After almost 3 months of not reviewing any restaurants I thought now would be a good time to ease back into the food scrutiny saddle.  I had  a knee operation in January  and it’s a great excuse for not doing what I should be doing.  I  say, “I just don’t   have the extreme mental energy and high level cognitive skills required to hunker down and bang out a blog post”.  A knee injury is very useful in order to shirk as many duties as possible. I highly recommend ill health to avoid the daily tasks we find unpleasant or even the ones we find pleasant.
But I digress.

So… finally I’m sitting around ready to watch the much anticipated showdown between Kentucky and North Kakalakki  in the Elite 8 March Madness basketball bracket and for this effort I need some food…fast. Perhaps some fast food. So I say to myself, “Self, here is a good chance to review a fast food restaurant on Memorial Drive. ” I quickly answer, “Hey, let’s do it, amigo!”

I clamber into our super hot and sexy, bright red, 4 cylinder, 5 on the floor,  air conditioned Honda Fit and race to Panda Express and wonder what new gastronomical adventure awaits me.

 Well I learnt two things : 1) Panda Express is fast  and 2) the food “ain’t half bad”.

I don’t  go inside because as I pull up I see that the parking lot is full and the drive through empty save one other car.   I am in a hurry to return to my Elite 8 basketball game so I ease into the drive through lane and slide up to the microphone. A very pleasant voice asks me what I would like and I quickly respond “Kung Pao Chicken!” She asks, “With peanuts?”  “Yes!” And she inquisitively purrs, “Spicy?”  “Yes!”  No drink and the total is $6.45. I roll around to the pick up window as the car in front pulls off. I am greeted by the nicest drive through window attendant ever. It is all “How are you and thanks for coming and please come back” in the sweetest most sincere drive through attendant voice in the history of drive throughs. Kudos. (Obviously Panda Express uses the same onerous training facility as Chick Fillet.) I should have gotten her name so I could call corporate and extoll her virtues. But alas I was self-centered and grabbed my grub and headed home to the game.

To my surprise the zucchini, peppers, onions, etc were probably as fresh as the ones in our fridge. Not too bad. The chicken was tasty enough and the brown rice was tender and flavorful. And the dish was spicy! Sitting conspicuously in the bowl are two! chili peppers.    Kung Pao chicken is supposed to be spicy but the couple of times I’ve eaten it on or near Memorial Drive it has  never been spicy.   Panda Express has put some of the Pao back into Kung Pao.
Long story short,  I was able to hunker down and watch the game with a reasonably tasty meal. It came with a couple of packets of soy, a couple of packets of plum sauce, a plastic fork (of course, a fork is a fork of course), and a fortune cookie. (To see my fortune click on photo).  Sadly the fortune cookie had no lottery number on it.  So for those looking for lucky lottery numbers inside fortune cookies as the main reason for dining Chinese,  Panda Express is not for you.  I give Panda Express a rating of 2.94-a little better than meh. (meh rating system explained) The next time you want something fast on Memorial Drive that isn’t a burger, doughnut, or pizza, check out Panda Express. P.S. Kentucky lost in the last seconds of a close game! :>(