Papa Mike's Café at Poverello House officially opens
At no cost, guests will enjoy a full-serve restaurant experience for breakfast, lunch and dinner, complete with menus and servers.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Poverello House is serving up meals for community members in need at its brand-new full-service restaurant.
A grand opening was held Wednesday morning for Papa Mike's Cafe in Downtown Fresno.
The concept is to provide a no-cost dining experience to clients, complete with menus and servers.
The new café offers more than just meals served cafeteria style.
Instead, guests will enjoy a restaurant-style experience.
"Just as a restaurant enter through the door, you're going to come up to our order window and have a selection of five to seven items to choose from, take your order, you will be seated by our volunteer staff servers," director of culinary services, Rafael Vasquez said.
All meals are free, and once your order is placed, the food and drinks will be brought to your table by the volunteer staff.
"It's all about dignity. I think a big part of dignity is choices, and I think before, while we served delicious food, three hot meals a day, dignity didn't have the piece of choice when you came in; you got what was served that day," Poverello House CEO, Zack Darrah explained. "We get to choose what we eat every day, and we want the same experience for people here."
Papa Mike's Café hopes to make people feel at home, loved, cared for and valued.
"You'll be treated with a lot of dignity and hospitality. Just have a great experience overall when coming to our restaurant," Vasquez said.
The café serves a variety of food for the whole family, including a pancake breakfast or a chicken tender sandwich.
"We have our little kids menu that has a junior burger with smaller fries and, as you can see, a little cup right there," head chef John Howard said.
Papa Mike's is open seven days a week, with hours varying by day.
Monday through Friday, Breakfast is served from 7 am to 10 am, with lunch and dinner from 11:30 am to 5 pm.
On weekends, brunch is served from 9 am to 1 pm.
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