1223 W McDermott Dr Suite 75
Allen, TX 75013
(972) 747-0057

How did I miss reviewing this little neighborhood gem? Thai Pan has been my go-to for Thai food for over a year, and nothing I’ve ordered from them has disappointed. This little eatery in a strip mall off McDermott has been serving reliably good Thai food in modest, comfy surroundings. I can’t help but order their tom kha gai every time I visit; it’s a perfectly balanced sweet, sour and spicy soup with tender morsels of chicken and mushrooms. Some other favorites from their menu include spicy basil fried rice, panang curry, pad gra pow, and their sticky rice with custard. The customer service is attentive and friendly, the dining room is small yet inviting. Allen is one city that should find itself lucky in having a fine Thai restaurant such as Thai Pan.

921 N. Central Expy
Plano, TX 75075
(972) 422-4745

About a few years ago, Mongolian barbecue appeared on the dining radar. Asian restaurants added it to their menu of offerings, a couple of chains established outposts in the DFW. Genghis Grill happens to be one of the first chains in the area to offer Mongolian. At first, it was a hit.

Once upon a time I was enamored with the concept of prepping your own dish and watching the cooks slap it around the cooking stone while you and your friends enjoyed a drink, watching for your meal to finish. After a couple of years, Genghis Grill must have changed their format, charging a little more for their food in the process, providing a one-meal option on top of their all-you-can-eat. They still offer a variety of meats and seafood, including fake Krab, and a host of veggie and sauce options. They also thought adding tortilla to the starch/carb list was also a pretty good idea.

After a recent visit to the Plano outpost of Genghis Grill, I determined that much of the social aspect and Asian taste and feel was gone or just fakery. This location had football playing loudly on the TV at the bar…hardly any onlookers hung out at the stone cooktop. This location solidified my suspicion that Genghis Grill had succumbed to the fate of most chain restaurants: quantity over quality, safe and routine replacing daring and innovative.

On a particular visit, the dining room floors were so sticky, it made my skin crawl to walk on them every time I marched to the serving line. Apparently they thought it was a good idea to clean the kitchen during restaurant hours; an employee was brushing a 2 inch pool of dirty soap water behind the stone cooktop where my food was being cooked. That could’ve explained why nobody was interested in watching their food getting prepped–the sight of that dirty water in the kitchen was enough to dampen any appetite.

I don’t know if it was the teen- to twenty-something clientele lounging around in the booths like they owned the place, the disinterested waitstaff who couldn’t be bothered to refill our drinks and clean off our tables, or the loud rock music blaring from the bar that competed with the football game on the tube that turned me off, but all I know is that I can cook up a better dish at home and I won’t be back.

4140 Legacy Dr # 310
Plano, TX 75086
(972) 618-8888

Formerly Treasure Chinese BBQ, 369 is the only Chinese bbq place I know of in the area that delivers on top of taking plastic! 369 is an amazingly happy discovery, serving some good Cantonese fare besides the basics. I pity the folks who don’t know anything else but Americanized Chinese, because 369 is a treasure house of good authentic Chinese food. Aside from their standards of roast duck and barbecue pork, they serve an excellent Beef steak in Peking sauce (Chinese style steak in First Chinese BBQ parlance) and good chinese broc with mushrooms. Other recommendations: seafood in spicy salt, walnut shrimp, shrimp in cheese sauce, vegetables and mushrooms in brown sauce. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, 369 has an untranslated menu of dishes hanging from nearly every wall in the room–just ask for recommendations, it seems the folks at 369 are eager to help out. They are also very accommodating when it comes to modifying dishes.

Plano has few tasty Chinese BBQ options that honor credit cards and deliver too…thankfully, Plano has 369 BBQ.