sarah came over tonight for some cocktails and karaoke in our tiki bar - and after belting out some numbers, we got a little peckish. 2goservices came to the rescue, enabling us to get a vietnamese fix without having to leave the bar - by way of papaya vietnamese cafe . we ordered pork skewers with vermicelli, green papaya salad with shrimp, soft shell crab summer rolls, and coconut fried rice with chicken - all of which were delicious... though i have to admit that after a couple margaritas, my palate might not have been as discerning.

i have been here multiple times now over the past few months and the food has always been delicious. the prices are great and the martinis are yum. this has become my favorite go to restaurant in buffalo. i can't believe i'm just discovering it now!

this is fancy fast food.  sit down vietnamese that you can get in and out of quickly.  

we usually land here for pho.  passable, but not outstanding.  i've had the oxtail pho, which i found a bit disappointing.  the oxtail was super well cooked and not much was left on the bone.  i didn't feel that there was exceptional flavor in the broth either.

service is quick, so if you're in a hurry, this is a place that might make your list.

vietnamese pho served fresh, fast and hot!!! the chicken ginger pho is my staple, i especially love that they have a d-lite option where they use emoki mushroom and zucchini shredded in noodle lengths as the low carb healthy alternative to carbo loaded noodles! perfect for when you're on a diet!

no happy hour - fyi. i was searching for good food prices and happy hour specials. this place came up. called the landing to see what hh specials are.... they dont have a hh menu or specials.

nothing special. my wife and i were visiting from out of town and saw that papaya was in walking distance of the hotel. we looked at the website and thought it would be a fun place to try. the service was slow but the waitress was kind and helpful. the salad my wife ordered looked like someone opened a bag of lettuce from the grocery store and poured a very small amount of dressing on it. nothing special at all. i had sushi which was good but not as tasty as the sushi we had the night before at encore. my dinner was the pad thai with beef. this was disappointing. we had eaten at thai orchid prior to this and they set a bar that papaya fell short of. the meal was rather bland and disappointing. overall for the price we left feeling like we did not get our moneys worth. the dinner felt like something we could have thrown together at home and when you go out to eat you hope that you feel your money was well spent.

good. it was good. . the korean stew had great flavor, but the shellfish was rubbery and i would rather have not had to dig through it with my bare hands to remove the shrimp tails & mussel shell. fried calamari was ok, nothing special. tried a piece of some sort of sushi roll special, tasty.
my entree was quite good & i had enough leftover to take home for lunch next day - fiery thai udon noodle.

sw

i dont understand how people can eat kind of food! ita not even vietnamese food. the enviromentn is nice but the food is horible! dont wast your money here. i at a bowl of pho here and the broth was cold, meat wasnt cook all the way, had a piece of "paper" in my pho wtf! eat at your own risk! dont recommend anything here or lemongrass...greenleaf is the best!

recommended by a local, this downtown restaurant amazed us. i had an opah fish dish while others had fish tacos. great

amazing food. my fiance and i ate here our first night in buffalo, it was fantastic! i had the lemongrass seafood (amazing, honestly) he had the strip steak. we both raved, he felt his steak was better then what he usually gets at steakhouses (keg, milestones). i honestly felt it was one of the best meals i have had, the service was great--no complaints.

so-so. the good - nice atmosphere, attentive staff, expansive menu of teas and an attractive presentation. the salad rolls are delicious, if expensive.

the bad - very bland broth on the soups that no amount of basil leaves and hot peppers can cure. the best part of a soup should be a rich base, but of the four different soups we ordered, none were good. i had the soft shell crab and they were scrawny and tasted of freezer.

overall, too expensive for a mediocre meal. there are many mom 'n' pop vietnamese places with much better food.

pop into papaya. i don't come here enough but every time i dine in i remember why i like it so much. the food is fresh and not super salty like a lot of asian places. i almost always get the fiery udon noodles for my dinner. it has the right amount of heat with out being overpowering and the colorful vegetables add to the noodles. thai calamari has some sort of sweet and sour dipping sauce that goes well with it. chicken pot stickers come with two dipping sauces that i like to combine together. friends get the tom yum soup and love it along with the pepper tuna appetizer. only downside is the meals can be a little pricey but they are worth it. they have creative martinis and cocktails like the pineapple upside down cake. just found out thursdays are $3.50 absolut and mixed drinks, $2.50 domestics and $4 wine. servers were also walking around with 5 different kinds of sushi to try. definitely will come back on a thursday for these specials.

i recommend the dlite pho. perfect summer dinner. they use zucchini instead of noodles.

i got tofu fiery udon noodle to go. it was very tasty, one of the better tofu dishes i've eaten recently. veggies were plentiful and crisp, sauce was delish. the menu was a bit pricey at first glance, but mine was a reasonable $12. great dinner and service after sitting in a meeting all day.