I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I stopped in the Avon, Oh Panda Express (PE). Normally I try to avoid fast food chain restaurants but when your hungry and there are few other options close by you roll the dice and hope for the best. I'm giving it a weak 4 star review. I will not claim to be a fan but it is better than A-OK.
PE is in a new free standing building on 83 just north of I-90. First time I've seen PE outside of a mall food court. The building and interior had a clean modern look, better than some of the sad looking mall locations. The restaurant was clean looking and I do like seeing a clean prep and cooking area behind the counter.
Ok, to the actual dinning experience- greeted right away and had a short wait in the quasi buffet line while the counter person helped a couple before me with thier order. Decided to go with a bowl, the smallest order size, of Hunan Beef over fried rice. The Hunan Beef had a hot pepper logo on the menu board hinting it was hot/ spicy. Food was served up quickly and I added a bottled green tea for a total of $8 and some change. The cashier asked if I wanted any thing else with my order and offered soy sauce and chopsticks.
My lunch tasted good, better than I was expecting for a corporate chain. As mentioned above the Hunan Beef was supposed to be hot/spicy, it was relatively mild. This was no surprise as most independent stand alone Chinese restaurants seem to be shy on turning on the heat. Portion size was a fair deal for to money. A 4 star rating for this visit seems far when comparing PE against other fast food restaurants such as McD, Arby, Taco Bell and the host of new Sub shops.