PF Chang’s

Guten Tag everyone!  As you already know, I’m not a big fan of reviewing large American chain restaurants, save for Five Guys.  But this past weekend, we had such a good meal and experience that I feel obligated to share it with you.  The restaurant I’m going to review with you today is the very famous P.F. Chang’s China Bistro chain.  PF Chang’s is a large American chain of restaurants that recently opened their first outpost in Canada at the Shops at Don Mills in Toronto ON.  While shopping in the outdoor complex, Mrs Fressen, myself and the schwester were quite famished but not ready to leave the shopping complex.  After reviewing the restaurant selections, Mrs Fressen suggested PF Chang’s.  The weather was nice and they had a large patio, so we figured we’d give it a shot and boy are we glad we did!

Firstly, the decor at PF Chang’s is quite modern, not your typical Chinese American run down look.  The layout is efficient and colour scheme warming and modern.  The service was excellent from the maitre d’ right through the end of dinner.  Our server, Shawn, was very knowledgeable and definitely helped us navigate the large and varied menu.  As for the menu, there are quite a large number of dishes to appease to everyone.  They even have a gluten free menu, which was nice as it is often difficult to find gluten free selections at restaurants, whether it is due to lack of knowledge from the wait staff or kitchen or both.

Anyways, we started out with the Chang’s famous chicken lettuce wraps.  The minced chicken is seared on the wok with green onions and water chestnuts and a very tasty sauce, almost a combination of black bean and hoisen sauce, served with rice noodles and lettuce leaves.  Basically, the idea is similar to Korean BBQ or a Peking duck 2nd course: the lettuce serves as a tortilla and the chicken is added into the lettuce.  Shawn, our wonderful server, brought over a few “dipping sauces” that included hot sauce, hot (spicy) oil, pot sticker sauce, hot mustard, soy sauce and vinegar.  The idea is to be able to add your desired sauce to your meal and it was suggested to add the pot sticker sauce with the lettuce wraps.  Firstly, the explanation of the sauces was top notch, but what was even better was the amazing appetizer.  The chicken lettuce wraps were excellent, full of flavour yet light enough as to not fill you up for the rest of the meal.  For a quick lunch, this would have been just perfect.  Our palates were primed for the remainder of the meal!

Dipping sauces.  Top (left to right): spicy oil, soy sauce, vinegar.  Bottom (left to right): Hot sauce, Pot sticker sauce (added hot sauce and hot mustard), and hot mustard.

Chang’s famous chicken lettuce wraps

Wok-seared chicken with water chestnuts and green onions over rice noodles.  It was very flavourful!

A little background on the serving style at PF Chang’s.  As is traditional in most Asian restaurants, the food is served family style so everyone can try all the dishes.  Anyways, the menu offerings sounded quite delicious and we could not decide fully on what we wanted.  It boiled down to four dishes for three people, much to much food.  In the end, I ordered the shrimp in lobster sauce, Mrs Fressen opted for the double pan fried noodles and the schwester went with the Chinese 5 spice duo of duck.  Unfortunately, we left out the lo mein noodle dish, but oh well, we figured there was more than enough food for the three of us.

This is where excellent training and service meets and exceed’s a customer’s expectation.  Shawn, our server, was very helpful in guiding us through the menu and he must of sensed our frustration that we couldn’t order more food.  It was either his anticipation or the fact that he knew I blogged about food as seen by me taking pictures of the appetizer.  Either way, Shawn surprised us with bringing the lo mein dish out after the appetizer.  Absolutely complimentary.  And not a small sampling but the full plate!  He told us that he could see that we wanted to try the lo mein noodle dish and he was able “to work some magic” and provided the table with it complimentary.  A very classy touch by an observant waiter.  The three of us were quite surprised and gratified with the gesture.

The lo mein noodles were very good.  Again, the typical Chinese flavour of the dish was quite evident.  The vegetables were cooked exquisitely and not over cooked and rubbery.  The noodles were tasty and excellent!

Lo mein noodles

Mrs Fressen’s double pan fried noodles were very good.  Similar to Cantonese chow mien, but with slightly less crunch noodles.  The sauce, which was thick, tasted like a little bit of oyster sauce and hoisen, but complimented the noodles very well.  Mrs Fressen was a little disappointed that the noodles were not as crispy as she envisioned.

Double Pan fried noodles

The schwester’s Chinese 5 spice duo of duck was decadent.  The slow cooked piece of duck leg was absolutely delicious, almost reminiscent, as the schwester pointed out, of barbecue pork.  The cherry chutney was a little too sweet for the duck leg though.  The crispy duck breast was excellent.  The duck breast wasn’t done up like Peking duck, but was still very crispy and flavourful.

Chinese 5 spice duo of duck with cherry chutney and watercressCrispy Duck Breast

Slow cooked duck leg

The shrimp in lobster sauce was just dynamite.  Almost as good as Senior Fressen’s lobster sauce.  For the uninitiated, Chinese lobster sauce is a white garlic sauce consisting of black beans, scallions, and at the every end, an egg that is scrambled within the sauce, providing a creamy, silky texture to the dish.  The shrimp were cooked perfectly but would have been better with lobster rather than shrimp.

Very tasty shrimp in lobster sauce

Overall, an excellent meal with excellent and attentive service, a rarity from a large restaurant chain.  And the best part of the meal is the lack of the ‘MSG’ drowsiness that is typical of eating Chinese food at other restaurants.  Not sure if PF Chang uses MSG, but the effect is not evident.  If you are looking for an excellent Chinese meal that doesn’t stray too far from tradition in a relaxed setting, PF Chang is a must!  Trust me, your molars and stomach will leave happy!  And most likely you will have leftovers!