P. F. Chang's - Avenida Escazu, San Jose, Costa Rica

Chinese Restaurant - ummm, let me think about this for a second, ok, it is, but . . .

In one sentence.  Where is the sticky rice.  I can not imagine an Asian restaurant without sticky rice but believe it or not this restaurant did not serve sticky rice.  When we asked the waiter about serving sticky rice he looked at us like - why would you want sticky rice.  He really didn't understand the relevance.  At least he knew what we were talking about as he made a reference to Sushi???? Why would he know about the relevance in a Chinese restaurant? The odds of ever having been to anywhere in Asia or being familiar with Asian cuisine beyond one or two local Costa Rican Chinese "ticoized" restaurants is extremely small.  However, this one point offset all of the good points of this restaurant - in fact very good points..  Maybe the management believes that Costa Rican's simply don't like "sticky rice".  If so, they are correct.  Most, if not 99% don't like sticky rice.  However, for anyone who has ever been to Asia, lived in Asia, or has experience "real" Asian food knows that "sticky rice" is like wind is to the earth, it is a staple of the diet and virtually all meals.  Anyone should be able to eat sticky rice with chop-sticks in small easily grouped portions and not one rice kernel by one rice kernel.  Why? Who knows, but this is one component of the menu that has to be resolved to make this place one that can be called an Asian restaurant.

The only other issue I would raise before going into more detail is that as an Asian restaurant identified by the iconic P.F. Chang's giant horses at the entrance is there is nothing else that would indicate this was a Chinese restaurant.  In fact, it appeared to look like any other "manufactured", cook-book style, up-scale, routine place that could be found anywhere "Main Street" U.S.A.  At least from what this writer experienced from a walk or two around the interior of the public areas there was nothing that would suggest this was a Chinese restaurant. Too bad - at least something on the walls or in the semi-compartmentalized eating sections or some big classic Chinese drums or Gong in the large central bar area would give this place some level of uniqueness but as it is there is nothing special about the décor or interiors.

Lets start with the place and location - The location is in the heart of the newest "upscale development" in the entire country of Costa Rica.  Probably not more than a very tiny percentage of the entire Costa Rican population can afford the area the fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter.  What matters for those who can afford the place is their experience. 

Parking in Costa Rica is always a nightmare, even for a new development.  I'm not sure Costa Rica government will ever be able to get this right and developers certainly are not going to volunteer giving up more than is necessary regardless of whether it is market driven or regulatory.  None-the-less the parking is always challenging so be prepared for a bit of the routine driving frustrations when going to this restaurant particularly if it is raining (as it does nearly everyday during the 6 month rainy season).  One way to minimize the hassle is to park in a neighborhood adjacent to the development.  The neighborhood is called Trejos Montealegre.  Drive to the west end and park near the development.  There will be a chain link fence with a pedestrian gate near the left side of the end of the street.  A sure parking space, at least for now, and a closer walk to the stores in the development and the restaurant.  Another option is valet parking and the final alternative is to park in a nearby parking garage built for the general development located a healthy walk away from the place.  Signs for the parking garage are not obvious but when entering the development drive to the first "round-about" (my wife calls a "tommy") make a right turn and then go about one block make a left turn and you will see the multi-level parking garage on the right.  Bring an umbrella in the rainy season and women may want to wear shoes that are closed and can handle the water.

Entering the restaurant was easy and although reservations were not taken we were promptly seated with no more than a couple of minutes wait.  It was clear the restaurant was new by observing the huge number of employees.  It appeared there were two or three employees to each position.  In fact, it seemed like there were more employees than guests and considering the restaurant is relatively large is saying a lot.  They didn't seem to get in the way but the sight of so many employees was interesting. 

We were seated in a section of the restaurant overlooking the entrance and an area that was designed to actually give an outside terrace type of feeling with open walls, and half height glass partitions separating us from the outdoors.  The other areas of the restaurant were not as open and in some cases felt like you would be closed-in as the place was compartmentalized into sections which presumably gave some level of privacy or intimacy but could also give you a feeling of claustrophobia.  Lighting at night was perfect - not to bright and not to dim, even in the semi-private area sections.  Tables for two, four and larger groups were available with a large traditional bar in the center of the restaurant.

The timing of service was normal - not exceptional and not bad.  Just enough time between dishes to make a nice evening with friends or that special person.  We didn't feel rushed and didn't feel like we were left alone.  The service was responsive, the waiters understood the menu and they were all dressed appropriately in the now traditional black uniform with the slight touch of classic red lines in very subtly observed locations (e.g. shirt pockets).

Food and Drink - we started with two of the "special" drinks.  The ORGANIC AGAVE MARGARITA and a YUZU GINGER MOJITO.  I won't go into the detail of what these drinks consist of because a search of the restaurant web site will give you everything you want to know.  Lets just say - the drinks were good with unique subtle flavors making these two traditional drinks a little special with P.F Chang's twist. 

The Egg Drop Soup,  Ahi Tartare With Avocado and Spring Rolls were perfect.  In fact, the Ahi Tartare was outstanding and exceptionally tasty.  The Egg Drop Soup was made with just enough consistency, not too liquid and not to thick with the traditional velvet flavors while the Spring Rolls were large, with apparently fresh vegetables and just the right crispiness on the outside.

The principal dish was a Moo Goo Gai Pan - This is a traditional dish Cantonese dish that is made with a soft, subtle, velvet sauce and the routine water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, snow peas and button mushrooms.  Other than the use of several oversized pieces of Bok Choy requiring a return to a knife and fork to cut into pieces the dish was excellent.  The serving temperature of the chicken may have been a little hot but overall it was good.  On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this dish a 6.  There was nothing special and there was nothing not special.  Routine.

Now the most incredibly surprising part of the meal was the dessert.  We ordered, fortunately, the Great Wall of Chocolate.  A huge piece of extreme chocolate cake, layered with thick, smooth, rich chocolate, topped with small chunks of chocolate and just enough raspberry drops on the side of the dish to create an extremely tantalizing taste.  The one portion was so big that it could have easily served four and we had no choice but to ask the waiter to package for us to take home.  I'm sure we will be eating this for another couple of days - its that big.

Finally, prices.  Of course you will hear from various sources the place could be considered expensive.  Maybe by "Costa Rican" typical standards the perception could be a fair description.  But in our experience "bite-for-bite", flavors, uniqueness and  overall enjoyable evening the prices were fair.  You don't need the name of anyone to have a good dinner and comparing to other very routine typical restaurants even in Heredia or Alajuela the prices here are as reasonable as many others.  Our dinner with everything we ordered plus after dinner drinks was approximately C47,000 and we could have easily reduced this to below C20,000 if I had not splurged with the extra drinks, deserts and post dinner drinks and would have been totally satisfied.  It would be a challenge to find anything comparative for this price. Lets hope they don't start raising prices too soon.  At the moment the prices are reasonable despite the "nay-sayers".

Overall, the food was good, not excellent, the ambiance routine (maybe better than the typical for Costa Rican standards), prices fair and the service very good. 

Would I go back again?  For now, yes.

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Was on Holiday/Vacation this week. Will have new post by tonight.

Got caught up in the hustle of traveling (Spirit Airlines - unfortunately) and didn't get access to a computer.  Will update by midnight tonight.  A tasty bar/restaurant with great portions, excellent flavors and the best sports watching location in Costa Rica (except maybe a sports casino).

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