Panda Garden Of Cookeville — Restaurant in Cookeville

Food was hot. Well stocked. Very clean. Gloves to use but not really anyone was using them. Saturday night and very busy. Friendly staff. Food "looked" hot and fresh. They have the brightest neon orange rice I've ever seen in a Chinese resturant. But everything we tasted was tasteless aside from old tasting grease. Anything fried was cooked in the same grease from egg rolls, donut biscuit to wontons to shrimp, cheese sticks, sweet and sour chicken...etc because you could taste all that mixed in, in the egg roll. Very stale and old tasting grease. Even with three hot bars, selection was limited to one pepper beef stir fry dish and a honey chicken. Everything else was fried shrimp, sweet and sour chicken, mushrooms, seafood casserole, etc. None of the typical chinese favorites like general tso, beef and broccol, stir fry's... No real vegetable dishes except shrunken shriveled up green beans and salad on the salad bar (no real topping selection for salad either..a bottle of dressing turned upside down floating in a bin of icky melted ice water and some shredded cheese, is all I saw). Most people were eating noodles. Everything was super over processed chemical soup and very strangely flavorless. Sushi was very warm, and again tasteless. No flavor at all. Cali roll couldn't taste the avacado, cucumber was just rubbery.... Very weird..it looked like food and was hot temp wise, but completley...

I'm a trucker, and have tried countless Chinese restaurants across the nation. For the most part, Chinese food is the only meal outside of your McDs and Burger King that offers reliable fare. Not including the Midwest as they add pineapple to nearly every dish. Eww.

I can say with full certainty that this restaurant is not your typical Chinese restaurant. I ordered 3 simple items: teriyaki chicken on a stick, egg rolls, and plain white rice. The chicken must've been injected with chicken stock as it was undeniably juicy - but not one bit oily. The egg rolls must've been handmade on site because the cabbage interior was seasoned and once bitten, I could not put it down. It was practically a meal in it own right. The rice was perfectly fluffy and soft. Not even 1 second overdone.

I am saving this restaurant on the very small coveted list of fine eateries across this nation in case I ever come to this town of TN again. The full dining room and heaping amounts of food on everyone's plate tell me this place is not to be passed up on. Residents are truly blessed to have a restaurant such as this nearby to frequent. I can't wait to try the other dishes as I'm sure they are all overflowing with flavor. The owner and cooks are surely amazing.

Not one other Chinese restaurant across the nation even comes close to...

Actually 3 1/2🛑⭐ depending on when you go. When food is fresh, it's pretty good. Standard for Chinese buffets. DO NOT EAT THE ICE CREAM!! I cannot stress that enough. While heading up towards the ice cream, I personally saw a young kid around 6 or 7years old getting ice cream for his 3 or 4 year old sister and himself. He could barely reach the ice cream and had to have his face and head right down in the opening of the cooler to reach it. You guessed it; He SNEEZED RIGHT DOWN INTO THE ICE CREAM COOLER. The damage was done. I watched to see where the parents were. Yep. They were back at the table stuffing their faces. Oblivious to the rest of the world. Obviously no one at my table had any ice cream and, as for me, I haven't eaten ice cream there since. I won't unless they change they way they do it. Go to Panda Garden. As I said at the beginning, it is pretty good food. Everything else is as well protected as any other buffet style restaurant. Just don't have...