Panda Garden

It’s Americanized Chinese food. I don’t think I have ever had Americanized Chinese food that wasn’t 2 or 3, perhaps even once in awhile 4, stars. The food at all of them is nearly always the exact same, with slight variations in freshness, execution, or presentation. It is always edible and satisfying, hitting that same place in the brain that junk food or pizza does. But it is rarely high quality or something you’d want to eat more than 1 – 2 times a month, outside of cravings.
However I will say that comparatively speaking, Golden Dynasty is a little better, and Yuan Yuan is A LOT better. At either of those other places, the portion is better and the chicken quality higher.
One thing I really appreciate about Americanized Chinese food restaurants is getting 2 – 3 meals for the price of one. Panda Garden did not deliver on that front, so it gets 2 stars. In fact, it was the smallest portion of sweet and sour chicken I have ever seen. First time I have ever been to a place like this and didn’t get to eat the other half later. Boohoo.

This place is just like any other typical take-​out Chinese restaurant, honestly. Fair prices for great food. I definitely prefer this place over Golden Dynasty in Ashland. Me and my boyfriend went to Golden Dynasty a couple times and the service was meh and so was the food. Sure, it’s kinda hard to mess up Chinese food, but it can be done. And they did it. Panda Garden, though… Owned by this super nice Chinese couple (I’m assuming they are together… I could be wrong) and have really awesome combo dinners and such, each under $ 10. And when we want Chinese food… we fricken want it. We always go and get two or three of their (it’s supposed to be a «family» dinner… we are fat, though) combo dinners and eat our fill and have tons of left overs.
The place itself is pretty nice. They have interesting artwork on the walls and such.
This last time we went we got four dinners (extra fat night) and the nice older woman who was waiting on us was surprised but also amused. She came back with all our food and we started digging in and we had both decided we really wanted some nice greasy noodles. Deliciousness. So we asked if they had side orders of noodles, and she said she wasn’t sure and she would check. So she did and she came back and told us we could get noodles, for like 2 bucks for a bowl. So, we thought, hey, that’s a fair deal for noodles. We’ll get two orders.
And of course she gave us that wide-​eyed look once again. But we got our noodles. It was under 40 bucks for all that food we had!
All in all, this is definitely a great place to go when you have that Chinese food craving. Nice people that work here, nice little environment, great food and prices.

I stop by once every six weeks or so to get take out. They have a vegetarian dinner for two that my wife and I enjoy. The owner/​front man always remembers my face and what I order. Food is good and wholesome of not gourmet.

Revolting to anyone with taste buds. The mu-​shu pork was a thickened glop of vegetables the color and consistency of boiled cabbage. I didn’t get the crisp, fresh vegetables that Unilocalers are raving about. The «pork» was ground, so I’m not sure if it was pork or a mix of whatever they wanted to get rid of in the kitchen.
I ordered the General Tso’s chicken because that’s usually a dish with some spice to it. But I’m learning that flavor must be too much to ask for from a Chinese restaurant in Ashland. What arrived was a plate of what was probably once frozen, packaged chicken that was mysteriously heated. It couldn’t possibly have been fried. The soggy breading fell off the meat and into a pool of clear and flavorless liquid that was supposed to be sauce.
The crab wontons actually looked good, but I was so skeeved out by the other two dishes I was afraid to eat anything with seafood in it. After a few bites, I threw my entire $ 27 meal in the garbage and poured myself some Rice Chex instead.
What happened to good Chinese food? It’s as if a whole genre of ethnic cuisine died in the 1980s. I’m mourning the loss because it truly was my favorite kind of food.

Wish I could give less than a star. Really bad food and horrible service. I went in the restaurant to place a to go order and there must have been one tiny piece of beef in my kung pao beef when I got back to my place. I was offered tea multiple times while waiting but was forgotten about shortly after. Just go to the Mexican place around the corner, not worth your money at panda garden.

Drive by this place almost everyday, and never see it busy. boyfriend kept bugging to go here, so I caved in. Service was ok, we were the only ones there, but the food was mediocre as well. Restaurant décor was neat, but it smelled icky inside. The potstickers were flavorful, but fell apart when grabbing them with chopsticks. The orange chicken was extremely dry and the breading was falling off the food. Fried rice looked old and no flavor. My boyfriend and I both had upset stomaches and he woke up twice almost throwing up after eating here. Will not go back again.

I have been patronizing Panda Garden for many years through changes in family management and I cannot remember ever having a bad meal or negative experience. There is always plenty of food, takeout is always generous, they know who I am and how I like things. This is the place I recommend and this is where I bring my friends. I should mention I love Chinese food. It’s a toss up between a hamburger or chinese as to which food I would pick if I had to choose what I could eat exclusively for the next year. So, I’ve eaten a lot of Chinese. Panda Garden is right up there at the top of the list.

Family run, the freshest veggies around, right from their own garden. Walnut shrimp is outstanding. Very nice people and excellent food. Probably should have given 5 stars, because the prices are so reasonable!

I hadn’t been here for a long time. I was surprised and have returned often. Now, I know the «big» cities have far better options, but for Ashland, Panda Garden is great. The fried shrimp are great, fluffy crisp batter on large shrimp with a golden finish (clean oil). Yummy. The mar far is good, the chow mien was good, the rice was good, the black bean sauce is good (ask for heavy sauce) and the dipping sauce is good. I even enjoyed the egg flower soup.
Price wise, very easy place to eat with good portions.
To go orders are the same size as eating in.
Atmosphere is fine. room for large groups as well.
A family runs the place, from elders down to a sixteen year old, which is always quaint.
The Long Island iced tea was strong but small. Only $ 6.00
You «big» city folk need to lower your expectations and just enjoy the good food.

Empty parking lot at noon — should’ve been a clue.
Jake C — you need to get out more. ;-)
Clam chowder? OK, whatever. But it had no clams and no flavor otherwise.
The only flavor that ANYTHING had was salt.
Food was watery/​watered-​down, mushy, no colors, no snap.
There was either no taste, or an overwhelming amount of salt. (I like salt, too!)
But wow — just wow.
No reason to ever try this again.

I’m rating this a 5 because its not a 3. This is honestly one of the best Chinese food restaurants I have ever been to. I look at 1. The quality. The veggies are always as fresh as u can get. I believe they have a garden in the back…
2. The flavor. Awesome!
3. Service is pretty good. Only 1 waiter but its small enough to for that. He /​she is normally very attentive to what you need
… Al though I never did get that glass for my beer!
Nevertheless, will be back again shortly.

So far all I have had is their fried rice and mar far chicken. It was good! The rice has bbq pork in it and has a smoky flavor to it so you dont even need to add soy sauce! ;) Unlike other places around here. My hubby had the chicken chow mein and sweet and sour chicken. He liked it as well except for the mushrooms that were in the chow mein. Since moving here we have tried New China, Yummy Yan’s, King Wah and Silver Dragon. The best of those 4 is Silver Dragon in Medford! But Panda Garden is the best so far in Ashland! Will have to try more things at another visit! :)

Had this place for lunch today after class. I always pass by on my way home and decided to just go for it.
I think I was the first customer of the day (as I left class around 11:45) but it was about lunch time so I took it to go. I got a lunch special, so for about $ 7 I got a large eggroll (super weird inside, still confused on what that was? but it tasted just fine), some crab wontons, and sweet and sour chicken.
The wontons were super good, actually.
The eggroll was WEIRD. I ate it but I was confused the whole time.
The chicken was actually great. It was battered and fried and wasn’t greasy at all. I haven’t had good chinese food in southern oregon yet… and this was decent. I got some white rice on the side.
I actually didn’t get sick, either. Shocker here because every single time I’ve had chinese down here, I’ve gotten sick.
My real only complaint was that they have a sign posted saying students get a 5% discount and even after showing my ID they didn’t give it to me and also that instead of putting the sweet and sour sauce on the side, they just sorta poured it into the container so it soaked the chicken and spilled all inside the bag. Containing it more might be a better option for a to-​go order.
I don’t crave chinese often, but I can see myself going back when I do.

Um, no.
Okay, my beloved family members have forbidden me from going to my local favorite Chinese restaurant after their abysmal failure of a recent health inspection so I thought «hmmm, I am craving Chinese so I’ll try Panda Garden». I should have followed my gut instinct because now I am afraid of what my gut is telling me.
Really, how can you screw up pork fried rice and orange chicken? Absolutely awful. The orange chicken (term used very loosely) was wet, gray meat with batter that was falling off into a goop of what I refuse to call «orange sauce».
Soup of the day, clam chowder, at a Chinese restaurant?
A server that didn’t know what was in a sprint roll, «I think it is mostly vegetables» she told another patron.
I’m on my way to the pharmacy for some preventative Mylanta since my stomach is churning in a not so good way. Oh yeah, this was after eating less than quarter of my serving.

I ate here a few times when they first opened decades ago and hated it. I never went back until a few years ago after Golden Dynasty, which used to be the best, was sold and became not-​very-​good. It was a holiday and few if any other restaurants were open, so I clenched my teeth and brought home take-​out from Panda. They got my order partially wrong, but it was actually good! Even very good! So now I eat there at least once a week. It’s 4 stars for Ashland; don’t compare it to Chinatown. Avoid the shrimp here and you’ll be OK. The beef actually goes down when you chew it; it’s not bubble-​gum that never disappears like at other places. There’s a good selection of veggies, too. My favorite dish here is an «American» one, General Tso’s Chicken. I guess it depends on who’s cooking or maybe how hot or old the oil is, but when it comes out right it’s really great! Which is probably 2/​3rds of the time. Prices are low, especially at lunch. I think I’ll head there right now…

I had a take-​out, and I must say — it tasted awful. Worst lemon chicken I ever had. It was very watery (literally, wet!) and just looked very sloppy (not in a good way).
Two stars… because it could be worse… the owner was unpleasant, but the gal who brought out my food was very nice.
This place looked like a ghost-​town without a soul in it on a Saturday night. Hmmmmmm…