Panda Chinese Restaurant

We live at Lake Monticello and this is one of our go-to places for takeout. Excellent Moo Goo Gai Pan and General Tso chicken. Fast service and generous servings.

LOVE this restaurant, even more because it's in Fluvanna county and doesn't require a trip to Charlottesville or Richmond.  I'd give 4.5 stars if I could, but Yelp only lets us give whole star ratings, and Panda doesn't (quite) rate 5 stars (yet).

The lowdown:  This place is pretty much take-out only.  The place is clean, but the floor is tile, the few tables are shoved against the walls and you've got a straight on view into the kitchen, complete with employees (family members?) hanging out.  The place is LOUD, even if it isn't packed with people waiting for their orders.  Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly happy with this arrangement!  I call my order in, they make it in their clean kitchen, and I get to eat yummy food in the comfort of my own home; what's not to like?  However, I can see how some others might be put off by the lack of painted screens and jolly-faced Buddha decor, particularly if they were expecting a sit-down meal.

The Moo Goo Gai Pan (chicken & veggies in white sauce) was the best I've ever eaten.  My family spent three years in Beijing when I was a child, so I know what I'm talking about.  The chicken was amazingly tender, and man was there a lot of it!  None of this "load it up with bok choy and hope the customer doesn't notice the lack of chicken" bamboozle other places try to pull, no siree!  

The hubby, kids and I have tried a lot of items, to include Cashew Chicken, Beef with Snow Peas, Bourbon Chicken (a specialty beloved by 3 out of 4 family members, what can I say, darling son is a rebel), and House Special Lo Mein, to name a few.  The egg drop soup is smooth and velvety, the fried dumplings were tender with the right amount of crisp on them from the pan, delicious!

The appetizers are a mixed bag: the pork egg rolls were a hit, the spring rolls a bit heavy (though tasty).  The fried pork wontons were crispy with good flavor, but the Krab Rangoon, which I expected to have a savory cream cheese/imitation crabstick filling, instead had a SWEET cream cheese/imitation crab filling that was...weird.  However, the BBQ ribs were fantastic so I'll forgive them for the weird Krab Rangoon.

So, why only 4 stars?  Where the Panda stumbles is when it comes to the spicy dishes.  They have them on the menu: Hot and Spicy Shrimp, Hunan Beef (and chicken and shrimp), Kung Pao Chicken, and so on, and we've ordered quite a few of them.  The flavor is good, and the quality of the meats and vegetables are fantastic, but there's no HEAT!

I should mention that I love spicy food.  If my lips are tingling and my eyes are watering and I need another glass of milk, then it's just right as far as I'm concerned.  The hubby likes his food slightly less incendiary, but even he agrees with me: Panda doesn't add enough kick to the dishes listed in red on their menu.  

If I had to guess, I'd say the chefs are concerned about scaring away customers with sensitive palettes.  My philosophy is, if you order from the red-listed items, you are announcing, in no uncertain terms, "BRING IT ON!"  Twice now I've told the person taking our order over the telephone that I wanted our spicy items EXTRA spicy, and they've still been lackluster in the hot pepper department.  Next time I order I'm going to strenuously try to convince them that I want it spicy enough that I need a box of tissues on table beside me to handle the waterworks!

If Panda can bring up the level of spice on their spicy dishes, I'll bring up my rating from a 4 to a 5!