Panda Express offers 3 appetizers, all fried: spring rolls (veggie, sold as a pair), egg rolls (chicken, sold individually), and cream cheese rangoon (not crab rangoon, just cream cheese, sold as a trio). All come with sweet & sour sauce on the side.
While the sides and entrees are relatively suited for steam tray buffet style serving, fried foods generally are not, so I didn't have great hope for these. But still, I had to try, because, what is Chinese food without some fried wonton in some form?
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Chicken Egg Roll. $2. |
"Cabbage, carrots, green onions and chicken in a crispy wonton wrapper."
For my appetizer, I picked a rather unusual thing for me: the chicken egg roll. Unusual as I don't like chicken, but, I do really like egg roll wrappers, and egg rolls were only available with chicken. Plus, the spring rolls (thinner, not egg washed) had thin noodles in them which I don't care for, and the rangoons ... were just cream cheese? I guess even imitation crab is too fancy for Panda Express?
So, the egg roll. First, it was ... not really warm. On the cool side. Which was not a good thing. Fried food should be hot and fresh! And ... it seemed to have the thin noodles in it, the same noodles I was avoiding by not selecting the spring roll. Sigh. Since it was not hot enough, wasn't really something it seemed like I would like, and I had plenty of other food, I took a bite of it when I first got it, and decided to take it home. I hoped my air fryer could save it.
I heated it up that evening, and it did indeed get both hot and crispy. So those elements were fixed. But it was still fairly mediocre - the wrapper didn't particularly have a great flavor, and the filling was quite heavy in the chicken department. It tasted far more chicken forward than I liked. I salvaged it by adding copious (and I mean copious) amounts of duck sauce I had at home, but, I felt pretty gross after eating it, and kinda wished I had just tossed it. I would not get another.
**.
Sides
Most meals at Panda Express are formed from a "side" and 1-3 "entrees", where sides are steamed white or brown rice, veggie fried rice, veggie chow mein, or "Super Greens" (a mix of broccoli, cabbage, and kale). You can also opt for 1/2 and 1/2 of any of these. The side portion is extremely generous.
Since I don't really care for rice, my choice the first time I visited was pretty easy for my side: I'd do a half and half with the other two options, chow mein and super greens. My second visit, I dropped the chow mein as I was not a fan, and just went with the Super Greens. I'd consider trying the veggie fried rice sometime ...
Chow Mein
"Stir-fried wheat noodles with onions, celery and cabbage."
Ok, I don't really like chow mein very much either, but, it seems like an essential part of a Chinese meal, and is the sort of thing I have certainly loved as cold leftovers before. Plus, this was literally piping hot, the fresh wok full was placed on the line as I stepped up to order.
And ... yeah. It was chow mein. Hot and fresh, yes, but kinda soft. I like it with a bit more chew to the noodles. It was very, very greasy, and didn't have any particular flavor to it. The bits of cabbage, onion, and celery were fine. I ended up adding soy sauce and duck sauce, and ate some of it, but, meh. I would like it more chewy and flavorful. And far less greasy, although I know that is kinda the point.
**.
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Super Greens. |
"A healthful medley of broccoli, kale, and cabbage."
My other pick on my first visit was the Super Greens, because I actually wanted some vegetables.
I was fairly pleased with this pick - a few large hunks of broccoli that was still crisp and not mushy, a bit of cabbage, and like one half a bite of kale. Certainly not much kale, but this was fine. The veggies seemed to have been stir fried, not steamed, and had salt added ... they were saltier than I expected, which was fine, but, beware if you are expecting simple steamed veggies.
Nothing exciting nor earth shattering about the veggies, but it was nice to have something to balance the greasy noodles and the very sweet and decadent orange chicken. I'll certainly pick this again in the future.
***.
Update: My second visit, I went for just veggies as my side. The larger portion was good so that I got more kale, and considerably more cabbage as well. I was again fairly impressed that the veggies weren't too soft, but was again struck by the fact that they definitely were not just steamed, healthy greens. There was a lot of salt, but also, some kind of very light sauce? I can't say I loved the veggies, but, they were a better choice for my tastes than rice or chow mein.
Entrees
For entrees, Panda Express is very chicken heavy, with a few beef options, a single seafood option, and now two vegetarian options (tofu, Beyond Chicken). I find it interesting that they don't have any pork on the menu anywhere - isn't pork fried rice a quintessential Chinese staple? Panda's version is veggie fried rice only.
My particular Panda Express had 6 of the 9 chicken options available, including of course the signature Orange Chicken and its new fried Crispy Almond Chicken friend (they look much alike!), plus some healthier chicken breast options like string bean chicken breast, mushroom chicken, and grilled teriyaki chicken. Kung Pao rounds out the chicken lineup. If chicken isn't your thing, beef is an option, with two choices, the healthier classic broccoli beef or the fried spicy Beijing beef. You can also splurge for an upgrade to the Black Pepper Angus Steak, for $1.25 more. Pescatarians have only one option: crispy fried honey walnut shrimp, also a premium upgrade. Vegetarians at most locations just can opt for Eggplant Tofu, but some select locations, mine included, offer a premium Beyond Chicken version of the orange chicken.
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Kid's Meal: Chow Mein & Super Greens (1/2 & 1/2) with Orange Chicken. |
The Original Orange Chicken
"Our signature dish. Crispy chicken wok-tossed in a sweet and spicy orange sauce."
I couldn't visit Panda Express, and not try the signature dish. Right? Even though I truly hate chicken ... I had no choice, right?
So, orange chicken it was. And, spoiler, I did NOT regret this decision.
ZOMG. It took one bite, scratch that, *half* a bite, for me to totally and completely understand the hype. This stuff is good. Really, really, really good. ZOMG.
I'm sure it helped that I had a fresh batch, but, it was perfectly crispy on the outside, smothered in delicious sweet sauce, and just downright addicting. I could care less that chicken was what was hidden under all the tempura batter and sauce. I can safely say it did not taste like chicken. The chicken seemed to be a mix of white and dark meat. Did the sauce taste like orange? Not exactly, but it was sweet, but not in a cloying way. It had a slight, slight level of spice, I'd certainly love more, but I get that this is for the masses. And I tell you, this member of the masses was quite pleased.
The dish has nothing else to it. No vegetables. No garnishes. Just, crispy chicken smothered in sauce. And really, it doesn't need anything else. I appreciated my Super Greens to balance out the sweet and fried, and I do think rice would be appropriate alongside. I also think it is the stuff leftover dreams are made of, even though it would lose the crispness.
I don't want to be dramatic, but I think this was fairly life changing. Hands down the most I've enjoyed chicken as far as I know. Literally, no memory of enjoying chicken more.
****+.
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Crispy Almond Chicken Breast. |
"Our new, delicious Crispy Almond Chicken Breast features juicy, all-white meat chicken raised without antibiotics, with our crunchy, signature puffed-rice breading that is wok-tossed with toasted almonds & freshly chopped green onions in a savory soy garlic sauce."
My second trip to Panda Express, I decided to venture out, and try something else, even though, I must admit, the Orange Chicken was pretty hard to pass up. For my first entree, I opted for the dish that looked a lotlike the Orange Chicken, the newly added Crispy Orange Chicken Breast.
Of course, I knew this wouldn't be the same, as the sauce was described very different (just soy garlic sauce, not sweet and spicy), and the chicken promised to be higher end all-white meat breast, and even the coating was different (with puffed-rice?!), but it still looked pretty similar at first glance, and I hoped it would deliver in the same way in the crunchy department.
It turns out, it really was nothing like the Orange Chicken. That doesn't mean it was bad, just, actually totally different.
First, the pieces were significantly bigger, more like just slightly small chicken fingers. While the orange chicken pieces were about 2 bites each, these were more like 3. The ratio of chicken to breading was quite different as a result, these clearly fell more deeply into the chicken department, less into the "yay yummy coating and sauce!". The "chicken finger"-esque aspect was further amplified by the fact that they were large pieces of actual chicken breast, they ate like ... well, chicken. It did seem to be fairly high quality all white meat breast, no chewy or odd bits around.
The coating also was totally different. It was equally delightfully crisp, but this coating had the puffed-rice in addition to the batter itself, which made the coating thicker overall, and just, different. I'm not sure which I preferred.
And finally, the sauce. This was just a sticky soy sauce, not a sweet and spicy orange sauce. It was quite savory, coated the chicken well, and tasted fine, but it didn't have that "ZOMG GIVE ME MORE STAT!" quality the orange chicken sauce has. The toasted almonds I barely noticed, as the crispy coating really added more crunch than they did. And that was really it, like the orange chicken, no veggies to be seen.
Overall, I'm glad I tried it. If you like white meat chicken, or want something a bit more wholesome (but still clearly quite fried), or just want to change it up, this was a good dish. But ... if I'm getting crispy fried chicken at Panda Express, no question, I'm getting the orange chicken.
***+.
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Kung Pao Chicken. |
"A Sichuan-inspired dish with chicken, peanuts and vegetables, finished with chili peppers."
My second entree pick on my second visit was the Kung Pao Chicken, a very odd pick for me on the surface since 1) it is chicken, and this time, not hiding in breading and 2) I don't really seek out bell peppers nor zucchini, and those are the primary vegetables in it, but, I really wanted something spicy, and I was craving the peanuts. Plus, it really always did look great, and quite fresh. I figured it was worth the gamble, given that I was getting 3 full size entrees after all, if one was a flop, nbd, I had plenty of other food to eat.
I was beyond surprised when I quite liked it, although it really was not spicy at all. For a dish that is marked spicy, and did indeed have big visible red chili peppers in it, I expected at least ... some heat. This truly had none. Besides the utter lack of heat though, it was good.
I think what I appreciated the most was how fun it actually was to eat with chopsticks. The eating experience was just great - the small, hard peanuts, the bite sized zucchini and red pepper pieces, and then totally different sized bits of chicken, some a very big bite, but many just little morsels. It was so easy to pick through with chopsticks for the next great bite.
The veggies were certainly not ones I'd normally seek out, I'm just not into zucchini or bell peppers, but I was pleased with how they both remained quite crisp, not mushy. The zucchini in particular added a juicy element. I only had 2 chunks of red bell pepper, but I didn't mind.
And finally, the chicken, which I truly, truly expected to just pick around, and eat the nuts and veggies with my other food instead ... was, uh, fine? It was mostly thigh meat I think, but was absolutely free from all gristle, was not chewy, was really, just, fine. Even without breading to hide in ... I didn't mind it.
It was all coated in a sauce, seemingly soy based, but it did have something else too it that I couldn't quite pinpoint, not sweet though. And, not spicy, alas.
Overall, I actually enjoyed it, and took the leftovers home to make a kung pao mashed potato bowl ... which I know sounds odd, but, I had leftover mashed potatoes, and used them as my carb base instead of rice, and topped it with the kung pao chicken leftovers, mixed with stir fried fresh celery, baby corn, broccoli, onion, and mushrooms. Oh, and chilis, because, it really needed the heat.
****. I don't know if I'd order it again necessarily, as I'd still like to try more things, but, I wouldn't be opposed to it, which I certainly did not expect.
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Broccoli Beef. |
"A classic favorite. Tender beef and fresh broccoli in a ginger soy sauce."
My final (third) pick of entree on my second visit was the Broccoli Beef. I selected it because I wanted something other than chicken, didn't want to splurge on a Premium (e.g. the angus beef or shrimp), and didn't want another fried option (the tempting Beijing beef), so, Broccoli Beef it was.
It was a pretty classic broccoli and beef dish, like you can get from any Chinese restaurant - thin strips of beef, lots of big juicy broccoli, savory salty sauce.
The beef, much like the chicken, surprised me in that it seemed quite reasonable quality - it was tender as described, and not a chewy bit to be found. I really loved how much broccoli was included in the dish, and the fact that they left the broccoli in huge chunks. I was also pleased at how crisp the stalks still were. The broccoli soaked up the sauce quite well.
Overall, nothing earth shattering here, but well executed, and definitely above my expectations for a buffet. A good choice to have something other than chicken, and it did make me want to splurge for the black pepper angus next time ...
***+.
Dessert
Every meal at Panda Express is served with a fortune cookie. No other desserts are offered. You can buy additional fortune cookies for a whopping $1.50, which seems totally crazy to me.
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Kids Meal: Apple Crisps and Fortune Cookie.
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I said no other desserts are offered, but kid's meals actually come with a bag of apple crisps. Maybe those count as a dessert?
The fortune cookie was a pretty standard fortune cookie, which I enjoyed - it was crisp, fresh, and had a Panda Express branded message inside.
I'm sorry about your job situation, but don't worry, I'm sure you'll find something better before you know it! Try and enjoy this time to you yourself before you're back at work again.
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