Located on a busy stretch of Route 161 near Dublin, Papaya Street Grill falls squarely into the celebrated category of “ethnic restaurant hidden in a suburban strip mall”. The concept is something of a hybrid between fast-casual and casual sit-down, which can be a little confusing upon your first visit. The menu includes the “create your own” Chipotle knock-off option where you pick between rice, noodles or a salad base and select your own meats, toppings and sauces. But there’s also a diverse range of appetizers, sandwiches, burgers and other specialties.
The cuisine also ranges from Korean to Thai to Hawaiian to American, which can be a little overwhelming. Are you in the mood for Pad Thai, a Po’ Boy, Chicken Wings or a Jerk Tofu Salad? Don’t worry… Papaya has them all.
I decided that I would start things off with a specialty: The Back Street Noodles ($6.95). This dish includes thin pan-sauteed egg noodles, thin-sliced BBQ pork, fried garlic and shallots, bean sprouts, a green mix of lettuce and cilantro and a side of a sweet brown sauce. The noodles were fairly close in style and texture to ramen, though the bowl contained no broth. The pork was tender and juicy and the brown sauce paired nicely with sweet teriyaki flavors. The combination of hot ingredients with cold greens was a bit of an odd contrast as the lettuce began to wilt. The cilantro was also a bit overpowering, but easy to brush aside. For seven dollars, the portion was more than adequate.
Next I tried my luck with the create-your-own option and ordered the Bowl Entrée ($6.95). I chose white rice and chicken, which also came with sauteed carrots and broccoli. I also added sauteed zucchini, and chose the tasty house-made sweet and sour “HawaiPina” sauce. Individually, all ingredients were fresh though nothing stood out as extraordinary. Combined, the flavors complimented each other quite well as most stir-fry rice dishes would turn out. The abundance of lightly cooked vegetables certainly gave the meal a light and crunchy salad profile instead of the heavier oily/greasy feeling you get from eating a stir-fry entree.
Last but not least, I chose to try the Hawaiian Seoul ($6.95) sandwich, which includes grilled bulgogi beef, a spicy mayo, kimchi, grilled onions, and lettuce on a French Baguette bun. Similar to the pork, the beef was thin sliced, though drier in preparation and had little trace of a traditional bulgogi marinade, which left it a bit flat. Thankfully, the spicy mayonnaise and kimchi made up for this and added the garlic, ginger and chili flavors that you’d look for in a sandwich like this. The heat level was a medium-mild but a variety of additional hot sauce bottles were available to spice things up. The baguette was semi-firm, giving a little fight to chew through, but not to the point of annoyance. Sandwiches at Papaya are served with a side of shrimp chips, which were a nice twist though not unlike what you can find in most grocery stores these days.
Despite my initial hesitation about the expansive menu trying to do too much, the dishes I tried at Papaya all delivered to either meet or slightly exceed my expectations. Ingredients were fresh, house-made sauces were flavorful and prices are more than reasonable for the amount of food and quality of the dishes. There’s a lot left to try on this menu, so your mileage may vary depending on how you decide to experiment, but based on my first visit I would certainly recommend this restaurant to anyone in the northwest Columbus area looking for an affordable lunch or dinner option outside the norm.
Papaya Street Grill is located at 3512 West Dublin-Granville Road. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday 11am to 9pm and Sunday 11:30am to 8pm. More information can be found online at www.papayastreetgrill.com.