Panda Express - Mason City

During the first visit/try this place, I am an active food reviewer and youtuber here in North-Iowa, who believes to get it into the mass, we ordered the broccoli beef bowl fried rice and the orange chicken bowl fried rice, the portion size was appropriate, the price was reasonable, and the service was quite fast also, probably back to visit, just down there was the

Ordered grilled chicken and it was Grey in color and looked boiled, slimy, had large chunks of marbled fat which I've never seen in chicken. Ate some and became horribly sick with stomach cramps. I can't smell very well due to covid this past year, but my daughter said it smelled awful and rotten.

Food was good and service was prompt including replenishing food.

Second trip ever to a Panda Express. First was another location and takeout....and bad by any standards. I attributed it to the no dining in thing and the seedy location that one had near a run down strip mall. Stopped by the one in Mason city today. Looked fresh and hot and appetizing. I was starting to see what all the hype was about. Portions were huge. That was the high point. The Beijing beef had decent flavor, but 2 bites in, the breading to beef ratio killed this dish for me. There may have been beef the size of a grain of rice in each morsel. The fried rice looked tasty too, but the coating of grease it left in the mouth belies the 520 calories per serving touted on the menu. The other entree that stood out was the teriyaki chicken. It looked luscious and perfectly cooked. I was looking forward to this...and could have overlooked the overall blah of the other two items. However...one bite in and the strange spongy and greasy texture was more akin to semisoft tofumarinated in oil than any kind of meat. Like snagging that first bite of Thanksgiving turkey to find someone had swapped in Tofurkey instead. Tried a bite more with some of the sauce (from a different piece entirely in case the first one was just somehow defective or something (ikr). Nah...just nah. $10 in the trash and another life lesson learned. Crossing Panda Express off my list permanently.

Good food and nice people to wait for your order. They let you know when it's gonna be a wait on food too.