Panda Palace

Authentic Chinese food. That’s hard to find in Ballwin. Probably have to tell them that you want authentic dish or they may assume you would rather have cashew chicken and crab rangoon…

«Closed until Further Notice –_-»

Eh… I’ve had better and frankly I think this place is going under. It’s too hit and miss with menu item availability and they have eliminated their dim sum. Not much reason to go back anymore.

Go to Panda Palace, get anything you can’t find at a Panda Express, and the chance is you’ll like it. We came here for the first time a few weeks back. We found the place by accident (there was a Office Depot close by that we visited one time). It was pretty empty when we stopped by on a Wednesday night, only two other tables of Asian diners. We ordered a number of things: the meat buns (I believe it was in the appetizer section), the beef eggplant (eggplant was excellent!), and the Mao Style Red Meat (fried pork belly cubes glazed in sugar), which was as close to mom’s cooking as I have ever tasted at a Chinese restaurant in the US.
The restaurant was clean; the waitress was very friendly, but oh the service was terrible… somehow the waitress stopped by at all the wrong times and none of the right times. It’s amazing how this happened. Luckily we loved the food enough to forgive the bad service.
While I’m talking about Authentic Chinese food in this town, let me be off-​topic a little and summarize what I believe to be the best authentic Chinese dishes at local restaurants. You’ll realize pretty much all of these places have fairly low overall ratings, but it’s not because of the authentic dishes.
Lulu’s — Fried shrimp balls on the appetizer menu (so light and tender)
Joy Luck Buffet — Chinese Hot Pot in the winter months (Chinese Fondue, with unlimited meat and vegetables, $ 18 a person) + Sichuan style dishes (spicy) on the Chinese menu.
Mandarin House — Dim Sum on the weekends
Wei Hong — Chinese bakery
Steak and Rice — Taiwanese beef noodle soup + beef brisket pot
Check these out when you get a chance. Enjoy!

Don’t let the rundown shopping center and less than appealing exterior fool you. This is a GREAT spot! I can’t say that I’ve ever had a go to Chinese restaurant, but my husband and I do now.
We hit up Panda Palace around 11:30 on a Sunday, and the place was empty. Once you get inside, the restaurant is clean and updated. The staff was very helpful, but I would expect that given we were the only customers at the time.
The menu was beyond extensive. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a huge menu at a Chinese restaurant — even a buffet style restaurant doesn’t have this many options.
The food was great. To begin with, they had fried wontons to munch on. Yum! For an appetizer, we ordered potstickers. They came out on a fajita style hot plate. Very yummy! For entrée, my husband ordered the garlic chicken with vegetables, and I ordered the beef and broccoli. Both were delicious. The sauces were thick and had a sweet and sour undertone. The portions were HUGE! We could have easily split one, but we were glad to try two different dishes (and have leftovers that I’m looking forward to today). We finished up with the complimentary brownie bites brought to our table — mmmm.
Definitely will return and try more menu items!

Just ate here tonight for the third time and the food was great yet again. Love the new dinner specials and their prices. I had hot braided chicken and my husband had leshan chicken which was crazy spicy and he loved. My food was great too. Our service was good, the servers are nice and helpful. We will definitely be back!

Overall, I rate it as just plain «Meh».
We were there mid-​day and the place was about ¼ full and it still took forever for us to get our food.
I wasn’t impressed with the food, but it wasn’t bad. Just average. Nothing to remember, really.
For what we got, I think the prices were a bit too high.
There are other Chinese restaurants that are better, and very close to this one.

This restaurant has yet to have their Grand Opening (which promises to be quite a spectacle when it does happen), but already the food is great. Really great. One of my favorites is the beef chow fun, because the noodles are made fresh at the restaurant. Everything I’ve had there so far has been really good.
Service is very friendly, but slow. I believe this is one of the kinks as the restaurant gets off the ground, and I expect this issue to go away soon. The location is simultaneously convenient and difficult: it’s not off the beaten track, but it’s situated behind another building, and your final approach is somewhat complicated. Don’t let that stop you! You’ll be well pleased with the fare.