No one will admit it, because they don't want to lose their credentials as a "foodie", but the fact is that P.F. Chang's is pretty good.

Foodies like myself would like nothing more than to be able to wax to our friends about this wonderful Chinese restaurant we know of that is *so* authentic, and *so* good. But the reality is that most Chinese restaurants are like most of every other restaurants: A few are outstanding, a few are awful, and the vast majority are just mediocre. P.F. Chang's is a lot better than the average Chinese restaurant.

They are also conveniently located, and reasonably priced. It's also an alternative to places like Chili's, Red Robin, Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees, and TGI Fridays, which all have essentially the same menu.


So why don't people who like Chinese restaurants eat at PF Changs? Well why wouldn't they? If the food is good and it has the extra bonus of providing good service and it's well-located. Why wouldn't people go there.

The same is true for Pei Wei. The food is good. I love their Kung Pao chicken. Nine times out of ten when I order Kung Pao chicken at a "real" Chinese restaurant, it sucks. And it's not because my tastes are too "Americanized" for real Kung Pao chicken, which is supposed to be very hot and spicy. The problem is the opposite - most "real" Chinese places make bland Kung Pao chicken. It's infuriating to me but it's true. I know I sound like a philistine when people ask me where to get good King Pao chicken and I tell them "Pei Wei", but its absolutely true.

Chain restaurants don't necessarily imply bad food.

Riiiight.... And I'm sure the Olive Garden makes the best Italian food too.

Americans love the restaurant chains because they're "safe". You can expect to get the food to taste the same anywhere on any given day, whereas the food at the "mom-and-pop" restaurant depends more on who's doing the cooking and their mood. The chains also tend to be cleaner and have more consistent service. Americans also tend to be not very adventurous with their food. All my colleagues at work not only go to the same restaurants for lunch, but also order the same dishes every time. I wouldn't be surprised if they have meatloaf every night for dinner.

"Chain" food is not necessarily bad, but after a while they become bland and boring.

incog-nito:

Riiiight.... And I'm sure the Olive Garden makes the best Italian food too.

Americans love the restaurant chains because they're "safe". You can expect to get the food to taste the same anywhere on any given day, whereas the food at the "mom-and-pop" restaurant depends more on who's doing the cooking and their mood. The chains also tend to be cleaner and have more consistent service.

So wait - chains are better at cooking the food properly each time, are cleaner, and have better service. What's bad about any of that?

Americans also tend to be not very adventurous with their food. All my colleagues at work not only go to the same restaurants for lunch, but also order the same dishes every time. I wouldn't be surprised if they have meatloaf every night for dinner.

And non-Americans are so much more adventurous? I've worked in a Chinese restaurant, and I married into a Korean family. Although their food may seem "adventurous" to someone who doesn't eat it very often, in neither case do/did they stray very far from their mainstream tastes. My Korean in-laws cycle through kimchi jigae, bulgogi, kalbi, squid, and bean sprout dishes, most of which are flavored with the same narrow range of ingredients - red pepper paste, sesame, fermented soybean paste, garlic, green onions, msg, and sugar. And kimchi, a couple times a day. Every day. Without fail. The Chinese restaurant was the same way - every day after work we had a meal as a group, which was invariably one of the same 5 or 6 dishes. There's nothing special about non-Americans that gives them a more adventurous palate; we just think their food is adventurous because it's different to us.

No one's saying that PF Chang makes the best authentic Chinese food or that Macaroni Grill makes the best authentic Italian. I don't know a single person who labors under the misapprehension that PF Chang's is food is identical (or even all that similar) to what you'd get in Beijing.

What I do know is that almost everyone I know appreciates consistently tasty, reasonably priced food served by reasonably friendly people, in a reasonably attractive (if contrived) and clean ambiance, regardless of what ethnicity inspired it.

Every time I go to PF Chang, I enjoy the food, the service is competent and the bill doesn't make me choke. End of argument.

Please food snobs, give us all a break. As others have posted, "authentic" doesn't mean better necessarily. I've never understood the snob attitude towards "Americanized" cuisine. Food being Americanized is just an evolution in food. It is a fusion of two different styles, and is the way that exciting new flavors are created.

If it was combining tastes from two countries other than America, food snobs would hail the inventiveness of the creation. They erroneously view Americanized foreign food as a bastardization simply because they are from America themselves and do not see it as innovative.

Calawyer: There is no accounting for taste. Some people love MacDonalds or KFC too.

As an ethnic chinese who grew up in Hong Kong- I can tell you PF Chang is complete and utter overpriced garbage. If you had good exposure to decent chinese food, you would never set food in a PF Chang twice. You could get the same crap in a Panda Express for much less.

icemilkcoffee:

Calawyer: There is no accounting for taste. Some people love MacDonalds or KFC too.

As an ethnic chinese who grew up in Hong Kong- I can tell you PF Chang is complete and utter overpriced garbage. If you had good exposure to decent chinese food, you would never set food in a PF Chang twice. You could get the same crap in a Panda Express for much less.

To icemilkcoffee,

As an Overseas Chinese, there is nothing wrong with PF Chang. Its a business. They tailor the recipes for the Americans. Some of the dishes are not that bad. Its a big improvement over the chopsuey stuff they were serving 30-40 years ago.

I spent alot time in Singapore and Malaysia, and the Cantonese food over there is different than the Cantonese food in Hong Kong. They tailor it to suit the Chinese people in Singapore who are mostly Hokkien. The sauces are thicker, alot of the dishes use chili peppers, they tend to cook the food longer then someone from Hong Kong would find suitable (the vegatables tend to be overcooked).

Debating the authenticity of food assumes that people go out for the food itself.

I think the author came closest to the reasons for P.F. Chang's success when he mentioned that store openings are planned in cities like Akron, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. P.F. Chang's has a reputation - deserved or not - as a kind of local status symbol. Local government types can boast that their city is becoming more upscale when a P.F. Chang's opens up. Sure it's a chain restaurant, but it's a relatively upscale chain restaurant that's still fairly new and interesting in a lot of communities.

Operating margins are great but you can't have those without customers. Another advantage for P.F. Chang's is that meals are presented in serving dishes so friends can share. It's easier to spend $15 or so sharing a few entrees and rice than $20-plus on a Black Angus or Red Lobster dinner.

CaLawyer " So why don't people who like Chinese restaurants eat at PF Changs? Well why wouldn't they? If the food is good and it has the extra bonus of providing good service and it's well-located. Why wouldn't people go there"

Simply, because it's not chinese food. Some of the stuff is good but no true foodie (by true foodie, I mean someone who understands food and not just someone who likes to eat) would call it chinese. There's Mahi mahi tuna on the menu which I've tried and it is cooked american/japanese style so that it is rare in the middle-- chinese people like their food fully cooked. What else. There's a new york strip. There's ahi tuna. Wild Alaskan salmon. Lemon Chicken?! Lettuce wraps (vietnamese) and flatbread?? And lemongrass---hardly chinese, more likely thai or Cambodian. You will not find these ingredients at a chinese restaurant. Your claim that PF is a lot better than the average chinese restaurant is ignorant. Yes, you can say that as a restaurant, PF is okay/better in comparison to other restaurants, but you cannot say that PF is a better Chinese restaurant than an authentic chinese restaurant---that’s akin to claiming Sunkist is a better cola than Coke--and therefore, you cannot assume that people who like chinese food would have no problems with PF Chang. (Not to mention chinese people would laugh at paying the prices at Chang’s!) I'm willing to wager that you've never had authentic chinese and probably get pork fried rice and egg rolls from some fast food chinese joint.

Chain restaurants don't necessarily imply bad food but neither should tagging "Chang" to your name, imply chinese food.

Someone mentioned that the draw of PF Chang is not the chinese food, but the atmosphere and dining experience. I agree. If you read the “about us” on their website, it does not talk about “chinese food”, rather it mentions the chinese-style architecture of the restaurants. This should be telling. What PF Chang’s provides to Americans is a mealticket into “experiencing” another culture within a safe and familiar environment—it is the equivalent of experiencing Italy via the replicated version in Epcot Disney World.

Did it ever occur to you that when the restaurant you worked at may have just wanted to feed you cheaply and quickly? Would they really serve what they gave you to their family? Just like the article suggests many Asian restaurants succeeded by cutting back costs. I worked at a chinese restaurant at one point as well. Were they serving you the same dishes they served to their customers?

Also, it's possible that your korean in-laws made all those dishes that may have thought appealed to you. Now it's possible that you lived with them 24/7 but they may have been polite enough to not make those really delicious stinky dishes that they may enjoy. I'm chinese, and there are certain dishes my parents wouldn't make if they knew my american friends were going to be coming over. But to be honest there were plenty of variety in the dishes my mother and father could and would make. Though putting three kids through college meant having leftovers often.

And Americans don't have adventurous palattes... I mean what is american cuisine?

And by the way just because you married a Korean woman, poor thing, doesn't mean her family is the epitome of korea. I also hope you realize that you married a Korean woman and not an Asian woman. Korea does not equal china does not equal japan...etc.