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| - I've only been to P.F. Chang's once, with a big group of co-workers, and I remember thinking that the food there was fine, in a suburban-mall sort of way. But even though its younger sibling, Pei Wei, nails the sexy interior design and appealing assortment of pan-Asian entrees you'd want in this sort of place, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
We perused the menu and settled on three hard-to-fumble options: a Thai-style green chicken curry, orange-peel beef, and Pei Wei spicy chicken --- their approximation of General Tso's --- plus a side of edamame. Each entree came with a choice of white or brown rice.
As we waited for our food, I remarked that the decor seemed unexpectedly pleasant, maybe even nice enough for a casual date. It's the kind of place you can imagine popping into while shopping, a little more upscale than the food court, but not a 'for-real' restaurant.
The edamame were served warmish, and tasted just like they do everywhere else. The Pei Wei chicken turned out to be everyone's favorite, although I definitely wouldn't call it spicy (even though the menu does). We enjoyed the green curry's flavor, although the chicken turned out more like meat-jelly, probably the result of over-marinating. The beef was the disappointment of the bunch, a sitcky-sweet mess of strangely chewy meat garnished with with huge slices of carrot... huh? The accompanying white rice was fine, but the brown rice was seriously undercooked: It rattled like gravel when stirred.
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