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

We sat on Saturday around 3:30PM. There was a GM and hostess at the front. Very pleasant. When we sat, we were in the middle of the restaurant next to the bar. There were 4 or 5 servers, plus a floor manager, and no one approached us for almost 10 minutes. I counted the waiters and manager who walked past us at least 3 times each. There was not many people at the restaurant. I felt for the amount of staff there should be more of a presence and a focus on catering to the needs of each table. Too many times we see waiters who clearly see issues and do not to approach. While the waiters were pleasant there was a level of inexperience.

When the waiter came, he introduced himself, and was pleasant. He did a good job. We ordered edamame ($10), it was good, not worth the price. I suggest you skip this one and go for the food. For the general price of everything, skip the items you can get at a sushi restaurant.

If you enjoy sushi, do not order from PF changs. Go to a different place. In the food court upstairs is Nori sushi and I personally believe it is top 3 best places for sushi in NJ. HANDS DOWN!

We had chicken lettuce wraps, it was good, it definitely needs more lettuce leaves for the amount of chicken. The waiter offered more, after some time had passed. One dish was incorrectly brought to us. We ordered two shrimp dishes and received one as chicken. They were good.

The rice for the dinner dishes was typical medium grain rice. For Chinese dishes, at that price point, the rice should have been jasmine. The rice served tasted bland and almost from a box. For one of the shrimp dishes the waiter asked if we wanted fried rice with that, and we said yes, thinking it was included. It was not. I think this was where inexperience definitely showed itself. If you're going to charge for fried rice on a dish, you should clearly state it to the customer. They did not. While the other shrimp dish did come with rice but no charge. It is not stated anywhere on the menu if any dishes come with rice. Major fail.

The atmosphere was good. I think it's typical PF Chang's fashion. Always check your utensils and make sure that there is not excess food or anything on them. I think if there is downtime they really should be polishing their forks, chopsticks and plates as there was watermarks. That doesn't typically bother me, but I think it's just another way to elevate the experience.

This place has every bit of potential to exceed expectations. It just wasn't there on the day. I understand when things are slow, it affects the mood of everyone, but they could elevate the experience with a more personal touch, more awareness, and the manager coaching, not monitoring, their...

So.. to start the night. My girlfriend and I had a reservation for 8:30pm. We get there 5 mins early (8:25pm). Was told by the hostess, who was very nice, that our table is ready and that it'll just be a few minutes. We waited about 15 mins before we were seated and they were about to seat us outside in the mall area on the side of the restaurant, (unsure of the point of a reservation). My girlfriend and I didn't expect to be seated outside of the restaurant and asked nicely if we were able to sit inside considering we have a reservation and would like the ambience of the new place. Plenty of seating was visibly available and they put us at the worst table location wise and area, mind you the table was wobly as all hell. So they decided to seat us on the far side of the bar from the front entrance which is literally right next to the kitchen so we heard and observed staff hustling in and out nonstop throughout our whole meal which kinda ruined our date night and couldn't hear ourselves speak, not to mention the loud music, but the place was super busy so it was what it was. We also got two alcoholic beverages which were actually very good.

Food quality: The food was decent. I got the fire roasted short ribs with the pineapple rice. My girlfriend got the Mongolian beef with white rice and we decided to get a side of vegetable lomein

Veggie lomein- no flavor at all. Didn't taste anything but noodles and the veggies didn't seemed steamed enough or cooked. Just bland.

Short ribs and rice- meat was extremely tender and flavorful and the rice didn't have much flavor other than the natural juice from the pineapple chunks.

Mongolian beef- I tried some of this and the veggie that came with it was good.

Fabian, our waiter, was extremely nice and kept everything going smoothly. The manager standing around at the far end of the bar didn't seem involved at all and was totally clueless that if you have other seating available on the inside you shouldn't place customers next to the kitchen which I'm guessing was not relayed to the hostess which I don't put any blame on.

All in all just to summarize; 2 entrees, a side and 2 alcoholic drinks was a little under $100. Seating was not ideal with reserved dining. The wait staff was very nice though (always tip your waiters/waitresses well). Although, not really worth it for the price and quality of food at all. I already see signs of poor planning and management and this place hasn't been open that long. You're better off going to literally any hibachi place or possible local Chinese takeout spot to pay roughly the same amount for 2 people and receive...

So here’s a story about my first time there. At the ripe age of 31, I along with my girlfriend are bartending students and have an assortment of alcohol with a couple of cocktails at our apartment so I wasn’t up to trying any of their cocktails because I have this bad habit of comparing it to something I made prior. My girlfriend on the other hand decided to order a Japanese old fashioned. Not her type of drink but she figured we’d both try what this well renowned establishment had to offer for a riff of this classic cocktail. We weren’t well versed in Japanese whiskey. The spirit in this cocktail was Mars Iwai 45: a much more affordable brand compared to Suntory and Nikka priced at $35.

Bracing herself for a bite from the Japanese whiskey, upon first taste, my girlfriend was shocked at how light it tasted: almost watered down she said. When I tasted it, I had came to two conclusions, Japanese Whiskey is insanely smooth or this drink is missing an ounce of alcohol and watered down.

We ask the bartender what was in the drink. He says “just the whiskey and pure cane sugar. It’s also supposed to have “Smokey aromatics” but the “smoke machine” was broken. Would’ve been nice to know. We then asked “No water?” We see him clear his throat and say “…nope none” Then for fun, we ask for a shot of the Mars Iwai 45 to confirm. This would be the smoothest whiskey in the world I say. I would parade Mars Iwai on the streets of Dover if this were really true. I take a sip of the shot and so does she….and to our disappointment our fear was true…this Japanese old fashioned was watered down than a modern day Disney movie... and still costs $16 Shrinkflation has happened even at PF changs and it involves lying to...