Pei Wei Asian Diner (Randhurst Village, Mount Prospect)

Sue and I decided to take a gander at the new Pei Wei, if for no other reason than to complain about it here.

Pei Wei is a lower-end spin-off from P.F. Chang's, a chain that I found unimpressive and overpriced.
Pei Wei is less expensive (but not cheap), and while it is not what I would call a fun dining experience, the food's pretty good, and a reasonable value.

I've run into several restaurant chains in recent weeks that seem to think that table service is passe. We walked out of Go Roma, but decided to stick around at Pei Wei. You place your order, are led to a table which is given a number and the food arrives shortly. That they bring you the food puts it a notch above Chipotle and Pita Inn, but not what I would call a "Diner", which should be all about having a waitress that might call you "hon" at the drop of a hat.

At least that's the theory. In reality, you stand in a slow moving line while morons who've been presented with large flat panel displays with the menu on them -- including pictures and detailed descriptions -- suddenly realize fifteen minutes later that they've never eaten asian food before and can't imagine what any of the items on the menu might be. There are three people behind the counter, one of which appears to be only packing up carry-out orders, one of which only rings up carry-out orders, and the third deals with the aforementioned morons.

After the above interminable wait, I eventually lost my cool when walk-ups were placing orders for carry out, yet they wouldn't take orders from people standing in line to sit and eat. It's really bad policy, in my opinion, and I let them know. Our order was placed in less time than my complaining took since we knew what we wanted, and we were on to the pleasant parts.

Starters: My hot and sour soup ($2 for a cup) could have used both more heat and sourness, but was nicely flavored with smoky pork, and a rich (though cornstarchy) broth. Sue's Crab Wontons ($2 for a pair -- nice that they offer a small portion at a small price) were also tasty, heavier in crab than your typical crab rangoon product, and presented quite prettily on a dish of korean sweet chile sauce.

Mains: I ordered the "Pei Wei Spicy" with shrimp ($9.00, less with veg, beef or chicken), which they label as "our version of General Chu's" (General Chu? Say is isn't Tso). It included nice crispy snap peas, disks of carrot (I'd have preferred them cut a little thicker), and slightly spicy, very sweet-glazed shrimp, actually very flavorful. Sue ordered the Korean BBQ Beef, which didn't really resemble Bul Go Gi, but was also a little spicy, flavorful and sweet, with carrots, scallions and some greens on top.

Oh, and they've got one of those Coke-branded dispensers with touch-screen selection of many flavors (although it was out of all Fanta flavors). Soy, hot oil, mustard and sambal are available to adjust flavorings too (and yes, I mean the food, not the drinks).

Summary: Food is tasty if a little too sweet. Counter service is awful.

Thanks for checking it out. I had decided to give it a pass -- not a fan of P.F. Chang, either -- so it's good to know I don't have to be afraid of Pei Wei. We get most of our area Chinese-American fix from Wing Wah, a bit farther north on Rand, but they are closed on Mondays.

Wing Wah has waiter service, although it's very much a fast-food ambiance. It's even better for take-out; they tend to be very generous with portions and throw in things like extra egg rolls or a container of soup.

It's fairly standard Cantonese-American, not a destination spot, but certainly the best I've found in the immediate area. The egg rolls and shrimp toast (with house-made sweet-sour sauce) are very good. I also recommend the yang chow won ton soup, the chow fun and the egg foo yung,

Wing Wah
337 E. Rand Road
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
(847) 259-8882
Menu.

My wife and I tried Pei Wei a week ago and we were both pretty disappointed in the food there. The noodle dish I had (Dan Dan) was overdone with the noodles all clumped together and drowned in sauce. No heat to the dish either despite it being labeled as spicy on the menu. My wife had the Lo Mein and found it far too greasy to finish. Service was pretty quick, though we were there pretty early and there weren't many other people. All in all, I'd rather go to a Panda Express than go back to Pei Wei.