From its stylish and attractive décor, to its attentive and friendly service and to intrigue regarding the prospect of credible Asian fusion cuisine in the Texas Panhandle, I very much wanted to share a "gem-in-the-rough" review with my fellow Yelpers. The combination of beautiful setting and exceptionally welcoming staff had us comfortable and ready to enjoy a stellar mid-week dinner. My business colleague, a native Texan who had quickly learned to let me make the restaurant choices, was already flashing me the "thumbs-up." Unfortunately, the illusion fractured as soon as their menu was opened, and shattered at first taste.
Make no mistake, Pacific Rim is a Sino-American ("Chinese") restaurant who has jumped upon the "Asian Fusion" bandwagon. Where true Asian Fusion skillfully and knowingly borrows ingredients and techniques across the frontier of Asian cuisines, and "wanna-be Asian Fusion" inserts a few dishes of borrowed Asian food into a predominant cuisine, Pacific Rim offered neither. Sure, there were a few daily specials which showed a higher level of cross-cultural melding, but nothing which sounded particularly appealing to either of us. Here the perception appears to be that adding a mango-accented dish and a curried dish (both are Asian touches) creates an avant garde Asian Fusion menu . . . I became quite skeptical when reading their menu. Reading further, however, turned skepticism into cynicism . . . cheese steaks, chicken Alfredo, WTF?? Does anyone else sense that this restaurant has an identity crisis?
Okay, getting past the restaurant's clumsy efforts to be trendy, I dialed-in my taste buds for a Chinese meal. Despite some very good (and very varied) Thai, Indian, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurant fare to be enjoyed in Amarillo, passable Chinese food is a relative rarity. Searching the menu again for an entrée which (by menu description) appeared both genuinely Chinese and appealing, even that common-denominator criteria found little which was convincing. Selected were the orange chicken, broccoli beef and shrimp fried rice, with agreement reached with my colleague that we would be sharing plates.
What arrived at our table was certainly abundant in portion, and evident of the kitchen's aptitudes in presentation and plating. Across-the-board, the Pacific Rim renditions of these classic Sino-American dishes lacked a convincing umami character, or depth of flavor. The orange chicken, dry-coated in under-seasoned corn starch before frying with orange rind to a crisp exterior, was the best dish of the three. The broccoli, said to be locally-grown by the restaurant, was toothsome and fresh before being bathed in a rather insipid Chinese brown sauce and paired with stir-fried beef. As for the shrimp fried rice, it was as bland as the brown sauce and, while generously graced with small shrimp and scrambled egg bits, was below the standards of credible "take-out quality."
Speaking of take-out, Pacific Rim does deliver locally for a $3 surcharge. The front desk of our motel characterized their delivery service to be accurate and prompt, although we didn't see a need to sample their food a second time, and couldn't tell you first-hand.
In summary, Pacific Rim is clearly neither Pan Asian nor Chinese in its kitchen preparations. I would personally describe the food as being localized Sino-American, perhaps a half-notch above what I have characterized as "take-out quality." Although abundant, relatively inexpensive (averaging about $22/person) and graced by a pleasant atmosphere and service, the food was simply not interesting or flavorful. Again, I wanted badly to uncover a stellar Chinese restaurant during my six weeks in Amarillo. While I can't profess to have tried more than a few, personally I would stick to the Chinese dishes at Bangkok Tokyo. read more