Pei Wei Asian diner

742 E Glendale Ave., Phoenix

There are several locations of this chain, owned by PF Changs, around the valley. This just happens to be the closest one to work and it is what I decided to have for lunch Friday. By close I mean I still had to drive 8 miles each way into the downtown Phoenix area. There is one closer to home at 67th Ave. and the 101. This is one of the busier strip malls I have been in lately and I only saw a couple of vacant store fronts. The mall seems to be either fairly new or recently remodeled. Arriving at 1PM I figured the lunch crowd would be almost gone. It was actually packed still although by the time I was done it was starting to clear some.

The food wasn't too bad. I had the limited time offering of Thai mango chicken with white rice. With a soft drink and tax it was $10.29. Most Asian sauces have a hot component and a sweet one. The heat was mild, as I expected, and there were options at the service counter to raise the heat factor. I thought the sweet component was too syrupy. Overall it wasn't bad and it seemed the quality and price were both slightly higher than Panda Express. The dining experience was a little nicer too, although it seemed quite loud. Just by myself I wouldn't drive that far again but I wouldn't rule the place out if somebody else suggested it. I did cheat towards the end, I had a small pile of rice at one end and some remaining sauce at the other and swapped the chopsticks for a fork to finish up. :-)