Yes,yes, I know. It’s “Mall Chinese”. Well, yes and no. Panda Express has started building stand alone establishments that some may even call restaurants. Now I am a long time Panda Express aficionado and have cherished the ability to walk into almost any mall in the country and be guaranteed a least an acceptable meal if I am hungry. Ever since the demise of the “Cajun Grills” of the food court, Panda has had my back and my wallet.
As alluded to previously, this is a stand alone Panda Express located near the Mall at Millennia in Orlando. I had never been to the new Panda Expresses before and was curious how it stacked up to my previous experiences in mall culinary cuisine. From the outside, it looks like a standard fast food place…similar, in fact, to the Krispy Kreme located next door.
If you had any worries that the interior would make you loose touch with your comfortable concepts of what Panda Express should be, FEAR NOT! It is as if you walked straight from the parking lot…and into the food court at the mall (sans the non-Cajun, Cajun restaurant and the Queen of the food court, Flamers). The familiar, glass encased, multi-colored progression is there: fried rice, lo mien, orange chicken, beef w/ broccoli, and even the tub of ice cubes with various bottles of Arizona Iced Tea and water stuffed into it. In fact, the only two differences I noticed between the communal mall Panda and the rugged individual Panda are the catering menu and the fountain drinks with FREE REFILLS.
I got the standard 2 entrees w/ fried rice and an eggroll, but with the bottomless fountain drink (I am sooooo daring, I know…not that going to Panda Express for lunch makes me exactly a Hemmingway or anything). The entrees were Kung Pow Beef and Orange Chicken, both listed on the window sticker as “spicy” (see my review of Wonderful Chinese Express for my previous adventure in spicy [or not] Chinese food). I do have to admin, the Kung Pow was actually spicy. Those little dried red peppers were evident in the food and really gave the food some kick. If you are accustomed to ordering spicy food in a Chinese restaurant and getting something a little below the bell pepper region of the Scoville Chart, you have been warned.
The food was about a half step above the normal “Mall Chinese” level and the free refills of beverage was appreciated. The beverage of choice was sweet tea today (after all, I am in the South) and in my opinion it was a little too sweet. It was not as refreshing as it should have been and you couldn’t drink very much of it. The eggroll was the standard “been sittin’ under a heat lamp” mall quality eggroll and definitely did NOT have that “fresh out of the grease” taste.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I would definitely go back there if I am in a hurry and need quick eats. The sad thing is, this place is actually well above average for Orlando Area Chinese food that I have found so far. The quest continues.
20060815 Addition
The cost of the meal was ~$8.50.
August 15, 2006 at 7:07 am
You are such a brave man. Godspeed with your quest.
The wife and I were passing through Williamsport, Pa. on Friday and stopped at a grocery chain which also features a cafeteria style restaurant. The name of the place is Wegman’s. They have a chinese buffet section. $4.79/ lb. I thought of you while I scanned the offerings. Quite standard with all the usual suspects. I chose two all vegetable dishes. The sauces were savory and the vegetables were not limp but snappy yet cooked. The salt level was tolerable. My only complaints were 1.) no tofu to be found 2.) too expensive. This was not an all you can eat for 4.79. We spent so much on my chinese food, the poor wife could not afford to eat. She just watched me. Lucky for her we were only an hour from home. I also had a Goya Jamacan Ginger soda. It was considerably flavorful and quite hot. I would order it again. It would be cool at a bar.
Williamsport is the home of the Little League World Series. Wegmans has been voted among the top companies to work for by Forbes Mag several years in a row.
PS: When I first scanned your post ( no lewd reference intended ) I thought you perhaps discovered a cajun and chinese combo restaurant. It reminded me of a joke I once heard in my head about two minutes ago: What is the last thing an asian cajun says before he dies? “Hey’all wok this!”
August 15, 2006 at 10:46 am
First, it is so difficult to find good Chinese vegetarian fair. Their veggie food inevitably ends up being in a bland white sauce.
Second, a good Jamaican ginger soda is worth its weight in gold.
Third, I noticed that about eight years ago all the “Cajun” food court restaurants switched from having black employees to having Chinese employees and also notice the quality of the food had dropped. Plus, a weird clash of cultures…bourbon chicken with fried rice.
August 15, 2006 at 1:40 pm
There is a dish called Buddha’s Delight with tofu and veggies. We get it at the Peking Chef ( a local chain in NE Pa). Is the name and dish a common one? I do little Chinese ( no lewd reference intended ) since it is laden with sodium, and the meat dishes are grizzly. So my scope of experience is quite limited. Although I will admit, if it were not for the salt and grizzle I could eat it several times a week because it is so tasty and oddly festive.