Peter Chang seemed like a legendary figure. You would hear about his heroics in the cooking world. He would be cooking at some no-name Chinese restaurant all over the South West, and his fans followed. By the time you figured out where he was cooking, we would've already moved on. It looked like he didn't like the fame and publicity.
Finally, Peter Chang settled at Tasty China. Did he got tired of moving around and decided to just finish his career at a small, unassuming place in Marietta, GA?
Nope, I was wrong. he created his own, gigantic, swanky restaurant with his name attached to it with great fanfare. It was pretty out of character for him. And in a way, I miss Tasty China's humble, hole-in-the-wall-esq atmosphere. Peter Cheng's seems too upscale to me.
He also changed his name to Peter Cheng. I guess that's the correct pinyin spelling. I don't know if that's a good idea though. Everyone knew him as Peter Chang. Maybe it's his way to start fresh in Sandy Springs. Or maybe the restaurant designer spelled his name wrong.
The Bad Stuff
First, I want to get this out of the way: the service sucks–sometimes. You might get lucky and get someone with a clue, and everything will seem perfect. Or it might be one of those days where everyone is running around with their heads cut off.
One time, I came here with a party of 6 and waited 15 minutes before someone finally came over to give us our waters. We actually had to find someone and tell her that we did not get any service. Obviously, the hostess didn't do her job seating us in the correct place or notifying the servers that we were here. The service didn't get better afterwards. She kept forgetting about us.
On other days, the server usually disappears. If you need something, too bad. You probably have to wait 15-20 minutes until the server decides to reappear again. It doesn't matter if it's busy or not. The service might still be slow.
They need to improve their service. I don't always get bad service, but it happens enough that I notice it.
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| Do you see anyone in this restaurant? Look there's even a second floor. |
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| Still empty, yet our waitress was nowhere to be found. |
The Salty, Greasy, Unhealthy Good Stuff
Now I got the bad part of the restaurant out of the way, let me write about the good stuff: the food. It tastes incredible.
Everyone loves the Dried Fried Eggplants. It's probably one of their more popular dishes. I agree with the masses. I don't even like eggplant. It doesn't even have any meat on it. And I think it's one of their best dishes.
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| Dried Fried Eggplant. Very good, even if it's eggplant. |
My other favorite is the Mapo Tofu. It's absurdly hot. It's heat has been cranked to level 10. In fact, I like Peter Cheng's version so much, other places' mapo tofu taste bland to me.
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| Mapo Tofu AKA tofu in chili oil. |
I usually try something new when I go to Peter Cheng's. Last time, I tried the Steamed Salmon Sichuan Style. Peter Cheng's fish dishes always come out different than I expect. Well, I didn't expect this dish to come out hot pot style in it's own propane powered pot.
It was hot, spicy, and yet refreshing. It had a lot of chili peppers and other vegetables. I considered it a nice break from the mapo tofu and other dishes.
When I first bit into it, the interesting flavors overwhelmed me. At first I didn't know if I liked it. But the more I ate it, it slowly turned into one of my favorite dishes.
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| Steamed Salmon Sichuan Style. It kinda tastes like Korean Spicy Seafood Stew, but Chinese style. |
There are many other dishes that I like at Peter Cheng's such as the Sichuan Double Cooked Pork, Dan Dan Noodles, Hot Numbing Beef Rolls, Pork Belly with Sichuan Chili Sauce, Beef Tendon with Sichuan Chili Sauce, and others. Even his non-Sichuan dishes taste good such as the Mongolian Beef.
The menus also seems larger than Tasty China's. There are a lot of dishes I haven't tried yet.
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| Get the white rice, it's the only break you'll get from the heat. |
I would recommend you to order the right combination of foods, or you might not enjoy the experience. If you go with a big group, the better. There's a better chance of having good variety of foods. I would also suggest trying something on the Chef's Specialties section.
One simple thing you want to do is balance out the dried fried foods and the non-dried fried foods. Don't get all dried and fried stuff. You'll get tired of it fast. There needs to be some variety in the texture of the food.
Also, most of the items on the menu are spicy. So be prepared for a flavor explosion in your mouth. Therefore, I think it's good to have one of the less spicy or non spicy items on the menu. Good luck finding one though.
Also, most of the items are greasy. So you might crave something more refreshing and light. I would suggest one of the lighter soups. Again, good luck finding something non-greasy on the menu though.
Final Thoughts
This is Chinese food, so expect the food to be oily. Actually, expect the food to taste overly greasy, salty, spicy, hot, heavy, and unhealthy in general. You'll probably leave feeling bloated, with a higher blood pressure, with severe heart burn, and with higher LDL cholesterol. But it tastes so good.
If I want to rate this place solely on food, I would give it about 5 paws. But I can't, due to my experiences with service. They need to improve that so it will be consistently good. For now, I'll give it about 3.5 paws up.
Peter Cheng's
6450 Powers Ferry Rd NW
Atlanta, GA 30339
www.petertasty2.com
i just like rice
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