Panda Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Huntington

My husband and I have been coming here at least once a month for nearly 12 years. Not sure why I never left a comment but I'm not a consistent reviewer! As a regular customer, I'm overdue, so here we go! This place is small, in greenlawn plaza strip mall, with a couple tables inside. It's not really a dine in kinda atmosphere but a good place for quick service. They do a lot of pick up and delivery. We order for pick up and the food is generally ready in 20 minutes. Everything is sizzling in big woks and made fresh. I have never seen flies in here like someone else said. In fact, I call BS on that guy's wonton story, period. The place is small and the building is older but everything is clean. They even wear hair nets and hats which is more than I can say for 95% of the restaurants I frequent. The couple is friendly and they are ALWAYS there, hard workers. They will smile and nod at you but not much for chat because there is a substantial language barrier. The wife does the phones/orders and she knows the menu but if you have any special requests it can take a minute to sort out, please be patient, she tries her best. We have never had a mistake in our order, never been over charged, never had a carton leak in the bag and the food is always piping hot and the veggies are fresh. They do a freebie over a certain amount; $25, $40 and $60... things like a quart of wonton soup, 2L of soda, 2 egg rolls or a large entree for $60+. They do combination meals for dinner at about $9, which not a lot of places do and there are a dozen+ options. It's a nice choice if you're not into leftovers or you're ordering for one. All the combinations come with fried rice and an egg roll. My favorites from the menu are the boneless spare ribs, sweet and sticky with some charred crispy edges. My dog will start drooling like crazy when these come out (yes, she gets some!) The Singapore mei fun has a little bit of everything! Julienne veggies, scallions, chicken, slivers of ribs and little shrimp. The noodles are never overcooked and it's really flavorful without being overly spicey. And they stuff the box, close to bursting! The chicken and garlic sauce is a little bit spicier but I have a low tolerance for heat and for me it's just right, don't be detoured by spicey icon on the menu. (See pic) Despite the name there isn't tons of garlic in here, a bit of minced added to the sauce that creates a depth of flavor without tasting too garlicky. There are loads of veggies; broccoli, snow peas, baby corn, water chesnut and green pepper. Finished with a light, sweet brown sauce that isnt overpowering. The sauce coats everything well but isn't excessive either. In fact, nothing is drowning in sauce in any of these dishes, which I prefer so the veggies stay slightly crisp and nothing is soggy. The wonton soup is great, the broth is flavorful and savory-salty and the dumplings are tender but never mushy. They have that little pocket of meat with some minced water chestnuts for a little texture. They always have thin sliced scallions that finish off the broth nicely and they include a little bag of the crunchy wonton strips, but you don't need them. My husband really likes the hot and sour soup. He gets it everytime, even on a 90 degree day in the summer. The egg rolls are fat and crispy and have the very typical filling of shredded cabbage with minced goodies. These are the thicker wraps, not the smooth spring roll wraps. The texture is rough and bubbly and they're always fried till extra crispy. I would say they're better than average and I always eat them but they aren't the best I ever had. The fried rice is a little hit or miss, sometimes it's light on the peas, onion, and diced ribs or it's a little over cooked but other times it's perfect and full of goodies. My mother in law loves this place too and always gets the fried dumplings (with extra sauce because the dipping sauce is delicious) and boneless spare ribs. She swears by them and she's an extremely picky eater. I would encourage anyone in the area to give them a shot for...

Having lived in the area for years, I finally tried Panda. I went searching for Scallion Pancakes, (not on their menu, but on the board) and was really just there to pick up a menu.

The good part is that we were greeted by nice people at the counter, so we decided to place an order to go. The Dim Sum, Steamed Dumplings, and the Scallion Pancakes were great and the sauce was the best I've had locally! They also gave us a free large container of Wonton soup which was really nice.

So, on to the bad, much like other reviews, the Chicken Lo Mein was more noodle and no chicken, and the Moo Shu Pork was also more cabbage and very little pork. They both tasted very good, just very much devoid of any real protein portion. With an improvement here, I could not find any fault with any of the food we ordered. Unfortunately, the lack of protein in the two meals lowers this rating to an "optimistic" 3.

We'll give it another try to see if the protein issue improves, but at a minimum, we now know what to order and what to steer clear of...

I don't mind paying more for good tasting, high quality food. Sadly my meal missed both marks on this visit. The dough to filling ratio for my dumplings was quite high. The small beef fried rice had too little of the former and too much of an oily latter. The $15 charge completed this lackluster trifecta. Sadly this is the only place open in my area so I'll take another chance or have to drive an additional 10 minutes out of the...