P.F. Chang's — Restaurant in Northfield Township

Was not expecting much from a chain restaurant serving “authentic Asian food” in a midwest suburb but this place did not meet expectations in any shape or form. We sit down at a table for 10 and wait 10 minutes until the obviously over-stressed waiter appears and started asking us about drinks. We point out that we don’t have any menus(along with basics like water or any of the standard “intro” stuff when you go to any restaurant.) To his credit, he tried his best, but things got worse from there. I ordered the cheesy Dragon Rising drink(hey, when in Rome or fake Mongolia..) which was depicted as this fancy smoking beverage garnished with herbs and rimmed with salt. What was handed to me was a tiny bland margarita with a plastic lid(for the “reveal” of the missing smoke), and some herbs tossed on top. Some appetizers were on time, some were laughably late or forgotten. The restaurant wasn’t even that busy. The actual food order took over an hour to arrive with no heads up or check-ins other than asking us if we wanted to spend more on overpriced drinks. We asked if the kids could get their meals first and were told “there’s a queue and they are last.” Then our food arrived and it was mediocre, at best. My Mongolian Tofu, depicted as crispy 1 inch cubes topped with cooked chives and lightly glazed actually showed up as overcooked and desiccated dice-sized chunks with giant pieces of plain chives. Besides the dried out tofu having the taste and crunch of dog kibble and the uncooked chives being the best tasting(and most “spicy”) part of the meal, the sauce was WAY over salted to the point where I had to mix a ton of rice to even finish part of it. My partner had the firecracker shrimp which was bland and had as much heat as the white rice it was served with. At the very end as we were paying the bill, the manager showed up and explained/half-heartedly apologized for the slow service and stated it was due to Oscar night take out orders. Ah yes, nothing underscores our yearly celebration of dramatic arts and culture better than servings of bland “Mongolian” food finished with such traditional fare as vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake. Also, if you can’t properly serve the people who actually show up to your restaurant, then you shouldn’t be taking orders you can’t fill in a timely manner. I was prepared to be medium whelmed but this...

We went to celebrate a birthday. We have several immune compromised family, that can't do indoor dining. This location has a patio. We called Oct. 28 to check the patio was open. They said yes, but came the 29th as the weather would be warm. We arrived from Lake Zurich, Lake Bluff, Chicago, Highland Park only to be told they had no server for the patio. We assured them, if they could ask a server to pick up our table, we would be patient, in no hurry and tip well. The manager refused to accommodate us and was very rude and condescending. This left us in quite a pickle as my family had already arrived and we had to scramble to find another place close by that could seat us. Since Covid we have found restaurants with outdoor seating will bend over backwards to accommodate us, even in the winter if they can! It's no wonder this Location has only 4 stars average, while other Chicago area locations have 5 star averages. I think this location needs some new management. Restaurants are in the hospitality industry and have to please their customers, not disappoint them. Fast forward to Mid August...We finally got a beautiful 78 degree day, lovely to sit outside, off work early and thought we would try the Happy Hour. They STILL were hesitant to sit us outside, but we insisted and they did seat us. Almost immediately 2 more table were seated outside. This place is leaving a lot of money on the table by NOT using and promoting the outdoor dining option. Other places in the area that encourage and promote the outdoor patio are always hopping! The food was OK. The Happy HOUR menu isn't really a deal, like most Happy Hours in the area, it's just some appetizers that are 1/2 portions at half the full portion price. But this did allow us to explore a few options. The lettuce wraps were good pretty good. The spicy cauliflower side dish was a good value, almost as big as an entree, although the sauce was sooooo sweet, not a good option if you are avoiding sugar. I liked that there was no upcharge for brown rice fried rice, but the tofu was a little weird, as it was breaded and deep fried, which I've never seen before. I DID like that everything was NOT overly salty, which can be the case at other chain Chinese restaurants. I would return. But call ahead, if you want to...

Was here on a Sunday night for a Birthday dinner, first time visit since pre-COVID. Overall the experience was a pretty good one. Made a reservation but were not seated for several minutes; It was immediately apparent that the restaurant was under-staffed, a shame to be sure. I had some concerns going in that the quality of the food had decreased since my last visit; I am happy to report that it has not. We ordered drinks and appetizers, the Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps and Tempura Shrimp Roll. Both were very good. For the entrees I had the Kung Pao Chicken (what I always get here), and it was quite good, with the chicken tasting fresh and not overly breaded with the right amount of heat. The rest of my group ordered similar dishes, and they all were enjoyed.

If food was the only metric this would be a 5/5, but I was disappointed with the service. Not being seated when there are clearly tables available is frustrating, though I do realize this was due to the limited servers working at the time. Additionally I was disappointed that despite ticking the box for an occasion (birthday) on their reservation site, nothing was done for us. I was not getting my hopes up for any special treatment/complimentary dessert, as throughout the evening our waiter(s) seemed to be merely going through the motions versus making our experience one to remember, though disappointment became more of a frustration when another table received a sparkler (and maybe dessert) from another waitress.

In conclusion, the food was quite good, but the experience was let down by the shortcomings of the staff. I do realize we were seated at 7:30 on a Sunday and shifts were winding down, but that should not diminish the quality of service. Additionally I would hope they act on their special occasion system if they are going to include that on their website. I will be back due to how good the food is here, but I hope in the coming months that the restaurant will work to improve the professionalism and passion of the front desk/service staff to maintain their reputation as a higher quality dining...