Best Panda Restaurant

This restaurant re-​opened in March 2012.

The restaurant is now called EMPERO TASTE. Same good food. Great value. Family style restaurant. Loud.

What a find! Delicious food at incredible prices. I ordered the hot and sour soup for $ 4.95 and there was enough to serve 4 people. The rest of the meal was the same way, I think each dish serves 2 – 3 people. Stir fried rice and Malaysian string beans about $ 5.00 each. I’ll be back.
Oh and the service was very attentive.

Not my favorite place to eat.
For my last visit, we ordered Mongolian beef, claypot with frogs, quail, and a veggie dish that I can’t remember the contents of.
Anyway, everything was pretty standard. I wasn’t a big fan of the Mongolian beef, though. It just tasted a little odd to me.
I must admit, the quail never fails. Just get that and you’ll be SET.

Love most of their food there. People have to try their Spicy Salted Spareribs over rice. *drool*

This place is hands down one of the best bargain places to eat. The food is good and the price is really affordable. If you have an army to feed, bring them here! There are many dishes to choose from and honestly I thought I would get a stomach ache from eating cheap food. Thats not the case at all, the food is fresh and I have never gotten sick. The service is okay, they will serve it up, promptly. I frequently order their crispy fried chicken for take out. It’s the bomb! Way better than Costco or Safeway’s chicken.

When this place was still running (apparently it’s closed?), it was really bad. The food was low quality and you could tell it was quickly made in huge batches. Anyway it’s super cheap so if you’re in a big group, family style is the way to go. I wouldn’t recommend this place unless u want below average, inexpensive food. My uncle use to take us here every weekend cuz he’s one of the guys that wants to get the most bang for his buck.

Restaurant has new name called Empero Taste.

This place is CLOSED?
This was the spot to get mass amounts of food with the masses. I’ve been meaning to grab some folks and make another run.
I’m totally bummed out by the news and need to find a replacement.
They haven’t just changed their names have they? I’ve been burnt like that before.

Family style. Good food. Good portions. Service is okay.
Oh, you can order individual stuff too… but it’s limited.
Atmosphere is typical Chinese – not dirty, but ain’t exactly spotless.
English is definitely their second language, so use the numbers on their menu, or learn Chinese.
Love the leftovers!
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Edit 5÷27÷08
OMG I can’t believe this place is no more. :(It’s now Empero Taste. Yes, E-m-p-e-r-o…no, it’s not a misspelling… ugh.

Just had dinner here again.
I only ever go here with the in-​laws.
Not that its a bad thing. Its quite fine, actually.
I’d actually feel guilty going here without them.
The place always fills up by 6, and stays that way until closing.
That speaks for itself. Droves of Chinese in a Chinese restaurant can’t be wrong.
Good food, yes.
Great prices, yes.
Sticky/​greasy tables, yes.
Freshly showered when you walk in, smell like you’ve been freshly stir-​fried when you wok out?
Yes.
Know before you go.

I had my doubts about this place when my Mom first took me here. It seemed like every their Chinese restaurant. It took me a few visits to really warm up and I have. I come here quite often now to celebrate events or just for a family style meal. I especially love the deep fried flounder and the steamed baby sprouts (I have no idea what it translates to in English and my Rominazation of Cantonese sucks). Good food and big portions.
The parking situation blows but it is well worth driving around the block a few times.

How do you have both lobster and dungeoness crab for under $ 30? Simple. Go to Best Panda. Hands down the best deal in town for Cantonese cuisine. You’re making out like a bandit here when you order off the wall menu items (in both English and Chinese – Best Panda does not discriminate).
Word of caution – you have to give up something for great taste and great price right? Yes you do. In this case, it is the atmosphere and environment. You will be stepping on greasy tile floors. You will sit in a loud dining hall setting. You will not like your trip to the restroom. But hey, focus on the goal (i.e. the lobsters and crabs) and you’ll have a great time saving all that money and stuffing your face with delicacies.

When I heard about this great Cantonese-​style Chinese food place, I decided to get a group together to go for my husband’s birthday as a surprise. My husband was suspicious and not happy that his non-​Chinese wife had selected a Chinese restaurant with a name eerily close to Panda Express. Yes, it was a trek out to the outer Sunset to get there, I admitted, but assured him that the food would be well worth it.
His suspicions were put to rest once we tried the food. It was a great place to go with a group – there were about 10 of us, and we all ordered about one dish each, so we had a huge variety of food to share. Dishes are family-​style with the round-​rotating dish holder in the center of the table, making it ideal for sharing. We were pleasantly stuffed and couldn’t believe the insanely cheap price tag for our feast. Best part of all? My husband admitted, «you were right.» Music to my ears.

Good food, no atmosphere, very cheap eats.
How they survive with $ 3.99 salt and pepper prawns (I counted — there were 16 prawns)
Salt and pepper calamari was good and tender although we found a hair in the food after more than half-​eaten. They still offered to make a new one although we just passed that, since it’s kinda too late anyway — almost gone.
Lunch plates price less than $ 5. Incredible!
Well, as other Unilocalers have mentioned, this restaurant’s cleanliness is questionable but the good food and price can make up to it.
The general rule to eat out is not to think about this or that, otherwise you better just cook the food yourself at home so that you know you are the only one touching the food.
Of course when you eat out, someone else who cooks your food is touching your food and occasionally a piece of hair may drop on the food and get cooked together.
At least, it’s cooked and sterilized! Ha!
Very cheap, good food, better than 8 Immortals on Taraval St.

The veggie selections are limited, my waitress told me that oyster sauce is vegetarian (uh…) and I cannot read Cantonese so I’m fairly sure I missed out on all the good deals. Whatevs, none of this is relevant in my review.
The only thing you need to know about this place is that it is called, BEST PANDA RESTAURANT. there has never been a better name for a restaurant in the history of EVER. if it wouldn’t be considered child abuse, i would name my first kid, «BEST PANDA RESTAURANT». the only thing that would make this place any better is if our waitress was a gigantic, awesome panda. a gigantic, awesome BABY panda. COULD YOU IMAGINE!!! Holy crap! You would have to gouge your own eyes out to avoid being overwhelmed by such adorability!

I’ve been there several time with a group of friends and the food was good, with big protions for a very low price.
The bad point is that the place really needs to be cleaned… try to avoid using the restrooms…

I’d heard rave reviews about Best Panda, and their menu looks fantastic; «the better to disappoint you, my dear…» Unfortunately, while, yes, the servings were ginormous, I thought the food was average, and when taking an overview of our table of dishes, the shimmer of grease over everthing (including the sticky table, not quite cleaned after the last diners) made me lose my appetite.
With all the great Chinese food in the city, I won’t go back, even though the prices are more than reasonable. It’s true, you know: you get what you pay for.

I like a restaurant with good quality and quantity. This place has both. Dinner portions are huge, and inexpensive. Expect to bring some leftovers home. I can easily eat 2 super-​burritoes, but this restaurant has met my match. My favorite is the deep-​fried Flounder. Good corner-​chinese-​restaurant on Balboa.
Parking and waiting to be seated are a huge problem!!!

4÷21÷2008 Update: Was in the neighborhood yesterday. They’ve been closed for remodeling for about 2 months now. The new signs are up and it looks like Best Panda is no more. The new restaurant is called Empero Taste (yeah it looks like a typo but it really is called this!). Chinese translation: #1 seafood and teahouse. Not sure if it’s going to be the same owner & staff.
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I’ve been frequenting Best Panda on and off since they opened. Yes the place isn’t the cleanest (it’s now bordering on dive since the tiles in the dining room looks like it’s about to fall off) but the food is good and plentiful. You can also avoid paying the rice fee ($ 1/​person!) by getting the prix fixe meals that includes fried rice!
Food comes really fast the waiters just dump them on the table for you. But what can you expect? It’s not fancy dining so this is on par w/​the typical chinese service.
They also own Bay Fung Tong.