800 Brazos St.
482-8100
Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Dwight’s comments:
The Chinese food here is as good as any I’ve had in Austin, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. I had been led to believe (from the location, and word on the street) that Pao’s was expensive; it looks like, with careful ordering of specials, you could get out for $10 or less on a weeknight (without drinks).
The service was excellent, approaching fawning. I think we were waited on by two different waiters at the same time, as well as the head waiter (owner? manager? Couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed possible he was one or all of the above.) Discussing the differences between the HP48SX and HP48GX handheld computers with one of the waiters added a fittingly surreal touch to the dining experience.
I’d say Pao’s blows away China on the Avenue and Chinatown (which I think has gone downhill in the past couple of years), and gives Tien Hong (my gold standard) a run for the money. I also want to go back and try dim sum, to see how it compares to Shanghai (our standard for dim sum – no, we haven’t tried the Rainbow yet, and that’s next on my list.).
Editorial note: The phone book and the Austin WWW Restaurant Guides both show this as “Pao’s Mandrin House”. I’ve chosen to go with the spelling on their card.
(Added editorial note, revised May 26, 1997: We did try the North Rainbow for dim sum and dinner: the dim sum we thought was as good as Shanghai’s. However,
(1) Shanghai has changed names (several times now) and wasn’t serving dim sum the last time we checked.
(2) The North Rainbow closed and has been replaced by a place called Mong Kok: we haven’t tried dim sum there yet.)
Life is suffering. Pao’s remains consistant, though: I’ve been eating there about once every two weeks, and have yet to have a bad experience. And they have some good specials if you get there before 7.)