PF Chang’s, an Asian-inspired casual chain restaurant, has been serving up classic meals like Mongolian beef and chicken lettuce wraps since its founding in 1993. If you visit a PF Chang’s restaurant (not the frozen aisle where you can grab this chain’s meals to try), and find its established menu overwhelming, we recently ranked its most popular items to see which ones were the worst and best. While we loved PF Chang’s spicy chicken for its great quality, tender chicken, and spicy, sweet sauce, its hot and sour soup did not deliver in flavor or quality.
While PF Chang’s claims its soup includes “rich and tangy broth, silken tofu, chicken, bamboo shoots, [and] egg,” we found that the liquid was thick and syrupy with a super salty and harshly acidic taste, presumably the result of an excess of soy sauce. It also featured a poor mix of flavors and questionable texture, which made for a disappointing experience.
To help decide which popular items to rank out of the multiple ones available, we were assisted by a public relations member from P. F. Chang’s, but our opinions on the meals are truthful and our own. We ranked these items based on taste and took precautions to ensure the best quality. These steps include making sure we tried one item at a time to eliminate the meals sitting out and decreasing in flavor and texture.
A disappointing variation of hot and sour soup
Hot and sour soup should have a thin, warm broth that pairs perfectly with accompanying ingredients, like mushrooms, tofu slices, and bamboo shoots. It should also boast a good balance of spice, acidity, saltiness, and sweetness, and can include pork, chicken, or other meats.
If you’re still craving some hot and sour soup, there are many recipes to check out that combine homemade broth with tasty add-ins like chili flakes, ginger, or garlic for a boost of flavor. But, if you are making the dish at home, avoid going where PF Chang’s went wrong and be careful with your soy sauce and vinegar. Rather than having a heavy hand, go light to prevent the harsh tang and saltiness, and use less cornstarch, which is often used as a thickening agent.
As you make the hot and sour soup, season to taste as you go along; remember, less is more. And if you’re still looking to try the best PF Chang’s, we highly recommend its chicken dishes, and don’t sleep on its desserts, such as The Great Wall of Chocolate Cake and the banana spring rolls.
