Preston T.
Yelp
Harmless. That's the word that comes to mind when someone asks me about Pacific Rim. I've only been once and I liked it. It's not food that's going to blow your mind, but it's certainly better than some of the other "Chinese" offerings in Amarillo. The owner and chef is genuine Taiwanese and his son, Andy has brought some "fusion" to the menu by adding some American flair to the dishes.
I didn't really venture any of the fusion dishes. Sure, there's steak and plenty of seafood entrees to try, but they will run you upwards of 15 dollars. I instead opted for a lunch special - the Szechuan Beef. It comes with fried rice, soup and an eggroll. The rice isn't particularly special, the soup is just OK and the eggroll is a hybrid of a Chinese eggroll (cabbage and carrots) and a Vietnamese Spring Roll (extra thin and crispy skin). The beef was not Szechuan at all. Anyone who has been to the Szechuan province in China (I have) will tell you that their beef is spicy as shit. This was sweet and dripping in some kind of syrup. My friend actually had to ask for chili peppers to liven his dish up. It was also stir-fried with carrots. Like, lots and lots of carrots drowning in this sweet sauce. Very odd. Ok, now that I'm done being a snob, I will admit the dish was still rather good tasting. (just not szechuan)
Service was decent. Our host was the owner's son Andy who is pretty hilarious. Ever heard of comedian Bobby Lee? Pretend Bobby Lee owned and operated a restaurant with his dad and now you have Andy in a nutshell. LoL he's a nut.
Another plus is that this place is totally gluten-free friendly. You let your server know, and they'll point out "safe" dishes for you and they even have gluten free soy sauce. I brought a friend who has a gluten allergy and he was pretty stoked by how accommodating the kitchen was.
Yeah, I'll come back. I'm eager to try some of their higher priced items and see what all this "fusion" business is all about.
Pros: decent grub, service, gluten-free friendly
Cons: not entirely authentic, if you want any seafood dishes expect to pay more than $15