Panda Expess- How is this even considered " Chinese food"

[Boxerfan]

Regurgitated crapfest in a bowl-nothing even resembles a decent offering from the local Safeway deli.


That was where my wife & daughter were headed on another errand.

So when I asked they bring home Chinese-because I knew they had to stop at Safeway-I even said I'll pay. And I ended up with this crap.

How is large chunks of cubed Zucchini even allowed in a meal. Much less Chinese food. They use the stuff like a filler-Zucchini chunks in every damn dish.

Pathetic.

And now I'm the bad guy because I complained.

[brush]

1. Bad dish choice. Some of their offerings are tasty.

[Hoyt]

2. Like some of their food. Decent and fast.

[braddy]

3. Stick with the real stuff.

I don't know if "La" is French or Spanish, but they make great Choy.

[MichMan]

4. How does Panda taste ? Is it gamy?

[Sanity Claws]

6. Did someone photoshop Don Jr. out of that photo?

He probably would love to hunt a panda and mount its head above his fireplace.

[lunatica]

25. Yuck!

Fuck that shit!

[jberryhill]

26. Have we recently had a chat about believing stuff we read on the internet?

[lunatica]

29. I have no clue what you're talking about

I was commenting on murdering wildlife for fun.

[jberryhill]

30. Nobody hunts pandas legally

I just made that up.

[lunatica]

32. I know it's photoshopped. I have eyes.

It’s not a very good photoshop either. I don’t think it’s a funny rejoinder.

[sl8]

12. Just bearly.

Hey, I don't like saying it, but someonehad to.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Greasy, with overtones of bamboo.

[dewsgirl]

7. I just moved fairly close to a Panda Express, I love

their Teriyaki chicken.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. I won't eat in one. Food is awful.

[Boxerfan]

9. Our local Safeway has a very good chef for the Chinese menu

And been eating there for many years. He does a great job despite the occasional MSG overload.

The Panda stuff is practically flavorless in comparison. But what set me off was the Zucchini used as filler-in large chunks for crunch appeal?

Not a real problem-but if you like Panda-express or otherwise-don't try real Chinese food-you may die from flavor exposure.

For the record- I worked in downtown SF for many years. A co-worker was a Chinese speaking native. We would go restaurant hopping usually at lunch. Being in SF there were countless small places that served various ethnicity and we tried most of them. One rule for me was I wouldn't eat anything still moving.

My friend would often go "off menu" ordering items typically only served to local clientele so I ate some pretty wild dishes. Aside from Octopus sushi I was game-it was delicious.


Panda Express is not Chinese food-IMHO.

[mr_lebowski]

19. Now ya got me craving some SoMa cuisine ... Henry's or House of Hunan ...

Or some OSHA Thai at 3rd and Folsom ... YUMMMM ...

I worked near 3rd St & Bryant, and 2nd & Brannan at different times circa 2000.

[fierywoman]

21. Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! The Hunan restraurant in downtown SF, yummy! In the old Dunkin'Donuts shop.

[lunatica]

28. Panda Express is to Chinese food

what Taco Bell is to Mexican food.

[hlthe2b]

10. I've found some of their entrees to be very greasy... But, the zucchini wouldn't bother me.

[guillaumeb]

11. We live 30 minutes from the Chinatown neighborhood in Chicago.

Our favorite is Dim sum. Many little dumplings filled with a variety of ingredients.

[Boxerfan]

13. Dim Sum was one of my favorites....

More of a cultural feast than a meal. Very interactive.

I could never get the bill straight but it was always surprisingly affordable.

[guillaumeb]

15. Yes it is.

And we are lucky to live in an area with such a diverse food selection.

[alphafemale]

40. Dim Sum is a great time.

You just request the plates from servers pushing carts around.

At the end of the meal they count the plates.

Usually a sampling so you can be comfortable trying something new without the commitment of a full priced entree.

[guillaumeb]

41. And in Chicago, there are many offering dim sum.

Even vegetarian versions.

[Wolf Frankula]

14. The Wife Likes it

I prefer a real Chinese restaurant a few blocks away. How real is it? You have to point.

Wolf

[Orangepeel]

16. it's "Chinese" like Taco Bell is "Mexican"

[milestogo]

18. Don't they serve Panda?

Zucchini is probably much cheaper than Panda meat.

[sakabatou]

20. Whenever I wanted something from Panda

It'd always be out and I'd have to wait 10 minutes or more. And they never give us enough red sauce!

[csziggy]

22. "Chinese food" in the US is not what is served in China

So I take it as I find it.

What I do like about Panda Express is their clear postings of calorie counts. With those, I can get a serving of their "Super Greens" - now the only vegetable dish they have - and select a low cal entree. Since the greens are 80 calories, something like teriyaki chicken (300 calories) or mushroom chicken (220 calories) and stay on my diet. Few fast food restaurants give such sensible choices.

There used to be an Chinese restaurant in town run by the Chinese wife of a Japanese anthropology professor. That was closer to real Chinese food, but she retired decades ago and the other Chinese restaurants are no where near as good, three times as much, and don't have much of a selection. I've mostly been off Chinese food since they closed.

[dalton99a]

23. There are now fewer 'authentic' Chinese restaurants

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/upshot/chinese-restaurants-closing-upward-mobility-second-generation.html

Chinese Restaurants Are Closing. That’s a Good Thing, the Owners Say.
The share of Chinese restaurants has fallen in metro areas across the country in the last five years. Many owners are glad their children won’t be taking over.
By Amelia Nierenberg and Quoctrung Bui
Dec. 24, 2019

KINGSTON, N.Y. — More than 40 years after buying Eng’s, a Chinese-American restaurant in the Hudson Valley, Tom Sit is reluctantly considering retirement.

For much of his life, Mr. Sit has worked here seven days a week, 12 hours a day. He cooks in the same kitchen where he worked as a young immigrant from China. He parks in the same lot where he’d take breaks and read his wife’s letters, sent from Montreal while they courted by post in the late 1970s. He seats his regulars at the same tables where his three daughters did homework.

Two years ago, at the insistence of his wife, Faye Lee Sit, he started taking off one day a week. Still, it’s not sustainable. He’s 76, and they’re going to be grandparents soon. Working 80 hours a week is just too hard. But his grown daughters, who have college degrees and well-paying jobs, don’t intend to take over.

Across the country, owners of Chinese-American restaurants like Eng’s are ready to retire but have no one to pass the business to. Their children, educated and raised in America, are pursuing professional careers that do not demand the same grueling labor as food service.

According to new data from the restaurant reviewing website Yelp, the share of Chinese restaurants in the top 20 metropolitan areas has been consistently falling. Five years ago, an average of 7.3 percent of all restaurants in these areas were Chinese, compared with 6.5 percent today. That reflects 1,200 fewer Chinese restaurants at a time when these 20 places added more than 15,000 restaurants over all.

Even in San Francisco, home to the oldest Chinatown in the United States, the share of Chinese restaurants shrank to 8.8 percent from 10 percent.

It doesn’t seem that interest in the cuisine has faltered. On Yelp, the average share of page views of Chinese restaurants hasn’t declined, nor has the average rating.

The restaurant business has always been tough, and rising rents and delivery apps haven’t helped. Tightening regulations on immigration and accounting have also made it harder for cash-based restaurants to do business.

But those are not Chinese-restaurant-specific factors, and do not explain the wave of closings. Instead, a big reason seems to be the economic mobility of the second generation.

[UniteFightBack]

24. I hear ya. I went to one when I visited Indiana and it was not what I expected...at all. Very

limited offerings and I didn't find it good. I know one thing...I will never go there again.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. How is it even considered food?

I ate at a Panda Express at an airport once. It was just... mush. Ick.

[jberryhill]

31. I like mush

In fact, I'm having mush, mush, eggs, mush, baked beans and mush!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

34. And Spam.

[brokephibroke]

33. Yeah, when did they start putting zucchini in Chinese food?

We suffer the same bull crap here in Northern Colorado.

[onetexan]

35. Most americanized chinese are like that

Panda is the worst. Stick with the establishments the chinese actually go to or cook your own. Alot healthier.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

36. Huh. I'm clearly ordering the wrong stuff at Panda Express

because I don't think I've ever seen zucchini in any of my dishes. Now I'm feeling deprived.

And as others have pointed out, the American version of Chinese food is just that: an American version of Chinese food. Plus, almost all Chinese restaurants get all of their food from Chinese restaurant supply places, which is why it's almost all the same. Panda Express actually does their own stuff, and have fresh veggies. Their own version of Americanized Chinese food. It's not that bad. And I think it's possible their meat is fresh, not frozen. Unlike almost all other Chinese restaurants.

And yeah, restaurants are something that are often opened by immigrants and the children are Americanized enough to do something else. Which is why, for example, there used to be some amazing Hungarian restaurants in the Washington, DC area, and they have all closed. The parents who fled the Hungarian Revolution some 60 years ago are long gone and their children and grandchildren are probably lawyers or stock brokers or school teachers or anything but restaurant owners.

[NBachers]

37. My Shanghai friend, who actually lives above a produce store in San Francisco Chinatown, likes Panda

After too many stomach ache incidents from eating in Chinatown restaurants, we both are a bit more discriminating about where and when we eat in Chinatown. We've still got our favorites, but we both have never got a stomach ache from Panda.

Of course, when she goes back home, either to Shanghai or the countryside, she loves the cuisine back home. It ain't what we get around here.

She also says that Shanghai McDonald's is way better than American McDonald's.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

38. Most Americans don't care about authenticity of fast food.....

and simply want fast, cheap and something that appeals to the unrefined American palate.

Even as a native Southern man raised on country cooking, when I traveled in my work I sought out local cuisine such as Italian restaurants up North, southern seafood along the coast, BBQ of all stripes, Cajun in Louisiana, catfish in Arkansas, supper clubs in Wisconsin, and even Basque cuisine in Elko, Nevada.

The most memorable restaurants were small, rarely fancy, locally owned and sometimes hard to locate in town.

I think taking that as a daily challenge is one of the things that kept me sane during my traveling years........

[smirkymonkey]

39. I have never eaten there, but I was really looking forward to a Chinese food feast on

NYE from my favorite restaurant, but they were closed so I tried a different restaurant on Uber Eats. The problem was that I specified that in my Moo Goo Gai Pan that I only wanted "white meat chicken" and in my Beef, mushroom, peapods, that I only wanted "lean beef".

I thought they would understand that I wanted the usual preparation (with vegetables) with the meat that I requested but when it showed up I only got plain chicken and plain beef, no vegetables. I was so disappointed. It was a real let down. I also got some Lo Mein, which was just so-so. The food usually lasts about 3 or 4 days, so I am eating it just to avoid waste, but I'm still kind of bummed out.

I had a $25 gift certificate which covered half of it, so I was only out about $25 on my own, but I hope this isn't an omen for how the rest of my year is going to go.

It's so hard to find really good Chinese food here. I miss NYC. I used to love the restaurants that had the "Design your own dish" option. You could pick your own sauce, your own protein, and then up to 4 vegetables (I like all green veggies and mushrooms) and you can add extra veggies for extra $$. I haven't been able to find a place like that in Boston yet. I really miss the Chinese food in NY.

[Kali]

42. so a satirical photo post in the Lounge got hidden?

[Xolodno]

43. Its Chinese-American "fusion".