Corpus Christi – I have been spoiled for decades when it comes to Chinese food thanks to the late Mao Tai. Since it’s closing, we have ventured off to places we haven’t been in years, as well as the recently new P.F. Chang’s located at La Palmera Mall (Still Padre Staples Mall to me).

First impressions are important, and the interior decor surely doesn’t let you down. I have been to P.F. Chang’s before (1 time) and it was pretty good, a bit pricier than our beloved Mao Tai, and not quite as good.

Our half eaten Crispy Green Beans

We ordered Crispy Green Beans for an appetizer. We have heard great things about these and everyone one of them were correct. The battered and fried green beans were great and I had to make myself stop eating them so I wouldn’t be full before the meal came out.

This time I wanted to try something different, one of my favorite dishes, Sesame Chicken. I was going to try their Orange Beef, but it wasn’t on their lunch menu so I went with the chicken.

The egg drop soup isn’t like the traditional soup you find at most Chinese restaurants (or maybe it is traditional and everyone else’s isn’t?). It was darker and I really did not like the flavor, too Soy Saucey for me. My wife loved it though and had both of ours.

The Sesame Chicken was also different than you would normally find. It had bell peppers, onion and light and dark seeds. The seeds seem to be added after the fact. Overall the taste was bland, nowhere as sweet as you find at most places.

My wife’s Beef and Broccoli was incredible, had a great consistency with the sauce. The flavor had a bit of sweetness, again not common with most Chinese restaurants.

The service was great, we had a waiter named Jeff and he was excellent. Prices are a little high compared to other local Chinese restaurants but that won’t keep us from going again. No Sesame Chicken for me though.

Slightly eaten Beef and Broccoli

Sesame Chicken

Laguna Reef

Corpus Christi – Love the atmosphere there, and considering the unreal reality that there is no other seafood restaurant in Flour Bluff even though it is right on the Laguna Madre, it makes it that much better.

We started off with calamari as an appetizer.  It was a bit over cooked (extra crispy), but tasted fine.  The waitress even asked if it was crispy, saying it looked like it was.

Our waitress was awesome! She frequently came to our table and asked if everything was OK and if we needed anything, refilled our drinks, and asked if we would like to take our drinks to go when she gave us the bill. It has been a while since we had such great service at a restaurant.

My husband and I ordered the fried shrimp plate and fried oyster plate.  They come with 8 pieces of each and two sides, so we just share with each other.  They were just under $14 each and tasted great so worth it in my opinion.  We have had similar priced fried plates before that should not have cost that much, but these did.

A table next too us ordered a grilled Mahi Mahi plate and a grilled Shrimp plate.  They looked absolutely awesome, we will certainly being going back to try those.

Overall I give this place an A.  Good food, good atmosphere and great service.

Fried Oyster Plate

Fried Shrimp Plate

Corpus Christi – I know it sounds weird, fast food place in a kid’s hospital. It doesn’t sound so bad when you think in terms of a hurt or sick kid in the hospital longing for a Happy Meal for the toy.

On several occasions the service there was great. The same lady always tended to the register in the mornings, she was nice and worked very hard keeping customers happy.

Typically you don’t find that kind of service at a fast food place, which is why I thought I should mention it as one of the first “critiques” we give.