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P F Chang's China Bistro
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
6 reviews for P F Chang's China Bistro
Wasn't terrible,
But certainly wasn't great.
Save your hard-earned cash.
Any place that accommodates with a special dietary menu for a little known disease gets five stars from me. P.F. Chang's has a dedicated Gluten-Free Menu for those of us who suffer from celiac disease. They also make sure to clean down the area they prepare the specialty dinner so as to avoid cross-contamination. I don't know many other restaurants that go this far.
Aside from the menu preference, I enjoy my overall experience every time. Their menu is a bit different than that of what most people will be used to if you regularly eat a Chinese Take-Out or Buffet joints. Don't expect this to be at all like that. It's not a Buffet. They don't sell "General Tso's" (though Chang's Spicy Chicken is recommended for those looking for something similar, it's my personal favorite) or other signature foods that you may expect. They do sell very similar items with different names and a few of their own adjustments, just make sure to read the menu description and ask questions if you are not sure. They also sell Sake, I believe they have a few different types.
The prices can get a bit more expensive than your average Chinese Restaurant depending on what you get but it's well worth it. Portions are excellent and the taste is great. I've yet to have one complaint and I have frequented this establishment several times over the span of a few years.
The only downside, it can be a little crowded and a bit loud. It's also very dark because of their lighting. However, I think it sets the atmosphere. It can be a romantic place or a casual place, I've been there for both.
I hate this place.
It's very loud, the service is very poor, and the food is so-so.
If you want good Chinese in Pittsburgh, try China Palace (Shadyside) or Sesame Inn (Station Square or North Hills). They're quieter, with very good food & service.
Get the lettuce wrap appetizer.
When they first opened the wrap was Boston or bib lettuce, now it is iceberg.
The rest of the menu is hit or miss
When I lived in Los Angeles a year and a half ago, P F Chang's was no great shakes, one of millions of places with good but not outstanding stuff on the menu.
Here in Pittsburgh, it's the only Chinese place I've found that combines genuinely good service with quality food. Not, perhaps, as good as what you can get in LA's top places, but fantastic compared to its competition here.
The Kung Pao chicken is particularly good, with delicious fried chicken cubes and the usual hot sauce and chiles. Chicken with lettuce wraps is good too.
Their fried noodle dish with chicken, whose name I have forgotten, is addictive but has an odd sauce I don't quite like. Still, they get the friedness of the noodles right, and there are precious few ... ahem ... no other restaurants around here that do.
Portions are small, so either plan to get an appetizer and an entree or expect to leave almost as hungry as you came. The minced chicken in lettuce wraps appetizer is outstanding and you get about the same amount of food as in one of their entrees.
If you live in LA, forget P F Chang's. If you live in NYC, I'm sure there are a dozen better places on a single block. But here in Pittsburgh, it's just about the best place around.
My indo-Chinese friend and I came here after our parents heard about this "upscale Chinese chain" bringing good Chinese food with good ambiance to the masses, and they kept bugging us to tell them about it.
We ordered the lettuce wraps, dan-dan mien, and roasted duck.
Two things stood out.
When the waiter brought out our appetizer, he asked us if we liked our food mild or spicy. We said spicy, thinking that he was referring to our dan-dan mien. Before we could react, he mixed the appetizer's sauce with mustard and some other crap. Both of us sat there dumbfounded that he had ruined what looked like a perfectly good sauce.
The duck also left us speechless. When we ordered it, the waiter warned us that duck could be an oily dish. We said that's fine by us (while snickering inside as we wondered what could be better than duck fat). What we got was the most amazingly fat-free duck. It's amazing cause the bird has ALOT of fat. Of course the lack of duck fat (or as Alton Brown calls it, "liquid love") meant that it was the worst, most tasteless and dry duck we'd ever had. It really took some hard work to make duck taste bad. You could leave duck unseasoned, overcook it til it's dry and tough; but give us some some salt and the rendered duck fat to drizzle on top and we'd still say it tastes good.
Needless to say, we didn't say nice things about PF Chang's to our parents.
Despite how shockingly bad the duck was, I'll give 2 stars since the dan-dan noodles and lettuce wraps were average, and it's clean (a trait that's not to be overlooked in a Chinese place, or a place that poses as a Chinese place).
As a sidenote, I feel a little sorry for the waiter. He looked awkward while explaining to us how Chinese eat their meals "family style." Then again, we weren't sure whether we should feel insulted or amused.
