I was taking my 88yo mother to several Dr's appointments today, starting at 10:30am, and decided after appointment number 2 in Redondo Beach at 12 45pm to head to a late lunch PF Changs in the Ghetto Mall Del Amo Fashion center. We arrived in PF Changs at 1:04 pm and was seated immediately as the place was EMPTY, like 2 other tables had patrons still. The hostess was as nice as could be and sweet, she left us with the menus at a large both. Well I noticed an older couple at the table to our right and they seem to be getting great service as a server kept refilling their glasses and since it was at the end of their meal the waiter came up and was asking them if they wanted anything else or dessert. I noticed the waiter glanced over at our table then immediately whipped his head in the other direction as to ignore me. Well I notice the same waiter come back again to the older couples table with dessert and was chatting them up, at this point we had been sitting at the table for about 12 min without any kind of acknowledgement from any of the wait staff, not even a hello.
14 minute into the wait I notice a party of 4 women being seated at a table and another waiter (dirty blonde hair) starts to chat them up and asks them if they would like anything to drink. Within 4 min or so of taking their order the waiter comes back with their drinks, at this point I was over the wait and being ignored (I am a huge tipper usually leaving 30 to 50 % tip for good service.) , so I collected my mother and we proceeded to leave, on the way out though I did speak to the hostess that seated us and explained,. Since my mother had a 2:30pm eye Dr appointment I I decided to call the restaurant manager from my car in transit to complain. I spoke to Liz who said she was a partner in the restaurant and could not stop apologizing, offered us coupons, etc. I explained that once I have a bad experience in a restaurant i will never return there as it is a reflection of bad organization, lack of communication and management, so I refused the coupons. If you go to Yelp and look the review for the Torrance location there is a review by ""Nicole B"" on 8/16/2011, posted a review where she encountered the same situation with a late lunch, empty restaurant and no service, well she got some after waiting 12 min, but there seems to be a common theme with the Torrance location of BAD or no Service. Considering Jerry's Deli which is near PF Changs, closed down I am surprised the management has not stepped up.
I've eaten at many PF Changs throughout So Cal, but this is by far the WORST RESTAURANT of any restaurants, PF Chang or non PF Chang that I have ever been to. The other thing I noticed about PF Changs is that the quality of the food has gone the way of other chain restaurants, where there is a processed flavor and texture to their dishes, kind of like eating pre packaged food. My advice is find another restaurant to eat at in Torrance other than PF Changs, I ended up at Bennihana's across the street for lunch and it was quick , GREAT service was out in 30 min.
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