Panda Kitchen II — Restaurant in Carson City

The restaurant business is a hard business. I still have many fond memories, years ago, when Panda Kitchen was good.

Tonight I walk into the restaurant greated by... take in mind haven't said a word..."Can you do carry-out tonight." It was 7:30pm when I walked in on a Tuesday with not a single person around but the chef who momentarily comes out to give me a snear, and then pops back between the double doors.

At this moment my gut said leave...yet I didn't listen. The person at the counter then yells, "It's Chinese New Year". I said, Oh- I can come back another time if you guys are headed out."

Him- "No we have time, as long as carry out?"

Me- Alright. I'll have pork fried rice and Broccoli to-go.

Him- "5 minutes"

At this point I knew I had made a mistake. He put the card processing machine in front of me and I felt locked into the order...still didn't leave.

I wait about 5 minutes and boom, the orders ready.

Got home (only around the corner), and I have to tell you. The only thing worse than the service...IS THE FOOD... this order is terrible. The broccoli is flavorless, super soggy, only to be upstaged by the beef, of which I wouldn't serve my Mastiff. It's like it's pure fat trying to be disguised as beef... didn't have the consistency of beef...hard to explain, but certainly the worst Chinese Food I have ever had in my life. If that wasn't enough, my knees are shaking at this point, as I open the pork fried rice package. I could tell I was the first one to order it that day because every third piece of rice was hard and discolored, like it had been sitting in the warmer all day, and no one turned it over. I take a bite and literally spit it out... I have never said this before, and I may go to hell, but Taco Bell is literally next door and has far...

UPDATE: I came back again to give some more of this food here a try. This time we ordered the Brandy Fried Chicken Wings for $16 and the Ginger Scallion Beef $15.

As with the salt pepper wings, you get 12 pieces, but these wings are crispy and then covered in a dang tasty sauce like I never had before. This is some good stuff!

The Ginger Scallion Beef was super tender, I thought I was eating a high end cut of beef. The ginger was a little on the powerful side, so if you don't like ginger you might not like this dish. The sauce was perfect on the tender beef.

I heard a new restaurant opened in East Carson replacing the old closed China Palace. Then I read a review and saw they got Chinese style fried chicken wings. I gotta get me some of those, or at least giv'em a try.

Easy to find and park. The inside is real well lit so you can see what you're eating. Service was very polite. I ordered the wings, I thought it was priced kind of high, but you're supposed to get a big pile of wings. We got the won ton noodle soup too and a side of egg rolls. Can't have Chinese food without some egg rolls!

I'll tell you what, them wings were some of the best wings I ever had. I got 12 for $16, so per wing not bad. They use all the flat safety pin part of the wings, I like that cause there's more crispy skin with that piece.

The noodle soup was fantastic. I liked that the noodles weren't over cooked and served al dente with a little chew and they sure gave a lot of won tons, big ones too. I'm coming back here for sure. The egg rolls...

UPDATE: I just got the egg fu young and they make it like no ther place, you get besides the egg patty and gravy, you get a TON of meats and veggies on top. I got the patty separate from the toppings, cause there's so much of it! Try this one! posted pics.

So I hear there's this new good Chinese restaurant opened recently in Carson City. Funny how it's just up the street a ways from the original location.

It's been remodeled and all clean and new looking. I wanted to order something that wasn't all the "normal" Chinese food to see what they could do. Skipped the sweet and sour stuff kung pow. I got the Hot Braised Sole Fillets. It's a little more expensive dish, but it was sure worth it.

Yeah, it took a while to come out. I asked why it took a little over 15 minutes. They said it's a special dish that isn't ordered often so they have to make it all from scratch. The fish is braised first to cook, and then coated and fried and then the sauce has to be made and then plated. OK, I get it. They said it's like the chicken wings, they take more time cause people don't order it all the time, so they have to cook it from scratch. It's twice fried to get that extra crispy skin, then wok tossed with spices, so it takes a little time.

That fish was wonderful. The sauce looks sweet, but isn't sweet like some of those orange or general sauces. Very unique flavor, I liked it. Good food takes a while to make! Served with free rice, no charge like some...