P.F. Chang’s — Restaurant in Los Angeles

My wife and I are big fans of P.F Changs and we love dining at the location in Milwaukee. We were excited LAX had one and immediately decided we would have dinner here.

I was shocked that ALL bills have a mandatory 20% charge as tip. I understand that international travelers might not tip, but surely 20% is a little high? My wife asked that if the tip was guaranteed, what kind of service would we get?

Our server was by far the worse mannered server I’ve had in my life. He was annoyed we weren’t ready to order immediately. He seemed disinterested in us entirely. I’m not looking for a conversation, but surely a smile and a little customer service would be expected. ESPECIALLY with the 20% charge built into the experience. One word replies and a big frown is all we got.

If I received this service anywhere else he wouldn’t have sniffed 16% tip, let alone 20. I waited the entirety of my meal to even get a refill on water. The busser was far more friendly collecting our plates than our server, who by the way never told us his name. I think it’s Brian though, over hearing another table complain about him.

As for the food, the Singapore noodles was good. My wife got the Buddha Feast and was very underwhelmed. The tofu was not seasoned and there seemed to be a couple drops of sauce on the dish as a whole. For the most part it was plain vegetables and tofu, not worth $20. I also noticed none of the staff seemed to know where to take their food items. I observed multiple tables almost get wrong items, and we ourselves almost got an additional entree and glass of wine.

I have a lot of time here, as our layover is over 10 hours long. So unfortunately I had time to write this review. Train your staff better and be more realistic as to what they’re owed. I’m watching the manager talk with 2 staff ladies the whole duration of our meal and even as I write...

P.F. Chang's has the best location in the airport, but unfortunately this is where my praise ends. Ok, the food was fine, but nothing extraordinary. I ordered the sweet and sour chicken, and was slightly disappointed. The rest of my group had nicer meals, so I'm happy to give the food a 4. The overall atmosphere in the restaurant felt very airport-like, and was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. It was ok. I wouldn't say it at all felt like a Chinese though. The service was really poor. We had to wait too long to be seated when arriving, and too long to pay when leaving. In a fast-paced airport environment, efficient service is paramount. This is why I'm being particularly harsh on LAX's P.F. Chang's. When ordering, the waiter randomly walked away from our table to tend to other tables. Whether it was realised or not, this is simply rude and should never be done. After we ate, we were left sitting with empty plates for too long, and felt like waiters/waitresses just walked by constantly, and took no notice. We were also not prompted for desserts before the bill was brought to us. The waiter even brought us the wrong bill, so this was a good sign that they were paying close attention to our order and experience at Chang's. When we got onto paying, the waiter made a meal of adding on our $9 vouchers to the bill, and spread himself on the table when working it all out. Then there was the service charge. 20% was added on automatically. This should never be done. Auto-gratuity makes no sense, as the act of tipping a waiter is only ever proportional to the service quality they provide, and is not a given.

Also, please don't give plastic straws unless requested by the customer. They are almost always unnecessary and obviously horrendous for the environment. Even in an airport we should be...

If it wasn’t part of Priority Pass offering, I would not have set my foot at PF Chang’s at LAX. Actually any PF Chang’s. The restaurant is located on the fifth floor of the International Termninal where all those airline lounges are, the decors were in line with those other PF Chang’s, I was surprised to see that they got their big horse statue erected at the end of the escalator.

That was probably the only highlight of the restaurant, I ordered 1 appetizer (Lettuce wrap), 2 small dishes (shishitu peppers, Asparagus in Sichuan Sauce), and Fried noodles. The Shishitu Pepper was the only dish I was able to finish because it was small and fried food, you can’t really go wrong with fried food. Lettuce wrap was the main dish I looked forward to from my distance memory, and it was only good because the iceberg lettuce in it was fresh. But for everything else, it was disappointment after disappointment. The asparagus in Sichuan sauce drenched in soggy and salty sauce worse than any homemade dish I can do. And the disappointment of the day is the Fried Noodle, absolutely tasteless and it’s barely even cooked. I had one bite and could go on to take another one despite thinking the $9USD it charged.

Lastly, it was unbelievable how long the line was at PF Chang, I had to wait for 20 minutes before getting seated. There are plenty of restaurants at the terminal, and I think it wouldn’t be difficult to find one that’s better than PF Chang.

🍡The only good order🍡

Appetizer menu: lettuce wrap

📜Score (five star scale):

🏝Environment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

👍Services: ⭐️⭐️

🍽Taste: ⭐️

💰Price: USD30-40/person

Address: Los Angeles Airport...