P.F. Chang's
By kmikeym from May 14, 2004
"P.F. Chang's decor blends classic Chinese design with a modern bistro look to create a dramatic visual effect." -P.F. Chang's Takehome Menu
"It looks like a Disney Restaurant." -Anonymous Patron
The first thing I noticed about P.F. Chang's China Bistro is that it looks like a chain. That is because it is. P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc. owns two "restaurant concepts" in the Asian niche. Of course P.F. Chang's, as well as Pei Wei Asian Diner. PF Changs (I'm tired of writing the extra punctuation) has 83 locations in 28 states, and is planning on opening 15-17 in 2003. I am guessing our own Portland is one of those new 15-17. PF Changs also trades on the NASDAQ (46.64 as of right now).
The next thing I notice is that is VERY busy. We are given a "beeper" and told it will be 20 minutes. A beeper? Hmmmm... That Disney comment is beginning to ring true. There also seems to be a small army of young cute girls massed around the front desk. After 20 minutes we are seated and given a PF Changs briefing. See, at PF Changs, the salt is soy sauce, and the pepper is hot sauce, because in ancient Chinese times they only had sauces... Oh, and there is some vinegar to tone down the spice. Do we want Mango Iced Tea, Coke, or Amstel Light? Those are my only options? Maybe those are the recommended options? I feel like these are the "sponsored" drinks. Water is fine. Then our server proceeds to use spicy mustard and chili sauce to create our table it's own "special sauce" to our taste.
The menu is full of favorites, recommendations, and all kinds of helpful hints. We end up getting the "addictive" lettuce wraps, hot and sour soup, crispy honey shrimp, orange peel chicken, kung pao chicken, and double pan-fried noodles. The lettuce wraps are self-serve style, making their popularity seem sort of novelty based. The flavor is fine, but other than the weird novelty aspect, I doubt I would order them again. The soup was good. I like hot and sour soup, and this was exactly what I expected. Then came the main course. The honey shrimp was the best, because it was the only thing that really stood out for me. The kung pao was fine, but Sungari's is better. The double fried noodles I thought were boring, and the orange peel chicken was interesting, but not great. The amounts were typical "american-sized" portions, meaning the four us were quite full.
But we decided to get dessert anyway. The Great Wall of Chocolate and the Banana Spring Rolls. Before dessert I check out the restrooms. The room was dark and cool. The music (which was terrible cheesy pop) was too loud, and i went to wash my hands I was disappointed. The water was a nice warm jet that was activated by motion (pet peeve) that poured into a big sink. I liked the one big sink for two faucets. I didn't like the lack of temperature controls, because I like cold water when i wash my hands. Warm feels nice, but cold feels clean and sharp.
Back to dessert. These things are not meant for one person, especially the "Great Wall". This thing was a six layer choco cake with choco frosting and choco chips, served with raspberry sauce. Again, it was fine. The cake seemed to be a box mixture of fluffy standard chocolate cake. But it was big, it was warm, and it was chocolate, so it's hard to complain. The Banana Spring Rolls were better. It's banana wrapped in "spring roll" and deep friend. Yeah. Served with coconut ice-cream and some sauces and a few decorative berries.
I left thinking just one thing, "Not as good as Sungari." Plus it was higher priced, over-staffed, and over-themed. I ended up feeling the same as I did before I went, PF Changs is an upscale chain restaurant for the un-adventurous.
| Posted on May 14, 2004 at 10:11 PM | >>
As a PF Chang's server, I can respond with almost 100% certainty as to what happened.
Such a staggering number of people order Chicken Lettuce Wraps (and by 'staggering,' I mean somewhere in the vicinity of 98.9% of tables I wait on in a six hour period, if you want another gloriously estimated percentage) that I often find myself believing that so and so table asked for the damned things, too. Customers start to look alike after five years, and the mind starts to play tricks. With so many customers coming in and barking out, 'Lettuce wraps!' before they even have a chance to unhook their purses from their shoulders, it's no wonder that even I find myself, at times, remembering very lucidly that the bald guy with the hooked nose at 75 said he wanted Lettuce Wraps when he said no such thing.
The Lettuce Wrap demand is the craziest phenomenon I have ever seen in a restaurant. It's not like they're bad, per se. Hell, 98.whateverIsaid% of people can't be wrong. I'm just not a fan of lettuce or chicken...
From a server to customers: If you go out to eat and something is wrong, don't be afraid to *tell someone.* If the server is an all-round cool person, it'll be even easier to communicate with them. If they're jerks, to hell with them. Take even greater pleasure in pointing out that they screwed up. (I say this only because I've rarely worked with jerks in my time, so my conscience is breathing freely here.) You're paying; you should get what you want. I don't know how many times I've had to ferret out the truth from people who are eating something they just don't care for at all. Some people have the bizarre, old-fashioned notion that employees will take offense if you make a complaint, but I can assure you that no one minds or cares to the point of buckling down and getting pissed at you for thinking your noodles are too salty. Complaints are all in a day's work at every restaurant on earth--even the 'good' ones. Feel free to say, 'You put something on my ticket that doesn't belong there.' Not only is it your right, but silence is beneficial to absolutely no one.
Posted by Robyn @ February 22, 2005 9:34 PM
Interesting stuff, Robyn--glad you stopped by!
So, what do you think of the food at PF Changs?
Posted by freddy @ February 22, 2005 10:29 PM
I love the food at PF Chang's. I have been to several locations of PF and I can't get enough of their food. We just got a PF Chang's in the Inland Empire and the wait is always 3 hours long. To me, the food is worth the wait.
Posted by Carol @ March 15, 2005 11:54 AM
Freddy--Thank you!
Like most people, I enjoy the food.
If I were to go to PF Chang's for dinner and could order anything and everything and not have to pay, I would order
Oolong Marinate Sea Bass--One of the best things on the menu. Served on top of spinach with baby corn as a garnish. Sea Bass is a mild-flavored fish in general, and the Oolong sauce doesn't overpower it or underplay it.
**Mongolian Beef-- Sweet medallions of beef, tender inside but crispy outside, tossed with scallions and a little garlic. Simple but far from boring.
**Lemon Pepper Shrimp--A zesty shrimp dish with a lemony zing. My favorite shrimp dish in the restaurant. Not enough people order it.
**Singapore Street Noodles--Tiny rice noodles similar to angelhair pasta. The curry sauce is not so strong that you get sick of it, but it's strong enough to require you to not hate curry. Chicken and shrimp, shallots on top, served with limes. This isn't too spicy, in my opinion (I'm not a spice lover). I would eat this every day if I could.
**Shanghai Street Dumplings-- This is an appetizer...a rather filling one for me. Four dumplings similar to 'stuffed biscuits.' The outside of these is very doughey, and the inside has a nice, mild, slightly sweet shredded chicken. I absolutely love these; they're the ultimate comfort food. If you're the kind of person who considers biscuits a food group in and of themselves, and would never, EVER, leave the crust of their pie or pizza uneaten, there's a good chance you'd love these as much as me.
Honestly, nothing on the menu (aside from Mu Shu Pork or Chicken) is bad. Mu Shu is cabbage cabbage cabbage rolled in a pancake and *garnished* with meat. Most waiters hate it, not only because the rest of our tables glare at us with impatience in the three minutes it takes to roll it for the guest, but also because, quite frankly, *it stinks.*
And there you have my take on the food. :-)
Posted by Robyn @ March 25, 2005 4:31 PM
COMPLAINT about P.F. Chang's: I just visited the Thousand Oaks P.F. Chang's restaurant, and was disgusted to see the hostess wearing a round silver stud sticking out of her lower lip. Not a pretty site before dinner, and I got to tell you... been a fan of this restaurant for a long time, but probably will not return to this location. My wife already said never again.
The food and service were great though, as always. Too bad. Need to find another good Chinese place now.
Jon.
Posted by Jonathan @ July 13, 2006 11:01 PM
I absolutely despise PF Chang's now
It was my favorite restaurant and I made it a ritual to go there everytime i got all A's on a report card or for my birthday
Never again shall i go there
they have gotten rid of the shanghai street dumplings, and the peanut salad.
pretty much the only things i ate and are now off the menu
i asked the waiter why
his reply "we just don't have the ingredients to make the peanut lime dressing for the salad anymore"
and the new shirts at our location (naples, FL) are terrible
it is a black tee with a logo that says "Lucky 8"
Posted by lauren @ July 16, 2006 8:18 PM
Lauren, you'll be glad to know that those disgusting shirts were only a 'filler' uniform for the 'real' one they have now--stretchy, black, long-sleeved polyester. Not the prettiest things ever, but they certainly beat those revolting white waiter-shirts and sauce-attracting ties of olden days. And as the girls will testify, even a potato sack would beat the ugly black in-between-uniform tees with the blatant Lucky 8 chest advertisement.
The Street Dumplings and Peanut Salad were taken off the menu by mysterious corporate decision-makers/number-studiers who decided that not enough people were buying those items to make them worth keeping around. There is no longer Peanut Dressing, sadly.
Posted by Robyn @ December 23, 2006 3:52 PM
I just read your (By kmikeym) review for PF Chang's--not quite sure where all the sarcasm comes from in your review. I disagree with almost everything that you said, but mostly I am concerned with why you feel anyone should like what you like. I absolutely love their food and who gives a crap if you had to wait to be seated and the server suggested things to you. What restaurant in the US doesn't do all of those things. And I think that you should check with the Health Dept. before you start ranting more about washing your hands with cold water--whatever! They are required to have it warm and it is now controlled because idiots waste water!!! Is this all new to you are you new in America? PF Chang's is an American Chinese Restaurant--What did you expect China???
Posted by Penny @ June 27, 2007 1:12 PM
That review makes no sense. The "american sized portions" served there aren't meant for one person. You obviously weren't paying attention because P.F. Changs serves their dishes the classic Chinese way, "family style". That's why there was so much food. 3 main dish and their huge plate of noodles could feed a normal sized family of 6-7.
Posted by christin @ August 10, 2007 5:45 PM
That review makes no sense. The "american sized portions" served there aren't meant for one person. You obviously weren't paying attention because P.F. Changs serves their dishes the classic Chinese way, "family style". That's why there was so much food. 3 main dish and their huge plate of noodles could feed a normal sized family of 6-7.
Posted by christin @ August 10, 2007 5:45 PM
That review makes no sense. The "american sized portions" served there aren't meant for one person. You obviously weren't paying attention because P.F. Changs serves their dishes the classic Chinese way, "family style". That's why there was so much food. 3 main dish and their huge plate of noodles could feed a normal sized family of 6-7.
Posted by christin @ August 10, 2007 5:45 PM
Post a comment:
When we sat at our table our waitress welcomed us with a tri bowl of hot sauces. She sat it down on the table. Then proceeded to ask us if we want an appetizer and we said no we will order our meal and tea when we decide. She comes back, takes our order and says I will return with your lettuce wraps. We figured this was on the house (like Mexican restaurants give you tostados,etc)because we had told her no appetizer. To make a long story short, when our bill arrived we were charged 6.75 for the wraps (which we did not order) We did not say anything to the waitress because she was very polite. So what's happening?
Nick & Angie
Posted by Angie Eliades @ November 2, 2004 6:09 PM