| rev:text
| - The first few times I ate at this Pei Wei restaurant, I almost certainly would have given it five stars. But the more I eat there, the more little annoyances I find. Don't get me wrong, it's one of the better lunch spots among the limited offerings in Chandler's Ocotillo area, but it has room for improvement.
My most recent experience at this Pei Wei was the worst. It must have been training day because hardly anyone who worked there seemed to know what he or she was doing. The young gentleman behind the cash register, who was friendly and trying his best, acted as if he had been given no training at all. I felt sorry for him.
Every time I eat at this restaurant, I order exactly the same meal, which makes it easier to compare my experiences. My order consists of the small rice bowl with brown rice, vegetables and tofu on top, and ginger broccoli sauce on the side. I also order a large fountain drink. This is one of the healthier meals on the menu. My wife also orders close to the same thing every time. This time she ordered a lo mein dish, also with a fountain drink.
Normally, our bill is around $19.00. The last time we visited, the cashier creatively interpreted my order, and the bill came out to nearly $26.00. The restaurant was busy, and I didn't want to hold up the line, so I let it slide. But I was curious about what actually would arrive at our table.
Let's say it was interesting. Unlike usual, the rice and tofu/vegetable combination were separate dishes. The tofu and vegetables were smothered with ginger broccoli sauce, even though I had ordered it on the side to control portion size. There may have been a misunderstanding over the meaning of "on the side," but this was the first time they got it wrong. Also, the waiter tried to give my wife an extra side of vegetables with her dish, which we hadn't ordered. She refused them, although we discovered later that we had been charged for them. We still haven't been able to figure out how that happened.
If you are on a diet, I would strongly suggest that you check the nutrition information on Pei Wei's website. Most of the dishes look healthy, but you might be surprised to see how many calories they have. Don't even think of ordering a large anything. Even a small rice dish is more food than I would like. One of their small rice dishes alone can top 1,000 calories. Seriously, you might be better off going to McDonald's. The meal I normally order has one of the lowest calorie counts of any of their rice dishes, but still it is nearly 700 calories. For rice dishes, your choice of sauce is what makes the difference.
The ambience and layout of the restaurant leave much to be desired. Over the lunch hour, it is loud. Very loud. So loud it is hard to carry on a conversation. The narrow aisles and fast-moving waiters ensure that you are bound to collide with at least a half dozen people on the way to your table.
The soda fountain area is the worst place to be. I give Pei Wei points for having two of those new Coke machines with more than 100 drink choices. But the machines should come with instruction manuals because most customers stare at them with a befuddled look for five minutes before making their selections. Meanwhile, the line of would-be soda drinkers continues to grow to the point that they must constantly dance around to avoid being run over by servers racing from the grill or customers trying to get to the condiments on the other side of the line. The fortune cookies, strangely, are in a large bowl mounted high near the center rear of the seating area, away from everything else except a few diners who are trying to eat.
If you need to go to the restroom, try to take care of it before you arrive at Pei Wei. Even though the restaurant is packed over the noon hour, it has only individual men's and women's restrooms, which are almost always locked. For a few years, I assumed that the restaurant manager was a sadistic person who kept the restrooms permanently locked strictly to torture people. Then one time I actually was able to get in. I can speak only for the men's restroom, but it is large enough that it could be remodeled so that it has one or two stalls and a urinal. This would make it possible to leave the door unlocked, enabling more people to use the restroom and greatly enhancing the quality of their customer experience.
Why is this restaurant so popular? Part of it is the Pei Wei cachet. Part of it is the food, which is delicious and perceived by many to be healthy. Part of it is the fast service and friendliness of the staff. Part of it is the location, which is both convenient and lacking in competition.
I will continue to go there. But I think I will take a break for a while.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)