There’s nothing but love in my heart for the world renown Peter Chang and his authentic Chinese food offered in several locations around RVA. But his newest venture, Noodles and Dumplings, a fast-casual location seated a few doors down from his original Short Pump location, has some hurdles to overcome.
There’s nothing but love in my heart for the world renown Peter Chang and his authentic Chinese food offered in several locations around RVA. But his newest venture, Noodles and Dumplings, a fast-casual location seated a few doors down from his original Short Pump location, has some hurdles to overcome.
We arrived closer to 1 PM and the space was packed. The wide-open, cavernous dining hall has a unique ordering system: a touch screen that allows you to select items and pay at right then and then. Sadly, the directions are a bit more complicated. And I foolishly skipped the “watch video to see how to order” option but it appears everyone else did as well.
I’m certainly not a designer, but if your fast-casual location requires a video to help you understand how to order, then you’re not very fast or casual.
Either way, we watched as table after table returned to the very-swamped front desk lady,who was doing everything in her power not to freak out, and asked for their money back after a truly epic wait. We saw one guy complain after sitting there for an hour and a half.
Honestly, this is less a critique and more a cry for sympathy. I’ve helped open restaurants, albeit with a less complicated ordering system. In this case, there are a few problems that noticeably exist – it asks for your name but you take a number. I learned after completing my order that I should have used my number instead of my name.
This put my order in limbo as the servers had no idea where things went.
Perhaps all of this was explained in the video, but again, multi-step instructions do not easily make for a fast or casual experience.
We ordered some dumplings and some noodles – veggie and beef and a few in between.
About an hour and several very tired and confused servers later our food arrived… slowly but surely.
The steamed buns were delightfully airy and filled with a nice mix of spices and veggies. The dumplings were firm and flavorful. We ordered by some fried and some steamed but only steamed ones came out. Finally, about 10 mins later, the pork belly dish I ordered came out as well.
This is a trait I’ve come to notice from Chang’s new RVA location aswell. The food is good (And the food we had today was great!) but the service is simply not up to some of the most simple restaurant standards.
Getting dishes one by one with 5-10 minutes in between has been common at each of my Chang’s RVA visits, but I keep coming back because holy-Christ is the food good.
Today’s visit was plagued by a mis-used or poorly functioning order system and servers who weren’t ready for the workload.
I hope to return to the spot the next time I find myself lost in Short Pump craving something fast and delicious. And as much of a shit show as today’s opening was, it was the best tasting clusterfuck I’ve ever experienced.
