I think I'd rather start with the positives about this dining experience. . .the soy sauce packets were pre-marked for easy removal of a corner. And as we all know, soy sauce can be very messy. The cut to help the corner tear smoothly eliminated the mess. The spring rolls, were nice and hot, a hint of ginger flavor (which today did nothing for the not-just-morning-morning-sickness) and appeared to be without mushrooms, which always makes the two of us happy.

Now, for the not-so-nice part: The mixed vegetables in the upper left part of the photograph were all brown--the onions, the broccoli, the zucchini--not very appetizing for even Paul. The vegetarian options were fried rice with eggs, chow mein (very similar to lo mein), the spring rolls, and a hot and sour soup with tofu. I ordered the chow mein and spring rolls, and the longer Paul stood at the counter, the more he decided we'd limit our losses by just sharing my plate. Turns out, that was a really good idea. The lo mein was stone cold. I mean fresh-out-of-the-fridge cold. It had celery, onions, and bok choy or cabbage (too small a serving of which for me to tell) and filled only half of the styrofoam plate and it still cost us $5 with tax. It's safe to say that the motto of "Gourmet Chinese Food" is a great stretch for the imagination. Mine just couldn't get there.

The worst part, especially because it was after the meal, came when Paul went to the bathroom and found it to be out of soap. He was quite upset, as is evident by the picture and description. I thought I'd try to reason that the staff was waiting until things were slow to refill the soap, but business really couldn't have been slower with a total of 5 guests while we were there.

We have agreed to never eat at a Panda Express again and regretted not stopping at Manchu Wok in the Mall instead. We figured the mall was busier and would have likely been fresher.