I got to know PF Changs kind of by accident, when I visited one in downtown Honolulu during my vacation in Hawaii. It's packed during my visit there which shows the popularity of the restaurant and I was quite satisfied with the grilled prawn with ginger, green onion and soy source I ordered.
I was aware that a PF Changs outlet opened in the Mont Royal district of Montreal near the Walmart store and the hippodrome a couple of years back. And I have planned a visit since, but was a bit hesitant seeing all the negative reviews here. Nevertheless my good experience with their restaurant in Hawaii still lingers. So finally , during the Chinese New Year of 2016, I decided to give it a try.
The location is not the most convenient for most Montrealers, you know what I mean if you know where the hippodrome is. The restaurant is hosted in a standalone mansion, it is huge just the typical PF Changs style. Two giant stone horses as you saw in the Qing terra cotta armies welcome you at their front door , the moment you walked in, you know you are in a Chinese restaurant with three what seem to be Confucius statutes right behind the reception desk, with a classic Chinese painting wrap around a pendant above. The interior deco and ambience is modern and chic with touches of Chinese cultures everywhere such as wooden artwork hanging on walls and Chinese style plants. The dining hall is huge with a mezzanine, it is ideal place to throw a large banquet, there is also a bar in the right side of the floor.
The receptionist was quick to greet me and arranged a table for me right away. After a quick browse of the menu, I noticed their prices are at the high end, most appetizers are above 10$ and main dishes are above 20$, so I asked the waiter for some recommendations, he told me those highlighted with solid background are popular or house specialties. So I ordered the so called signature appetizer named Lettuce Wrap with chicken and a main dish called Mongolian Beef. A short wait later, the appetizer arrived, I must say I loved it, it's minced chicken seared with garlic and mushrooms and then poured onto a layer of rice sticks, of course it also comes with a stack of lettuce leaves and some hot chili soy source. As you can imagine, you just need put one or two spoon of the minced chicken into a lettuce leaf, sprinkle a little bit of the spicy soy source, wrapped it up, and voila, you are up to some delicious treats. The taste is quite unique, as the lettuce leaf is crispy, cold, fresh and a bit juicy too, but the chicken inside is quite warm, tender, tasty and spicy, so the contrast of two different layers is obvious. The portion is quite big considering it's an appetizer, I ended up asking the waiter to bring me more lettuce leaves. I definitely enjoyed the experience and strongly recommend this one. The Mongolian Beef is flank steak stir fried in soy source with lots of green onions. It's not bad, but left more to be desired. It's overcooked a bit and tasted a bit hard and wooden because of that. They also used too much soy source for my taste, so much that the beef looks dark. Should it be a bit tender and lighter, I would have loved it. As a side note, while it is a Chinese restaurant, most of its staff are not Chinese, so I 'm not even sure if the chef is a Chinese.
In all fairness, my experience is not all that bad, so I'm a bit surprised at all the negative reviews, I agree that the price is a bit high, but the food is not all that bad, and the service is good, I asked them for extra lettuce leaves and rice, they are quick to accommodate without extra charge.
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