Panda King

Beggars can’t be choosers. :) There are no other places for a person to really eat dim sum around here. Therefore, when there is a craving for dim sum… its Panda King. It a very busy place on Sunday, so be prepared to wait. The food is here is really just mediocre. Some of the dishes lack flavor while others lack texture. I wish there are more options to choose from.
Note: If you choose to sit on the extended side of the restaurant, it does take awhile for some carts to rotate there. However, problem is easily solved by tell the waitor/​waitress what dish you want and they will bring it to you.

My family will go here when we are craving Chinese comfort food. My normally picky girls are willing to try new things from the buffet which is a bonus. I am a big fan of the Vietnamese Spring Rolls they serve. Fresh and crisp! I do have an issue with their sushi. I wish they could provide more variety in that department.

I come here because my nephews love this place. It’s a buffet so no complaints here. The dim sum side is on point too.

To be honest, the only thing fine here is the rice porridge. And coconut dim sum. I’d give them 3.5 star. Other dim sum are like not delicious at all. Why they bother opening a Hong Kong dim sum restaurant… It’s not okay, can’t compare it with dim sum restaurant in China…

This review is specifically for the dim sum offered at the Panda King Fine Dining location Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dim Sum has its origins from Cantonese cuisine of Southern China. Before, chinese people would drive far distances to Houston to have dim sum. Now, we don’t have to travel far anymore. People travel from all over the southern region — Mississippi, Alabama, northern Louisiana — to have dim sum here. Panda King Fine Dining has your typical selections for a dim sum meal. After you are greeted, the hostess will place you at a table with a clip board. Different people with carts will roll up to your table and show you what they have, pushing you to try. Most things are delicious, but I would highly recommend going with someone who knows what to order first — like a dim sum trainer per se.
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The restaurant facility here is gorgeous. On one side there’s a dim sum section in the Fine Dining area. In the center, Panda King Buffet has a wide array of Chinese and Asian food, even seafood! The private ballroom is most impressive. The room is huge and beautiful. If you’re looking to have a private event, be sure to check it out!

We’ve eaten at Panda King Buffet three times and the weekend Dim Sum four times. The Dim Sum is great and it gets crowded to come early or come towards the end. I don’t like sitting in the overflow room aka buffet area as the carts tend to be sporadic. The Dim Sum is good from noodles, snails, beef, you name it. I would only caution that when getting the vegetable with the sauce to ask for it on the side. The sauce is way too salty. The dan tat (small custard pie) on the dessert cart is the best IMHO in NOLA. The taro sesame seed and bbq pork are all good. They don’t have chow fun (wide noodles) which is disappointing coming from San Francisco. Now the all you can eat buffet is quite different. My highest recommendation is to come here only for lunch. We had dinner once and everything was dry, cold or simply looked stale. The sushi rolls didn’t look fresh at all. The only items that were good were the sweet sour pork and chicken which seem to be the popular dishes that night. It’s 13 bucks for dinner!

Perfect hangover cure? DIM SUM! They offer dim sum via push carts every Saturday and Sunday. Perfect for those who want to see the food before buying it. Instant gratification! There is often a 10 – 15 min wait, but the turnover is quick, so you never wait too long. Quality and price are average. The usual suspects are there: ha gow, shumai, steamed pork buns, bok choy, dessert tarts, fried rice, etc. They also have noodles, taro cake, duck feet, rice chowder, and more. The carts don’t always circulate frequently or at a regular cycle. Sometimes it takes 20 – 30 minutes for the cart you’re looking for to come around. My friends and I go frequently and it definitely hits the spot after a long night out, but I took my parents and they were underwhelmed. Still, it’s the best dim sum in New Orleans!

Came on Sunday for the dim sum, It wasn’t the best I have had but it was good. The only negative was the crispy duck was not crispy.

I think the quality of the food today was a lot fresher versus the last time I was here. Service has gotten better. This time we were early. Cart pushed dim sum starts at 1030 am. We were there by 11 am. It wasn’t super busy but the hostess guy wanted to seat us near the bathroom. Not cool. We picked out own table. We ordered the tea and the policy hasn’t changed. If one person gets tea, the whole table is charged $ 0.70 per person at the table. Our waitress at first was standoffish but she warmed up to me after and was super attentive. Food quality was much better this time. Overall, I’m glad I came back to give this place a third chance.

We come here because it’s the only place in town for dim sum and it’s just fine; not mouthwatering amazing but it’ll hit the spot if you’re craving dim sum. My favorite part about having dim sum is that the food comes to you and you eat with your eyes first. And ordering is as simple as a point and nod, so even though there isn’t a language barrier at this particular restaurant, there’s minimal communication required.
Favorites:
Har gau: steamed shrimp dumplings
Siu mai: open-​topped steamed pork or shrimp dumplings
Taro dumplings
Cheong fan: fresh steamed rolled rice noodles with a variety of fillings, most commonly beef, shrimp, or pork; comes in a sweet soy sauce
Steamed pork ribs: my personal favorite
Beef tripe and chicken feet: my husband’s favorites; be an adventurous eater — try it!
Chinese broccoli with hoisin sauce

No other dim sum in surrounding areas that come close so five stars from me. If your new to dim sum i suggest trying, pork or shrimp shu mai or a fried appetizer to be in the safe zone then work your way up. What’s cool about dim sum is they push carts of food around so you’ll see what your getting. I’m an veteran dim sum eater so I try it all! Except the chicken feet, chicken feet cart pusher gets no love.

if youre a fan of buffes, not much lacks at this one. Lunch is under $ 8 and the selection is huge and varied. Plenty of opportunities to eat healthy or carbo load. From salad, cook to order, japanese, seafood, and hispanic options on top of your usual chinese buffet fare, there is something for everyone.

This review is for the dim sum, as I’ve never been to the buffet.
It’s nice to have the push cart style dim sum available in the area. As other reviewers have said, it’s shrimp– and pork– heavy. The dumplings are standard, as are the buns. Some of my favorites are the sticky rice and the spare ribs.
I really had no complaints about Panda King until my most recent visit, where our server told us that we would be charged for water unless we also ordered tea. Incredulous, I told her that I have never had to pay for tap water in previous visits, and she proceeded to lecture me in a loud voice about how we were sitting at the table to dine in and should not protest about paying for beverages. This kind of ruined my dining experience, because 1) I have always had access to tap water, and 2) she should not have yelled at me or lectured me. But unfortunately I have experienced that kind of leave-​if-​you-​want attitude from Asian-​American owned restaurants before. I really wish this would stop, because this gives all the rest of us a bad representation in the service industry.
So I don’t know how soon I’ll be back, cuz this made me kinda upset. Not just cuz she yelled at me, but because of the bigger implication at the societal level. I’ll still give 3 stars because the food was fine.

Panda King is probably the best dim sum experience Westbank/​New Orleans have to offer. There will be times where you will enjoy the dimsum and there will be times where you ask yourself «why does the food suck today?» The food was good all the other times I went, but then last Saturday, April 18, the food was not very good. It wasnt packed like normal due to the weather I suppose. The fried calamari was soggy! The calamari is usually crispy. The food just wasnt good that day, probably because they were not busy and had a lot of food left over, so they couldnt prepare fresher foods… If you like dim sum and want the push cart experience Panda King is a good place. They are open saturday-​sunday from 10−3pm, I think.

Protip: Get the Egg Custard Tarts and the Sesame Balls. Oh, and just about everything else, too.
Everything offered on the dim sum carts is absolutely delicious, from the various dumplings and noodle dishes to the meaty morsels and turnip cakes. The only downside is that it can add up quickly if you want to try everything (and you will want to). Go with a group if you want a huge variety. Just dining for 2 – 3? Stick to the smallest offerings.
You can’t go wrong with anything you choose.

After reading other reviews regarding Panda King Fine Dining’s dim sum– I had to go check it out for myself. And I was not disappointed.
So much to choose from. Cart after cart of amazing things. And everything tasted so great.
I recommend you go in at least a party of 3; most of the dishes come in sets of three. Three dumplings; three skewers; etc.

Dim sum rolling carts only from Sat-​Sun from 11am and ends at 3:30pm. This is the only place in NOLA to get good dim sum. The servers are polite, and the ladies rolling the cart are always very nice. Never come
towards closing time like at 2 – 3 bc they run out of the good stuff. This place is super packed so expect to wait. They’ve expanded the dining area to next door by the buffet so the wait won’t be long.

We were pleasantly surprised by this place. We have always shopped at the HK market, however, we never tried the buffet. I heard about this place last summer and finally gave the Dim Sum a try. Omg, why did I wait so long. I want to come back every weekend. If only I didn’t live a hour away. We use to drive to Houston just for Chinese food so I guess it’s not far to drive here. We came on a Saturday but our waitress suggest we come on Sundays because there’s a lot more choices. Not sure how much I can eat. She also suggest not to come too late because they will run out of selections, ugh. What’s a girl to do with her overzealous appetite for good Chinese food. Yummy, yummy. They would have gotten 5 Stars but they charged each person a hot tea weather you drink it or not. So drink it…;)

On Saturdays & Sundays (until 3 or 4PM), PK serves dim sum push cart style.
In comparison to what I’ve had, they’re merely scratching the surface. But because you can’t find it anywhere else in NOLA, they’re good & definitely ‘scratch the itch’ when you’re fiending.
I almost always get:
1) Chicken feet
2) Ha Gow — shrimp dumpling
3) Siew Mai — pork dumpling
4) Char Siew Bao — Steamed BBQ pork buns
5) Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Bean sauce.
TIP: Mix the sate (chili oil), with a dash of soy sauce, & (for acidity) a few jalapenos. Dip whatever (usually the dumplings & chicken feet for me) in it.
Okay, now for their buffet review. I am just gonna state that I am real bougie when it comes to buffets. I really don’t like any buffet but damn do I enjoy this one. That’s just saying, I’ve probably eaten here four or five times. It’s really not the freshest or best food but they have really good chicken wings & the American-​Chinese food isn’t so bad either. I would definitely stay away from their sushi because it never looks fresh!

³⁄₅ ask for what you want if they’re not on the dim sum carts
I’ve been here a couple times thanks to Dorothy Y., and have enjoyed my visits. The selection isn’t bad, and fir the most part the dishes seem fresh from the kitchen — though some certainly have been spinning on the carts for awhile. You can also order drinks (duh), though I enjoy my dim sum just with tea. The don tot aren’t bad, and behind the basics must always get an order of the gai lan (Chinese broccoli).