Finally, an Asian restaurant that has location, presentation, good tasting food, and service. Almost perfect. https://www.peonykitchen.com
The Good:
Location and parking (there is a garage if you can find it, 3 hours free parking).
The food is beautifully presented in various type of plates, bowls, metal and glass, and serving platters.
The food is cooked with care by experienced chefs.
The decor is well thought out down to the beautiful bathrooms.
Service is better than many restaurants. (I won't go to Monsoon next door... food and service lacks).
We ordered their Whole Five Spice Crispy Duck (I highly recommend it) $48 and can feed about 10 folks and we declared the best presentation of the day. Five Flavored Beef $20 (more bean sprouts than beef (tasty but not worth the price), Crispy Dover Sole $23 (great presentation, tasty, you can eat the crispy spine, too) another pricey dish for very little fish meat, Tung Po Pork Belly (nice presentation, delicious taste, but 6 pieces and side of buns). Many complain on the review of the size of this dish but we all can agree that this pork belly melts in your mouth and was tasty. For $26, maybe add 2 more pieces of pork and 2 more pieces of steamed buns. Veg Ma Po Tofu $14 (tasted good and was served on a shallow plate on top of a metal bowl). You get the impression that you are getting more. Firecracker Chicken $17. We enjoyed this dish, just a bit more pricey than most restaurants. Garlic Sauteed Lotus Root & Kales $12, this was enjoyable, clean and fresh (maybe cook the lotus root an extra minute to soften). Eggplant & Green Beans $12, another tasty dish (I didn't care for the slightly over grown green beans and someone in our group suggested to cut the eggplant a little thinner). Pot Stickers $10 for 8 pieces (great presentation and wonderful sauce). I would have skipped this as I make my own or get a big frozen bag to enjoy. Brown rice and white rice was included (the best deal, I guess) since all the entrees are about $3 to $8 more than similar entrees at other Asian restaurants. I get it... location is prime and rent is high, so we all have to chip in to pay their rent and thank them for serving us smaller portions to keep our nice figure. Thanks!
Bill came to $190.00, automatic service charge $34.20, tax $22.42. I do not like that extra sneaky charge on top of their overpriced tasty dishes as they are tipping themselves about 20%.
The Bad:
For our large party, they only take up to 4 credit cards. No exceptions. We had 5 folks who wanted to split the bill, so one had to send me venmo. (made it a little inconvenient).
Dust shows on their dark wood, one can only do so much... I know.
The Ugly:
Nothing ugly about this beautiful restaurant until I looked closely to the kitchen glass window and saw a big greasy area that could be taken care of by some Norwex product, Goo gone, art, or cover up by paint, or a poster.
I would come back and try their Lunch Special menu for only $8.88, smaller portions with rice and soup. Can't beat that! Maybe you will have to order 3 dishes to satisfy your appetite.
Their gratuity of 18% is included and they tax on top of the total plus gratuity making themselves almost 20% on gratuity. If they didn't add it to our check, they would have gotten at least 20% or more. I'm not a fan of forcing gratuity of parties less than 6. We had 9 in our party, so no problem, it was easier for us to split the bill except for their 4 max credit card rule and tax on top of the total plus gratuity.
I will be back with more friends and see if we would like to come back again and again!
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