phoenix asian cuisine

lots to be desired. the sushi was some of the best i've had but the rest of our meal tasted like average buffet food but twice the price. the thai teriaki chicken, tum yum soup and spring rolls are not recommend. also do not go expecting speedy service. our waitress was very slow, forgot our sons drink, slow in taking order but was quick to give us our check.

clean, good service, good food,ok prices

bad. for the uninitiated, pheonix is much like pf chang's. for some, that will say enough; for the others, know that i am not a fan. it's not so much that i dislike pan-asian cuisine, but the interpretation i received left a lot to be desired.

let's start with what was good: pheonix has a gluten-free menu, which is nice for the occasional no-gluten diner like myself; and also, their waitstaff were efficient, if a little awkwardly prim.

now, on to the not so good:

pheonix's food ranged from lackluster to downright unenjoyable. i'll give them the benefit of the doubt on matters of taste, but here are my objections - for the pheonix chicken (i assume this is a signature dish) the sauce was not only fairly bland, but of an unappetizing gelatinous nature. the spring roll it came with was equally bland, which meant it felt like i was eating an oily cabbage roll. the cucumber, diakon, and carrot "relish" was one of the better items i ate, but this is way more of a salad than a relish, sorry for being idiosyncratic. the carrots and daikon arrive in shreds, but the cucumber are sliced in half-moons about an inch thick - fairly large bites, which is unfortunate because the cucumber was the worst part, having soaked up the disagreeable vinegar sauce in which the relish was covered.

i made a second masochistic visit for dinner, and i was quite hungry at the time. foolish me. i ordered a vietnamese beef salad and the tom yum soup with shrimp. the salad was pretty bad, honestly. the dressing was not much to my liking (again, to each his own, you might like it), but worse was that the salad was about 50% onion. maybe a quarter of it was beef, and the remaining quarter was tomato, wedge after wedge of unripe tomato. if this is what i should have expected, sorry for my indignation, but i figure they'd at least look to see that their tomatoes are ripe. the soup was the better of the two dishes, no thanks to the broth or the handful of scallions floating in it. i ate the four shrimp (only one had not been fully deveined - not bad huh?) and a few of the mushrooms out of it and was done with a disappointing meal.

i'd suggest you avoid pheonix.

if you set the bar higher than “satisfying generic takeout,” then finding good chinese food in greensboro is no easy task. to that end, phoenix asian cuisine is a welcome change of pace, both in terms of ambiance and menu selection. it’s also quite a bit costlier than ubiquitous takeout fare, and for the money charged, the food falls a bit short of expectations.

kani salad was great. other items were just okay, i've had better from my local take-out. service was terrible, i mean when they asked us if we wanted plates we should have left. the singapore noodles were barely more than luke warm. and the waitress only did the bare minimum service/ satisfaction checks.

i had been here a number of times previously, food and service were much better. i won't be coming here again.

this is a review of a restaurant called phoenix asian cuisine located in greensboro, north carolina. we were planning to go to a different asian restaurant, but they were closed even though their website said they were open. so i looked up the closest restaurants on the yelp app and decided on phoenix asian cuisine. we arrived at 1:15 pm last sunday and we were seated immediately. their sanitation grade was 96%, which seemed like a good sign. the restaurant was full of large groups and it was very noisy with no music playing. as i looked at the menu it appeared to be americanized asian food, so i asked hubby to go to a different restaurant. i knew it wasn't going to be our cup of tea. which it literary became when i tried their oolong tea, more about that later. read the rest of my review on my blog, link below.

hidden gem in greensboro. great food, good prices,and good services.

ok food but terrible service and management. my last few visits here have not gone over so well. the food has never let me down but i got extremely grossed out when last time i was sitting at the bar and saw employees eating in the kitchen!!! not sanitary. the managers are all snobs and even over heard them making racists comments. it's a shame to me the employees or managers can't even act right.

still good, but pricey. another one of those gems it is so easy to overlook as we rush to the restaurant of the month, the plate of the week, the newest eatery in town - and we revisited this excellent place last night as a part of our recent effort to reconnect with old favorities.

the food remains as good as ever, though pricey. the chicken lettuce wraps ($7.95) and the pork pot stickers (among my very favorite versions) were excellent ($6.25) - the chicken wrap was a huge portion, we ask for, and received, additional lettuce to finish it up - of course they charged us 50 cents more for the extra lettuce - really not cool at the prices they charge.

the beijing roast duck ($21) was very nice, and plenty of it, as well. the version here is close to the classic, though the skin is not as nearly crispy as the best versions i've tried. they include steamed buns with this dish, rather than chinese style pancakes most often seen with this dish, as well as moo shu pork - makes it rather bready.

the dragon's nest ($22) and the ba ba black lamb ($17.50) are both nice dishes, but the nest in particular is simply overpriced. their kirin on draft is $5 a glass, and their large sake is $6, and for $6 you get a "kid's" fried rice with a piece of beef or two. - so nothing here is inexpensive.

the place is showing a little wear now, and the booths (to the far right and far left as you enter) are small and uncomfortable, and they will insist on jamming as many as they can into those area, while the roomier tables in the center are mainly free. the booth areas are therefore noisy, and don't provide a particularly relaxed and enjoyable dining experience.

i do enjoy the food here (most of it anyway), but i'm less impressed than i've been about the overall dining experience here, especially when it is crowded and thus, noisy - and the pricing here has made this a less attractive place, to me at least. these prices should carry an aspect of "fine dining", and i didn't experience that. i've actually dropped my rating because of these things. still like it, just not as much.


-----01 jun, 2011-----

reall nice place. i really like almost everything they do here, especially since they added sushi, beijing roast duck, and the dragon nest, among other items. they had one of the best eclectic asian menus in the area even before adding some new ones over the last several years. and they manage to pull off the variety of cuisines in grand fashion, partnered with excellent, knowledge service, and pleasing decor - not a simple task.

now to the "pacific" dishes: the sushi is simply excellent, in this area, rivaled only by imperial koi, imo. the apps that i really like are the crispy calamari (nice heat), fire cracker shrimp (ditto), pot stickers, and the scallion pie can be quite nice, if not over cooked. they have a spicy tofu dish that is worth trying.

the beijing duck is nice, authentic, and no order ahead required - so cool, and so big city. the mongolian beef is nice, but mild; the kung pao chicken has nice spice, and flavor, and the dragons nest is an interesting collection of seafood, chicken, and vegetables in a potato nest - i love potato nests. who knew you could make a delivery vehicle for a menu item out of potato - no heat here, but you do get your own potato nest.

holding court at the hot end of the menu is asian jalepeno beef (you gotta try it, it is close to three pepper beef at china palace in derm); the beef sha cha is generally good, but a touch inconsistent on heat, and tenderness; and, finally, the ba ba black lamb is a must for heat eaters - i know, i know, you just don't see that much lamb on asian menus, but this is a nice change, and done well.

don't know about their desserts, i've never had room, or regrets

it was okay. i'd rather go to p.f. chang's to be honest. food was average at best...they got my order wrong three times. when i pointed the wrong food order my waitress acted as if i was the one who was in the wrong. couldn't get a refill on my sweet tea to save my life around there. so note to anyone about to dine their easy on the drinks or in this case (drink). also portions are very stingy...and to be quite honest my waitress and half of the rest of the staff needed a lesson in public relations. i hate giving bad reviews on places but this by far was the worst restaurant experience i've had in all my 58 years.

fantastic, no matter what new yorkers say.. ok. i feel compelled to write this after reading some of the reviews. i'm getting tired of people who've lived in new york city acting as if nyc is the standard for everything else. i mean, how could nyc be a standard for chinese food? or anything, for that matter. it makes no sense. are asians who move to greensboro less asian than those who move to nyc? and, i've eaten at chinese restaurants in nyc and find phoenix to be much better (btw, phoenix is not a chinese restaurant, as there are elements of thai and vietnamese, as well).

not pf chang...thank god. if you like pf chang and must have your asian fusion food homogenised for the american pallet, and hyped with fake "oriental" statues out front, then by all means, got to pf chang. but if you prefer to eat quality asian fusion cuisine without all the hype, then go here. i too do not understand the snooty negative reviews...this is good food. phoenix is not chinese, thai, vietnamese or any other specific asian food. its, you know, a fusion of many flavours. and it is very good. (for the several negative reviewers who flaunt their new york credentials, we lived in the san francisco bay area and visited its chinatown often. i travel a great deal with my work and i seek out new asian restaurants whenever possible.)

a solid cross section of various asian foods. modern, comfortable seating. and an excellent wine selection. prices are very reasonable for the quality of food and dinning experience.

do not get it either?. i have been told over and over from several friends and co-workers that this place is "just as good as pf changs but much less expensive". my first experience there did not bear this comparison out at all! i was not impressed with the kung pao, as it was very bland/not at all spicy. the service was slow too. but to be fair, when a group of friends invited me i went with them again to see if it was just an off day the last time?
2nd experience was no better than the first time. i ordered the phoenix chicken, which i figured would be their "best" entree since it's after the name sake. the nicest word i can use to describe it was lackluster. my food was also cold, and the sauce had started to congeal. i did say something to the server but she said something like "we had a large party and it threw the kitchen timing off"?
personally, i would rather pay a few bucks more (literally $2 more per plate) and have the consistent, quality food and service of changs. just my opinion

i had chicken and fried green beans and it was fabulous. someone else with me had veg fries rice and she liked it also. my husband had broccoli and beef and he loved it. my dad had shrimp and scallops with lemon and there was too much lemon rind for him to appreciate it. i will defiantly go back! one of the people with asked for a gluten free menu and they had one. she had spivey chicken curry and loved it.