I love Panda Express. Its a love affair I’ve had for over 40 years since its founding in 1983. Back in the 1980s, Panda Express was almost exclusively in shopping malls, a staple of 80s mall food courts. Today, malls make up less than 2% of Panda Express’ 2000+ locations. Fortunately, one of their current locations can be found in my town and Panda Express is a reliable go-to when I want a great, affordable meal on those nights I don’t want to cook. Oh, Great Panda. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… with these five reasons I love Panda Express.

Orange Chicken

Damn, I love Orange Chicken! Orange Chicken was created by master chef Andy Kao at a Panda Express in Hawaii in 1987. Orange Chicken features crispy, golden pieces of batter-fried chicken coated with a flavorful sauce. The delectable dressing blends sweet and tangy flavors, with hints of orange zest, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and a touch of chili pepper. The combination of sweet and savory is like a lion dance in your mouth.

Orange Chicken has become synonymous with Panda Express and has extended beyond the restaurants to home kitchens. Home cooks (including this one) attempt to recreate the dish in their own kitchens while a number food companies have frozen versions at supermarkets. Do a search on YouTube and see just how many videos and shorts there are for making the dish! Yet, none can ever match Panda Express’ “organginal”. Orange Chicken has risen above a casual dining dish to become an American cultural icon, epitomizing the culinary fusion of Asia with North America.

I find it amusing when my Chinese friends visit and claim that Orange Chicken is not “authentic” Chinese food. You don’t say?! I ask them if Sichuan eggplant is an authentic Beijing dish, to which they answer “no”. A sky lantern of understanding and enlightenment then appears overhead. The fact is, Orange Chicken, and Panda Express generally, is exemplar for Chinese American food with a rich culinary tradition in its own right.

Options

If Panda Express sold nothing but Orange Chicken, I would still go there just the same and eat buckets of it. Fortunately, Panda Express has other classic Chinese American dishes to choose from including Kung Pao chicken, grilled teriyaki chicken, Beijing beef, and honey walnut shrimp. Pair these mains with white rice, fried rice or chow mien noodles.

What let’s Panda Express stand out above other fast food and casual chains is its relatively healthy menu items such as brown rice, broccoli beef, green bean chicken breast, and steamed “super greens”. In fact, a meal with the more salubrious options can provide you a healthy meal of 500 calories or less. Moreover, the ingredients are notoriously fresh due to local sourcing and good supply chain practices. Can Jared Fogle honestly say the same? I think not.

Whatever kind of protein, veg and carb combo you’re looking for, Panda Express has it. Don’t forget the egg roles and rangoons for appetizers! Also, in traditional Chinese American fashion, everyone gets a fortune cookie filled with good prophecy for desert.

Woks

Panda Express still cooks using the traditional Chinese wok. The chain's chefs employ wok cooking techniques to create dishes that are not only flavorful but also cooked quickly to preserve freshness and nutrition. They could probably move to more machine-based, automated equipment but they don’t. That’s rad! Woks have the ability to achieve high temperatures quickly, sealing in flavors and retaining the natural textures of the meat and veg. Woks are typically made of carbon steel, which distributes heat evenly across the surface ensuring that food cooks evenly without burning. So, even though the food is Chinese American, it retains the traditional Chinese flavor only the torrid heat of a wok can bring.

Moreover, most Panda Express’ have an open kitchen design so you can see, hear and smell the deelish grub being made fresh. Can you say that about hamburger or taco fast food restaurants? Nope.

Availability

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to an unnamed mega coffee house chain and ordered what they had advertisements all over the place, only to be told they don’t have the ingredients. That rarely happens at Panda Express. Founded in 1983 in Glendale, California by the by the Cherng family, Peggy Cherng utilized her education and expertise as a software designer and engineer to the restaurant’s benefit. Peggy brought a systems analysis perspective to the business and worked through the logistics and standardization issues necessary to scale up and ensure ingredients are freshly available.

This systems approach also applies to the individual shops which consistently restock the front line with freshly made product. This is why Panda Express has grown into a world-wide chain while simultaneously keeping quality high and costs low. Its true! A Big Mac meal in my town is now $10.39. A Panda Express plate, with a side and two entrees, is $10.50. So, you get a healthier, higher quality meal at Panda Express for the same price as a previously frozen heart killer at Micky D’s. Do the math!

Employees

Many fast food joints often have their share of fairy discgruntled, dubious employees. Yet, every Panda Express I’ve been to seem to have friendly, well-trained employees. I mean, they aren’t barista freindly (which would be a little awkward actually) but they are cordial. What I like most is that they are competent in their positions and seem to communicate well, even when its really busy.

For all I know, Panda Express might be a terrible place to work for its 40,000 employees but you’d never know it by visiting a restaurant, at least in my experience. I can’t say the same for some of other local fast food and casual dining restaurants in my town. Panda Express has also made Forbes’ list of “Best Places To Work” in previous years, so there’s that.

Whatever Panda Express is doing, I just find it refreshing to go there and see how productive, competent and cool the employees are. I also like to watch the chefs stir fry on the woks. So satisfying.

After a recent visit to my local Panda Express, I decided to write this love letter because I like the food, vibe and employees there. Visiting also makes me nostalgic about my youth in the 1980s. Panda Express was a favorite of mine back then while hanging out at the mall with friends. While those days are gone, along with many malls and food court chains long forgotten, at least Panda Express is still here and better than ever. With that, I leave you with this quote from Peggy Cherng herself:

“I never stopped being an engineer inside. I always want to make new discoveries and solve hard problems.”

— Dr. Peggy Cherng, Co-founder and CEO of Panda Express