Pei Wei

TL;DR Tasty but overpriced.
Pei Wei must be short for «Pei Wei more than it’s worth.» While the flavors are often on point, Pei Wei is considerably overpriced. I can get twice the food for the same price at Panda Express. We got a small order of honey seared chicken. What we got were 5 nuggets and one shell of a nugget with no meat in it. Is that what $ 7 gets you? This place would get 2 stars if it weren’t for the tasty egg roll. Y’all know I’m the fry snob, and egg rolls fit the role for Chinese restaurants ;)

Just tried the Ginger Chicken and broccoli on a salad, heard about it and thought I would try the healthier alternative, one word: Awesome! Less guilt, all the flavor, it was great.

I love the quickness and flavored that you can get from a fast food restaurant. Pei Wei does fast food right! Every time we go there to eat it is consistent and good.
Oh my favorite! The pork rolls, they are delishhhh even our kids go crazy for them! I love going there first and tuning next door to Starbucks afterwards. Very conveniently located too! I live right around the corner and it makes it so easy to access it and quick too. I have tried many different dishes here, some of the best is the Mongolian beef and the steak lo-​mein which pairs perfectly with a Kirin beer!
My daughters love the fried rice with steak or chicken and extra broccoli. If your kids are into veggies, make sure you ask for veggies on their kids meal since they normally don’t come with veggies.
And of course, to end with the fortune cookie ;)

These dumbasses can NEVER get your order right. They need to listen to what you are ordering. Every time we come here, there is always a problem with our order.

This place is always on point. My go-​to entrée is the Mongolian Beef with fried rice. Always a bit crispy and cooked to perfection. Anytime Pei Wei is brought up i’m all about it… Off Top

Been here several times a few years back, and most recently this week. They have changed up the menu a bit and made ordering more streamlined. They even added in some wine options that weren’t available previously.
Went with the chicken lo mein bowl in small, and it was more than enough food for a lunch, and at $ 6.50 the pricing is well done for the portion. He had the honey chicken plate with brown rice, and it was surprisingly not as sweet as expected and had a general flavor that reminded us of the orange peel chicken.
They are always busy for lunch, so at times seating can be hard to get inside. They do offer some outdoor seating, but only if the weather is nice, and hey, it’s Florida, so that’s a toss up.
Parking is a big downer here since it’s a tight parking lot and if you park across the main area it’s a touch risky to walk /​run across.
Overall: B
A limited amount of parking and seating options during busy times. Generally good pricing and options for a quick meal!

It used to be you could trust American Express. Really. They were the gold standard, hell, the platinum standard, actually, by which you could judge fine dining and lodgings back in 1987 when I first became a «member».
But now, they sent me here. Until the end of the year Amex Gold and Platinum members have an opt-​in deal for $ 5 back on a $ 20 purchase at Pei Wei. OK, so I know a lousy 5 bucks is half the cost of a good glass of wine anywhere, so I had absolutely nooooo reason to come to a fast-​food joint, but I sorta enjoy trying all of them.
Some I actually enjoy.
But I can’t say that about Pei Wei.
With my ears still ringing 18 hours later from the cacophonous din of loud chatter struggling to out-​shout the merciless clang-​banging woks, I must say that it was not relaxing and not enjoyable dining, and some kind of weird half-​service that ends up making it WORK to eat.
Where do I start? Sheesh. With a synopsis, of course, for those who don’t want to delve any further into my musings, so here it is:
Pei Wei is an AWFUL experience all around, in every way inferior to every kind of cheap Asian dining, and cheap fast-​food *anything* you can likely find.
Oh, but let me tell you why:
As a first timer, it’s darn confusing. This location has a dearth of parking to start with, and this is a town with no real mass transit. Had I pre-​thunk it, I would have ridden one of my Harleys or, better yet, one of my Segways here, so as to be able to cheat and park closer. The parking lot is a shooting gallery of narrow spots in narrow aisles and blind intersections where an SUV can lurch from behind a dumpster and just flat kill you.
If you can make it inside, the big lighted menu is really confusing. They put up pictures of the sauces, all of which look identical. Way too many options for a fast-​food joint. It’s «Menus For Dummies»: you can pick your sauce, add meat, and pick your rice. That concept works if you don’t care about price, because the wrong choices put you right up into a price category where you could have had full service and a nice, quiet, RELAXING experience.
Food is without seasoning, unless you order something spicy, then you still wonder where the heat went. This is Asian food for the McDonald’s palate, and by the kind of crowd (migrants from a Golden Corral) shambling in, you are already in trepidation as you wait in an endless line.
You’ll wait for your food, too, despite the frantic guys deep-​frying the pre-​breaded frozen, um, everything, then toss in a pittance of pea-​pods to pretend it’s all fresh and healthy.
Sushi is made the day of, and it’s all tuna. It’s OK until the preparers pull it out, drizzle half a gallon of colored corn syrup on it, and serve it up with rice crispies sprinkled on top. Does Kellogg’s know how their product is being used here? Even they would be peeved.
Then there’s the confusion about:
1. When you get served what;
2. Whether you bus your own dishes;
3. Do you get your own flatware?
4. Your own soy?
5. Your own mixing dish for wasabi/​soy?
1. You get ‘em out-​of-​order;
2. No, they just pile up;
3. You hafta wait in line to get poorly washed greasy flatware, but at least the chopsticks are high enough quality to be worth «stealing» a few;
4. Soy bottles are 16 feet above the flatware (and a slippery floor) and are so fingerprinted and re-​used that the plastic tops are chipped;
5. No little mixing dishes for soy/​wasabi, but the good news is you won’t need them what with your sushi already drowning in the amber corn syrup and rice krispies.
Oh, and don’t bother to order wine, since they pour it from big, cheap bottles (Gallo? Rossi?) and then forget to bring it to you until near the end. A beer is safe, since they uncap it in front of you and hand it to you when you pay.
Seriously, McDonalds or any other fast-​food joint is LESS WORK than this semi-​service thing at Pei Wei because at McD’s, you know it’s all going to come in paper/​cardboard, and you get everything at once (the whole point of fast food), you know where to fill your drink, discard your garbage, etc.
Pick *any* other place you want and it will be better. Any fast food joint is more relaxing, and any Asian place is more tasty than here, to wit:
Any Asian restaurant, no matter how cheap, no matter how rickety the chairs, will be more relaxing than here, and, unlike Pei Wei, their food will be properly SPICED to at least resemble the way Asian food should be, or at least the way Americans eat it here at Asian restaurants.
American Express got me in this mess, and bygummit it, they’re gonna get me out.
I want them to atone for this with a $ 50-​off promo to a nice Asian place, like the pure-​Japanese joy of Hanamizuki, or Anh Hong Vietnamese, or Shin Sushi, or someplace Mandarin or Szechwan Chinese that’s amazing (I can’t really think of one here in Orlando…)
You’re gonna pay for sending me here, American Express. Oh yeah. You’re gonna pay…

If you are looking for authentic Asian cuisine, this is not the place to go. The taste is very Americanized, but some people (including my parents) can’t get enough of Pei Wei’s offerings. They do add new items to their menu pretty regularly, so this is a plus.
The décor is modern-​Asian and minimal with black and red tones. They have an open kitchen, so you can watch the chefs in action if you choose. They also have one of those fancy-​schmancy Coca-​Cola machines that has over 100 drink options — another plus.
I ordered the Thai chicken wonton soup with lemon grass and spinach. I was sick, so the warm soup soothed my throat and it tasted healthy. My main dish — chicken fried rice — was bland (which is my usual experience with their food) and I had to add a few shakes of soy sauce before it tasted «okay.» I do, however, have to give Pei Wei major brownie points for all you can grab… I mean «eat» — fortune cookies.

My wife and kids are a huge fan of this place and I always kick and scream (just a sigh really) every time they want to visit this place. I have to admit though, I’m never disappointed when I eat here. As much as I want to fight it, their fried rice & honey seared chicken AND Mongolian Chicken are always a home run for me. I still can’t give it more than four stars because I still wouldn’t choose to eat here on my own, but I say it deserves a solid four stars. A solid five stars given by my wife and kids. :)

This is basically PF Changs in a less formal environment, and for less money.
I come here from time to time and always get the Orange Peel Chicken and Chicken Lettuce wraps which are both great. I also get the Mongolian beef sometime.
My review gets 2 stars because of my current online ordering experience. I placed my order and Pickup time was set for 5:20. I arrived at 5:20 to a mostly empty building, and my order was not ready. I stood and waited and at 5:30 I finally asked if my order was ready, and it was just sitting on the counter. She said she didn’t know I was there already, mind you I was standing no more than 10ft from her the entire time. My family (dogs) were waiting in the car this entire and my food is now cold.
Moral of the story: don’t plan to order ahead if you’re in a hurry.

The beef entrée with fried rice was yummy but I will NEVER get the lomein again. Basically it was ramen noodles with ZERO flavor.

Service was fine, prices a tad high. What our major issue was after finishing our meal we noticed someone standing on the food prep counter cleaning the hood vents While food was on!!! Very unhealthy. Well wouldn’t you know it my partner gets food poisoning the very next morning. We called the state and they did an inspection to find everything in order, but they would have to sit and watch all day to catch such a violation. Will NEVER go to another one

I am a fan of the order online set up Pei Wei has through Unilocal!
It was my first time actually trying a Pei Wei and it was a delish and convenient choice while on my mini road trip to Orlando.
I’m deducting a star because of the lack of verbal anything from the workers. I’m a big fan of greeting people when they enter so it seemed odd that it was so silent. I mean, there was a huge line of people waiting on food to pick up so there was plenty of opportunities they could have asked if I needed something extra, etc.
4 Stars because it was super yummy. I ordered the Teriyaki chicken with noodles (shocker, right?) It’s always a classic choice to make your tummy satisfied, that’s for sure. The chicken really caught me off guard — in a good way. It seemed very fresh and I could tell it wasn’t anything like the little stands in the malls where they hand out samples haha. The chicken almost had a breading on it, but it wasn’t heavy so that was definitely what made me love it.
We got the «larger» portion and at first when I saw it, I was like «yeah, I’m gonna need more than that if we’re sharing.» I was wrong! It was a perfect portion amount for two people to share. It also helped that we ordered extra chicken ;)

Always a great experience and the food is hot and fresh. I love this place and always suggest this place to eat when anyone ask if I n ow if a great place to eat. I have just about tried everything on the menu and all has been good.

I just want to say a nice word about the people who work at Pei Wei.
Sometimes they get my order wrong (it doesn’t happen all the time, but it has happened a few times in the past).
Just recently, I ordered the pad thai (like I usually do) but when I got home I opened it up and saw the chicken teriyaki. I went back and the girl behind the counter made things right. She gave us the chicken dish for free plus a $ 10 gift card.
Now that’s just good customer service.
Bonus: their online ordering system has been much improved. It’s a snap.

The brown rice is really bad & the white rice is, well, white rice. so we substituted Noodles for an extra dollar, we’ll do that next time too… Thai Dynamite chicken was excellent, the Caramel Shrimp was also excellent EXCEPT the menu listed all of the ingredients and I ordered my dish Caramel style because it didn’t have onions. My dish came with large chunks of onion. :-(When we sat down, I asked the guy that was running the meals to the tables if he would replenish the lemons… i asked him again when our mesls came and he didn’t seem too concerned about it. When we were finishing our meals, he finally replinished the lemons… There was no member of management anywhere around to talk to. Two stars on this visit!

Great place to stop for a quick and casual meal. Personally I love the Mongolian beef with fried rice (I customize it with no mushrooms and add vegetables). The newer sushi options are also good and for an awesome price. I personally enjoy the spicy tuna roll and split the entrée. I also love the classic chicken lettuce wraps. I would recommend if you are taking to go to order online the process is quick and easy to customize your order.

Food is always good and full of flavor. No matter if you want something mild or spicy, there is something for everyone. The price is good for the amount of food you receive. Last time I went, I got the Lettuce Wraps which were good and they give you plenty of lettuce to be able to make atleast 5 or 6. The meat mixture has really good flavor and is not too spicy. Their Chicken Spring Rolls are yummy and the peanut sauce is delicious, it also comes with a sweet thai chili sauce.

This was my first experience inside a Pei Wei, and I must say I am a Fan. Clean, great taste, Love the touchscreen soda machines, and the service. You pay for your food and pick a seat.
They deliver your food right to you. No plastic all china. The only issue was there was no forks on hand. There did not seem to be a sense of urgency for them either. We had to find the plastic forks ourselves, which defeats the purpose of table service.
I love that the to go boxes are already at hand by the straws and chop sticks.
I will return again.

I like the fact that Pei Wei has healthy alternative options from steam chicken to brown rice. They also have a lot of vegetarian and gluten free choices.
Unless you have a large appetite I feel that the portions are big enough to share with someone or save for leftovers.
You order and pay at the counter, they give you a number and it is brought out to you. They have a large selection of fountain drinks. If the place gets busy the tables may not be cleaned. At the end of the meal you leave you plates and they will clear them for you. This place is a good if you’re looking for something quick and simple with healthy options.