Panda Gourmet Fusions — Restaurant in Washington

Panda Gourmet would be rocking the culinary scene if its menu, food, and chef were near west side of capital beltway. Truly big kudos to the hard working Chinese family/staff running Panda Gourmet and representing truly unctuous magnificent Sichuan food east of Union Market. The food here rivals my Top#1 spot for seriously addictive Sichuan food. The items we ordered were distinctively "ma" (sichuan flower pepper numbing) and "la" (spicy). We ordered the spicy dry-chili chicken, cold beef & tendon appetizer, spicy lamb skewers, mala water-boiled fish & soft tofu, ground beef mala vermicielli, and mala dry-fried pork intestines, spicy wontons, and dumplings. == Flavors were insanely delicious and numbingly addictive all around. Even better, the waitress was fantastic and entertained our request to up the mala levels - fantastic!

It really feels Panda Gourmet is situated in an alternate universe where real hard-to-find Sichuan food is located east of Union Market .... and no one seems to notice. Even the generic name, "Panda Gourmet", can evoke fears or even nightmares of Americanized-/hijacked- fake asian food masquarading as authentic.

My party really want to come back and try MORE if it wasn't for the detracting parking lot and precarious loitering crowd that has nothing to do with the hotel or the restaurant. I wonder if DC local government understands that the business may pick up if it wasn't for the precarious parking lot crowd. If DC local government continues the obvious gentrification projects in the local area, Panda Gourmet is one of the rare establishments that should be saved. Frankly, I don't see any other places on maps that comes close to representing real Sichuan food anyways.

So YES, GREAT FOOD. If you decide to try, reco going in a group so you can order more dishes and try many dishes; and keep an eye on the...

Let me start with the good. I like the vibe of the place. It's a Chinese restaurant in a hotel. It makes me feel cool and hip eating at an authentic Chinese place in such a random area. Especially in a city like DC, known for its transience and superficiality - I feel grounded here. The kind of funky you find in places in New York, a lowkey and unimposing space that holds a treasure of authentic food.

The best things to order here are the items that you either don't order from your local strip mall Chinese joint, or items those establishments typically do not have. Xinjiang chicken, Mapo Tofu, Paomo - these were all excellent the times I ordered them. The northern Chinese cuisine is more based in chilis and noodles, so not the place to go to if your spice tolerance is dastardly low.

The problems arise in other aspects. The food's quality is super inconsistent, which should not be acceptable. Although I love the authentic Chinese flavors, sometimes I like to get my sweet and sour chicken, or sesame chicken. At times, these dishes come out lukewarm to cold, and I don't feel like complaining about it. This is because the service is kinda bad. They are super quick with the food, plus portions are huge. However, the servers are really deadpan and curt. I guess this is a cultural or perhaps maybe even a language barrier thing. But people are choosing to come to your restaurant, and spending their money. Act like you're at least glad to see customers like typical restaurants do. It's a minor gripe, but it makes communication tough and the atmosphere borderline jarring.

Again, half of the food is the best Chinese food in the area. The other half is either overly breaded, oiled, cold, or straight-up bland. Someone needs to make a chart indicating whether or not a dish is going to be excellent, or if it's going to be...

Addressing these bad reviews about this restaurant… these people have zero understanding of the food being served at Panda Gourmet! Panda Gourmet is a Sichuan Restaurant. There is no point in ordering basic “Americanized” Chinese takeout food. Don’t order the General Tso’s. Don’t order the Sesame Chicken. Don’t order the broccoli beef. If you want any of that? Call up Yums Chinese takeout. ORDER THE GOOD STUFF. The Mouth Watering Chicken is superb. The Chengdu Cold Steamed noodle is delicious. The Cold Steamed Mushroom Salad is the perfect balance of sour from th e vinegar, crunch from the mushrooms, and is fresh. Their Cumin Lamb Burger is very very good. Anything off the Shaanxi Snacks menu is a winner.

My advice to the people giving bad reviews? Do some research. Understand what you are getting into. Understand a restaurant’s specialty before you go. Don’t order what you’re comfortable with - explore the menu. Try something new.

As for Panda Gourmet? Just get rid of the Chinese Takeout dishes. It’s pointless. No need to try to make the boring tastebuds happy. They are...