David Pitlyuk

Last weekend after house hunting with a friend, we decided to stop by a new place in the area for some dinner. The place is called Pei Wei Asian Diner, and it’s owned by P.F. Changs China Bistro. If you haven’t been to P.F. Changs, it’s best described on their about page:

The P.F. Chang’s experience is a unique combination of Chinese cuisine, attentive service, wine, and tempting desserts all served in a stylish, high-energy bistro.

Pei Wei is an interesting play on a concept that is new to me. They offer some select items from the P.F. Changs menu, as well as some new stuff, but it’s not your typical restaurant. They call it the “quick-casual restaurant”, and I liked it…a lot. Upon walking in, you go to a counter and order your food and drink. Simply choose a table to sit down at, fill your cup at the beverage station, and shortly afterwards somebody brings your food. There is no waiter to talk to, nobody trying to up sell appetizers, just a nice relaxing environment where you don’t get bugged. Somebody will also clean your plates up, so there is no work required on your part. Since you do not have a waiter, it also means you don’t need to tip, so you can still have a nice dinner, and save a few bucks. Will and I both got the same thing:

This is the honey seared lemon chicken, and is my favorite dish from P.F. Changs. We walked out of there with a $16.28 check between two people. It’s no $1,300 meal, but we were happy when leaving.

I think this is an interesting concept in dining out, and I would like to see some more of the popular franchises out there like Friday’s, Applebees, Olive Garden, etc do something like this. Is this something you would prefer compared to going to an actual full-service restaurant? Keep in mind that the food is just as good.