<n Pan, the pan-Asian restaurant that has opened in the old Sweet Lou’s storefront, is Northfield’s premier Asian cuisine. Or is it?
Pan Pan’s menu features standards from all over Asia, including pho, lo mein, pad Thai, and three types of currys. Entrées range from around 7 to 14 dollars each. The spicy Thai basil with chicken was surprisingly good – lots of fresh veggies with a sweet and spicy sauce, but not spicy enough to scare off more Midwestern tastes. The pad thai was only distantly related to any other pad thai I’ve ever seen. It looked a lot like something that would get served up at LDC, but tasted a bit better.
The service was subpar (par) and pretty slow; plus, our waitress offered to split out check, and then didn’t, which was strange, seeing as she offered. The restaurant’s ambiance seems to be at odds in combination with the prices; it feels like a casual, bare-bones noodle joint, the kind college students would frequent, but the menu is just a tad to pricey to for that to be the case.
When it comes down to it, Pan Pan has moderately good food (just not the pad thai) and it reasonably affordable – just don’t go there if you want a fast meal. At least you’ll have somewhere to go on parents weekend when Chapati is all booked up.