Our all time favorite restaurant!

If there is any restaurant we have visited most in the past 10 years, it’s this one!   Many special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, and many random Friday night dinners with family and friends, we have eaten at P.F. Changs.  The restaurant has a great ambience; great food, commendable service and excellent dining experience.

For celebrating our daughter’s birthday, we went to P.F. Changs again by her request.  Most times we’ve had long waits at this place to get seated. But due to advanced reservation, we were lucky to be seated immediately. After being seated, our girls were offered kids menus, a recent phenomenon in this restaurant. But being used to order family style to share, a popular philosophy at this restaurant, we ordered an assortment of dishes to share amongst us.

Before we started our order, our waiter mixed the sauces to our requirement – very spicy.  This sauce is spicy and uniquely zesty, and we can’t appreciate it less. On one of our previous visits, our waiter had even packed us a ‘to go box’ of sauce to enjoy ;).

At P.F. Changs, we have our favorites which we always order. We ordered the SALT & PEPPER CALAMARI for starters.  The subtle flavor of Calamari tossed with scallions, and salt and pepper and served with rice wafers is the best calamari we have eaten compared to other restaurants.  P.F.Changs is also famous for another specialty; the lettuce wraps which we have eaten at other times.

Our preferential entrées at P.F. Changs are the MONGOLIAN BEEF, a very exclusive and scrumptious dish, cooked with scallions and garlic; SICHUAN FROM THE SEA- CALAMARI, prepared in a deliciously yummy red chili pepper garlic sauce and KUNG PAO SHRIMP – crispy shrimp fired with chili peppers, peanuts and scallions; and our family favorite GARLIC NOODLES, the specialty of these  egg noodles  tossed with garlic and chili peppers  is its subtle and  delicate garlicky flavor.

We ordered our regular entrees with steaming brown rice, and totally enjoyed our dinner. Though we also tried the CHANGS CHICKEN, this chicken recipe was not spicy enough for our epicurean taste.

I have a recommendation to make to the otherwise great food at this place. The uniquely tasteful Sichuan sauce with calamari   used to be served earlier with fleshy big calamari. I hope they go back to this earlier style of cut of the calamari rather than the small bite sizes it now offers.

The specialty of this place is the great dining experience.  The décor is serene and peaceful with statues of terracotta warriors and horses and murals on walls. The ambiance and setting is elegant and trendy.  The food is American- Chinese fusion to appeal to international taste; and the service is excellent.  We have seen many holiday parties, engagement proposals, birthday and anniversary celebrations, ladies lunches, special dates and family and friends gathering to dine here in many of our visits.

The waiting staff is very interactive and friendly and on this visit too our pleasant waiter Josh in conversation with our daughter found out it was her birthday celebration and her favorite dessert is chocolate.  After our sumptuous dinner he brought over THE GREAT WALL OF CHOCOLATE with a candle.  Our birthday girl was delighted with the special attention and the beautiful cake. The rich six layered chocolate cake frosted with semi-sweet chocolate chips   and served with raspberry sauce was very luscious and  decadent, and a  grand topping on our indulgent dinner this evening.

Cuisine:  Chinese, Asian
Price Range:  Above Average
Dress: Elegant to Casual
Rating: ****
Website: http://www.pfchangs.com/index.aspx
Location: 10114 Jollyville Road, Arboretum, Austin, TX- (512) 231-0208

Foods Reviewed:
•    SALT & PEPPER CALAMARI
•    MONGOLIAN BEEF
•    SICHUAN FROM THE SEA-  calamari
•    KUNG PAO SHRIMP
•    CHANGS CHICKEN
•    GARLIC NOODLES
•    THE GREAT WALL OF CHOCOLATE