Restaurant reviews are either good or bad, in general, and this one is no exception.  It’s bad.  The Mister and I dined with another couple at Ping by Charlie Chiang in Arlington over the weekend.  I was pretty excited because we don’t get out of the burbs much, and this was going to be a big night out on the town for us.  We are only in our 30s, even though it sounds like we are 80!

We sat down at our table, and ordered drinks while waiting for our dinner dates to arrive.  20 minutes later my pome-tini and his beer arrived along with the other couple.  Yes, it took 20 minutes to bring our drinks!  I knew it was going to go downhill from there.  The menu had a big selection of various Asian dishes, and sushi.  I wasn’t sure if we should order family style, or just do it American style and everyone orders their own dish.  Unfortunately our waitress, who was very nice, but also very clueless, did not have an answer for me.

So we chose the “Dong-Po Braised Braised Pork in Steamed Buns” and “Ahi Tuna Bites,” then ordered a variety of sushi rolls.  I was pretty excited about our appetizer dishes, and was dreaming about Momofuku’s pork buns, and the ahi tuna poke cones from Spago in Maui.  While ordering appetizers, I asked the waitress if each plate would have enough for the table… four of each, for each person, and she assured me that it was more than enough.  There were two buns, and three tuna bites… ummm… that doesn’t seem right, does it?

I think the chef might have been out catching the fish for the sushi, and maybe the waitress was rowing the boat for him, since it took FOREVER for it to get to our table.  Ping by Charlie Chiang does have decent sushi, which was expected since they have an award winning sushi chef.  The best thing we ordered was the Ping roll, which had shrimp tempura, unagi, masago and a delightful sauce.  In fact we ordered a second roll!

All in all, it took over two hours for us to eat two appetizers, several orders of sushi, and drink a few cocktails.  I didn’t the the slow movement applied to sushi.  My biggest issue was the service, it took way too long, we had to show the waitress how to use a corkscrew, and the food was average.

If you’re looking for great sushi, and Japanese food, I suggest giving Konami in Vienna, VA a try.  It’s a sure bet!