P.F. Chang's — Restaurant in Natick

We were a party of four adults on a Sunday afternoon. After about 5 minutes, our server came to take our drink order. We did not order alcohol, just water, two seltzers and a coke. When the drinks came, we ordered two appetizers and all four of us ordered lunch specials. It took a good 20 minutes for the appetizers to come out. The green bean appetizer was very good. The hot and sour soup was very good too. The egg rolls were, fine, and the vegetable spring roll was, fine, too. The California roll appetizer was missing the ginger we are accustomed to seeing served with sushi. We asked the server about it and he said he would check. He came back several minutes later and said that they are all out of ginger. We found that odd but ok. When the entrees came, the Korean fried chicken was enjoyable, however, my Mongolian beef was so salty that I couldn't eat it. I know it has soy sauce in it but it was like sticking my tongue in it. After a few minutes, we waived down the server for drink refills. He asked if we liked our food. I told him that the Mongolian beef was way too salty and I was having a hard time eating it. He offered to get me the beef and broccoli instead. I said yes, thank you. After waiting 20 minutes, I flagged him down and asked if he would make it to go since everyone else had finished their meal quite a while ago and we had somewhere we needed to be. He said it's just taking awhile but sure, he would make it to go. After another 6 minutes, we had flagged him down again, this time for the check. He mentioned that he was still waiting for the beef and broccoli. I said, please cancel the beef and broccoli completely as it has been so long and we need to leave. After a few more minutes, he came with a take out bag, which had the beef and broccoli and the check, which included the beef and broccoli. While I would have loved to say, I shouldn't have to pay for a meal I didn't get to eat with the others, and ultimately declined even for take out, we didn't really see him again except to pay. $120 bill and I didn't even get to eat. By that point, so much time had gone by and we needed to leave. Would I go back again? Not even if it was free. On a side note, the plastic coating on the menus were filthy and I suspect not often wiped down but the restrooms were...

I have a love-hate relationship with PF Chang's. I love the food, but the diner's staff is a big issue. Every time I eat there, a problem always occurs.

The first time I went there, it took my friends and I more than 30 minutes to get water. Multiple staff were passing by us and never checked in. Eventually, a staff came to check up on us. They apologized and thought that someone else was already taking care of us. I can defend the restaurant; it was a little busy, but a family who sat down after us got their food and left before we even ordered. Miscommunication is understandable, but we sat there with nothing on our table.

Other times I ate there, an item was always missing. Drinks were excusable, but food items were never given but were still put on the bill.

I am writing this review mainly due to my most recent visit. A small group of friends and I went to celebrate a 17th birthday. Everything went downhill the minute I walked in. We followed the hostess to our booth, and she threw the menus on the table and walked away without saying anything. The waitress, I believe her name was Tilly, was lovely. She knew what she was doing, and we got our food quickly. We were missing a dish as usual, but we eventually got the food. The problem was after we left the restaurant. We were getting ready to get in our car, and our waitress approached us and complained about the tip we gave her. She told us she was getting paid $6 an hour and "has to give her money away." She said she understood us, saying, "She was once young too and wanted to have fun too." She continued to tell us we should take tipping into more consideration for "future references."

As a former waitress who works at restaurants on Cape Cod during the summer, I know what it's like to receive low tips. I think running after 16-17 year olds was highly unnecessary. The situation was very uncomfortable, and the interaction officially ruined my experience at PF Chang's. If you plan to eat at PF Chang's at the Natick Mall, tip more than $30, or you'll get...

Overall impressions Worst meal I've had this year, and I love Chinese American food. I didn't come to PF Chang's expecting "authentic" Chinese food but was expecting AT WORST something like Panda Express. I was even optimistic that it would be a fancier version of your typical Chinese takeout fare. Boy was I wrong. It was worse than Panda Express, worse than the Chinese takeout at the grocery store hot food bar, worse than even the Chinese takeout meals in the frozen foods section. Did we order the wrong things? Was it an off day? Is it just this location? Or is this just what PF Chang's food is normally like? I guess I'll never know because I wont be coming back.

Dishes ordered (Dinner) Sweet and Sour Chicken 0/5 Soggy, overcooked chunks of vegetables (onion, peppers, and pineapple) drenched in sauce with chicken slices that may or may not be breaded. For a good stir fry, the onions and peppers need to be slightly crunchy and in larger, triangular shaped cuts. It was unclear if the chicken was fried beforehand with some kind of breading, but it felt like there was some unidentifiable soggy chunks in the dish. For $18 dollars the plate was quite small, but honestly I don't know if I could have eaten more of this.

Southern Style Pork Spare Ribs 0/5 The ribs were way too dry yet both seasoned and tasteless. The seasoning wasn't terrible but was only surface level. The meat inside was bland. Also, Chinese style pork spare ribs need to be BRAISED so they don't come out dry and have the seasoning be consistent throughout. I'm not sure what they did to these ribs. The dish also came out with an awful coleslaw which was beyond my understanding. How is it even possible to mess up coleslaw?

Atmosphere N/A I could write a whole other essay about the P.F. Chang decor and marketing but that's neither here nor there.

Service 5/5 Very good service and extremely accommodating. The servers were kind and attentive.

Rating scale 1: truly awful, 2: below average, 3: average, 4: above average 5:...