Panda Express, are they that good?

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ussfletcher

Platinum Member
Apr 16, 2005
2,569
2
81
Good call.

PF Chang's lettuce wraps with their awesome Ponzu sauce FTW. Certainly not authentic Chinese, but I have never had a bad meal there.

The lettuce wraps are ingenious. They use scrap chicken, and sell it for a high margin. Tastes good to boot.

Btw, the chicken they use is mostly the stuff they discard after prepping other foods, all ground up.
 

AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
5
81
I'm a Chinese food snob. I'll eat Americanized Chinese food, it's okay, but I really prefer certain sit-down restaurants. It's hard to find really good ones though, there are so many mediocre ones. There are a few near me though.

I think I prefer Americanized Chinese food like Panda Express and Big Bowl over your typical cheap Chinese buffet. At least their food is somewhat good and consistent. But generally if I want Chinese food, I go to one of the places that has more authentic stuff.
 

7window

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2009
1,533
1
0
Sam woos chinese food is 100x better than this panda express crap. They don't even give you enough. At sam woos its is $5 and they fill up your styrofoam container.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
I hate Panda Express. I quite like Pei Wei though, even prefer it to the somewhat pretentious and overpriced PF Chang's. Chinese food, much like Mexican food, is best when not overcomplicated.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
my family never went on purpose, but well i'm sure many asians sorta look down their nose at panda express the same way itallians do about olive garden. fact is it fills the bill for fast food so the complaining is kind of missing the point, the folks that eat it wouldn't have chosen to eat "authentic" food instead if panda express didn't exist. the take out at say ranch 99 or such isn't particularly better or higher quality even if they have more selection of weirder foods that might freak out westerners.
 

rockyct

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2001
6,656
32
91
lol, the ATOT food snobs never let me down.

My Asian friends crap on it all the time for not being real Chinese food. Of course, I just say that McDonald's doesn't make "real" hamburgers but I'm ok with that. All of our fast food restaurants have commercialized a type of food for the American market. Who cares what it was based on? PE's orange chicken right out of the wok is amazing and since it's popular it never sits out for more than 30 minutes anyway.
 

tfinch2

Lifer
Feb 3, 2004
22,114
1
0
I hate Panda Express. I quite like Pei Wei though, even prefer it to the somewhat pretentious and overpriced PF Chang's. Chinese food, much like Mexican food, is best when not overcomplicated.

Pei Wei is a subsidiary of PF Changs. They serve a subset of basically the same thing.

I like Panda Express, but I prefer FireBowl around here, which I guess would be classified as fast casual.
 
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JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,534
911
126
not better than the standard hole in the wall non-franchise Chinese place you can find in any town

I'm curious, what makes those places better than Panda Express? Is it the roaches? The rats and flies? The cheap red carpeting? The dirty dishes? The homely unkempt employees? Maybe it's the fortune cookies... :D

At least with Panda Express I can be in and out of there within minutes and I can see who is preparing/touching my food.
 
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zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
I'm curious, what makes those places better than Panda Express? Is it the roaches? The rats and flies? The cheap red carpeting? The dirty dishes? Maybe it's the fortune cookies... :D

They all taste similar to me save for some of the damn good ones in Chinatown but for the general public Panda Express is just fine and I have no problem eating it.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
Pei Wei is a subsidiary of PF Changs. They serve a subset of basically the same thing.

I like Panda Express, but I prefer FireBowl around here, which I guess would be classified as fast casual.

I'm aware of that :) PF Chang's is twice the price or more for basically the same food plus a somewhat pretentious atmosphere and overcomplicated dishes. I'll happily pay $8-$10 at Pei Wei for some pretty nice food, but I draw the line at $15+ for a bit of rice, meat, and veggies.

FireBowl? Hmmm. What is it like?
 

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,986
1,388
126
I'm curious, what makes those places better than Panda Express? Is it the roaches? The rats and flies? The cheap red carpeting? The dirty dishes? The homely unkempt employees? Maybe it's the fortune cookies... :D

.

Must be because of the small penis, right JM? Oh, smiley face, must be a joke :rolleyes:

Last time I check, American food joints got plenty of people sick or died from dirty/contaminated/bad foods. Remember Whataburger, Jackinthebox, ect?
 

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
5,512
24
76
for americanized chinese food, its pretty much the best ive ever had. i love their orange chicken!

Not trying to be a jerk, but I was looking at PE's website and a 5.4 ounce serving of Orange Chicken has 18 grams of sugar. Per ounce that is about the same or more as a can of regular soda.

Other dishes have even more sugar in them. D:
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
Not trying to be a jerk, but I was looking at PE's website and a 5.4 ounce serving of Orange Chicken has 18 grams of sugar. Per ounce that is about the same or more as a can of regular soda.

Other dishes have even more sugar in them. D:

Sugar makes things taste good. If you don't love sugar you don't love America.
 

TJCS

Senior member
Nov 3, 2009
861
0
71
i been there once or twice food tasted like shit. overcooked, dull taste, and just not good. They do look ok behind those glass barriers if you stand far away enough though.
 
Jun 27, 2005
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I love Panda... Tons of food for $9 and it tastes great. It's the only time I get to eat Chinese food and don't feel hungry right after. Hard to beat for fast food.