Flo s Chinese Asian Restaurant Review Rachel Marlin Recently I had the pleasure of attending Flo s Chinese Asian restaurant. I had never dined here before. Flo s is a small local restaurant that has two locations in Scottsdale. 16495 N. Scottsdale Rd. at the corner of Frank Lloyd Wright and Scottsdale and 15027 N. Thompson Peak Pkwy at the corner of Thompson Peak Pkwy and Frank Lloyd Wright. I attended the Scottsdale Rd. location. Flo is the owner of her two restaurants and actively works at both locations especially the Scottsdale Rd location. She first opened Flo s in 1997. The restaurant is open Monday through Friday 11:00am-10:00pm and Saturday through Sunday 12:00pm-10pm. Flo s is located in the upscale Promenade shopping center. There is plenty of parking and the restaurant is easy to find. When I arrived I was greeted by a very friendly hostess. She took my name and told me that it would be about 20 minutes to get a table. This gave me time to explore the restaurant and get a feel for the environment it offers. There is a bar on the right hand side when entering that seats about 10 people with another 5 high top tables seating couples or small groups. On both sides of the entrance inside there are chairs for people waiting to get a table. The restaurant looks small at a glance but you can only see part of it from the door. When it was time to get seated at the table, I was taken around the main dinner area to another attached dinner area. The hostess desk and wall behind the bar block the view of the entire dining area. It is actually a good sized restaurant. It appears to be very kidfriendly. There are families with children ranging from toddlers to teenagers. They even offer high chairs for the small children. The atmosphere was very casual and family
oriented. The noise was moderate and everyone dining was talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves. It was not too loud to carry on a conversation with the people I dined with. Some of the walls are red and there is Chinese artwork on the walls. It was a modern vibe with some Chinese influences. Flo was at the restaurant that night and was walking around checking on everyone. She made a point of coming over to our table and introducing herself. She was very kind and offered to help us with the menu. The menu Flo s offers has a variety of entrees and appetizers. I was in a party of 4 so I decided to order two appetizers for everyone to share. I ordered the chicken lettuce cups and the potstickers. While waiting for the appetizers, wonton chips and sweet and sour sauce were brought to the table. They were fresh and hot and everyone enjoyed them especially dipped in the sauce. The menu offers several soups, different noodle dishes, and chicken entrees such as kung pao, lemon pepper, cashew, orange, and sweet and sour. There are also some chicken entrees that aren t standard at other Asian restaurants that I ve been to. Some of these dishes included Indian vindaloo chicken and southeast asian peanut chicken. Most of the other entrees were staples of asian restaurants in America. The menu is extensive and offers all the variety that any Asian food lover would want. Once the appetizers arrived, everyone at the table was in agreement that the potstickers were some of the best. They were perfectly cooked. The lettuce wraps were equally as delicious. Very similar to the versions I ve had at Pei Wei and PF Chang's. For the entree we decided to share everything family style which is very easy to do here. Clean plates are at the table and most of the entrees come with white or brown rice. Between the four diners, three entrees were ordered and shared. The chicken
katsu was panko fried chicken drizzled with teriyaki sauce over fried rice. The honey beef was recommended personally by Flo herself. It was just as good as she described it to be. The combination of soy sauce with honey was delicious. Lastly the sweet and sour pork was crispy and tangy with just the right amount of sauce. Everyone enjoying all the dishes and there was plenty left over to take home. Flo s is not a traditional Chinese restaurant. It is a Chinese American restaurant. Traditional proteins such as pork, beef, and chicken are served. On the menu it states that all chicken dishes are made with lean breast meat. This is an adaptation to the area. Traditionally dark and light meat are both used in the chicken dishes. Scottsdale is a city very focused on health and fitness and most prefer lean white chicken meat because it has less fat. No where on the menu did it state no MSG used. Traditionally in China they do not use MSG. It is very popular among Chinese American restaurants and is usually used unless otherwise stated in the menu. Flo s does use traditional spices such as chili sauce, cumin, curry, sichuan pepper, garlic, and ginger. To me all the sauces seemed to be quite sweet. In China sweet and sour does not exist as well as many Chinese American sauces that we all know and love. I enjoyed the honey beef but traditional sauces are more on the hot and spicy side than the sweet side. Fortune cookies are given at the end of the meal. This is an American adaption of Chinese food. They are served in Chinese restaurants in the U.S and a few other places but not in China. Overall Flo s is a modern Chinese Asian restaurant that has some traditional staples as well as entrees with American and other cultural influences. I enjoyed dining at Flo s and will definitely be back I have never been to China and would love to go
someday to experience traditional Chinese cuisine. I feel that Flo s is Americanized and modern and not entirely traditional. They add twists to the menu to target their demographic and increase popularity among diners.
References Ling, Kong Foong. The Food of Asia. Singapore: Periplus, 2002. Web. Le, C.N. 2014. "Asian Cuisine & Foods." Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <http://www.asian-nation.org/asian-food.shtml>.