Panda Express

Fast food Chinese-​American inside hte MOA food court — mostly fried chicken and shrimp a few healthier choices. Better than Lee-​Ann CHin’s but not by much.
My 9 year old loves the honey walnut shrimp.
G-​d help us!

This Panda Express is located in the Mall Of America’s food court, so you know right away that no matter what you get or how good it is, it’s going to be overpriced. My combo with a side of rice, two small entrees and appetizer came out to $ 9. That’s almost real food prices.
The fried rice is strange. I didn’t realize it was brown rice. Had I known, I’d have gone for the steamed rice for sure. The brown rice is oddly gummy and the entire serving seems overly cooked or over watered. I doused it with soy sauce and that made it somewhat more manageable.
Their Beijing Beef wasn’t too bad. The meat clearly isn’t high quality but the breading was pretty light and the sauce had a bit of spice to it. It also wasn’t covered in globs of unidentifiable goo. The cooked red peppers added a nice sweetness.
String Bean Chicken Breast seemed to be one of the lighter options. The beans had some crunch to them. The chicken was tender. I would have liked that the onions have a little more crispness and flavor but I enjoyed the ginger soy sauce.
Cream Cheese Rangoon was pretty standard. It was overly greasy and pretty small.
I think this is going to be one of your better bets considering the location. It’s clearly the most popular option, as the line is easily 3x longer than at any other fast food place in the immediate area. I know it’s a hell of a lot more appetizing than Leeann Chin.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a Panda Express and I was reminded why. The nice thing is they were out of steamed vegetables for their side, so the staff got me some fresh ones while I waited. The food was pretty fresh, but certainly nothing special. I realize it’s fast food, but I think I’ve had my Panda experience for a while.

Chinese Fast Food. As my friend said, «This is the kind of food I wish I could have eaten in China.» Instead of, say, Century Eggs.
Service is fast, food is pretty self-​explanatory. What is not self-​explanatory is how to order. I got the Panda Bowl the last time I ate here and it said it comes with 1 Entrée and 1 Side. It wasn’t clear to me what was an entrée (was it the rice plus meat I ordered?) and what was a side (was it the spring rolls the server dished up for me?). In any case, I ended up with 3 times as much food as I had expected. It tasted good but I was a little peeved at how confusing the whole process was.
In general I like Panda Express. I’m just not a fan of their new flashy and confusing menu format.

Not close to authentic chinese cuisine, but they do have mighty tasty and mighty fresh food!