Pei Wei Asian Diner - Seal Beach / Los Alamitos Review

Pei Wei Asian Diner in Seal Beach opened just about one year ago and serves up tasty Asian fusion cuisine for a decent price. The chain is owned by the folks at PF Changs, and that influence is apparent in the quality of food, the service, and even the attention to the decor with dark, angular Asian forms and plenty of wood, stone, and water environmentals. There’s seating available inside, but my daughter and I opted for take-out and ordered from the menu attached to the front counter. We were taking home food for the whole family, and as always, finding something other than corn dogs or grilled cheese that my four- and six-year olds will eat is a challenge. Happily, I saw that Pei Wei offered very reasonably-priced kids choices including the Lo Mein which is chicken with egg noodles. For the rest of us I ordered the shrimp fried rice, the honey seared chicken, and sweet and sour chicken on fried rice. Brown or steamed rice is included, or you can opt for fried rice with any entrée for only one dollar more. All three of these large-portioned main dishes were packed in easily-resealable clear lid containers which made both food identification and carting the left-overs to work a breeze.

Taste
All of the food was excellent, in par with what I remember about PF Changs typical fare. I would have liked to see more egg in the fried rice, but that’s a matter of preference, and for my wife, who doesn’t like egg all that much, she’d probably like to see less. Unlike the majority of food we get from our other local Asian take-out, Pick Up Stix, the food at Pei Wei was distinctively flavorful and fresh. It’s common that carton carry-out food can taste rather homogenized as if all the food came from the same pot. This is especially the case of Asian foods where several flavors are held captive in a single box and the time from pan to plate allows all the flavors to congeal. Somehow the food we brought home from Pei Wei avoided that problem, or perhaps it was just so good that our taste buds were giddily preoccupied and we ignored it. Within a few bites we knew that Pei Wei was going to replace Pick Up Stix as our Asian food choice. With competitive prices, kid-friendly foods, and potentially addicting vittles, we’ll be back soon for sure.