This 5-star is for the Szechuan Pork Belly. It is the only thing I get at this restaurant. I have tried the other dishes over the years but I'd say 9 out of 10 times I'll order the pork belly with no hesitation. I find it that satisfying. read more

I LOVE some Peter Chang in the Lee Harrison Shopping Center--but won't be ordering from them again until they change their social distancing policies. Just picked up from there and people are walking in and out, opening doors without gloves without any distancing or curbside pick up. People literally brushing against others. Meanwhile, Pie-Tanza next door has orange cones set up with gloves and curbside. Peter Chang should be taking some notes on how their restaurant neighbors are taking care for the community. Thank you pie-tanza! read more

i ordered the tea smoked duck, dry fried eggplant, crazy beef with ghost chili, and egg drop soup via doordash. i'm sure the dine-in experience with freshly served food would be much better! compared to the szechuan restaurants i've been to in the past (primarily in NY, or even the hotpot places in DMV), i felt like the numbing tingly spices were very mild. especially the crazy beef (5 chili level) - considering it's supposed to be the spiciest item on the menu. it was about the same level of spiciness as the dry fried eggplant (1 chili level). my thoughts on the items i got: tea smoked duck - 8/10 (good balance of tender meat and salty, slightly crispy/crunchy skin!) dry fried eggplant - 7/10 (wasn't super crispy but that might be due to the delivery. was still good and apparently one of the best sellers) crazy beef with ghost chili - 5/10 (pretty generic american chinese/panda express kinda taste + the disappointment of it not being spicy) egg drop soup - 5/10 (idk how you mess up egg drop soup but super watery) overall, I was pretty happy with the quality and portion of the food but none of the dishes wowed me. If the dishes were properly spicy, I would give this place 4 stars. read more

I ordered this on Doordash after checking out the reviews. It was a bit pricey but it did not disappoint. I got (22) Crispy Pork Belly and (54) Szechuan Style Hotpot with Beef. Really good sized servings and lots of vegetables. It didn't leave that awkward heavy feeling. Ok not negative is that It did not come with any silverware, napkins, or cookie (not sure if it has those at the restaurant). I will definitely order again and try to go to the restaurant sometime. read more

Welcome to Chinese food kicked up and prepared authentic. At PG, you get it all, food that tastes good, authentic, and looks beautiful to boot. We ordered the beef chow fun (my personal favorite dish) and the cumin lamb. I set a high bar for chow fun (wide rice noodle) and PG didn't disappoint. The noodles were perfect, everything seasoned right, and very satisfying. The lamb was a surprise hit. Bold, dark presentation, very flavorful. It was on the spicey side, but it worked well. The decor is pleasant and tasteful, and the price per portion very fair. Check out Peter Chang's asap. You will leave happy and without the need to request sauce (our table didn't have soy, mustard etc. and we didn't miss it). read more

Peter Chang - Cumin Lamb - Szechuan Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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Peter Chang is one of our favorite restaurants in this area! My husband and I love Sichuan style Chinese cuisine because of its spicy nature and this place does not disappoint!! Our favorite dishes include the fried flounder fish appetizer, cilantro fish spring rolls, scallion bubble pancakes, Sichuan style double cooked pork belly, the hot and numbing combination! Mmmmm typing this review is making me want some Peter Chang right now! Please note that if you are looking for some American style Chinese food, this place is not for you. read more

Went here on a recommendation and was just not impressed. The service was fast which is something not a good thing. Hear me out... I get there around 6pm on a Friday night. There was a line of bags for take out on the bar... okay good sign people like the food but prefer to eat at home. okay cool. :) WE get seated within seconds and had drinks within 4. Again, great service. After ordering an app and soup (egg rolls and egg drop soup) it came out within 2 minutes. Meaning that the eggs rolls were not cooked to order. Not a fan of my food just sitting out like that at a sit down restaurant. The egg drop soup was more of a hot and sour with tofu and mushrooms. Not my jam but that is okay. We ordered food soon after and that came out no more than 5 minutes later. I was still eating my apps as the food arrived. Again, for the food to take no time to cook made me wonder how much of it was pre-made. The sauce on the beef and chicken was basically the same yet they were completely separate dishes. I didnt feel like the variety was there at all. Overall, the server was extremely nice and attentive but i would have preferred more cooked to order food. This reminded me too much of Panda Express. read more

We decided to go try the food after Andrew Zimmern's show. We were impressed with the quality, presentation and flavors. The scallion bubble pancake was amazing. I have never tried anything like it. We ordered the crispy pork belly for a table of 6. We should have order one for each of us. Yummy! We ordered the mapo tofu with beef. The best we ever had. The Kung pao chicken was fresh and flavorful. We also has the sweet and sour chicken. It was not oily from being fried. Let's say it was so good that we went back within 3 days from our first visit. This time we had the basil beef. Presentation was so cool. read more

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We've been a huge supporter of this restaurant for three years since discovering it. During the pandemic we continued supporting it by ordering take out once a week. Unfortunately they recently raised their prices in a pretty hefty manner, and really beyond inflation. Not only did they raise their price, they also decided it was a good idea to separately charge their customers for each individual portion of rice. To be fair the food is outstanding and while we can easily afford it, the hefty price rise and then charging for rice seems to be gouging their loyal customers and pulling a fast one. I'll still give them 4 stars but they definitely won't be seeing me once a week anymore. read more

Our Asian friends have all, regardless of ethnicity, been unanimously raving about this place for as long as I can remember, so I have no idea why it took us so long to finally stop in. With some urging from a friend, we ended here for BF's b-day, and then liked it so much I picked it up for lunch later in the wk! We started with the infamous scallion bubble pancake, which was legit bigger than my head and unlike anything I'd eaten before. Crunchy, chewy, flavorful, a little greasy, and with a very interesting curry dipping sauce. We also got an order of grandma's noodles (which we liked so much we ordered a second portion later) and the crispy pork belly. Obviously, we loved the grandma's noodles which were packed with flavor and not too spicy, with a lovely and complex garlic flavor--it tasted even better as leftovers the next day. The presentation of the crispy pork belly was super interesting, in a woven cone. It was dry-fried and crunchy but chewy and juicy on the inside, packed with chili and peppercorns, but a great heat level--a little numbing but not problematic on the tongue, and the portion was enormous. For entrees, we skipped the straight-up Szechuan and went for something more basic. BF had beef with wood-ear mushrooms and snow peas, and I had the infamous golden mountain chicken. The portions were enormous, enough for 2-3 meals easily, so we had tons of leftovers. The beef was tender, the sauce flavorful, and the snow peas sweet and crispy. The golden mountain chicken was a really interesting texture, and the shape honestly reminiscent of chicken feet. It sort of reminded me of a more-textural version of Taiwanese pineapple chicken. The sauce was not overly sweet, and it held up for a couple days later. I would love to see more veggies in that dish, but I wasn't disappointed. Later in my take-out order I had the hot and sour soup, and this was one of the best versions I've had, with that lovely Szechuan peppercorn numbing. I'd eat a huge bowl of that any day. Definitely worth the trip for interesting Chinese in the area. read more

This is the best Chinese food I've ever had. The flavor profiles of these dishes was amazing. I've been here several times and I always get the eggplant in the clay pot. It is delicious! It melts in your mouth and tastes mainly of Thai basil. It's not oily or greasy, which is easy to do with eggplant if you don't cook it properly. This time, I also ordered the chicken hot pot and seafood in a clay pot. Both were delicious. The seafood was cooked perfectly. The fish was light and cooked in a flavorful curry broth. The spice mix on the chicken and veggie hot pot was delicious. Spicy but flavorful. There is a subtle Sichuan peppercorn taste and it's out of this world. This place is always busy so make a reservation before you come in! read more

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This is my favorite Chinese restaurant. Hands down. I have loved everything I have tried which is mostly vegetarian and chicken dishes. I can't find any fault in any thing I ever ate. Food is spicy but spices are balanced and well done. They serve tea forte tea which is a very good brand and balances the spices. The grandma noodles, eggplant fries, mapo tofu, hotpot dishes all highly recommended. Service is prompt and the serving is huge for the price. There is always one more meal to go. I come here again and again, I don't think I will ever stop! read more

Tried to order takeout from them. Called about 4 times and either the phone was left ringing for a good 5 minutes or the line was busy. The final time I tried, my phone registered the call but I never heard a voice on the other end. I also tried ordering online, but when I went to check out, I got a notification saying this location wasn't accepting online orders at this time. So much for my plans. I'm very disappointed, I've had great experiences dining in at this location, but due to COVID, that isn't possible at the moment. Oh well. read more

Many good reviews, decided to try it. FAIL. * dirty restrooms * zero ambiance. none. think truck stop / cafeteria * If you like cheap, mass quantity food over quality, this is your place. * lots of kids. lots and lots. * sugary sweet entrees So far, for my wife and I, worst restaurant of 2017 by a considerable margin. read more

Hidden away in a small shopping center. Very popular, and you'll know why, once you taste the food. Best Szechuan string beans I've ever had. Lunch specials are reasonable, but come after 12, to get parking. read more

This was my first time at Peter Chang and it was a good experience. We had a party of 7 and got scallion bubble pancake, cilantro flounder fish rolls, and veggie spring rolls for appetizers. The pancakes are huge and fluffy that come out with delicious curry on the side. A few of us got lunch specials with kung pao chicken, General tso's chicken, and beef and broccoli. Lunch specials come with spring rolls and soup. Others got Szechuan stir fry hot pot, Peter Chang's seafood in stone pot, and another veggie stone pot. The stone pots were the best. The seafood one was in a curry sauce. The other 2 were in a spicy broth. It's definitely family style, even with lunch portions. Everything tasted great! read more

Peter Chang - Szechuan Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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We came here for a wedding dinner rehearsal dinner for our friends getting married. First off, the parking lot situation is a mess. Although there is tons of parking in the shopping center itself, there are a lot of other places to eat, and a supermarket as well. So on a Friday night, we basically went circling around the lot while more and more cars kept coming in but none were leaving. So after finally finding parking, we sat down with our friends and both of their families. The place was definitely packed. However, the food was dang tasty. Although we ordered none of the food, the bride to be, is Chinese and ordered the food. No complaints from her or her family, so that's always encouraging. There was a whole fish, deep fried in a sweet and sour sauce, cumin lamb, an assortment of vegetables etc. All in all, I would come back here to eat and try out the rest of the menu, because everything we had that night was spectacular regardless. The servers were nice, and there was always someone coming around to pick up empty plates and fill water cups. read more

The food here is very good. It came out very quickly and everything was great. The fish was very delicious! read more

Peter Chang - Szechuan Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Very confused with this restaurant - is it supposed to be more authentic or more Americanized? It was really both for us. We went for Mother's Day dinner, and it was possibly the worst Mother's Day meal we've ever had. Not only was the food extremely subpar, the service was ridiculous. Our server was quite kind, but every dish came out rushed and lukewarm. The puffed scallion pancakes came out soggy like it had been sitting there for hours, the hot sour soup came out half cold. We ordered several cold and hot apps as well as soup for the table. They literally rushed out everything all at once. You can't take your time eating Chinese food, once it's cold it's not good. So we had to rush through all of our food. On top of that, as servers came by with our food, they literally just slapped it down on our table, shoving our plates aside rather than carefully maneuvering the table to fit everything. Grandma's Noodles was probably the only thing good out of the apps - flavor was good, noodles cooked well. The jumbo soup dumplings are a cool concept, but the soup dumpling itself tastes like something out of a grocery store freezer. We also ordered 2 and one bun was already leaking soup - thanks for that. The main dishes were all covered in corn starch and like they rushed through cooking them. The seafood and crisps was so bad we had to send it back. It entirely lacked flavor and the seafood looked and tasted like it had been sitting in the freezer for years. We didn't understand the rush in flipping the tables as quickly as possible, we left at 7:30 and many tables were empty - so why rush us? Overall, not a good experience, not worth the visit - go somewhere else. This is just another Chinese take out restaurant. read more

Our server did not great us in a friendly way. We had vegetarians and others who ordered their own dishes yet things were brought out onto a spinner for all to share. One entree was delivered (to the wrong person) and then the duck that was ordered came out 10 minutes later than all the other food. As every other restaurant does, all entrees should be served at the same time. Someone at our table was not given a napkin and the server never appeared. The lack of customer service was awful. This was for a birthday dinner for a friend and they did not acknowledge this either. Never will I go back. read more

Since I moved to the DC area, I have been an extremely loyal Peter Chang customer. This restaurant was my go-to for top-quality, authentic Sichuan Chinese food. They served many unique, authentically Chinese items that one would not find in a Panda Express or a PF Chang's, such as their extensive collection of "Hot and Numbing" items, several authentic Sichuan/Hunan hotpots, and other items such as the Shan City Pig's Feet and seafood curries containing flounder. After I heard that Peter Chang was carrying out a renovation, I was incredibly excited to see the new restaurant and reserved a table as soon as possible. While I was deeply impressed by the new décor, I was greatly disappointed to see that the restaurant had redesigned their menu, omitting nearly all of the unique dishes that drew me (and likely others) to this establishment. Gone are the Hot and Numbing (麻辣) hotpots which serve as the foundation for Sichuan cuisine, replaced by "Chinese" dishes such as General Tso's Chicken and "beef cubes"; in addition, the portion sizes were greatly reduced. In the absence of these favorites, I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken; though I was impressed by the quality and preparation, I felt like it was "dumbed down"---- less spicy than I'm used to. Unless this establishment reverts to the old menu or at least adds some of the unique Sichuan items, I do not plan on often dining here. Luckily, Mama Chang, a sister restaurant in Fairfax, has maintained its commitment to authentic Chinese cuisine, and I will still eat there regularly. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! read more

I ordered orange chicken to-go and even repeated the order but still got General Tso's somehow (and that wasn't a mix-up; the receipt said General Tso's). My friend ordered sesame chicken and that was correct. Both were just orange-colored chicken without flavor of any kind but with the peppers and sesame seeds for the respective meals. read more

I had previously visited the Richmond Peter Chang which has a retro 80s feel. I was surprised that this Arlington Peter Chang is exactly the same decor, I guess retro 80s is the design, which is anything but open airy flow. We ordered two dishes - 1) pork rib soup with mushroom ... this was brought out in a big bow as the waiter's hands were touching the edges ... it's a strong taste of the pork bone soup (completely different from the Japanese ramen pork bone taste though), for me, it suggested that the pork had not been properly treated with the raw meet smells 2) dry hot pot combination ... this is disastrous. The dry hot pot is supposed to be using the sichuan spices to stir fry in high heat, yet this dry hot pot is about the cumin which restaurant generally uses to cook lamb meat. The dish is completely wrapped up in cumin despite our request to make it mild spicy. I had to eat this food because I was hungry, so I got a full mouth of cumin and had to be eating four pieces of gum and later two cups of jasmine tea to wash it out ... Beware, if you don't like your meat to taste like the cumin-ed lamb, please do not order dry hot pot. read more

For the past 2 experiences ordered take out with Peter chang. The quality is going downhill, May be they are busy and pay less attention, I don't know what it is. I ordered and paid for 2 orders of crispy pork, got home only to realize they only gave me 1 crispy pork and fried aubergine. Clearly the aubergine isn't the same price as crispy pork. Again, the 2nd experience, I again paid for 2 orders of crispy pork, and only got 1. Is this incidents or on purpose. Not that I had to wait for 1hr30 mins to get my food, more over, got ripped off. And can you believe a Chinese restaurant said they don't have enough rice so can't include rice in the order? read more

Recommendations: Scallion Bubble Pan Cake Dried Fried Eggplant Sauteed chicken with peppers Crispy pork belly Fish in schezuan sauce read more

My wife and I dined here tonight. We were seated immediately and I scraped the bits of old food encrustations off my supposedly-washed plate with my fingernail. We ordered duck with mixed mushrooms (#49) and spicy Hunan flounder (#47). According to the menu, the mushrooms should be a mix of oyster mushrooms and button mushrooms, but there were no oyster mushrooms, just big pieces of slightly cooked button mushrooms. The brown sauce was good. The flounder was on the oily side, but not bad. Service was very prompt. Overall, if you live within 2 or 3 miles of this place it's worth trying. read more

Food here is decent, but be wary of takeout. We've ordered here several times, with diminishing amounts of food received each time. For context, this is a just opened to go container of the crispy pork belly ($10.00) that was untouched. There was exactly 3 strips of pork belly, making it $3.33 per slice. It almost seemed like we received someone else's leftovers. The first time we ordered I believe we had more than 8. I would rather have them increase the price rather than start giving 38% portion sizes. read more

Peter Chang - Crispy Pork Belly - Szechuan Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Where to begin. I order my food for pick up at 6:20- they said it would be ready by 7. I arrived at 7:08 and nope not ready----waited a FULL 30 minutes...they kept checking on it...but still nothing. I could have ordered when i arrived and it would have been faster. What did the MANAGER in the front do- NADA....told me sorry they were busy. I drove from McLean for this.....NEVER again. My kids didn't eat until 8 pm and honestly- NOT WORTH IT. Decent food- Szechwan beef was mostly onions ...seriously where's the beef? i mean three dinners for 72 buck and they can't even give you a rice. Pathetic and flat out rude. NEVER AGAIN for me! (Note to the female manager- a simple I'm sorry and maybe 10 bucks off would have avoided this review and kept a long time customer satisfied), You failed in customer service big time and lost me FOREVER. read more

Really nice lunch or dinner spot. The place has a wonderful ambiance. The wait staff was friendly, attentive and accommodating. The lunch time prices were very reasonable. Four of us ate lunch for $58 bucks! The food - oh the food - was uumuuummm so good and SPICY! It appears that The renowned Andrew Zimmerman has eaten here. No wonder it's so good. read more

Peter Chang - Szechuan Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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My boyfriend and I came by on a slow Monday night and ordered the egg drop soup, wonton soup, and Peter Chang's big bun for appetizer. Sadly, the two soups weren't seasoned very well, therefore, were slightly less than average. The big bun was good, but could use a more flavorful dipping sauce. Also, there weren't any chili oil on the table for the dumpling, which was very weird (we did ask our server for hot sauce, so I'm not sure if she just forgot to give us or they don't have any) Lastly we shared half a pecking duck. The dish was served with homemade pancakes, cucumber sticks, shredded sweet onion, and two dipping sauce. The duck was amazing and the portion was perfect for two. Next time we will pass on the appetizers and will only order the pecking duck and maybe a noodle dish. Our server was not very attentive either. We did have to ask for refills since she didn't come by very often. Overall, the duck alone made this experience worthwhile read more

Peter Chang in Arlington serves Chinese Szechuan style food, which is spicy. Although I'm not on spicy food anymore, I still find a good chunk of dishes I like on their menu. I found particularly of interest is their scallion cake, which they called Bubble Cake in English, and Scallion cake in Chinese. 2 of them in an Order. The size is like an inflated egg balloon, most creative and innovative, and tasted good too; although not enough scallion for me to recognize it as an inflated scallion cake. We also ordered the Peking duck. They didn't serve it fable side, but the skins are crispy and the meat moist. It also came with a lot of pancakes, with scallions, cucumber, hoisin and a very special reddish strawberry like sauce that tasted like sweet and tart at the same time. Quite a welcoming addition to eating Peking duck! We also ordered Sweet and Sour Ribs, Tofu skin with Napa cabbage, and a fish and tofu balls and vegetables as a soup. All are satisfactory and tasted good. The Service was friendly and swift, and courteous. I will definitely return again. read more

The young manager here name Chen is rude. Food was spicy even after we said we didn't want it spicy. Wasted money .. They hired young waiter that does not wait on you. Service and food plus rude manager .. read more

I don't believe I've ever written a bad review on yelp...but here goes. First and foremost, I want to put in the disclaimer that I LOVE Peter Chang restaurants. I eat regularly at the Richmond locations and had nothing but the best experiences there. However, I wanted to take my family in NoVA to one of my favorite Chinese places for a change and found that there was one in Arlington. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER!!! I don't think I will ever be able to eat at even my beloved Richmond locations. The night started off great, with the five of us sharing one appetizer and four entrees. Our waiter was attentive and the food (chicken with onion and pepper, mapo tofu, beef with peter chang's special sauce) was great, except for the last entree (Lo Mein), which came out a little too salty. So we politely asked if it was possible to make a new one. The waiter graciously brought us a new plate and we happily chowed away.... until I found a **VERY long piece of HAIR** in the new lo mein. You ask if there's any chance it could have been mine? I wish I could say yes, but sadly enough, I had tied up my hair into a tight pony tail hours before, as I do so every time I prepare myself to stuff my face. Now, I understand that sometimes things like this can happen, so I quietly removed the hair from my plate and proceeded to eat. SECOND BIGGEST MISTAKE. After packing up our left overs and feeling very satisfied, we all arrived home to find that within an hour of eating, both my siblings either felt nauseous or had urgent stomach issues. Of course I chalked it up to their sensitive stomachs that were so very different from my iron-cast stomach that weathered through any type of local street food during my extended stays in the poorest nations in the western hemisphere. However, as the night went on, every single one of us was felled by this deadly aftermath of eating at Peter Chang's, including myself. I was woken up at 4am by the ***MOST EXCRUCIATING PAIN*** in my stomach as well as the overwhelming urge to EJECT what I had eaten by BOTH of the two main orifices of my body (I can go onto describe the chunkiness and wateriness but I will spare you the details). For nearly 2 hours straight, I was tormented by my war-torn stomach, which no amount of tums, pepto, or special asian medications could calm. This went on into the next afternoon, creating such havoc in my bodily systems that even the simple THOUGHT of eating another one of my favorite dishes makes me nauseous and gag. I would NEVER want to go through this type of torture ever again, nor would I wish it upon my worst enemy. So please, Peter Chang Arlington, please make sure customer safety and food hygiene is your utmost priority next time. read more

Disclaimer: I am a Peter Chang groupie. I've pretty much stalked his businesses up and down 95 since discovering his crown jewel, Peter Chang China Cafe in Fredericksburg. His Arlington branch is extraordinary; you need to go. Peter Chang took over the former space of Oriental Gourmet, so you're in the right place if you see signs for Oriental Gourmet (Chang swooped in with such speed that they didn't have time to replace the signage). You'll also know you're in the right place judging my the queue. Yep, if you come at peak times, then you'll most likely be taking a number and waiting about 45 minutes for a table. It's all worth, though, because his latest business provides exemplary Szechuan dishes, some familiar ones and some Chang creations, like his house special flounder filet, which is supposedly Andrew Zimmern's favorite. Chang could very easily just completely duplicate his Fredericksburg menu, but he instead chose to spice it up a little bit (pun totally intended) with some new and exciting dishes. In the appetizer section, his awesome scallion bubble pancakes are included, but he also added some new ones, like hot and numbing noodles (no lie) and his "grandma's noodles." OMG, this is pasta! These wide, chewy ribbons are coated in a fiery, peppery sauce that packs a lot of heat but also a lot of flavor. One of my favorites of the night. Also very satisfying is his signature dry fried eggplant, eggplant cut into "fries" and dipped in a flavor batter. A mix of salty, spicy, and sweet. I just can't get enough of this dish. The seafood in stone pot was good but probably the weakest of all the ones we tried. It was flavorful but a tad too mild. However, it's a welcome break from all the super spicy dishes we were having that night. The famed house flounder filet was delightful with its unique sauce which is parts Szechuan spices and a hint of sweet and sour, too. Overall, a crowd pleaser, unless someone can't handle heat. Generally, it's best to get anything with two or three little peppers next to it. The milder dishes are good, too, but they're probably not the cream of the crop. We came on grand opening day, so we expected some first-day kinks. However, nothing really much to say. My friend's order took a little longer to come out, but the staff checked up on us frequently and were very friendly and polite. The host really knew how to run the floor, reassuring guests who were waiting in line, collecting menus, and answering the phone, too (out of breath just describing her busy night). They don't have a liquor license yet, so you can only get sodas or water, but this should change in the near future. They have a bar setup, so it's only a matter of time...Takeout will be available starting March 18. While I wasn't particularly wowed by the Richmond location, Fredericksburg never lets me down and now Arlington is joining the ranks of Chang's finest establishments. While everyone is anxiously awaiting the Rockville outpost, which will supposedly be healthier and slightly fancier, I'm quite content with this more casual branch. Hands down, one of the best Chinese restaurants in the DC metropolitan area. read more

I have had Peter Chang's numerous times in their Richmond location and that blows this establishment out of the water. Their menu is different and supposedly Chef Chang himself is cooking.. This guy is world renowned and used to even cook for the president of China. It really sucks that I have to write a negative review but the meal I had was underwhelming and SALTY as all hell. Dining on a Sunday, there were no reservations available so my gf and her family walked in around 4:15 P.M. We were seated immediately and right away I realized the staff were not trained well. The waiter we had was definitely inexperienced, the rest of them were running in and out of the kitchen like it was on fire. One word to sum up their staff- unorganized. We ordered the pork steamed dumpling, hot and sour soup, dry-fried eggplant, double cooked pork, hot and numbing beef brisket hot pot, braised seafood with spicy bean sauce in clay pot, shrimp fried rice and house special flounder filet. I think Peter Chang's has missed the mark completely for Szechwan style food which is known for their distinctive spice levels. Instead all the food was EXTREMELY SALTY. My gf's father usually loves to eat salty food, he adds salt to just about everything. But today he had two glasses of water next to him because he needed to quench the saltiness. The appetizers were nothing special, the dumplings tasted similar to the frozen ones you buy from the Asian grocery stores. The dry-fried eggplant was just salty and lacked any eggplant flavor. The double cooked pork did not have the distinct tasty flavor it had compared to the one in RVA. It tasted a bit too sweet. The beef brisket hot pot barely had any beef in it, it just came loaded with a bunch of tofu skin. The whole family probably ate 3-4 bites of this dish and left it alone. According to the menu, the braised seafood clay pot should have contained scallops. Nobody at the table even found one piece of scallop.. This dish was just loaded with a bunch of mushrooms and barely any pieces of actual seafood. The house special flounder was too sweet, the fish didn't even taste like flounder. If it was actually flounder then I have no doubt in my mind they were serving us frozen fish. Keep in mind I have had the house special flounder, double cooked pork and the fried rice before in the RVA location. All of them were exceptional dishes and to think Chef Chang cooked these dishes leads me to believe he has lost his ability to cook. Now onto the customer service, each dish comes with one bowl of white rice but we did not receive our rice. We had to constantly request random waiters around to get us our rice. Waters were not refilled, due to excessive saltiness of the food they should just leave a pitcher of water at each table, actually make that two pitchers of water. The pace the food comes out at this restaurant also needs to improve vastly. There is a major delay in the kitchen and our waiter even told us they slightly messed up our order and it would be out shortly. Overall this is definitely the worst meal I have had in 2015. Many things need to improve for this restaurant to continue to stay in business. Horrible service, horrible food two of the main things a restaurant thrives off they suck at! I definitely will not be returning here. I think my blood pressure must be elevated at least 40mmHg right now due to the excessive sodium intake.... read more

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3.75 stars. While I'm not ready to anoint this restaurant as the best Schezuan in the area, one can do a whole lot worse than Peter Chang. We started with the dry fried eggplant which boasted a sensational mix of spices that burned pleasantly on the tongue and lips. The eggplant is lightly fried and has a softer finish that I anticipated. Scallions and cilantro complete the menagerie. After the eggplant, we tried the crispy fried pork belly which essentially tasted like deep fried bacon with similar spices to the fried eggplant. For entrees, we got the hot and numbing combination basically because I am not a purist and wanted to try as much food as humanly possible. If you decide to order a "hot and numbing" dish from Peter Chang (essentially, various cuts of meat and vegetables in a boiling bowl of Schezuan spices), I'd suggest either the flounder or the beef. We also tried the duck in hot pot which was quite spectacular largely because the duck was perfectly tender and exceptionally flavorful. The menu is even larger than my appetite so be on notice that there were at least 30 other items I would want to try here. I would say there is a strong chance I'll make a repeat visit or two in the future. That said, I'm not necessarily saying it's a better experience for Schezuan than nearby Hong Kong Palace, but it's probably an easier one for most diners. read more

Not at all what I was expecting. I've had Peter Chang's in Richmond a number of times during my college years, and it seriously hit the spot when I had a craving for spicy, make-me-sweat Asian food. You cannot imagine how excited I was when Will C. told me that Peter Chang recently opened up in Northern Virginia. My parents have also dined at their Richmond location and absolutely loved it. For years, they used to describe in extreme detail just how good they thought Peter Chang's was. My mom, dad, Will C., and I came here today around 4pm. Tables were filling up fast. By the time we left the restaurant, there was a line going out the door. We were seated immediately and it took a lonnnng time for our waiter to greet us and take our drink orders. He clearly did not know what he was doing; I'm assuming it was his first couple days on the job. It's understandable that he's confused and a little awkward, but he straight up disappeared numerous times during our meal. We had to flag down other waiters to give us extra rice, water, and the check. I'm sure the restaurant is in the process of training new staff, but they make it painstakingly obvious. In short, service was really disconnected, discombobulated, and so slow. The pacing of the food was also off; each dish staggered out of the kitchen one after the other at an incredibly slow place. We would practically be finished with one dish before another dish came out. We started with their steamed pork dumplings and their dry-fried egg plant. The steamed pork dumplings were nothing amazing. It tasted like your average grocery store dumpling to me. The dry-fried eggplant, however, I actually enjoyed. It was quite flavorful and spicy, and was fried just right so that the eggplant retained it's moisture. That was the highest point of the entire meal for me. It just went down hill, or should I say to a salt mill, from there. Almost every dish was excessively salty. My dad loves salty food, but even he was complaining that it was a bit too much for him. The double-cooked pork belly was decent, perhaps the most decent entree of the night. However, this dish came out of the kitchen on the cold side. It must have been sitting in the kitchen, waiting to be served for quite some time. We also ordered shrimp fried rice. For some reason, my parents insist on ordereing fried rice every single time we dine at a Chinese restaurant. The fried rice here is just like any other take-out place, so I'd definitely skip this. The house special flounder (one of my favorites from the Richmond location) was a total miss. Overwhelmingly sweet, as if the entire thing was doused in honey. The quality of the actual fish it self was poor - it tasted frozen, not fresh to me. We also ordered the hot & numbing beef brisket in a hot pot and the braised seafood in a hot pot. Unfortunately, the beef dish came with about 4 measly slices of beef brisket. The description of the braised seafood hotpot on the menu mentions scallops, but there were no scallops in that dish whatsoever. Peter Chang hasn't even been open for a month, so it pains me to give them a 2-star rating. I also love the Richmond location, and was hoping for a similar experience. However, this location has a lot of kinks to work out with both the servce and the food. read more

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The food was slightly above Panda Express,OK decor,fairly clean,the service on the other hand was THE ABSOLUTE WORSE I HAVE EVER HAD no water refills,sarcastic,nasty,rude comments on the bill HORRID I talked to the manager and he seemed to not care,the POS gave me a $20 gift certificate (!!!) that's enough for a couple egg rolls ! Will NEVER return. read more

Never coming back to this location. I just went to the Rockville location and even though Rockville opened after this location, they have their act together better! They initially had only one server at lunch time so even though there were tables empty we had to wait 5-10 mins to be seated. The server was a vegetarian so was not very helpful with menu recommendation. He failed to mention the fish with pine nuts I ordered would take a long time to come out. It's lunch time on a workday, it would've been nice to know. The crispy pork belly appetizer was way too salty, the fried eggplant was over coated with flour and over fried. The big soupy bun skin was broken so no soup inside. Shame on you to even bring it out knowing the skin broken. And to charge $3 for it! Then there's the long wait for the fish with pine nuts. They gave me 20% off for I don't know what, the long wait or terrible food? I never bothered tasting the fish, asked for the to go box, and left. This is one location I won't be going back. read more

Peter Chang doesn't want or need my money and I will explain why. The food was good but the service was very poor. We ordered 3 appetizers and 2 entrees and were told we are limited to one rice per entree. There was 3 of us and the size of the entree required at least 2 bowls an entree. I think that's crazy! Rice is essential in a Chinese restaurant, why should we have to pay extra? We were there for about 45 mins all together but got the feeling the employees/manager was rushing us to finish our meal. They give you the stink eye to get the fuck out. I heard the lady in the front desk speaking Chinese and basically she said tell them to hurry up and ask them if they need the check. I wanted to come back this time with a group since food was good I called to make reservations for party of 10 and they said we must be out in a 1 hr. That is just crazy! Peter Chang you should train your staff better. read more