Tuesday, November 18

I'll miss you, orange chicken with chicken

I'll admit to first, loving Panda Express. It's one of my favorite places to eat; I enjoy the chow mein quite a bit, and I love that Sydney enjoys the chow mein. My usual meal, which I've eaten since I first tried the restaurant's food, is the chow mein and orange chicken. The second item can be anything, depends on what I'm hungry for at that time, maybe cream cheese rangoon, beef and broccoli, spring rolls, or crispy shrimp. So it was with some excitement that I realized that since Sydney and I were at the mall right at lunchtime today, we could eat lunch at Panda. So I ordered my meal -- chow mein, orange chicken, and my second item, chicken and string beans -- and happily found a table for myself and my kid. I piled up Sydney's portion of chow mein, added a couple pieces of the chicken and string beans, and then settled in to my own plate. But when I bit in to my first piece of orange chicken, I was disgusted to realize that the entire piece was a hard and too crunchy piece of fried batter in orange sauce. I don't think there was the tiniest bit of chicken in that bite. So I tried another. Again, it was a hard piece of fried batter in orange sauce. I tried again, because I'm nothing if not an optimist. AGAIN! Piece of fried batter in orange sauce with no chicken! I did not try again. I was grossed out. I moved on to the chicken and string beans. And there! THERE! That is the item that had all the chicken that should have been in my orange chicken dish! So instead of enjoying my orange chicken with chicken in it, I enjoyed the chicken and string beans with chicken in it. And honestly, from now on, when I go there, I will avoid the orange chicken in favor of another, visibly evident chicken dish. Orange chicken is obviously the dish in which Panda Express has decided to cut back its expenses. Because really, if it's all fried batter and orange sauce, who would notice that there's no chicken left in it?

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