P. F. Changs China Bistro

Description

Some PF Chang Reviews from Past Years.

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

A runner came out with a big both and set up next to my table. He mumbled something, which I didn't quite understand. I'd ordered the spicy chicken noodle soup, but I'd never had the big bowl of soup before. Apparently it's enough for 4 people, so he was offering to draw my first bowl. "Sure, why not?".

It's an interesting soup, but not as good as I'd hoped. It's "supposed" to be spicy with a hint of lime, but it wasn't very tasty. It reminded me of Vietnamese soups where theres a broth with a lot of stuff floating around; the ingredients were fresh so it served it's purpose. And there certainly was enough of it for $8.25.

I also ordered steamed pork dumplings to get the tab up to $20. It only comes with 1 sauce; the spicy sauce, and my server asked if I wanted it on the side. I'm not sure what the other option is; do they serve it pre-poured over the dumplings?

Ridiculously, they put watercress on the dumplings; $7.75 for 6 dumpling, a cool $1.29 each. Meanwhile I drew myself another cup of soup.

I had 3 of these, and still took nearly 1/2 of it home. I think I'll try to spice it up a bit.

I noticed that the Chinese family next to me were all eating with forks, which I suppose explains why they came to PF Chang's to eat rather than a more authentic Chinese restaurant.

The dumplings where deftly constructed but pretty boring; just a lump of pork inside. You'd hope that dumplings in an expensive restaurant would be better than what you could get for take out, but there was nothing special going on here.

PF Chang's signature dish is Mongolian Beef, and they now have it on the Lunch Menu, which is served until 4pm. I probably order it every time I've been to a PF Chang's, so I resisted. Instead I ordered beef with broccoli, which is substantially similar.

The lunch deal is actually better than it appears from their online menu; Lunch includes choice of soup and you can "upgrade" to fried rice for $1. I went with Hot and Sour soup and the fried rice. The soup came out immediately.

Kind of gloopy, not hot and not sour, without any condiments on the table there was no chance to adjust it. Not even the black pepper trick. The soup is a loser.

I waited quite a while for the main dish, but when it came out is was fresh out of the wok hot; I almost burned my mouth on it.

I looked around and saw no-one else using chopsticks, but I like to give it a try. I don't like eating rice with chopsticks, so it was a multi-utensil event.

The rice wasn't very good; it just didn't taste like chinese fried rice. Maybe they bake it or something? The beef was better than what you get at a lot of chinese restaurants, where you just wonder if it really is beef. But the dish is way too saucy and not enough broccoli.

Kind of disappointing. I know this place isn't exactly Chinatown, but I expected it to be better.

Service was very choppy; my server seemed to be overmatched despite the relative emptiness of the dining room after the lunch crowd left. It took her awhile to drop off my check, and then an even longer while to pick it up. Another long wait for a check in a Fort Lauderdale restaurant.

You do get a fortune cookie. I suspect that all of the messages are positive.