One of the popular trends in dining out is what some call "fast casual dining." This lies somewhere between "fast food" (McDonalds in its many incarnations) and sit-down casual restaurants such as Chili's, Applebee's, or TGI Friday's. A fast casual dining restaurant typically offers restaurant-quality food but without a table service. These are particularly popular here in Utah, where diners are notoriously bad tippers.
Fast casual includes popular places such as Noodles and Co., Rumbi Island Grill, or one of my favorites--Pei Wei (pronounced "pay way").
Pei Wei is a fast-casual version of P. F. Chang's China Bistro. The food is good, but a lot faster and less expensive than it's full-service sister. Most dishes range from $6.75 to 8.25--$9.00 at the top end if you're having shrimp. With a combo meal at the local fast food place running about $5.00, you can upgrade your meal considerably by checking out a fast casual place.
I like the Orange Peel Chicken or the Spicy Korean Beef. I've also tried the Chicken Pad Thai. AnneMarie usually gets the Dan Dan Noodles with chicken. (She needs to find something between mild and medium on the spiciness scale.) As starters, they offer the lettuce wraps that everyone seems to want to get at P.F. Chang's. We haven't tried those for some reason, but we usually get an order of spring rolls.
Right now the closest P. F. Chang's is in Sandy, near the South Towne Center.
Fast casual includes popular places such as Noodles and Co., Rumbi Island Grill, or one of my favorites--Pei Wei (pronounced "pay way").
Pei Wei is a fast-casual version of P. F. Chang's China Bistro. The food is good, but a lot faster and less expensive than it's full-service sister. Most dishes range from $6.75 to 8.25--$9.00 at the top end if you're having shrimp. With a combo meal at the local fast food place running about $5.00, you can upgrade your meal considerably by checking out a fast casual place.
I like the Orange Peel Chicken or the Spicy Korean Beef. I've also tried the Chicken Pad Thai. AnneMarie usually gets the Dan Dan Noodles with chicken. (She needs to find something between mild and medium on the spiciness scale.) As starters, they offer the lettuce wraps that everyone seems to want to get at P.F. Chang's. We haven't tried those for some reason, but we usually get an order of spring rolls.
Right now the closest P. F. Chang's is in Sandy, near the South Towne Center.
2 comments:
I have had the lettuce wraps, maybe just not with you. YUM!
Rumbi, Rumbi, Rumbi. I love fast casual and nothing is better than the flavorful, fresh, and healthy selections at Rumbi! I am going through Utah food withdrawals while living in Houston, TX where the food is NOT very good. We miss Rumbi the most. Very affordable. Sweet potato fries! The Hawaiian burger is actually VERY good, brown rice is great, etc.
Other great fast casual includes Bajio and Cafe Rio which absolutely crushes nearly all fast casual Tex Mex in Texas. The sodium and lard in Houston Tex Mex will put me in the grave and tastes horrible. Count yourselves lucky Utah!
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