Pei Wei

I've eaten at PF Chang's before, and it wasn't bad. It certainly wasn't great, but I'd eat there again.

I got off work around 2 pm, and I was hungry. I went to the nearby Sportsmans Warehouse and bought some ammunition, and then I went to the Pei Wei in the same shopping center as the SW. To my knowledge - from the mouths of multiple friends - Pei Wei is the same company as PF Chang's, but its a tiny bit more "formal," if you can call any place where you order your food at a register and then go sit down, "formal."

The girl who takes my order is cute. I order 2 spring rolls, a drink (that I get to fill up myself - this is always a plus) and the Coconut Chicken Curry. I gave serious thought to going with my old standby for new Chinese-esque places - Beef with Broccoli - but decided that I wanted to try their curry. As a side note, they had pad thai on the menu. I love pad thai, but I wouldn't even consider ordering it from anywhere other than a 100% full fledged thai place. Why I thought this would be different with the curry... I don't know. Perhaps I figured that if I can make a decent yellow curry, anyone can. Like, $13.25 or something. Not overly expensive, but not cheap. Cafe express is cheaper. Chipotle is much cheaper.

So, they give me this little red disk with a number on it, and my cup, and I go find a table. The disk confuses me for a moment... do I stick it to my forehead? Hold it in the air? And then I see the little alligator clip sticking up from the chopstick holder on the table. Ahah. So I attach the little red disk to the little red disk holder - I was number 60 - and go to fill up my drink. I get coke. I sit down and start text messaging people.

A few minutes later, this semi-asian guy brings me my spring rolls. Cool. So I eat my spring rolls and they're actually half decent. Not amazing, but not horrible. The sauce is a bit spicy, which is nice. Not overly sweet. Finished, I move the place to the other side of my table. Smile at the chick sitting a few seats away from me. And relax. Then my food shows up. A healthy portion of chicken and (primarily) asparagus. I like asparagus, but it doesnt strike me as something that goes in "Coconut Curry Chicken." And, of course, white rice. I selected white over brown when I ordered.

It tastes like spicy cardboard. And its not like its spicy enough to cover up the fact that it tastes like cardboard. The asparagus is undercooked - and I like my asparagus crisp, dont get me wrong - and the rice is warm. It desparately needs salt, but I fear the only option - soy sauce - will mess it up further. This meal could have easily fed two people, if they were willing to consume the cardboard-tasting chicken, and undercooked asparagus. The chicken's texture was fine, but the flavor sucked.

So I ate enough so that I didn't feel like I'd wasted my money, got up and left. After I got a refill on my coke, of course.

Verdict: I'll never eat at Pei Wei again. If I ever run into anything even remotely close to this at PF Chang's I'll stop eating there, too. I was thoroughly disappointed, and quite annoyed at my friends for having reccomended it so heartily.

Bleh.

Honestly, Im more down with the hole in the wall places.

ever need a good place to eat asian food in texas, I know quite a few.

But I agree, Asian food is my favorite, and when Im all psyched-up for some good food, and it sucks, I am exceedingly pissed.

holes in the wall are great. i know numerous ones in dallas proper, and up in denton.

i dont know any asian places around where i work, though, and i was too lazy to inquire about a real one.

wish i had.

um, sir, your location is misspelled.

I believe as mr wall pronounces it, it should be "purple drank".

but thanks for the warning, as we reside in the same state, I really need to watch out for that.

Chicken that tastes like cardboard... I guess Cici's Pizza has ventured into the world of Asian food.

[Claunchy]

Yasher,

Pei Wei's not half bad. I recommend the Kung Pao Beef, and I also recommend paying the extra buck or so to substitute fried rice.

Regarding hole-in-the-wall asian food in Denton, Sukho-Thai rules.

Best wishes,
Claunchy

behemoth,

is it sad that i put serious thought into whether i wanted to put "drink" or "drank" there? i settled on drink b/c that's obviously what he means, and how (i assume) he wrote it. its just his whiteboy thug accent, lol.

Claunchy,

Sukho-Thai is good stuff. Doesn't change the fact that I can't stand Denton.