Pei Wei Pan-Asian Diner

Our first... well kind of the first, since Casey and Albert started doing their tour earlier-- Pei Wei seemed like a good place to officially start our food tour.

Me, @Ryan_Kanyay, heard of Pei Wei from many friends hyping it to an extent where it could not be ignored. I hate it when people hype shit up mainly because Pei Wei itself was not that great.

First off, we (me, Casey, Alberto Yong, and Raf Gaitan) went on a Friday evening, still day-light out-- there was tons of people. Tons. The set-up was fucking strange-- it almost resembled a cafeteria of the elementary school variety... people anxiously waiting in line to place their order (which in writing sounds ridiculous, and in reality it's equally, if not more, ridiculous) The way it goes is you wait in a atrociously annoying line to place your order, pay, and then your cashier(?) tells you to take a seat at some designated table. From there you wait for your food which comes by way of waiter/bus-boy/person you went to high-school with... which seems kind of like a norm these days when dining somewhere in the Kendall area.

The place looked just like we thought it would-- trendy as hell.



As you could see, it's a trendy hipster who likes pan-asian diner's wet dream. Mahogany walls, nice tables, low lighting, cool looking set-up-- and above you all, what you'd expect from any novelty restaurant: waiters that don't wait. From outside it looks like the kind of establishment that would carry some decent waiters-- but this place doesn't even give the waiters a chance to wait... it's not in their job description. All they do to you is bring you your food and clean after you-- which sounds like something your mom would do for you.



You obviously get your beverage from a fountain set-up with free re-fills. Classy.

PROS:
My Mongolian Beef was actually pretty decent.

CONS:
Everything else. My peers did not like their food at all. Casey, by far, had the worst dish-- just a normal Asian staple: Chicken Fried Rice. What he got was something like Paella-- a bland, soggy, mess of yellow clumps mixed with an excessive amount of Soy Sauce, that Casey put to redeem the quality. Still pretty shitty.

Raf Gaitan didn't eat-- but Albert had some food; he said it wasn't that bad. My Mongolian Beef was superior.

All in all-- a complete dissapointment. My friends should not be allowed to tell me if a restaurant is good or not especially if it's as trendy and cool sounding place like Pei Wei.

So we've decided after a visit to Pei Wei to just keep on visiting restaurants in the area that we've never been to. It was someone's bright idea to call it the Foods of the World Tour-- as wack as it sounds it's actually pretty clever since our world consists of strictly South Miami semi-pricey dining.

Pei Wei Grade: 4/10

It's harsh but boodoop.

-Ryan