P.F. Chang's — Restaurant in Austin

This is a lovely place—foodwise, spoonwise, and otherwise—but you probably already knew all that. I certainly knew it, but I hadn't been here in many years, so I was excited to take my dear companion. I peeked at the menu in advance and we ended up ordering every single thing I had envisioned. We started with an order of Edamame ($5) and the Ahi Poke Bowl ($10). The edamame was enjoyable like all other edamames I've ever had, and generously piled on the plate with a helpful little soy-based dunker bowl. The Ahi Poke Bowl was fabulous, my first Poke Bowl ever, in fact. I was sold right away. It seemed to me something like an exotic salad of sorts but my dear companion had the better description: "the Asian man's ceviche." Of course, we are ceviche-junkies, so we enjoy a good raw fish. If you have qualms about raw fish then you probably shouldn't poke the Poke Bowl (or be alive in the first place). For the main course we shared a Surf & Turf ($24) and a Chicken Pad Thai ($14) that came free as part of a special offer promoting the new recipe. I love a good coupon, you know. #frugalaf That Chicken Pad Thai was excellent, too, very nicely spiced noodles, with chicken and tofu, green onions and sprouts. I fell immediately in love with this dish and was somewhat sad later that same evening when my dear companion finished off the leftovers. It was really my fault though; her first choice for midnight snack had been the bag of sticks, but I had already eaten all of the sticks in one sitting the night before. The real tragedy is that those veggie sticks would have gone quite well with those cold Pad Thai leftovers. I could only sigh and despairingly deprive my dear companion of the sticks themselves and of the sticks as a complimentary Pad Thai side. SMH. Shame on me. As for the Surf & Turf, it was quite delicious and satisfying, but would have been much better if the lobster were grilled instead of fried like the shrimp. As such the real star of the trio was the filet mignon, cubed and medium rare, so exquisitely delicious, especially when paired with one of the mushrooms, holy shitake. Although our tumtums were as stuffed as our two boxes of leftovers, we decided to go ahead and try the Banana Spring Rolls before departing. I had spied them on the menu online and, though I kind of tried to hide it for some reason, I wanted them bad. They have a smaller serving perfect for two people, a small plate of one halved banana spring roll served with pineapple coconut icecream (perhaps the finest ice cream I've ever tasted) and some fruit to boot. I strongly recommend you order this dessert, even if you think you're too full for it. It could really bring those fortune cookies to life, too, fool. A final note: don't forget to talk in accents other than your own while you are here. Please...

My longtime dining at PF Chang’s has come to an end After many years of great dining at PF Chang’s, my most recent experience was so bad I will never dine there again! I was with a date, and it started very well with our waitress who was very welcoming, and our drinks were great. After we had our drinks to start, I ordered my longtime favorite appetizer, the northern dry rub ribs. When they were served, I noticed an item missing that had been served with those ribs every past time was the special salt rub. I inquired about this with the waitress & she was not aware of this being part of the app. That was OK, I understand things could change but when she checked with her staff, they had no idea what I was talking about. I found that a little offensive but again not a big issue. The first big issue came when the menu had a 19-20$ 3 course specials offering a choice of soup or salad #1, an appetizer 2 & an entree #3. My date ordered the 3-course meal with soup, egg rolls & shrimp fried rice. I wanted to order orange shrimp which was no longer on the menu so I ordered honey shrimp with fried rice, after placing our order the waitress came back & advised we could only get 2 courses not 3!! Being on a date I didn’t want to make a scene so I told the waitress to add the egg rolls anyway even though she advised we would be charged for that. Then I thought wait a $%^&% minute how can you have a MENU item not be purchased as the MENU states!? The deciding issue came when our food was served. The shrimp fried rice was a monstruous portion of rice with very few very small shrimp & no eggs, no peas & no carrots in the rice! My shrimp dish had plenty of shrimp that might have been just slightly bigger than POPCORN shrimp! I could barely taste them under the disgusting mass of batter. This was nothing like the beautiful delicious large shrimp they used to serve. My shrimp dish was 23$ plus a 5$ upcharge on fried rice with nothing in the rice to call real fried rice & the eggrolls that per the menu should have been part of a 20$ 3 course meal had a 10$ upcharge!! I’ll stay with HAO HO in RR who serves at 15$ large, delicious shrimp entrees. PF Chang’s will never see me again! The menu changes stink & are a lie! A 5$ upcharge on 25 cents worth of rice! & the worst most pathetic shrimp I’ve ever had in any Asian...

I came in recently with my girlfriend, our server was Mashid (sorry if I’m spelling that incorrectly!) and she was AMAZING!!! Going out to eat is one of my favorite things to do, but my girlfriend struggles to behave appropriately in public as she spent a serious portion of her life without any social contact. Some of the more common incidents we encounter when dining out are her hissing at our server, asking them whether they are male or female, taking food from guests at other tables, and more often than not, removing her clothing aggressively when our food arrives to the table.

As you can imagine, I am often embarrassed to be seen with her in public. However, I have felt the flame of passion fading in our relationship recently and I wanted to reignite what we once had, so I took a risk and brought her to P.F. Chang’s. When Mashid approached the table, she greeted us with a smile and asked us how we were doing. Before I could respond, Sydney (my girlfriend) blurted out “Oppa Gangnam style!”

I was mortified.

I immediately began to gather my things, but before I could stand up to leave, Mashid looked at Sydney with a smile and said “Ay! Sexy Lady!” I watched in awe as Sydney’s eyes lit up with the realization that someone might accept her for who she is rather than asking her to leave or calling the police.

Sydney, flush with emotion and unsure how to express it properly, then began to violently hiss at Mashid. I was gravely concerned that she had just ruined her one chance at a normal dinner outing. However, Mashid locked eyes with Sydney and responded with a piercing hiss followed with three deep, bellowing clicks. I was very confused, but when I looked to Sydney, it was clear that she was even more relaxed than the day I found her in that basement.

Throughout the meal, Mashid continued to take all of her actions and comments in stride, even when Sydney asked if she could come over for a sleepover and bite her ankles (not sure what that even meant).

Never in my life have I felt so welcome or comfortable in a public setting. Thank you Mashid, you have made me and my girlfriend so happy, and because of your kindness, we have found that spark in our love life yet again. I hope you see this, but I am sure we will be back to say thank...