Owner Arturo Huerta said if The Woodlands residents are looking for a restaurant that serves high-quality, italian-inspired food at a good price, Papa Amadeus is the restaurant to visit.
Since opening nearly a year ago off I-45 North in Spring, Papa Amadeus, which is named after Huerta’s grandfather, has experienced success as a result of its regular clientele.
“Since opening, we have five stars on Yelp and Facebook,” Huerta said. “The people who come here are becoming regulars.”
Huerta also attributed the restaurant’s success to the fact that he and his staff are become well-versed in the dining business over the years.
“I started as a busboy at 16,” he said. “You go through the ladder and get to the point where you have to open something yourself. Our servers here are all seasoned. We know what we’re doing. When we opened this restaurant we didn’t open to see if it would stick, we opened knowing what we wanted to do here already.”
Since opening, the restaurant’s menu has changed significantly. Huerta said since local vendors contribute to the menu, dishes are a reflection of what is in season in the local markets and are based on good feedback from customers.
“We started with a more exploratory menu,” Huerta said. “We had things like paninis. Now we’re more traditional, and we’re working now on creating signature Italian dishes. We also change the menu every three to four months since our vendor is local, and so we change with the seasons. Cold weather is more meat. Summer is for seafood, lighter stuff and more fruits.”
Huerta said the two most popular dishes at the eatery this season are the stuffed pork chop dish, which includes onions, mushrooms, bell pepper and cheese, and the melanzane al forno, a stuffed eggplant with crabmeat, Parmesan cheese and a side of capellini pasta.
Desserts, such as tiramisu and pineapple upside down cake, are also offered at the eatery. Chocolate rum cake is the customer favorite that is also featured on the dessert menu.
“We make our pastas from scratch as well as our bread,” Huerta said. “You can really taste the difference between pasta bought at the grocery store and handmade pasta. We use olive oil in our pastas rather than a lot of water.”
For customers who would like to try more menu dishes or experience another chef’s food as well as taste the variety of Italian wine the restaurant offers, special five-course dinners paired with wine tastings are held every other month to benefit a good cause.
“We try to do fundraising in the community,” Huerta said. “We do the tastings every other month. The chef from Benihana is actually making the next wine dinner. We sometimes bring some other chefs to feature them at the wine tastings. This month, we’re doing the dinner to raise money for the [BP] MS 150 ride, which is for multiple sclerosis.”
“You can really taste the difference between pasta bought at the grocery store and handmade pasta."
-Owner Arturo Huerta
Aside from holding special dinner and wine tastings, Papa Amadeus also offers live music on weekends, a catering service and holds special events for companies or parties. Although most people dine in the restaurant at night for dinner, takeout is also available and popular during the lunch rush.
“We hold events here as well and booked parties for Christmas,” Huerta said. In December, it was mostly us closing the restaurant for people to use. We’ve also done a couple of catering events.”
Regarding the possibility of expanding Papa Amadeus to another location, Huerta said he is working on making the existing location as perfect as possible before moving forward with anything.
“We want to make sure this runs 100 percent,” he said. “We do have future plans is increase our clientele here, but I have no current plans to expand the restaurant.”
