Finding a Hidden Jewel in Villa Park? - CLOSED

China Panda

17853 Santiago Blvd.

Villa Park, CA 92861

For ardent readers of my blog, you know why I am here. For the rest of you, I will explain. I have a self-imposed December 31st deadline for myself to have blogged about a restaurant in all 34 cities in our great county. I want this blog to be about all of OC, not just places convenient for me. So, after this review, we will have five more cities to hit before we reach our goal. Right now, we are headed to Villa Park.

Villa Park is one of the smallest cities in OC. They have the smallest population, and they are the second smallest in area, just behind the city of La Palma. No one ever thinks of heading to Villa Park for a bite. A quick search of restaurants in Villa Park on Yelp reveals six restaurants in the city. All of them are in the same shopping center, the only shopping center in the town. Wow, this city is small! Our options are scarce, with only six choices, one being a Subway. We head to the highest-rated place on the list, China Panda.

China Panda fits into the vibe of Villa Park perfectly. Much like the city, the restaurant is tiny as well. They have seven tables to choose from, and when we got here at 5 on a Saturday night, only two were occupied. We were greeted warmly and given our choice of any of the empty tables. The decor is dominated by light purple walls and numerous pictures hanging on the walls. The one that struck my eye all night was a pencil drawing of Princess Diana. After checking out the extensive menu, we decided on five entrees, so let's look at what we came here for, the food.

After being seated, we were brought these fried Wontons with a fruit sauce for dipping. I might have been really hungry, or these were really good because I could not stop eating them. The fruit sauce was made out of apple, peach, and pineapple and was really a great compliment to the wontons. It was kind of a Chinese equivalent to the chips and salsa served in Mexican restaurants.

The food came out really quick here. There are some family dinner specials, where you get soup and appetizers to accompany your meal, but we all decided to pick one entree each and then order an extra one, just for good measure. Not sure who chose this one, but it is the Hunan Spicy Beef ($8.65). This consisted of sliced, stir-fried beef with onions, bell peppers, and carrots in a spicy Hunan sauce. The meat was really sliced thin but in more significant pieces. It was very tender, with some good pockets of spiciness. The veggies were cooked well and were a solid plate of food.

I do know who selected this vegetable low mein ($6.85); it was Katie. This dish did not impress us. Honestly, though, neither my parents nor I are really into low mein, especially one without any kind of meat in it. This was not awful but plain tasting. The low mein noodles are joined by broccoli and mushrooms in this dish, which resembles Asian spaghetti.

Back to some dishes with meat, the Orange Flavored Chicken ($9.15). This generous portion of orange chicken was not overly sweet but still retained the citrus taste of the sauce. The chicken was fried nicely, with a nice crunch when bitten into. It's way better than the stuff they serve at Panda Express.

I always loved Sweet and Sour Pork ($8.05), and it was no different at China Panda. The chicken is mixed with the sauce, pineapple, onions, and bell peppers. Like the orange chicken, the pork pieces were fried well, but the sauce made this dish. It indeed was two tastes in one. You get the sweet at first, then the sour hits you later. The result was a very balanced sauce, which was a little on the thicker side.

When I read the reviews on Yelp, almost everyone mentioned the Honey Shrimp with Walnuts ($13.55). When this was placed in front of us, I was taken aback by the presentation of this dish. It was served in a taco salad shell, which was unique. They may be trying to present this as an ice cream sundae since they topped it with a cherry. I don't know if they wanted that, but this dish was almost as sweet as a sundae. The shrimp and walnuts were covered in a lovely cream sauce, which went well with the natural saltiness of the shrimp. Not the most enormous serving here, but this was a very rich plate, or bowl?

So you can now officially cross this tiny OC enclave off our list of cities we have not been to. Of the six restaurants in Villa Park, we made the right choice as to which one to visit. The Chinese food here is old-school. This is basically the kind of Chinese food our parents thought was so exotic, but it turns out it is really mainstream. I like mainstream sometimes, and I did like China Panda. The food was good and came out quick and hot. It was also very fresh tasting; you can see why they have been in business for 20 years. The menu is dotted with plenty of items we can all enjoy eating. They feature over 50 beef, chicken, pork, and seafood entrees. Be warned that this place is tiny, and on the day we were here, it was warm outside, and they did not have any air conditioning. Also, the chairs were uncomfortable. They could be the original chairs they opened up with 20 years ago. So now it is on to the other five cities we have left to try. We are headed your way Seal Beach, Cypress, La Palma, Stanton, and Westminster!

Out of five hummingbirds (because the hummingbird is the official bird of Villa Park, probably because they are both tiny), five being best, to zero being worst, China Panda gets 3 hummingbirds.

For more information about China Panda, head to their website here: https://www.villaparkchinapanda.com/