The Fast-Casual P.F. Chang's Spinoff You May Not Know About

Does the world need more options for food bowls? According to P.F. Chang's, the answer is a resounding yes. Since early 2025, the Asian restaurant chain, popular for its mall locations, has been testing out a new concept: a fast-casual restaurant that serves up Asian-fusion bowls called Pagoda Asian Grill. Currently, Pagoda Asian Grill is running two test locations in St. Petersburg, Florida, and at a large retail center in New York, Woodbury Common Premium Outlets. 

The popularity of fast casual dining that focuses on "build your own bowls" has grown over the years, thanks to chains like Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and Cava — just to name a few. You can even hack your Chick-fil-A order into a Chipotle-style bowl, if you wish. According to a report by Nation's Restaurant News, data from Datassential shows about a quarter of restaurant menus that already have bowls are adding even more of them. Pagoda is betting on being your next source.

It makes sense that bowls would continue to grow in popularity, as they have a lot going for them. Not only do they look nice, but they're usually an easy-to-eat, on-the-go meal with a healthy balance of carbs, proteins, and veggies. Plus, you can make them custom to fit your specific tastes. But, what exactly do you have to build your bowls with at Pagoda? 

The menu options at Pagoda Asian Grill are essentially limitless — no, really. There are over 1 billion possible combinations of ingredients to build your own bowl  between all the bases, protein choices, sauces, and topping options. Base options include your choice of soba noodles, rice, or lettuce, and proteins feature everything from sriracha chicken to bulgogi beef. The topping options and sauces are equally varied — including pickled cucumber or cabbage, edamame beans, broccoli, togarashi spice, caramelized onions, pineapple, green onions or cilantro, and julienned veggies such as peppers and carrots. Then, to round everything out, you have your choice of sauces like chili crisp sauce, Thai peanut sauce, Mongolian sauce, teriyaki, and Korean BBQ. 

You can also pick from one of Pagoda Asian Grill's many pre-made bowl options. Some tasty pre-made menu options include Chinese Fiery Black Pepper Chicken, Sweet Taiwanese Steak, Thai Peanut Chicken, and Asian classics like Beef and Broccoli, Orange Chicken, Sesame Chicken, and Mongolian Beef, each served on a simple bed of white rice. There's also a kid's size bowl meal option, and an option of pork egg rolls as a side dish. Currently, Pagoda Asian Grill is still gaining traction with more than 800 followers on Facebook, with no currently announced plans for additional locations. Another fact you may not know about P.F. Chang's is that the company previously owned fast-casual restaurant ventures, Pei Wei Asian Kitchen, which has grown to include over 193 restaurants as well as locations in South Korea. The chain was sold in 2019.