Peacock West

I came to Peacock West this evening because my normal go to place had closed. I had heard good things about this place so I gave it a shot. When we walked in it was quiet with very little customers. We just sat because there wasn’t anyone to greet us immediately. After sitting a very nice lady from behind the bar came and greeted us and took our drink order. She gave us a menu that was short and sweet. I ordered the Combination Fried Rice, Egg Roll, and Wonton Soup. The soup had a really great flavor and lots of meat. The egg roll was decent. It wasn’t oily at all. Oh then came the Fried Rice. I was pleasantly surprised. It had Chicken, Steak, and Shrimp. The rice was moist and the whole dish tasted freshly cooked and best of all, no peas. My husband got Pepper Steak. He said it was awesome. The owner of the restaurant came out to check on our experience. I thought that was a sincere action. I walked away with a good experience and possibly a new go to place. They also have Karaōke at 9 PM on Friday nights.

Well, this ain’t your momma’s Peacock West. The portions were laughably small, the egg rolls are clearly a frozen food product, and my sesame chicken isn’t even sesame chicken at all. It is soggy fried chunks of chicken drowning in a pool of a bland, brown sauce and has slices of onions on it. My husband ordered Kung pow beef and didn’t even get what he ordered (we did carryout). Definitely will not be back. I’m so disappointed. I miss the way it used to be.

The owner of the Peacock West is a friendly fellow, in his late 60’s, with a full head of white hair and his name is Paul and he used to be the owner of the Jade Kirin restaurant years ago.
Now Paul and his wife have re-​opened the old place. It’s a new restaurant now with a new staff, new menu coming up, new look and a more up to date feel. The only thing that’s the same is they kept the name to harken back to the old place. They’ve cleaned it up, moved things around, removed the clutter and made it brighter and happier looking. The old artwork and 60’s style Chinese lanterns are also gone, replaced with new contemporary art and fixtures. They are also boasting a new large bar in the middle of the dining room and they should be getting their liquor license in a few weeks. It’s looking pretty good.***
***Now mind you, it’s still under renovation and there are workers all around, at least for another week or so, but they are open and serving customers so let’s talk about the food.
Paul told me that they are using the temporary menu just for the moment but the full menu will be ready soon and will include a full range of Chinese and Thai dishes to reflect the origins of his wife and himself. I used to love the Lo Mein from the old Peacock and this version was good but not great. So when Lydia, the server, checked back with me, I expressed my «Meh» to her and told her it need more Oyster Sauce, she made sure I got a dish of it pronto and that got it to good. The Egg Drop Soup came out alright but a dash of salt and pepper put it up to where it needed to be in a few shakes.
So long story short. How can you really judge a restaurant on it’s second day? They’re just getting started and things are a little bumpy so I cut them some slack. Frankly I’m glad to see them offer another much needed West Side dining option and I think if we allow them a little time to get the kinks out… they’ll do just fine.
3.5 stars for now…