Lucky Panda — Restaurant in Hueytown

Though soy sauce is in most Chinese food, you should be able to taste more than just soy sauce. When Lucky Panda first opened they were great. Out of nowhere everything tasted like they poured a bunch of soy sauce on it and called it edible Chinese food.

My Sister wanted to try their steamed dumplings. The owner saw me with my Sister and said you're still here (meaning hadn't left the state.) I haven't seen you in a long time. I just smiled and said yes. The fact that I hadn't seen her in over a year and she still recognized me should give you some idea of how good the food was and my frequency. She knew exactly why she hadn't seen me, because I had very politely told her, and gave her a few visits to get things back on track before discontinuing my patronage all together.

After the inedible soy sauce with a little rice and veggies thrown in, I started going to NEW CHINA TOWN on 2Oth St in downtown Birmingham. Veggie dumplings so good even meat lovers drop jaw! Let's not even mention the Singapore noodles! Yuuuuum! Oh yeah, the review...

Well, she proceeds to say come back and see me, my old cook from before came back. So I thought okay, New China Town is delicious but kinda far; seeing as I only live about ten minutes from lucky panda. I will try it. So the other day I ordered two Singapore noodles.

He (won't mention names) rudely says they don't have vegetable Singapore noodles. Blowing his breath as if I were bothering him, he says only shrimp, chicken, beef, or a combo of the three for ten dollars. I thought here we go...

So I said, do you put vegetables in the meat noodles, his response, yes. I said well great, your website says vegetable options, so just leave out the meat and add a few more veggies; onion, mushrooms, etc.

He says it's a dollar fifty for each added veggie. So I said hold on, you're charging me to take out the meat? When he was done the price had doubled. I said forget it, just make it normal without meat. He says still blowing his breath being rude. So you don't want meat. I said in one no, the second is shrimp. He blew his breath again harder then and says is that it. I was in process of saying yes thank you when I heard a click. I said to myself it's a test so don't go there, just count. I did.

I get the food home and the shrimp is old, has no flavor, and crumbled like paper. I bite noodles and choked on a big ball of curry powder. They cooked a fresh egg and put it on old noodles and raw veggies that they threw curry powder on, without mixing it or cooking it together. So I tried to call them busy until close. I go by the next day and asked if the guy at the door is Michael ( I know, I know the name) he says yes.

I start telling him about my experience from the rudeness on the phone, to the food. Well, the owner charges out and says we are/were busy so basically from what I understood deal with it. I said okay, and walked away.

My thoughts... being busy during this time is a good thing but you won't have to worry about being busy much longer, your food is not edible, in fact, it was downright nasty and the service is beyond horrible. I would rather wait for good quality food, and service than to experience what I did. I will...

Im editing my review to say I decided to give Lucky Panda another try last night and I'm sad to say that the moo goo gai pan combo dinner was STILL mediocre at best.... The chicken pieces have sadly been reduced even moreso, theres maybe 1/4 of the amount of chicken that this combo plate used to have in it. And it's still very dry & very little taste to it. I Didn't really notice if there was a price difference since my last visit BUT being that everything has gone up in price, it wouldn't surprise me NOR would i have been disappointed if there had been, its inevitable at some point. I would much rather restaurants slightly increase their prices to meet their profit margin rather than be so disappointed because the food I bought was not the food I was expecting to receive when I placed the order. End of edit..... The prices have increased across the menu board but everythiing the customer is paying for has taken a deep dive into mediocre territory in terms of quality, quantity, flavor & service. 1st example- The moo goo gai pan has been reduced to smaller & (much) fewer pieces of chicken, very little, not cooked thoroughly (qty of) veggies & considerably less sauce. (2nd) Theyve apparently forgotten that sesame seeds were an actual ingredient in the SESAME chicken. The egg rolls should now be named egg sticks since they're not much more than the size of a mozzarella stick from Sonic. Packets of Soy & Duck Sauce have ALWAYS been placed in the To Go bag by the handfuls without having to request them for as long as I can remember at every Chinese restaurant I've eaten from in the past... Now it's limited to a single packet of sauce per egg roll... but by request only. And if you're like me and want a little bit of egg roll with your duck sauce, one packet just ain't enough... According to their online menu, additional packets of sauce are $1.25. Personally , Lucky Panda used to be a restaurant that consistently served flavorful dishes without fail. The amount of food in their combos with fried rice could have easily ( in the past) been shared between 2 people, leaving both with not quite a full stomach but feeling very satisfied afterwards. I knew when I got home I would have everything in the bag even if I forgot to ask for sauce due to being in a huge hurry to get home to feed a hungry family. Here's a suggestion.... MORE sauce & LESS fortune cookies per bag If you need to cut some unnecessary business expenses to save money... Begin by cutting out the unnecessary items...

I was holding 4fold paper menue to decided on a LUNCH item. Apparently, I couldnt make my decision fast enough the lady snatched the menu from my hands and opened it all the way and put it on the counter for me to hurry up and decided. I decided on shrimp and brocolli for Lunch with two egg roles and a $1 drink $18.20....for LUNCH! I was worried about not tipping because I hadn't recieved my food yet so I tipped although I had to self serve for my drink. The portion sizes were disappointing considering the price. The plastic fork I was giving to dine in wouldnt even stab the brocolli, I had to eat with my fingers. There is no juice to add with my rice which was served separately. So I have to eat dry rice. The music was nice and the restrooms were clean. Which is why they get two stars. But I...