Panda Island Chinese Cuisine — Restaurant in Victoria

With the Szechuan restaurant on Caledonia changing hands (and recipes 😭) we were on the lookout for our new favorite place.

Luckily a quick Google search showed this one getting the best ratings (4.6/5) in town, and it's 5 minutes away, so we decided to come in and have it fresh. (July 24 2024) 🤩

We specifically asked about the crispy Mandarin chicken because a picture in one of the reviews showed it as mushy, and the server said "if you get it delivered and you don't open it right away... it gets all steamy" and that's true, so we ordered it and we were glad we did. 😋 The chicken was tender, the outside crispy and the sauce was tasty! It only had 3 little mandarin segments tho, so don't order it if you're hoping for more fruit.

The crispy ginger beef was delicious as well, I liked that it stayed crispy in the sauce and had tons of flavor.

The noodle and rice dishes were fresher and definitely more flavorful than most Cantonese food in town!

The only weird thing was that we ordered two spring rolls when we sat down, and it took us a while to peruse the menu, and still the spring rolls came last but I don't wonder if they made them fresh, because they were amazing and they were filled more than most spring rolls. I find most spring rolls to have the scantiest amount of filling but this was actually quite full of flavorful diced vegetables. The only thing that would make it better would be homemade or jarred plum sauce versus the little packets. 😍

We ordered four dishes + spring rolls and we ate more than we should have, yet we still brought home two servings so it was a full four servings for 90 bucks. Very reasonable!

Yay it's officially our new...

Today I went here for the first time with my wife. We were told to go here by a good friend of mine, who frequently patrons this restaurant. We arrived at about 1 PM and the place was surprisingly quiet, but when I walked in, I could tell that it was extremely clean, very tidy very open, concept the artwork and decor. It was quite pleasing to the eye, aesthetically, pleasing and clean, made me feel comfortable. Our server was quick and attentive. She explained the daily specials. Clearly there were a lot of good options. I also noticed that there are a lot of vegan options not that I’m a vegetarian, but I thought I would mention that. I ordered the beef and broccoli with chow mein. We also had the pork wonton soup The dim sum and chicken chow mein. Everything was fantastic. It was not greasy or oily or salty. Everything was seasoned perfectly. The beef was tender. The noodles were larger, but I like them that way everything was excellent. Prices and portions are totally reasonable. In fact, I actually got to take home a lot of leftovers cause I couldn’t finish what I ordered. The service was really good , our server was kind and friendly. I would have to say that this is probably the best Chinese food in Victoria BC. I’ve never had truly authentic Chinese food so I cannot say for sure how this would compare but for the average Canadian who does enjoy Chinese food I would definitely recommend this place to anybody. I give it an A+ . ❤️yummy...

I got takeout here a few days ago, I got the dinner for one special with broccoli as well as an order of potstickers. I have some food sensory issues so there are a lot of foods I avoid eating. When I ordered, I asked if it was possible to get the broccoli beef with no broccoli, and they said yes and I saw them write it on my order. But when I got my food it did have broccoli. It was fine if they can't remove the broccoli but I would've appreciated them telling me so I could order something else. Also, it was mostly fried rice with very little of the broccoli beef. The potstickers were just okay, by the time I got home they were a bit soggy / not crispy anymore, but they would probably be better if dining there. Overall, the food was not the best I've had but not bad. If you are going here I would recommend getting full orders instead of the dinner for one, and not counting on them to honor any dish...