Chang update: No walk-ins for three months?
Our friends at Mas to Millers (a local food blog) say they tried to go to Peter Chang's China Grill on the public opening on March 2– the parking lot was packed with cars– and they were told that reservations for dinner were booked for the next three days, and that the restaurant might not be able able to accept any dinner walk-ins for the next three months!
Indeed, it's been a madhouse at Chang's since the opening, and Dish hears people have had some success getting a table, especially for lunch, but have had some problems with the service as the new staff wasn't really given time to work the kinks out. Still, almost everyone agrees, the food is worth the wait.
26 comments
This is the time we get take out. Right right????? Who is with me???? Ok someone buy me some food.
Glad I had lunch there today. It wasn't crowded at 2pm. A scene of controlled chaos; the wait staff didn't have a clue what they were doing, but the food was excellent.
What's the price point per entree for this place?
I went there for lunch today too. My office had reservations at noon for 8 people. We were seated right away, and the restaurant was busy but not jam packed. It took 15 minutes for our drinks to be ordered, 15 more minutes for them to even ask for our food orders, and our drinks didn't arrive until 15 minutes after that. The first entree got served at 1:20pm, and at 2:15 when we finally had to leave, one of my co-workers STILL didn't have their entree. It was comical and ridiculous. The waitstaff was clueless and only mildly apologetic. A real sh*t show over there. The food was really tasty, I'll admit. Peter Chang knows how to cook. But if today was any indication, this restaurant is barely prepared to serve people. Don't go there unless you have 2 hours to kill and tons of patience.
Be sure to order Peter's Rolls, a combination of cabbage, onions, meat, and spices; all rolled into a crispy dough scented with the aroma of a wood burning stove and served piping hot.
Any vegetarian dishes on the menu, or would one need to ask for a special dish?
No thanks. I don't do waits and lines and bad service. Food may be tasty but that's not worth it!
That aside, something tells me that this restaurant will NEVER go out of business. ;) If it does lose it'll be one of those deals where Mr. Chang changes his mind on a whim and closes up shop and takes off in the night right at the height of raking in the big money. But it won't ever close due to lack of business, that's for sure.
Lots of vegetarian choices. The hot and sour soup was the best I'd ever had. I would appreciate hearing others favorites. Lunch came to $15 including an appetizer, soup and entree.
AJ, eight employees and yourself out for a 2 hour lunch?
Sounds like a nice place to work. Is this a city, county, state or federal office?
AJ is Dave Norris
this is why i never go to a restaurant until it's been open for at least two months. gives them time to work out the kinks and replace the non-hackers with competent waitstaff.
gsoe, i don't think they were intending to eat a 2 hour lunch, just happened to take that long. and you make a joke about him working a federal job. when was the last time you worked during the day and didn't sit around monitoring the hook comments? maybe that is your job and you're on the hook payroll. just wondering.
What happened to the Biscuit Ran article? All I get is Access Denied.
Just returned from lunch at China Grill and found no problems with the service. We were in and out in less than an hour. The pho was a nice treat - no need to make a trip to Richmond anymore for decent pho. Apparently, one of the chefs is Vietnamese.
i went there with my family, ordered some pho and fried rice. to be honest, it tastes so-so. the servers seems lost, bad english and kinda unfamilliar with the menus. pricey-pricey.. i would say, go to dragon lady or ming dynasty, they are all taste the same..!! won't go back again :)
Pho? Did someone say Pho? :)
hmmm. shucks. i was hoping so much to go there everyday for the next 2 months. darnit. and we care that a "big shot" cook is in town why? peter chang go back to NY and leave ou local eateries alone!
I disagree, great food will spur all our local restaurants to do better, and why isn't Chang as local as any of our other chefs, they all came from somewhere.
Awful service. Lunch for two with a 20 minute difference in food arrival from person to person.
Ewww me tso hungry, ew ewww me tso huuuuungry
Regular grub, high prices, lousy service. Should fit in with the rest of this area's restaurants. But on a serious note I've never been to a Chinese restaurant except for one (not anywhere near here) where sit down dining made any sense; it was all about carry-out and delivery.
AA, I think the Chang hype has long gone way over the top, but the food is very tasty. It just isn't very original and he's far from the genius chef he's made out to be..
There is a huge difference between a chef that creates dishes and one like Chang who seems instead just to do the standards well. The better things on Chang's menu are Szechuan and so are pretty far from the stuff common to the usual American/Chinese joint. You can get the familiar too if you want and it is probably better than usual, but there is definitely no point in waiting for that.
If you have only been to a Chinese restaurant that is worth sitting at once, then you need to get out of the house a bit more often. There are plenty in or near D.C. (A hint, if you see a lot of tourists, you are in the wrong place) If you only got "regular grub" at Chang's, then go with someone who knows what to order next time. Try a Tuesday or Wednesday night.
I meant AE - sorry
It's all about knowing what to order as the guy above said. If you like spicy food, this is your place because Szechuan dishes can leave your mouth numb with spicy bliss. For those of you who don't have the cojones, try more chinese rather than typical american-chinese takeout dishes like "general tso's chicken".
Eat up. Maybe not worth the wait now, but service will pick up eventually...
Thanks, but I gave up ""Phreedom Pho" when Saigon fell...
And you will be hungry an hour later...................