Peter Chang McLean

I love Peter Chang and what he’s done for authentic Chinese food, so I’ve been on a mission to try one of his restaurants wherever I go. This time it was the Peter Change in McLean, which is the Tysons Corner area. I went with friends who also appreciate the authentic flavors of Szechuan food and was promptly seated for lunch on a weekday. A side note – by the time we left, the place was packed! So, make reservations! Our server, Christine W was AMAZING! She did an EXCELLENT job explaining the menu and was very enthusiastic about the various items we needed a further description of. I told her about some items I normally get at other Peter Chang locations and she gave me a rundown of what I might like. She also explained that each location does have slightly different items, based on their local chefs. But she also said that there are certain items that are staples at all his restaurants, such as Bamboo Fish. We started with hot tea and she advised they have a few to choose from, to which we chose Jasmine, which was excellent! Next up was their cucumbers. This is another item that many Szechuan places have, but each style varies. Here they used a heavy amount of sesame oil which really made it taste great! We also choose their Dan Dan Noodles, which were more of a peanut-paste style sauce, rather than a minces pork sauce. They were good, but not exactly what I expected. We also got their bubble scallion pancake which was so very tasty! For entrées they have a dish called Spicy Beef Rice Crispy which isn’t at all what you might think based on the name, it’s a “bowl” made of rice and hardened to be a single, crispy rice bowl. The idea is the beef has such a spice to it, that you pluck off pieces of the crisp rice to eat with it and balance the heat from the stir fried beef. The beef was so very tender and flavored so very nicely! We also got an order of Bamboo Fish, because this is one of the popular things Peter Chang does perfectly at all locations! They use flounder here, like the others and it was perfect! Other items we tried were the Signature House Braised Pork Belly as well as the Dry Spicy Combo Hot Pot with all three proteins; shrimp, beef, and chicken – Another excellent items with lots of flavor!! Everything was excellent and as I mentioned, the service was incredible! Definitely would return and highly recommend stopping in for a unique, authentic experience!

Very comfortable for lunch. The staff was so friendly and helpful. The shrimp cake was good and the flounder with mustard greens was delicious. The lettuce wraps (not pictured) were fine, but not as special as the other two. Because it depends on what you order, I could only give four stars. However, it's worth going and trying this wonderful flounder!

On my first visit to Peter Chang Restaurant, I was impressed by their earnest, gracious, and personable customer service. I enjoyed the Crispy Pork and Shrimp Spring Roll appetizer I ordered, and the Peach Oolong Tea was perfect for the cold, rainy day. However, I was repelled by the Kong Pao Chicken with Peanuts; it was unpleasant to my taste. The mouthfeel was all fat, but as the server and chef described the recipe to me, I was convinced that it was the flour coating that caused my distaste, not the chicken itself. The coating somehow gave the chicken an off-putting fatty texture and taste. They voluntarily removed the dish from my check. I will return and be careful about what I order.

Since the grand new opening we had been here twice and liked the new restaurant. We had tried a range of dishes: we loved the tomato beef with rice crispy on the top and the spicy beef, though both come with rice crisp, they have totally different taste and are both nice.the rest of the dishes are average typical Chinese dishes: the Peking duck hit the average bar of the area, the dry pot vegetables and meat medley was ok, the tofu pot was nice, and the lamb belly was tasty. The fish was a bit overcooked and disappointing. Waitress was very friendly and attentive and no complain, Price is slightly high, three adults and four kids we finished seven dishes and three deserts which are two Moche balls per serving. The bill came with pre added 20% tip and came to $320.

The Peking Duck was excellent. The pancakes were so thin that they were almost transparent - great as an appetizer wrap but hard to separate. The crispy rice seafood dish was fun to eat. We’ll be back to try more dishes.