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| - This cute little place opened where Picazzo's used to be on Bell Rd by the QT just a few weeks ago. It's definitely NOT 5 stars as given by S.B. but it's got potential. Surprise is DESPERATE for quality Asian food. Saigon Kitchen is great Vietnamese but we could really use a GOOD Chinese place and no...Pei Wei is NOT good Chinese.
The service staff is VERY green, but they are very attentive, polite, and aim to please. The hostesses are adorable and enthusiastic, albeit very young, and very inexperienced BUT in a charming kind of way. Our server was very nice, very prompt, and apologetic for the newness of the restaurant and the kinks. (Suggestion-please don't have the hostesses dress like they are going to prom. It makes them seem even younger and more inexperienced than they already are)
The atmosphere is very clean and professional looking but you wouldn't know you were walking in to an Asian restaurant at all. I guess because I KNOW this used to be Picazzos...but they didn't change the decor AT ALL. The patio tables could use some sort of covering on them. The metal mesh tables weren't great when Picazzos owned the place and they still aren't great now. A table cloth would be nice...or something more substantial than the metal mesh.
The food. I'll be kind and say it has potential. We had the chicken lettuce wraps and the sampler platter for an appetizer. The filling for the lettuce wraps was VERY plentiful but it lacked flavor. Even the sauce that they brought along with it, which I think was some sort of peanut sauce was very under-seasoned. The sampler had 2 of the following: egg rolls, crab puffs, wontons, chicken skewers, and fried shrimp. Everything was under-seasoned. There was no sauce for dipping either so that didn't help.
Our entrees included Volcano Beef, Filet Mignon, Orange Zest Chicken and Mongolian chicken. These dishes were much better than the very underwhelming appetizers. While they were more flavorful than the apps, they were still very cautiously seasoned. All dishes come with white rice. If you want fried rice there is an additional $4 charge. They do not offer brown rice as an option. The menu is pretty common with most Cantonese style restaurants though so there is something for everyone. We liked each dish but hope that, with time, these will blossom into bolder seasoning and bigger flavor. Even adding salt would be a good start. And please don't under-season because of the Sun City crowd. They will be gone soon and you will need to cater to the people who live here year round. Trust me, we like SEASONED food.
We concluded with dessert after getting our hopes up from the main dishes but to say dessert fell flat is an understatement. We ordered the dessert sampler which included mochi, fruit soup, and tiramisu. The tiramisu is obviously frozen and not house made nor was it made with ladyfingers. It was super dry on the lower layer bordering on stale. The fruit soup was basically fruit cocktail in a glass of milk. And there must have been some issue with the mochi because it took a good amount of time for us to get our dessert and our server brought out the tiramisu and fruit soup telling us the mochi would be out "soon". "Soon" was about 10 minutes later. Dessert was VERY disappointing.
The portions were pretty generous although the sampler was kind of skimpy, only having 2 pieces of each item. Makes it hard for a party of 5 to really enjoy that offering but everything else was large enough for all of us to share and then some. The prices were pretty reasonable.
The biggest problem with Ann's Asian Bistro is that they are too conservative on flavor. They really need to amp it up if they are planning for the long-term. The service will work out its kinks and be fine but it won't be enough if the flavor isn't there. I am rooting for you Ann's Asian Bistro and I definitely will be back to check you out. I really really would like to give you more stars next time! Good luck!
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