Pei Wei in Green Hills
Last night we ate at the new Pei Wei Asian Diner in Green Hills and I have mixed feelings about our experience. We arrived at around 8:35pm, not realizing they close at 9:00pm, but I didn’t feel bad when we found out. That’s still plenty of time to be served before 9:00pm, seeing how it is a diner that serves “fast food”. For those who are not familiar with Pei Wei, it is a fast-serve Asian diner that offers dishes from multiple Asian cuisines, like coconut curry, pad thai, mongolian chicken, etc. You order at a counter and then are presented with a number that you clip into a holder on your table. The food is served pretty quickly by whomever is working the line, depending on how busy they are, but you don’t have one particular waiter or waitress.
So, we sat down after ordering, which wasn’t a minute past 8:40, and they were already starting to close the shades. We were offered a to-go box before we even started eating. It felt very much like they were trying to hurry us out of the restaurant. The staff was very busy cleaning up and everyone seemed like they were ready to go home as soon as 9:00pm hit.
The food itself is quite good for fast food, flavorful enough and large portions. However, I ordered the Mongolian chicken that is supposed to come with green onions and white mushrooms. I think there was maybe what amounted to one whole green onion. I was hoping for quite a few more green onions, cause they are just scrumptious when they are grilled. The mushrooms were good, but if they were supposed to be grilled, they were definitely undercooked.
My husband got the Coconut Curry chicken which, he said, was “alright”, but I don’t think he’d be inclined to come back to eat it again. His vegetables were also undercooked, again, if they were supposed to be grilled. Its possible they like the “fresh veggie” preparation, which I actually prefer, but they were definitely mixed in with the other grilled foods, so it makes sense that they were probably supposed to be grilled.
Anyway, the overall experience was quick and pleasant, but nothing to write home about.
