Review: Panda Chinese Kitchen

Right or wrong, I can thank the yearly viewing of The Christmas Story for my belief that most Asian restaurants would be open Christmas Day. And they were.

We had our celebration the night before and earlier Christmas morning, but with my daughter off to her mother’s, I had to take the gf to work.

But before that, we decided to get some lunch. As we were running through Wheeling, I knew we’d have a few options to choose from. I decided to go with an old standby from my first few years of working at the newspaper while I was in college.

In some form or another and at different locations, Panda Chinese Kitchen has been serving Wheeling residents and downtown workers for more than 20 years.

I’d know. It was a weekly occurrence that the sports department at the paper ordered takeout from Panda. Formerly located along Market Street in the area currently occupied by the Health Plan complex, the Panda can now be found at 1133 Market Street, just up the round and across from the Plaza on Market.

Takeout has always been a major fixture of Panda’s business as workers and residents alike are constantly ordering their Chinese-food favorites and waiting for the delivery vehicle to arrive. Panda handles its own deliveries, but also utilizes third-party delivery via Door Dash.

Panda did solid business during the delivery and pick-up only phases of COVID restrictions. But since those were lifted, customers have been able to eat inside as well.

And that’s what we did.

But before we talk about the food and its quality, we need to talk about speed. Our order was ready—fast. Ordering at McDonald’s doesn’t result in food being ready that fast, and it’s not like Panda keeps food in a bin warming, waiting for customers to arrive. From start to finish, I’m not sure I’ve experienced that rapid of service, especially with an equally quality taste.

Speaking of which …

The Food

Surprise, surprise, we both ordered a round of sweet and sour chicken and fried rice, along with a pair of egg rolls, and an order of fried dumplings.

We are nothing if not predictable, but when you find something you like, you stick with it, Plus, it lets you see which places in the Ohio Valley have the better options. Comparison eating, per se, is much easier if you’re comparing apples to apples, or dumplings to dumplings in this case.

And the dumplings, they are quite good. As I’ve stated before, Golden Chopsticks is the king of dumplings in our estimation, but I felt Panda put together a top-notch offering in this department. I’d definitely recommend these.

The sweet and sour chicken I was quite familiar with. It’s still a tasty option after all these years and is paired nicely with the rice. Usually ordering Panda via takeout or delivery, I’m not use to my meal arriving on a plate. It did make it easier to mix the chicken and rice up, allowing me to drizzle the sweet and sour sauce across the entire plate, rather than dunking chicken in rice in the bowl of sauce.

I’m not an egg roll guy, but she did enjoy the first and take home the second for later.

I’ve had the General Tso’s from Panda in the past and can attest to the quality of that dish as well. The general and sweet and sour chicken are standbys for those enjoy Chinese food but don’t want to branch out too much. I’ve slowly been working my way through the menu and have discovered Kung Pao chicken is my new favorite.

That’s next to try on the menu at Panda. But no matter what you’re ordering, you’ll be sure to find affordable and tasty at Panda Chinese Kitchen.