I typed this entire post on my cell phone while waiting to get on our plane to California as my computer acted up as soon as we sat down in the waiting area and never recovered until we got home. And for some strange reason, I cannot locate the post. I cannot find it under my "Drafts" nor do I have any record of it ever being sent or of myself receiving it. So, just in case you think I'm perfect and have everything under control. . .just in case I thought I was perfect and had everything under control, it never hurts to have your ego deflated once in a while. I hope I remember everything I wrote a week ago.
Normally I would prefer to not post a review at all than to post a negative one about a restaurant a friend has taken me to. However, Patty is a regular reader of Eat Like a Rabbit. We've known each other about 9 years. She knows me well. She knows what I look for. She knows how I write. When she practically wrote this review for me on our way home from the restaurant, I felt at liberty to blog about it.
Panda Bistro has been rated by Best of Orlando as the second best Asian restaurant in the area behind P.F. Chang's. In my book, it's way, way behind P.F. Chang's. In fact, in my eyes, if the rest of the Asian restaurants in Orlando are worse than this one, there shouldn't be a second and third place behind P.F. Chang's.
We arrived to an empty restaurant at 12:30 in the afternoon. There was rap music (i.e. profanity) playing at an easily understandable level and there was art work for sale on the walls that had exclamations of profanity--albeit a couple letters were missing. Immediately, we recognized the restaurant was not family friendly and was geared toward college students. Along those lines, I would say it might appeal to a college student to pay $10 for a meal that should feed you three times. (I froze the leftover tofu for my father to eat while we were away. He said he liked it, but he also said he likes things "well done.")
It took about 20 minutes to get our food. And someone who arrived long after we did still received his soup and entree long before we did. I ordered the General Tso's Tofu as I've heard there are other vegetarian forms of it in the area and knew I could compare dishes easily. I also ordered a tap water. The water never came. Patty ordered the tofu with candied walnuts in a mango sauce. The sauce was served on the side.
As is evident by the photograph, the broccoli was old and yellow. My tofu was way overcooked and the sauce was very sweet. And sadly, brown rice wasn't even an option. However, Patty's tofu was nicely cooked, and I did like a sprinkling of the sauce. Shockingly, the fortune cookies were individually wrapped and were still beyond stale. (And I'm one who would rather eat stale chips than let them go to waste.) In fact, it almost tasted moist and stale. Very nasty. My cookie was not eaten.
At some point, I realized that I had been charged more than Patty for the same size entree. I went up to the counter and asked the gentleman how that happened. He said he didn't know and very sarcastically asked if I wanted my $0.65 back. I said politely "I don't know. What do you recommend?" He looked at the computer and said "I don't know what happened. I wasn't the person that rang you up." So, I said "Then, I'll take the $0.65, please." Not my idea of great customer service.
Patty wasn't as disappointed. She said "I like the variety offered for vegetarians, and I'm not as picky as you are." What a great summation of this restaurant. It proves that people have different tastes.
What's yours? You're welcome to share your thoughts on our comment page.
