Pan of Asia

Cleaned table with someone else’s dirty napkin! Not clean at all… I don’t even like giving them one star… We walked out …

Extremely poor food quality by asian standard. expensive, unhealthy, american style chinese food. even worse compare to panda express. The enviroment and waiter service is just fine, but the food taste is really a disaster.

Give me my fucking soy sauce and stop telling me how to eat your strip mall Chinese food!
The food and service use to be good… It is now a disaster! The server must be the owner or related as nobody would intentionally hire this big of moron who can’t do her job!
How does a Chinese restaurant fuck up rice???
Stay away !

First, i’ll start that this place is very clean inside. Lovely décor and pretty Chinese music playing in the background. The server, who may be the owner? Is kinda pushy like a momma bear. Making sure to recommend appetizers and higher priced menu items. Its endearing and she wasn’t offended that we declined. I ordered the tangerine chicken and my husband ordered the beef fried rice. He was IN LOVE with the fried rice (its salty and flavorful… msg?) And I enjoyed my Tangerine Chicken. In fact, as I sit here, I realize I ate way too much and i should probably hit the gym for like, 3 hours. I give this place a 4 because its mom and pop, our service was nice (she gave extra rice in my doggy bag), and its a step up from, say, Panda Express. Their food is well priced for the portions, and its easy to get a seat. Delicious date night. And with our BOGO coupon from the OC Dining Guide, it was only $ 14 for both dishes and two drinks.

I have no complaints with this place, I have never been there when its really busy so I can’t attest to how the service is then, but the server and owner were bother serving last night when I went and there were only 4 tables. They both helped us and the service was great and super quick. The food is much more authentic than PF Changs or pick up sticks, and it is made fresh and always really hot when it comes to the table. Great prices and great taste, best asian I have found in OC.

I’m surprised by the high ratings for this place. It’s not authentic which is fine but if I wanted westernized Chinese food, I would much rather go Pick Up Stix or PF Chang’s.
First off, the service is a disaster. The server herself is super nice but there just wasn’t enough staff to warrant a sit down restaurant. This one server is responsible for the service in the restaurant (including serving drinks, taking orders, clearing tables, handling payment for to go orders and pretty much ALL front of house duties). It was ridiculous and while we were there, we saw people walk out.
We made our dishes vegetarian and I’m pretty sure she was mistaken when she said the soups were all vegetarian once you remove the meat. We had the sizzling rice soup and it definitely tasted like chicken broth. The soup itself wasn’t bad but not the best rendition of this dish ever.
We also tried to order the string beans which apparently wasn’t available. She didn’t get a chance to tell us until midway through the meal. She offered to sub in bok choy or snow peas which we declined. Both would’ve not worked if cooked in the same way as the green beans. We tried the basil tofu instead which had a nice sauce but no basil. Seriously. Plenty of bell peppers, green onions and bamboo shoots but definitely no basil at all.
We also tried the Cantonese crispy noodles which was the saddest crispy noodles I have ever had. I get better versions at Vietnamese places. It’s definitely NOT Cantonese, not even a fusion or inspired version. The noodles are the thicker ones used in Vietnamese places not the thin golden ones in Cantonese restaurants. Pan of Asia also serves so little noodles that the sauce and toppings entirely drown out the noodles make it one soggy doughy mess. As an example, when I order this at Phở Ha Noi, there is just a little sauce with a big nest of noodles so it really is a crispy noodle dish.
As a side note, the water here tastes really strange. It doesn’t taste like tap or anything. Rather it tastes old or greasy. It was really gross.
So all in all, if I wanted «fusion» or westernized Chinese/​Asian food I would much rather visit Pick Up Stix or Pei Wei. The prices are competitive with better services and better food.

Came in on a Sunday mid afternoon. I was searching for Thai food, but since I was already here decided to just order what they had on the menu. I read a previous review, from Will M thy the owners were Chinese, so I decided to order that. I opted for take out, as I waited they brought me egg drop soup to munch on while I waited for free, which was a very nice gesture. Food was good, place was clean, service was happy.

Came here to redeem my Groupon before it expired. It was pretty quiet but it was a Monday night. We had no problems with the service. The waittress was polite and courteous, and as other people had mentioned, asked us if we had a Groupon upfront. I had no problems with that and they were probably getting a lot of business from the Groupon that they just asked upfront instead of waiting until the end.
The dishes we ordered:
1) Pork with Eggplant: Our favorite dish! The seasoning was right on. There was nothing left of this dish after dinner.
2) Spicy Crispy Beef: recommended by several people but it wasn’t our cup of tea. It’s deep fried and then wok’d in the sauce. It was just too unhealthy for our taste but if you’re into deep fried stuff, then you might like it.
3) Thai Spicy Basil Chicken: against the warnings of reviewers, we ordered something that wasn’t Chinese. My sister was craving Thai basil chicken so we ordered it. It came out but was nothing like Thai Basil Chicken. It was just a typical stir fried chicke. Flavor was good, but it wasn’t what we ordered.
It was nice that they didn’t charge us for the steamed rice (which some places do).
Would I come back? Probably not because of all the other better chinese restaurants in Irvine (Sam Woo, SW, etc). But if you want semi-​authentic Chinese fare, without the crazy crowded typical Chinese restaurant scene, then come check this place out. But stay away from the Thai/​Malay dishes and just order the Chinese stuff. :)

Went there to use a groupon…
Server was robotic, expressionless, not knowledgable. Food was bland, not very fresh. About 20% of menu items were crossed out and not available, including entire dessert menu. Huh?

Bought a Groupon ($ 15 for $ 30) for this place and finally had the time to use it. Walking it, there was one other table and no workers so my BF and I just seated ourselves. Menus were brought out not to long after and away our Groupon went. You can only order from the Dinner section even if you go for lunch. I was kind of disappointed, but whatever…
What we got:
Honey Walnut Shrimp ($ 14): disappointed with the small amount that was given, but the overall taste of it was good. I wish it had more batter and just a little bit more of the mayo. Favorite dish out of the 3 things we tried.
Spicy Crispy Beef ($ 10): it’s not spicy at all nor was it really crispy… it was more chewy? The lady said that was a good pick, but eh. It had a sweet-​ish taste to me, but not something I’d get again.
Citrus Fried Chicken ($ 10): I don’t see how this dish was called Citrus Fried Chicken when it didn’t look fried and it didn’t taste citrus-​y at all. It was almost like orange chicken with some bell peppers, peas and onions added to it. Least liked dish out of the 3 though.
Service:
She seemed rude to us, but nice to the other table that was there before us? I asked a couple questions, but she was rude when answering them. I’m just asking geez… but at least our waters were always refilled…

We came here on a Saturday evening and ordered Hot and sour soup for 2 (5), Pan Fried Dumplings (6), Tangerine chicken (9.50), and Spicy crispy beef (10) for $ 7 (Used the groupon $ 15 for $ 30)
— Empty. Seated right away! Anywhere.
— Suki knows. 1^st question. Do you have a Groupon? LOL. Stereotype.
— Friendly service. Good recommendations and explanations. Quick water refills.
— Hot and sour soup. Hit the spot on a breezy day. not noteworthy.
— Pan Fried dumplings: 6. crispy. chicken. seems homemade.
— Tangerine chicken: Orange chicken. Crispy. flavorful.
— Order comes with white rice! filling.
— Spicy crispy beef. Taste like orange chicken. haha. crispy. flavorful. xD
— Better than Pei Wei!
— Casino Style Chinese food. Pretty good. Pretty salty. Pretty MSG. Pretty pretty princess. lol

The reviews on this restaurant are all over the place. And it’s easy to see why. First, they have several cuisines, always risky. Since the owner and chef are Chinese, I don’t bother with the Thai, Vietnames or Japanese offerings. Also, having come here at least 20 times in the last year, service can be really fast or really slow. They typically only have one or two wait persons, and only one bus person. On a busy day, service will be really slow. And surprisingly, they survive not by in restaurant dining, but by take out. This is Northwood in irvine, a lot of high income people would rather spend money on take out and eat at home.
My friends and I usually get good service because we typically come after busy lunch hour and after 8 PM on Friday or Saturday nights. Parking is easy, and you can do your grocery shopping at a large Albertson’s almost next door before or after you eat. And since we’re regulars and know the menu and the staff, we order and get served fairly quickly. The staff is usually too busy to socialize, and on those rare moments they’re not busy, you find out they’re really fun and funny. But on some days, that phone keeps ringing and I can see the staff stressed, and families with crying kids getting a little impatient.
My favorites here include the Spicy Crispy Beef and you can ask them to tone down the spice if you want. It’s crispy, it’s tender, it’s sweet, it’s tasty with a little oyster sauce and sweet sour taste, and it’s hot. That dish alone ($ 11) with a rice dish is enough for two. But I usually also like the Sizzling Rice Soup which typically comes out in 5 minutes. The sweet/​sour dishes aren’t very authentic but they’re popular. And sorry I’ve never tried so I can’t comment on their non Chinese dishes. The best deals, though, are the lunch specials. You get a about ²⁄₃ the dinner portion with fried or white rice, a small salad, and your choice of hot and sour soup or egg flower soup. Fairly standard, and at about $ 7.00 is a good deal.
Sometimes, they have a Chinese pop singer tape on, sometimes Adele (overdone!) on the overhead speakers. When that happens and a female wanna be karaōke diner sings along «I wanna find someone like you… oooh oooh oohhh», it’s a real drag in there. The inside is modern and minimalistic, and the small place has booths and half booths as well as tables. Bathrooms are OK. Some people will order take out and eat outside.
Mostly decent dressed people eat here. The bus boy though looks like he has shoes that are about two sizes too big and he shuffles and drags his feet. He would drive any posture freak crazy. (The things we notice when service is a little slow.) But being family owned and operated, with decent food and good prices, I keep coming back for more.

You get what you pay for… or maybe not. If you don’t mind feeling like you’re in another country where speed and food quality doesn’t exist, then you’ll be… okay. In my opinion, a resturant should have the ingredients available for dishes listed on the menu. My hunch is they’re either not up to par running a quality resturant or they’re intentionally saying they don’t have certain items when you come in with a Groupon because they don’t want to lose any profit.
I’m all about supporting the local community, but my mom made faster and better food than this.

I am teeter-​tottering between liking this place and being mildly baffled by it. I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Let’s start at the beginning: I bought a Groupon for this restaurant ($ 15 for $ 30) since this restaurant was in Irvine and close to my home. After work one day, my fiancé and I decided to pull out a Groupon and eat out. We ended up here.
Upon walking in, we didn’t see any hostess. The family of 5 in front of us seemed to know what to do and just picked a booth and sat down. They were the only ones there besides my fiancé and I. We followed suit and picked a booth. After a few minutes, a lady greeted us. I figured it was a seat-​yourself kind of restaurant and I liked it — it felt homey.
We got our menus and a male server got us our drinks (water and hot tea). He seemed really nice. While browsing through the menu, we noticed that many items were crossed off or covered with white-​out. Hmm. The lady was the one who took our orders and I liked her. We would keep trying to order things — things not crossed off or erased by white-​out by the way — and about half of the things we wanted wasn’t being offered. Normally this would annoy me but our server was so funny and sincere about explaining to us why some food items weren’t being offered that the experience became humorous and enjoyable. A few things we tried to order but she told us we couldn’t were: lettuce wraps, any of the desserts, thai iced tea, and a few other appetizers I forget.
After finding out half of the menu was unavailable, we ordered: fish fillet w/​Chinese greens, spicy crispy chicken, steamed dumplings, cream cheese puffs (though we asked for crab puffs…), and hot tea. This was a lot of food. I took more than half of it home. I definitely recommend the crispy chicken; it was by far my favorite. The food was pretty good. The only problem was between ordering the food and getting it, it took them about 35 minutes even though it was only us and another party in the restaurant.
While we were eating, we noticed a few people come in and order takeout. It might be noteworthy that this place seems more suitable for takeout than dining in.
When the male server refilled our waters, we asked him for our check. We had an appointment to get to and hadn’t expected the food to take this long which is why we asked for our check and takeout boxes. We heard him walk over to the female server (maybe they’re related?) and tell her we wanted our checks. We then heard her respond with, «Already?!» then telling him to get the check. Hearing their loud whispers made us laugh. We could clearly hear what they were saying since the place was fairly empty and their voices carried over to our corner.
We packed up our food, used the Groupon and paid the leftover amount, and wrote down the tip amount. While we were still sitting there and getting our stuff together, the male server walked over to our check, open up the check folder, and glance at the tip WHILE WE WERE STILL SITTING DOWN IN FRONT OF HIM. It just… it was just… a little out of the norm. I really liked the guy, he was nice and kept refilling the waters, but… I don’t know. Again, my fiancé and I looked at each other and just laughed it off and left.
It was not a bad experience, just an interesting one. However, I don’t know if I’ll dine in here again. For takeout, I might. It was such a baffling experience. I don’t know.

When in Northwood go elsewhere (anywhere else).
SERVICE: Terrible. Call in to place an order and they put you on hold by setting the phone down for 10 minutes while you can hear the workers banging around, talking to each other and to other customers before they finally realize they forgot about you. They then tell you food will be ready in 20 minutes yet your food isn’t ready for 40 minutes.
FOOD: Mediocre at best. Egg fried rice with no egg, flavorless beff and chicken dishes, and burnt crispy rice for the sizzling rice soup.

When I want Chinese food this is where I go. Since I have moved to Tustin I still make the trek out here when I want Chinese.
I do most of my orders as pick up which is what I think many of the customers do. I don’t see many people dining in, don’t be alarmed! My husband loves their orange chicken so that is what we normally order. The portion is enough for the both of us and comes with a side of white rice.

I see this restaurant once a week basis when I go to Chipotle. I seldom see customers inside for a past five years. I went there to eat once as I was attracted by a sign of $ 4.99 lunch. I was charged almost $ 10 for worst quality of food. I wonder why nobody except few strangled people goes there.
About food quality, I have never been experienced this much bad Chinese food in my life. Even Kenya may have a better Chinese restaurant.

I am so surprised at the low ratings! This is my local, go-​to Chinese food take-​out place and I have always been 100% satisfied with everything I’ve tried from here. Sure it’s not «authentic» but come ON. I’m so sick to death of people talking about Chinese restaurants saying «oh, it’s not authentic, it’s too Americanized…» blah, blah, and BLAH. Get over it.
Pan of Asia serves up great Chinese-​American staplesthat everyone loves, like house chow fun, salt & pepper shrimp, and fried rice, to name a few. The staff is beyond friendly and the service is quick. I’m sorry if Golmar M. found a fly in her food — that sucks. I can understand that being a deterrant but s**t can happen even at the most upscale of restaurants. Not making excuses, but it’s a shame to hear that happened.
Luckily for me, I’ve always enjoyed my dining experiences at Pan of Asia (and also when it was called Jade Garden). Prices DO run a little higher than some of the other local Chinese take-​away spots in Irvine, but it’s close by for me and I like their quality and consistency!

I really like Pan of Asia, especially since I can just walk across the street for take out.
Summary
Clean friendly place. Quiet and comfortable
The food is very good for the Chinese-​American genre typical in shopping centers. I’ll continue to dine here.
Restaurant itself:
Very clean quiet and comfortable. Booths, half booths and tables are available. The wait staff go out of their way to help and explain items. One even told us recipes for leftovers. Service was quick and coke refills prompt.
Food:
As I summarized, this is Chinese-​American food found in many shopping centers. I think it is above average in quality and quantity. We have had, house special chicken, house special rice, crispy spicy beef, Szechuan pork, dumplings and more in the couple times I have been here. Nothing disappoints. I need to remember to try new things, as I fall back to my favorites (chicken and crispy beef).
If you are looking for high-​end Chinese, this probably won’t be the place to come. If you are looking for a quick tasty bite of Chinese take-​out cuisine, you probably won’t be disappointed.

Their Lunch specials are cheap for this area. Tried the house special chow fun & chicken curry. Liked both and exceed to come back to try their walnut shrimp.