Panda Cafe

Love this restaurant. I’ve only done delivery with them, but they are always so friendly on the phone and when they come to drop off my order. Delivery usually doesn’t take that long, but it depends of course. You can’t beat the $ 6 lunch special though!

great americanized chinese food. This is my go-​to place when i get in the mood for some chinese take out

We’ve been here a couple times and for Chinese carry out it was what it was, no real expectations. It’s Americanized Chinese food, can’t really go wrong with basic Chinese food right? Last night we ordered several items and it was inedible, I’m not the pickiest eater but we literally had to throw away the string beans, chicken garlic, and fried dumplings. The string beans were so over cooked unless they were old beans they used and drowning in this horrible bitter sauce, the garlic chicken tasted like all they used was garlic, this sour garlicky flavor that was very unpleasant, the dumplings were way too salty. The only thing we could eat was the hot and sour soup and beef lo mein. The beef was over cooked and looked really old, so basically just the lo mein. I’ve been to places where the food wasn’t the greatest quality but we never had to throw the whole entrée in the trash. We were so disappointed and I wanted to go back and get my money back but we just decided we would never go back again. It’s too bad bc it’s right down the street but we will never eat here again.

Delivery was fast and ordering by phone was easy but actual food quality was very disappointing. I am surprised by the reviews which led to my decision to order. Sorry but my standards are higher. I’ve had better food from a frozen bag at Safeway. Sadly will not reorder from here.

Had some take-​out for the second time last night. I hafta say this place is pretty good. I just had an order of Mapo Tofu (Sechuan Style with ground pork) and it was just the right kind of spicy, not too over the top. I also got an order of spring rolls, nice cruch and not too greasy. So far, this place has not failed to impress.

Great hole in the wall, we don’t do Chinese anywhere else. Do yourself a favor and get the Mongolian beef, so good!

Ordered delivery (they’re a quarter mile from our home). Only ordered a double order of vegetable lo mein and an order of spring rolls. The order took about an hour (to the point where were were about to order from the restaurant next door and pick it up). We know we only received our cold food because we called to check on the status of our order. We won’t be ordering from this place again, that’s for sure.

Well, this place is okay but not great. The food is very very Americanized Chinese compare to others.
This place looks cleaner than other Chinese take out place I’ve been to…

This is definitely a hole in the wall restaurant. I would have never gone there because you can barely see the business from Lee Highway if it weren’t for a friend. He told me that they had the best Mapo tofu. I love love love Mapo tofu if it is done right and it certainly was done right here.
We ordered Mapo Tofu, Flounder with Brown Sauce (a whole fish), chicken lo mein and seafood combination. Ohhhh! was it yummy. The Mapo Tofu was spicy, but not like MaLa Mapo Tofu where you have to drink a pitcher of water after every bite. It was saucy, and had just enough hotness to it to make you want more. The Crispy Fish with Brown Sauce was very tasty and the skin had just enough crunch to it to complement the sauce. The chicken lo mein had so much vegetable and lomein in it, and the seafood combination was so tasty. Most of all, they didn’t put fillers like Peas and Carrots. This is the good stuff. I don’t even care if it is authentic or Americanized. The food was so good.
The price absolutely affordable. The whole crispy flounder fish was $ 11.00 and the seafood combo was $ 14. The mapo tofu and noodles were $ 8 each which came to $ 44.00 with tax for 4 people. That’s $ 11.00 a piece for dinner. You can’t beat good dinner tastes for that price. There was so much food, that I had a food baby when I left. I have paid at least $ 20 a person at Chinese places that weren’t that tasty. Definitely will eat here again.

My boyfriend and I just moved and this is the closest Chinese delivery place to us according to Unilocal,and had good reviews, so after a long day of moving in I ordered Chinese for everyone. We were all starving and hadn’t eaten all day so it made the HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES seem like a lifetime! When the driver finally arrived my boyfriend joked, «did you get lost?» And the driver just said «no.» No explanation of why he was so late or apology or anything. The food was bland and terrible. It might be just me but the portions looked smaller than any other Chinese place I’ve ever ordered from and everything was so dry. It’s like they only put a tbsp of sauce for every dish. The lo mein was practically just plain noodles.
In summary, I would never order from here again, which is extremely disappointing since ordering in Chinese used to be one of my boyfriend and i’s favorite thing to do! I guess we’ll have to find another local Chinese delivery!

Best Chinese Food in the area!
Much cleaner than other Chinese food and every dish we have ordered has been extremely delicious. Great Service too!

My husband and I went here for takeout. The staff was friendly and the food was made after we ordered it so it was fresh. The price is reasonable ($ 6.50-$ 11 meal) for a Chinese take out place. The food was delicious, also wasn’t not too oily or salty like a lot of Chinese take out places. We would come back again!

Portions are always amazing. Service is excellent, and I highly recommend the Mongolian beef, and beef with broccoli. I can usually tell when the beef and broccoli is frozen, but unless they have it frozen, and my palette is completely off the mark, their food is simply hands down the best chines in NOVA.
The funny thing is I’ve heard about it from my roommate, and always assumed it was some weird place located in a obscure location with typical Chinese food. I was right about everything except typical, as the taste for the dishes I’ve gotten has never ever been a disappointment.
I will come here whenever I get the chance as its out of my way, but that only tells me how much I enjoy eating it, if I would drive 30 minutes from my house to pick me up some good good!

I’m giving it a 2 star for the following reasons:
1) The Kung Pao Chicken had ZERO sauce which I thought was strange; and, it probably had a whole bag of peanuts! Way too much peanuts…
2) It took them 1 hour and 20 minutes to deliver, this was unacceptable. When I called to follow up after 45 minutes of placing my order, I learned that it hadn’t even left the restaurant! The person on the other side asked whether I still wanted my food! That made me even more upset…
The chicken fried rice was up to my expectation and loved it.

Hands down best Chinese in NOVA. Panda Café, where do I even begin?
Panda café is unique because it has multiple entrée and appetizers that are all stellar. Most Chinese places have 1 or 2 menu items that are good and the rest are STAY AWAY. Panda café has an excellent variety.
Appetizers. The hot and sour soup is the GOAT of hot and sour soups. Much better than PF Changs which just dump salt into their soup. It has a great balance of hot and sour (suprise) and the ingredients are really tasty. The pork and tofu and mushrooms really come well together. The Crab and creamcheese wontons are excellent as well. Shocked by the amount of crab that goes into it. Always piping hot and delicous.
Entrees. Panda Café’s hunan chicken is my go to. The sauce is dank and always hits the spot. Nice combo of spicy and savory. Comes with lots of chicken and the brocolli is not too soggy or too hard, always just right. The Chicken wings here are great as well. They’re super large and super meaty, and the mombo sauce is the bomb. Shrimp Lomein is on point! Large pieces of shrimp and lomein isn’t too oily or soggy.
The service here is great too. Owner is super nice and super helpful and always looking to make sure everything is just right. The store is impeccably clean as well.
In conclusion, Panda Café = Michael Jordan of Chinese food in NOVA.

Whoa– $ 6.35 for a lunch special that doesn’t taste like complete crap? YES!
So I read the reviews, decided I was hungry, and drove to find this place. First, I wasn’t paying attention so I missed the right turn up the hill into Lee Plaza. I hadn’t even noticed this strip mall before – whoops! I was a walk-​in carryout customer, and decided to get the Chicken with Garlic Sauce (it comes with a spring roll and I got white rice instead of fried) and I got an order of dumplings as well. In terms of price, this is totally worth it. I definitely have more than enough food here for dinner as well, even if I hadn’t gotten those dumplings.
So this place isn’t AMAZING, but for what this place is (a hole-​in-​the-​wall, no-​frills joint) the food was legit. I’ve eaten much, much worse (Ms. Egg Roll #2 in Chicago, I’m looking at you) and I was pleasantly surprised. Plus, it was really fast which was great.

What a day to visit! The parking lot was a field of ice and we had to mince our way to the tiny storefront in this ill-​tended strip mall. Once within safety, I noticed other adventurers slipping and sliding their way to other stores, too. We couldn’t figure out why they didn’t try and make it a little safer for customers to reach them. Anyway! That’s neither here nor there for this review.
The staff are very friendly and accommodating. They mounted a back-​lit menu board over the register with some of the items they serve, but it’s better to grab a paper version and peruse what they offer. We selected Orange Chicken, Szechuan Chicken and Moo Goo Gai Pan combos which come with a side of fried rice and a shrimp egg roll for under $ 10 a piece. I also decided to order the steamed dumplings to share which brought my total to $ 15.37.
We ate in so they brought us our meals on trays in plastic and Styrofoam containers. I can’t recommend the very bland fried rice, but it does provide an excellent blotter for the sauce in the moo goo gai pan. Both the chicken and the dumplings are well-​flavored but very salty. Broccoli and meat had been stir fried just right though the snow peas were pretty wilted. I suspect MSG at play, but my co-​workers finished their meals with satisfied sighs. One of them didn’t believe the egg roll contained any shrimp but I managed to extract 2 medium shrimp from mine! If I moved here, I probably wouldn’t return due to the sodium madness unless out of options.

I was hesitant to order since the reviews were mixed with the tasteless food… but I decided to try it since the mumbo wings were on the list. Ordering took a while, maybe 45 – 50 minutes for less than 4 miles. I was getting antsy! For the food. well, lets just say that I will keep my mumbo wing cravings in DC. It just wasn’t that same here. Wings were so crispy to the point that it was too hard to bite and it just wasn’t up to my expectations. However, the singapore noodles definitely made up for the wings because they were delicious. Very flavorful and spicy but not too much. The hot and sour soup was also tasty and came to my door piping hot! Overall, prices were good and food was decent. I’m going to go back soon and try some of their other items.

Decent but nothing as good as the absurdly stellar Unilocal reviews would imply. There’s an obvious dearth of good Chinese takeout in the DMV area which is leading me to the conclusion that people, in their desperation to believe they’re not stuck in mediocre-​ville, will inflate their reviews on such places. Lesson learned.
Lunch special is a good deal from a cost perspective. You get full for cheap. Chicken broccoli with garlic sauce was nice and garlicky with a spicy kick but was too sweet and saucy for me. The fried egg roll was boring and I could’ve done without it. The fried rice lacked flavor and served no purpose. Actually made me wish I got white rice.
The three stars are for the incredibly well mannered and nice couple running the show who were very patient and accommodating when I asked for customizations to my order. It was refreshing to be treated so well at a Chinese fast food place, or any place for that matter! Go for the good customer service, clean & cozy store, and overall decent value. Good but to me, not great.

Everyone loves Chinese take-​out! I have struggled to find good places since moving heat months ago.
First… At work… No take out menus… So, consult my trusty Unilocal app… Look for closest delivery with best reviews that say FAST!!!
Second… Online menu… Need garlic beef spicified with crab rangoon
Last… EAT!!!
It was amazing! It wasn’t just in your face heat… It was true garlic beef, chunks of garlic and bamboo, water chestnuts, onions, scallions, and red pepper to kick it up… Heaven!
The Rangoon, not my fave but the filling was great! I just didn’t like the wrappers… I have eaten there a few times and everything was superb! The staff is great!
Side note, hubbs said it was the best fried rice he has ever eaten!!!
So if you don’t want fusion but just amazing food with great people cooking it… This is the place to go!