(This restaurant closed)

Papa Eddie’s Corner Café & Ribs

Where: 7104 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565.6310
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays, and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.
Cuisine: Northwest cuisine, Italian pasta dishes, and Southern cookin’
Scene: Extremely casual family friendly dining
Drinkies: Non-alcoholic beverages only
Damage: $4.95-$19.95

ANNOUNCER: Back in May the Weekly Volcano promised a full report on Papa Eddie’s Corner Café and BBQ located adjacent to Tacoma Musical Playhouse on Sixth Avenue near the Narrows Bridge. Not a prime location certainly, but let’s see how the Hill family parlay just under 40 years of catering experience into running a restaurant. Northwest cuisine, Italian pasta dishes, and Southern cookin’ are offered.

JAKE: I see the honeymoon is over. There weren’t even real chairs to sit on. You’re back to suggesting less than thrilling dining locations.

JASON: They were real folding chairs, the sturdy kind. We sat on them just fine. Stop being such a dillhole and don’t judge on looks alone. Besides, some of the worst dives have the best food. Remember Wows? Anyway, the young girl who waited on us was nice; she told us we could sit anywhere.

JAKE: There was no one else in the place; of course we could sit anywhere. My Arnold Palmer had freezer burn. I know. Odd. Gross. Straight up starving, we ordered wing zings — just regular chicken wings that it turned out took 20 minutes to prepare in an empty restaurant. Hoping for a plate of freshly battered, crispy fried chicken, these were clearly prepared elsewhere. Some were ice cold inside, and one even had a frozen blood spot.

JASON: Yep, that was the last bite of those for either of us. Looking over the menu made me uneasy. Can a place that has both folding chairs and a $20 steak really sell that many steaks? I played it safe and ordered the rib and chicken combination platter. Presentation of the food was promising, so was the tangy barbecue smell. All goodness ended there. A side dish of fried okra looked and tasted like it came directly from the Green Giant packing plant and tasted of freezer burned. Frozen okra always has a slimy, clingy consistency and is incredibly bland. Hot sauce, please. The ribs were dried out; underneath the brushed on barbecue sauce the chicken was as well. Ice cold cornbread was so dry and old that my butter knife couldn’t cleave it. If you were the cook, how could you put that on a plate and send it out? I beg you, man, how?

JAKE: I wish I had an answer. At least my pulled pork sandwich was a winner. Plenty of barbecue sauce and tender shredded meat made me a happy fool, especially while watching you suffer with your plate of atrocity. I desperately wanted the macaroni and cheese to be good, but I was more than skeptical. Its appearance was greasy and dark orange. Surprise of all surprises — the mac and cheese is the best thing going for Papa Eddie’s. Nicely salted, evenly cheesy, I hoarded the baked side dish. Sweet potato fries were only somewhat passable. Limp and not that warm, they seemed microwaved. I know they are handy in busy kitchens, but this isn’t one, and in fact, I think the majority of our food was microwaved.

JASON: There I was starving, and you gave me two noodles to try. I did get new cornbread; it was barely warm, wouldn’t melt butter and tasteless. Unbelievable. We asked our server for desserts that were made in-house. She brought sweet potato pie and cheesecake. I had asked for warmed pie. It arrived cold. Adding further insult to injury, the desserts were visibly stale, and freezer burn had put its nasty mark here as well. I’m guessing something is very wrong with the walk-in cooler or refrigeration system at 7104 Sixth Avenue. I couldn’t stomach more than two bites. I felt completely overcharged for poorly prepared, low quality food.