P.F. Chang's — Restaurant in Durham

I went with my Mom and husband on a Sunday afternoon. It wasn't crowded and we got sat right away. Our server, Arie(yana), was absolutely amazing! She is a magician and took our order without writing it down, always impressive for a server to do this and get it right! She was kind, patient, sweet and very knowledgeable of both the food and drink menus. She recommended a Chardonnay for my mom and because, unfortunately, they didn't have any sweeter wine options for me, I ordered the Lunar Elixir (the only picture I took).

The Lunar Elixir was first of so pretty and second soo delicious! Will definitely be ordering this again! It had the sweetness I was looking for but not overpowering. This isn't the best description for it but it tasted like a thicker fruity punch and a little sprite (with alcohol of course). It was refreshing. Not syrupy or anything. It was so so good and had a beautiful presentation.

I ordered the Orange chicken and Lo Mein. The chicken has a perfect crunchy breading and the sauce had a true orange flavor, not too sweet nor heavy. The noodles were great as well!

My husband got the Firecracker Shrimp and rice. It was also delicious. The shrimp was juicy and the spicy flavor was on point.

My mom ordered her favorite: Kung pow chicken and rice. She absolutely loves this meal from here and it definitely hit the spot for her. She was so happy, like a kid in a candy shop with this meal. It was so cute! It really is very good!

For dessert we ordered the Banana Spring Rolls. And holy cow was it the star of the show!!! The warm crispy banana pieces (spring roll breading around a banana & cut up) with the vanilla drizzle on top and the out of this world coconut-pineapple ice cream was the best dessert I think I've ever had...EVER! I even took the little we couldn't finish home! Mouth-wateringlt delicious!

Overall, this was a wonderful experience! Arie: thank you for being an amazing server and your recommendations were perfect! The chefs/cooks did an outstanding job as well! The food was perfect.

(Sorry I didn't get any pics of the other items, I was too busy enjoying...

The dining experience started off strong as I smelled the burnt lettuce wraps as soon as they were put on our table. We have all burnt food before, but I have not yet had to audacity to give that to a server to bring out. Little did I know at that time but those lettuce wraps would soon be our favorite for the night.

The Singapore street noodles were closer to a curry spaghetti than actual Singapore noodles. I realize this is an Americanized Chinese food restaurant but holy hell does it feel disrespectful to put not only tomato paste into the curry sauce but to top it with cherry tomatoes.

My dining companion had the unfortunate luck of reading the words "buffalo chicken with peanuts" as "kung pao chicken". It would not surprise me to find out that the kitchen had run out of chicken for the day and someone had the bright idea to crack open a bag of Tyson's buffalo anytizers to substitute. Most recipes use about a tablespoon of vinegar to add a slightly sour backdrop to what is normally a mostly sweet/spicy dish. Tonight the kitchen I hope took the liberty to experiment by replacing the soy, ginger, sesame, sugar and hoisin sauce normally found in the sauce with vinegar in equal ratios.

These dishes were so bad that we only ate close to a 1/2 of our plates and were quite thankful for our burnt lettuce wrap filling we had earlier.

When the wait staff asked us if we wanted boxes I had to stifle my laughter at the absurdity of bringing the food home.

Food gets a 2 star because I don't feel any food poisoning as of writing this.

Fortune does check out after this...

Our server was very good and I like the interior. That is the only reason I am giving a 2.

The food has become really awful. I have been a patron of P.F. Chang's since the early 2000s.

Back then, they brought special sauces to your table to make for you. It was a special experience.

The menu included healthy steamed options, and other good fish besides salmon, like sea bass. The ingredients were always fresh. Everything was delicious.

Tonight I dined there with my family and the food was pretty awful.

The salmon ($26) was clearly not fresh. It tasted and smelled like an omega 3 capsule had exploded. It was terrible. And the executive chef pushed back trying to say it was fresh. I buy frozen salmon at Costco that tastes MUCH better. And the plating was horrible--a few shrunken pieces of broccoli and mushroom. Menu says fresh greens. Anyhow, it was definitely not worth what was I believe a $26 plate.

My chili garlic green beans (appetizer) still had the stems on the ends. No one bothered to de-stem the beans. It was unpleasant eating them.

My daughter LOVED the steamed Buddha's feast, which is now gone. They no longer offer unfried tofu :-( SO bad! Really unhealthy.

Also what happened to the Albarino and other interesting wines?

It is so sad to see the chain go down so much. We loved it.

There are new and better options locally for Asian food. I guess we will say goodbye to P.F. Chang's until they revert back to their previously amazing food...