Pei Wei

Wow — «amazing» customer service — NOT! We walked in for lunch — picked out what we wanted and were told they don’t have that (she could have said something in advance) then we pick something else and she starts rolling her eyes and smirking like there is anything funny about that. I ask her if she has anything else she forgot to mention that they don’t have before I look at the menu again and she had nothing to say — no apology or try to get me to consider something else. I’m sorry but luckily there are plenty of other restaurants to eat around here.
I called the corporate office and left a voicemail of what had happened. To their credit, they did call me back and were very apologetic about the incident and they sent me 20 dollar gift card. So I guess I’ll give them another shot and see if it is any better this time.

They might as well rename this branch Slo Wei. As other commenters have noted, service at this particular Pei Wei is terrible. It took the cashier 10 minutes and several interventions from the manager to ring up the simple take out order from the lady in front of me. When my turn came around, the cashier kept running off (to the kitchen, to another register) and I had to repeat my order 3 times. Then I waited. And waited. The restaurant was not busy, but it took 25 minutes for my food to show up. The food itself was fine, though not as good as the stuff I’ve gotten at other Pei Weis.
The restaurant is situated in the middle of downtown in the business district, clearly catering to folks on their lunch hour. With service like this, I won’t be back.

Have visited this location multiple times and they quite frequently screw up orders (wrong items, leave items out) even when it is not busy. On my last visit the edamame was horribly overcooked and they neglected to include the egg roll I paid for in my takeout order. The place was empty. Avoid this Pei Wei unless you want to be disappointed.

Over-​cooked noodles, bland food. Pad thai doesn’t tastes like pad thai… tastes more like kung pao chicken and their sweet and sour chicken doesn’t taste any close to sweet and sour chicken. Workers here are rude.
This location never follow their operating hours. On weekdays, the website says that they’re open until 7 pm on weekdays. Whenever I passed by this location around 4pm, they’re already closed. Note that they also took down their operating hours posted by the door (not sure if the Pei Wei Management is aware of what’s going on).

I like the food, which is the main reason I keep subjecting myself to the horrible customer service.

Weak location of a wonderful chain. Just not as nice (re décor and atmosphere) or delicious as suburban locations I’ve been to. Thai wonton soup was not bad.

I went here a few months ago with a friend and had an amazing dine in experience. However, today I decided to walk over and grab some chicken pad Thai to go. I got back to my desk and I was truly disappointed. Maybe the tofu comes with the extra vegetables… idk, but I definitely didn’t want any tofu. The chicken pieces look mangled and were on the dry side. My extra sauce was nonexistent and it all taste scorched. I’ll probably give them another try based on my initial experience. However, it will be dine in only.

American’ish Asian cuisine. The food is ok. The restaurant touts «Pei Wei by PF Changs», though if PF Changs ate here, he’d be REALLY disappointed. I’ve never had a bad meal here, but I’ve also never had a great meal here either. I’ve also rarely had my entire order brought out correctly. It’s always missing something an item from the order. It’s quick, you won’t get sick, you might not enjoy your meail, but it’s not bad and the people are friendly.

Had its «teriyaki crispy roll». BIG mistake!!! Not only it was old and ice cold, the rice even tasted stale. It was not crispy, more like chewy! Stay away from their rolls that have probably been sitting in their fridge for days or maybe weeks!!!
Plus indifferent waiter service…

Pei wei advertises itself as delivering «fast asian cuisine». Don’t be fooled.
I ordered a lo mein lunch dish TO GO and it took a whopping 30 minutes to receive my meal after I ordered! There were only 4 people in front of me… It wasn’t like they were swamped with chow mein ravenous washingtonians. In addition to how slow the service was, the staff was rude. The cashier in particular radiated a «I hate my job, I don’t want to be here» vibe. I asked a couple of questions about the food and she gave me short one word answers that made me feel as if I were inconveniencing her. I did not feel welcome at all.
As for the food, it was satisfactory. The lo mein was slightly oily, but it satisfied my hunger. The 99 cent chocolate chip cookies offered at the register were stale. On the positive side, I always enjoy those fancy soda machines that offer dozens of options all operated by touch screen. Also, the food was reasonably priced.
Bottom line: Bring a book for the agonizing wait.

It’s typical ‘Asian’ food but without the pazzaz. If you’re like me and want some hole-​in-​the-​wall food, this isn’t it. It’s made «Fresh» but really, it’s fresh in taste. To me, it is reminiscent of college Chinese lunch (the way its packed, lack of flavor, portion size of protein to rice) so I’m not a fan.

Finally got around to visiting Pei Wei for lunch — and afterwards I must honestly ask «what was I waiting for?» Pleased with their spicy tuna sushi (could have been bit spicier) and Asian chicken chopped salad. Love the sesame ginger vinegarette. Could have used a bit more soy sauce to mix with the wasabi but otherwise no biggie. I’d go there again. Everything tasted fresh.
Went in about 12:40PM and didn’t have to wait. Mine was to-​go so I can’t comment on how clean the seating area was. BTW my salad to-​go was complete, meaning the chicken and veggies were all in one plastic container. That’s another thing — they use good containers and provide a wrapped set of plastic fork-​knife-​spoon. Even the plastic bag was well made with a flat piece of cardboard on the bottom so the food lays flat when carrying it. 4 **** out of 5.

Incredibly slow and understaffed, nearly 30 minutes for food that we had to bus ourselves. To-​go orders backing up and sitting cold on the counter. Not worth it.
Other tables had to self-​bus as everyone was getting fed up with the excessive waits. This also led to dirty dishes piling up on tables. Understaffed would be an understatement.
Also, at the beginning when orders were being delivered, despite having a number system. The man bringing the food literally just shouted what he had when he came to dining area, and customers had to figure out if that was there order. They literally had no idea who ordered what.
Totally chaos.
There was one wok chef, a prep cook, cashier and one man who kept disappearing into a back room but not doing anything to help with the no service. The prep chef was friendly but clearly could not cope with only having one chef.
The food is good but the lack of staff and incredible wait mean I’ll never be back. Contacted customer service who didn’t seem to care, either.

Service is good, the cook always singing and friendly. Food comes out fast, tastes good and is fresh. Can’t ask for more in Dupoint where most places are overpriced and can’t deliver on quality.

I had an okay experience with my to go order. Pei Wei is found everywhere in my home state; I was glad to see one in DC. If you are expecting a real restaurant, then your review will be low.
But Pei Wei is the middle child between Panda Express and PF. Chang’s. I prefer Pei Wei to both. An entrée is about $ 8, but the chinese takeaways littering every DC corner also charges you about the same $ 8, but for «mystery» meat and frozen appetizers.
I like Pei Wei for lunch or late night food best. It’s fast food, but in a nicer setting, definitely not on the caliber of McD’s or Yums, and no tipping required.

This is one of my go to lunch spots, since they opened in Dupont! Have tried most of the dishes, and can recommend any of the lettuce wraps. Also the chicken ginger broccoli, and the orange peel chicken, and the Mongolian chicken!
Also the staff are all very pleasant, and friendly. Always greet me with a smile and ask how my food is, Love this place!

This place is alright if you know what to order and if you accept it for what it is (fast food). Noodles can be a little soupy. I tend to go for salad here when I am tired of Chopt. Their thai lime chili salad is the best thing on the menu in terms of flavor.
But seriously, the one thing that drives me NUTS about this place is that if you order a salad, you get your lettuce in one cardboard box, the topping (meat, seasoning, etc.) in another, and dressing even more separate. They have once done me a favor when I’ve asked and combined, but it just seems like a stupid way to do it. Then i have to stop by my kitchen and assemble my salad and throw out the extra packaging that is totally and completely unnecessary.

As a somewhat regular dupont weekend warrior, I was excited to see a newcomer amongst their somewhat lackluster dining options. The verdict: it’s so-​so.
The few times I’ve gone, they’ve always been very fast to get out the food, and since this is fast food, I don’t mind a quiet/​awkward cashier like some other reviewers. And the food isn’t terrible.
After eating, I naturally checked other Unilocal reviews to see what the world had to say. If you saw the one about avoiding the list of nutrition info, you might want to take that advice, because I was inspired to check it out, and now I’m not sure I can eat here without feeling horrible about my life. A smallish portion of chicken wrapped in lettuce should not be horribly terrible for you, but apparently it is. If I’m going to put such unnutritious food in me, I want to be wowed, or at the very least get a portion that will fill me up enough that I don’t need a second dinner. Very sad.
But still, it’s fast food, we don’t expect to lose weight on it. The food is edible, but it tastes like a cheap knock off of food you would get at a real restaurant. Not bad, but I wish they would have put something fresh and exciting here instead.

Do not under any circumstances look at the nutritional information for Pei Wei. I know, now you want to. But don’t.
I came here a few days after this location had opened, and I was pleased to see how quickly the line was moving. This is definitely «fast casual» where there is really quick table turnaround and speedy delivery of take-​out orders. They also employ an online ordering system for those who know what they will want for lunch more than one second before lunch (not me).
I got the lettuce wraps at an attempt at being healthy [see first paragraph]. They are apparently a «classic.» Having never been to Pei Wei’s sister restaurant P.F. Chang’s, I have no idea what makes this specific dish «classic.» I also ordered a side of Orange Ginger Edamame. And obviously a Coke Freestyle.
The edamame came, and it was soaked. I consider edamame to be a healthy side option, and this was just covered in oil and garlic. Not my favorite. The lettuce wraps came next, and the portion was plentiful. I of course mis-​allocated the chicken and ran out of lettuce before I could finish. Free fortune cookies! I got one that contained something decidedly non-​fortuney like «you are organized.»
At the time, I felt like I was having a four-​star lunch. Two hours later, however, I decided that was too generous. I felt dizzy and gross. Soon I noticed how much my clothes smelled like, well, Pei Wei. I made myself go to the gym later that day.

I had never heard of Pei Wei before, but was excited to hear it opened up yesterday right near my office in Dupont, where we really lack any cheap/​Americanized Chinese food.
I went for lunch with Valerie S. today, and am glad to announce that it will probably get a spot in the lunch rotation. Despite it being busy and new, we ordered within 5 minutes or so and had our food 5 – 10 minutes later. (However, if you are getting takeout, I recommend you order online. Everything is made pretty quickly, but it is made to order and isn’t the world’s fastest fast food because of that).
You have 2 main options for entrees: You can get a lettuce wrap or one of their plates. I got the large portion of Spicy Korean steak with brown rice, and it was really good. The large portion is… large, a hefty lunch portion, and comes with a TON of rice (along with plenty of meat). The steak was good Americanized Chinese food steak — smothered in sauce, a little crispy, but clearly good quality. There are a wide variety of options, from Thai to Korean to Chinese, etc. Deciding was pretty difficult, but it seems tough to go wrong.
Valerie S. got the chicken lettuce wrap — luckily, she mis-​allotted her lettuce portions, and I got to try the unused chicken, and it seems like a good option. She also got the mandarin edamame, which was just 2 bucks, but far from the best edamame I’ve had, I’d look elsewhere.
Also, they have a COKE FREESTYLE MACHINE (!!!) If you haven’t heard of these, it has over 125 flavors of soda (including stuff that don’t actually exist in real life, like Diet Raspberry Coke, or Cherry Dr. Pepper, etc).
(Fun fact, copying from an earlier review of mine: If there are 125 flavors, and then you add to this the fact that you can mix any 2 flavors, that is 7,875 flavors!!! I would tell you how many flavors it is if you are willing to mix any 3 flavors, but the math is getting kinda tough.)
Overall, it reminds me like an upscale version of Panda Express — definitely a solid option to grab lunch for around 10 bucks in Dupont.