Panda Express

I guess this is the Chinese food version of Starbucks for white girls, no? Panda Express is another newer food option at the Oakland Center, and I had never had it before, so I figured I would try it out: why not, it looked appealing, and it smelled good too.
I opted to get a plate (which comes with two entrees and a side) for $ 7. I wound up getting the Beijing Beef and Orange Chicken with a side of, excuse me, vegetables. With a drink, my total wound up being a little over $ 9.
So, I wasn’t impressed. First, the orange chicken just didn’t taste that great. I didn’t even think it tasted like orange chicken. I’m not sure what the hell it tasted like. It wasn’t terrible, but it was super sweet. The Beijing Beef I liked a little bit better just because the sauce raised my blood sugar only by 75 points and not 200. In both cases, I was insulted that there was actually very little meat… I basically paid $ 7 to get a plate of fried and sauced batter with vegetables. It didn’t taste horrible at all, but both were pretty much unbearably sweet for me, and the almost complete lack of meat was ridiculous… also disappointing was the Beijing Beef’s nonexistent spice level. There’s a little pepper next to it on the menu, but there’s really no need for it.
The vegetables seemed to be lightly steamed and doused with salt water, as they were pretty salty. I didn’t mind too much, but I hope you like broccoli as much as I do, because it’s the primary vegetable.
My girlfriend got a side of cream cheese rangoons with her white girl orange chicken, which are hard to screw up… they’re good here, and under two dollars for three of them. I commend Panda Express for being straight up and not BS’ing that they have crab in them when they really don’t… I’ve had that happen at too many restaurants. I’m not a huge fan of their sweet and sour sauce though, as it tastes more like something you’d put on a holiday turkey (it has some unusual holiday-​like spices in it). I’d probably rather dip them in their teriyaki sauce instead.
I don’t HATE Panda Express, but if I did come back, it’d be to try something that’s 1.) Not battered so I can actually get protein in my meal and 2.) Not swimming in a sauce that’s sweeter than a bag of melted Twizzlers.