I was thinking, I reviewed the Cheesecake Factory, why haven't I reviewed PF Chang's? I only ever went to either one once, and the experience I had at PF Chang's was, if anything, every bit as pleasant! The decor was kickass. The place smelled great. The staff was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, without being too much of either (if you know what I mean).
In fact, the whole experience was so pleasant it turned the whole evening around! We'd been fighting, and looking for where to eat while waiting for the doors to open on the other thing (or maybe the other thing had let out, and we were starved - I forget, point is we were fighting and starved), and it was really kind of unpleasant. From moment one, the PF Chang hostess read the mood, sat us a bit off to the side with a modicum of privacy, took our extensive drink order and vanished until we set our menus down. By the time our food order was in, we were kind of eased into the moment a bit, and the smells wafting in from the kitchen were bewitching us. Soon we were smiling, sharing each other's delicious appetizers and maybe putting some of the smaller stuff in perspective.
Although when I think about it, me and her fought all the time. So really, PF Chang was not doing me any favors there, turning that particular evening around. Maybe if we'd gone down the street to Gordon Biersch, we could have escalated to the big blowup that would've ended it all, and that was in any case (as it turned out) inevitable. But no! Thanks to the thoroughly pleasant dining experience created by PF Chang's delicious food, well-poured cocktails and attentive, eager, and charming but not over-solicitous waitstaff, I ended up wasting another five months of my life.
Thanks a lot, PF Chang!
4 comments:
My review of the Hard Times Cafe in Alexandria, Virginia would consist of the following story: I took a girl I really liked there for a date and she proceeded to eat the entire basket of cracker packages that was on the table, all before our food arrived. I was really fond of this girl and somehow entirely failed to make it work with her despite an extremely promising start. The cracker incident didn't play into my thinking or actions at the time, but somehow I find it weirdly, perhaps even surrealistically, symbolic of the whole botched relationship.
Wow. Was she really hungry? Or was it just not discussed?
But hey, what kind of a review was that!? How was the food?
How were the crackers?
We never discussed it. I assume the crackers were delicious.
The food? Eh, it was ok. It is the Hard Times Cafe, after all. What the hell do you expect?
I've never heard of it or been there, but the picture I got was that the table was thick and made of wood, that its dark stained planks had been worn smooth by many polishings, but there were gaps between them. The table appears to be "rough-hewn, worn smooth."
The walls are also of dark wood. There are knick-knacks and gee-gaws adorning the walls, but they do not appear to be the manufactured and forcibly-antiqued sort seen at TGI Friday, for instance. These are more authentic junk: an elaborate, rusted hubcap. A washboard that's clearly been put to both laundry and musical use. The busted-out shell of a Martin D-28 Acoustic Guitar. And apropos of nothing, a heavy iron sewer grating hangs against the wall, behind the bar. The bartender will tell you a story about that, if you get the right bartender.
Yeah, you're right though. I'm not picturing the food as really stellar.
Man, why the hell'd you pick that place?
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