Peter Chang’s China Grill

Used to really like this place but the last few times we’ve gone, the food has had a weird taste. It almost tastes like the noodles are cooked in dirty water. At first we thought it was a fluke, so it gave it a few more tries and ordered different things, but the weird taste was the same. We’ve stopped going there and won’t be back.

Everything was Greasy and too salty. Not enough fresh ingredients. Only go there for the duck. You’re paying premium prices for food quality that’s just not worth it. The menu items sound unique but the execution is subpar.

This place has very good Chinese food for the area. My favorites here are those bubble pancakes and eggplants. yum

It’s a solid joint all around. It’s not an American Chinese joint, it’s toward more traditional Chinese Chinese…
The menu is balanced well between smaller simple portion to fancier gourmet taste. Most dishes are on the spicy side, although there are non spicy options to choose from.
Few of our perpetual favorites are bubble pancakes, dry fried eggplant, and pork belly.
We haven’t had a bad experience so far. Recommended.

Pricey but good. Some dishes are definitely better than others. Most dishes are about 20 bucks for dinner. Little on the steep side for Chinese food. Even a good Chinese food.

This Charlottesville Asian restaurant was delicious. The hot and sour soup was the perfect consistency and had a great flavor. The steamed pork dumplings were fresh, well seasoned, and perfect for sharing. The Kung Pao beef had a sweet and savory sauce with a great blend of fresh red peppers and asparagus. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys Chinese food.

This restaurant is not worth it. The service is horrible and the food is even worse. I came here with my brother. We got the chicken fried rice, dumplings, cilantro roll, and some the combination plate that comes on a pot. The whole food smelled like gasoline. The water never asked for our drink order. My plate looked like it wasn’t washed so I asked for a new one. The waiter wipes it off and gives it back to me. I just wanted to try something new I. Charlottesville but now I know this is not the place to be! I won’t be returning!

The curry seafood soup comes out piping hot and bubbly in a stone pot. It includes scallops, huge shrimps, flounder fish, and vegetables. Just thinking about eating it on this cold day makes me drool. This is by far one of the best dishes I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant! My family always visit this restaurant when the go down to UVA to visit my sister. They are usually picky when it comes to eating out but they really like this restaurant!

Amazing– definitely not your typical (American) Chinese restaurant. It is definitely an experience you have to try, from the giant scallion pillow pancakes to the rotating tabletop. The dry fried eggplant and green beans were excellent. The chicken hot pot was too spicy for me and I probably would have picked another dish if I had control over the order (it was family style). Still, the food was great quality. Very intricate and flavorful.

This place becomes my family’s regular after we moved to charlottesville 2 years ago. We almost tried every dish one the menu. Everyone reminds me my childhood in China. They are authentic Chinese Food. I think the restaurant tried best to serve the customers with the limited food materials. We will keep going to this place as long as we live in charlottesville.

ok, i had some high expectations for this place b’c i heard so many wonderful things about peter chang the cook
the food was just blah or terrible
1. bubble pancake: they gave us two, i like them, bf did not, they are very greasy fyi
2. beef lo mein– terrible, extremely salty
3. pork shredded– also terrible, and had a weird sour tasty
we consumed less than half the meal and did not take them with us
parking-​plenty and it is free
service– no issues
ambiance — nice, good décor lots of space between tables
overall– pass, never would recommend and never coming back

Very good high end food. Not the low cost cheap stuff you get while in college lol. This food is awesome and it doesn’t make you feel gross or guilty after you eat it. Had the combination low mein and shrimp fried rice. Shrimp is excellent.
Kinda somewhat high price but not too bad

This place, Peter Chang’s is hands down by far the best Asian Food I’ve ever had outside of Asia. Every Time I’m within 2 hrs of Charlottesville I will make every effort to come here. It’s not to be missed. The menu is large & the clientele has many non Caucasians dining here. We had the Bubble Pancakes as appetizer always a delight & very tasty. I had the Seafood in the StonePot delicious with lots of mussels, scallops & shrimp. In a curry sauce. Really really good. I’ve also had the bamboo Fish which is to die for. GO… If you are in the area do not miss this great spot.

We order stirred fried hot pot and general tso chicken with bang bang Shrimp. Food was mouth, stomach and taste buds numbingly good.

New renovated building. Upgrade lunch special, comes with spring rolls. The new menu has more homestyle cooking, too bad some of my favourite nomore there like pan grilled chicken breast on hot iron plate, grandma stir fried pork. Some of my favourite from new menu are pan fried mushroom bun, stir fried shredded duck with scallion and onion, and last but not least tofu flounder ball in hotpot.

My family is having a love affair with Peter Chang’s China Grill. Seriously, it’s hard for me to get my parents to want to go anywhere else in Charlottesville whenever they’re visiting me. It’s great Chinese food that’s pretty authentic, from what I hear from my Chinese friends. Portions are generous, and everything should definitely be done family-​style.
My recommendation to you: don’t do the Americanized stuff. Get your General Tso’s chicken elsewhere – Peter Chang’s is for the real stuff. Their Americanized Chinese food is very standard, nothing special, and kind of overpriced when you can go to Taiwan Garden and get it all under $ 10. Where Peter Chang’s really shines is their Chef’s Specials and seasonal specials. Dry-​fried eggplant, bakchoy, mapo tofu – all great. Definitely get the Bamboo Fish. (Although they might have changed the name of that recently… it’s fried fish that’s hot and spicy, served with green onions and cilantro and hot peppers. So good!) But basically everything off the Chef’s Specials and «Grandmother’s Home Cooking» portions of the menu are great and I’ve never really had a negative experience.
Service is perfectly adequate, keeps water full and replenishes rice when asked. Fun for trying some great (real) Chinese food!

My Unilocal friends probably know me as that Peter Chang fanatic. And I am totally guilty as charged. One could argue that I’m a bit biased, but I’d like to think I’m objective for having pointed out his strongest and weakest branches (Richmond PC is not one of my favorites).
This outpost is less impressive than his Fredericksburg and Arlington locations, based on what I tried last night. Still, it deserves 3.5 stars for having tasty, though not flawless dishes, and for bringing Sichuan specialties to a college town.
We tried:
Dry-​fried eggplant (of course)
Grandmother’s noodles
Hunan flounder
The dry-​fried eggplant’s flavors were right, but the texture was off. It wasn’t soggy, but it didn’t have the amazing crispiness that we’re accustomed to. I would say that texture is especially important to Chang’s dishes since many of his menu items are battered and fried, so they need to nail this. The grandmother’s noodles weren’t as al dente as desired and a tad too sour. And the Hunan flounder was flavorful but a tad too salty. Dishes should be well-​seasoned, but they shouldn’t be so salty that rice is required (to me, rice should be an accompaniment but not an absolute must).
Not sure if the kitchen was just having an off-​day or if the cooks aren’t as great about executing Chang’s signature dishes. In either case, I’ll give them another chance next time I’m in the area, but I would definitely rate this location lower than his superior businesses.

We ordered the lo mein with shrimp and the shrimp seemed old. The vegetarian tofu with vegetables was tasty but swimming in sauce.
I was dreaming of the fried eggplant that I had when they first opened and although it was tasty, it was also greasy.
For the price, I don’t think it was worth it. I think they have gone downhill since the beginning when it was out of this world!

Windy and cold day? Just want to sit back and relax and have a meal that will warm the body and sooth the soul? Peter Changs is the only answer!
This location is much better than the RVA one not only in tastes but I also like the interior décor as well. It’s brighter and has a very relaxing vibe to it. There’s actually two different dining sections at this location but I am not exactly sure why and this place is also located in a small shopping center.
Everything we got we all split family style which is the best way to dine with friends. We got the following: Dan Dan Noodles with beef, pork belly (must get), duck & pork meatballs soup (cooked with the bone), and finally the Bavarian beef which was really tender beef back. The Dan Dan noodles are served cold and were pretty tasty. These were string noodles and we were all expecting wide noodles. Crispy pork belly is something I always get when I come to Peter Changs; it’s a classic dish and perfectly crispy and spicy. The duck soup was just kind of okay for me and the flavors didn’t really stand out too much. The star dish was definitely the beef back hot pot. The beef was extremely tender and slightly fatty just the way I like it. The soup base was also excellent and not too spicy. We all left full and satisfied.
The service here was very quick which made me hesitant as to how «fresh» the food was or if it was just sitting out but overall I enjoyed my meal and would come back again to this location. Prices can be a little high, especially for the hot pot dishes but where else can you go for this type of cuisine and get an well executed dish. This Peter Changs has reignited my taste buds.
P. S.- most of their food is SPICY. They will not reduce the spicyness level. Only order what you can handle or think you can. The heat here is delayed. You feel it kick you in the face after about 10 minutes passing through your digestive system. Hurts so so good.

I am so glad I got to try Peter Changs while visiting Charlottesville. Not everything we ordered was great, but it was a wonderful meal overall. We were ravenous, so we each started off with a bowl of soup. Now, I wouldn’t normally order soup in a Szechuan restaurant, but we wanted something that would be served immediately. And wow, I’m so glad I did — the hot and sour soup was one of the best I’ve had.
We started off with the Crispy Pork Belly and Tendon and Tripe in Szechuan Sauce. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big fan of either. The pork belly was too greasy, and the tendon dish had a coconut-​like flavor I found off-​putting. (We confirmed with the owner there is no coconut in the dish, which I found to be even more perplexing.)
Now, on to the entrees. We shared the Bamboo Fish, Braised Beef with Cilantro in Clay Pot, Mapo Tofu and Three Gorges Chicken. I would say the tofu and fish were the stars of the meal, both having that intense Szechuan spice I love. The beef was soft and had a deep cilantro flavor. The chicken dish was very kid-​friendly, kind of sweet and not spicy.
The service was friendly, but the pacing of the food was rushed. The appetizers came out in the middle of eating our soup, and then the first entrée came out once we’d only had our first bites of the appetizers. And trust me, we weren’t eating slowly. I think it set the pace of our meal to be rushed. They also started asking us which foods would need boxes while one diner was obviously still eating.
Despite the negatives in my review, I would definitely return and recommend to friends.