PF Chang’s

I am usually not one to go to chain restaurants, but an unused gift card for PF Chang’s led me to this well-established restaurant.  PF Chang’s is known for upscale Americanized Asian food.  The architecture of the restaurant was actually constructed to ressemble an Ancient Chinese village, complete with large replicas of terra-cotta horses and soldiers.  The dining experience could be likened to eating in the Ancient China museum exhibit, minus the museum, the history and a few hundred authentic terracotta soldiers and horses.  I will admit that the atmosphere was nice.

The problem was that we decided to go to the restaurant on a Saturday night and to make things worse, we went on a Prom night.  Having thought ahead, we made reseverations for 7:30 p.m. thinking that the crowd would have dissipated by the time we arrived.  This is Lone Tree, after all, and in this cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood of Denver, the average dinner time is 6 p.m.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  We walked into the restaurant and immediately noticed the excess of tux clad teenage boys and a blinding assortment of prom dress colors.  We approched the hostess (trying as hard as possible to avoid the peppy years of high school we had left behind (thank God!)) and told her we had a reservation for 7:30 (it was 7:25).   She dutifully handed us a vibrating beeper contraption and told us they were running 15 minutes late with reservations.  It was no big deal – we could wait 15 minutes.

Around us, people were crammed into every corner of the room.  Everyone was waiting, armed with a vibrating beeper, waiting anxiously for a table.  The large bar in the very center of the restuarant was packed with people.  It was loud.  15 minutes later, still no table, but we were patient.  We continued tapping our feet as our hunger continued to grow.  No one cared, as it was too loud to hear our stomachs groan.  It was 8:00 and still no table (I remind you that our reservation was at 7:30).  We waited another 5 minutes before approching the hostess.  “Oh, it could be another 10 minutes,” she said nonchalantly.  It was apparent that this had happened before.  8:15 and I was about to run into the kitchen screaming like a madwoman. (Hunger can do that to a person, espcially a person who was expecting to eat at 7:45/8 at the latest.)

The problem was actually not the wait.  I am usually a pretty patient person, but a 45 minute wait with reservation seems a bit ridiculous to me.  I looked around me and the crowd of people waiting was only getting larger and more anxious.  The problem was that I was sure that almost everyone waiting had a reservation.  The restaurant, victim of its own sucess, had apprently overbooked reservations.  The hostess insisted that they usually kept reservation times, but I had serious doubts as I looked from the people crowding the entrance way of the restaurant to the people having a drink at the bar.  PF Chang’s had obviously adopted the ‘if you leave, you leave; there will be plenty of people who will stay’ mentality.  And people did stay indeed.  The bar was packed (where the restaurant generated mass profits by making people (with reservations) wiat; the waiting area was packed.  And there were even people who were leaving out of frustration.  I was thouroughly irritated, but we decided to wait it out.

8:26, one hour after we arrived, the red lights on the beeper were blinking.  FINALLY! As we were being led to our table, an irritated man slammed down his beeper and said, “This happens everytime I come here, reservation or not!”  He stormed out of the restaurant (just as I would have done if my dining mates did not insist on waiting).  Needless to say, the staff was unphased.

We were led to our table with an insincere “Thank you for your patience” from the host.  Every word was spat out with insincerity and a shrug of indifference.  We were given our bill before we had even finished our meal and our plates were cleared a second after we finished our last bite of food.  I know it’s all about efficiency and speed in America, but give me a break!  I do not appreciate the waiter waiting tableside to take away my place as soon as I swallow my last morsel of food.  The PF Chang’s staff was obviously quite accustomed to this sort of ancy, irritated, and high-speed atmosphere.  No one seemed to give it a second thought.

I will say that the food was good, different from normal Chinese fare.  But unfortunately, the bad service is what will stand out in my mind.  A restaurant of that size and reputation needs to learn how to keep reservations and not overbook.   And if a wait is necessary for those who took the time to reserve, a complimentary drink or appetizer would be much appreciated.  And note to the hostess, please do not tell us the wait is 15 minutes if it is really 60.

So feel free to join me in a boycott of PF Chang’s until service is improved.  Or better yet, just go to independent restaurants where the fare is original and the people friendly.  You will leave the restaurant thinking about the atmosphere and the food and not the long wait and poor service.