One of my favorite ways to eat is to order a bunch of little snack size options and share so that everyone can try a little bit of everything (unless I'm really hungry, then I want my own dish because I am ready to throw down).



So, I kinda recreated a tapas concept at Panda Chinese Kitchen in Wheeling. 



The longtime Wheeling favorite is a pretty standard go-to for Chinese food in the downtown area. They were still primarily takeout when I went, but they made it a pretty simple process. 



I had called in an order for sweet & sour chicken, pineapple chicken, vegetable lo mein, and general tso chicken combination to go.



So I took this home to my parents' house and we had a little bit of everything. They don't do shellfish or pork, so our dinner was pretty chicken heavy. 



Sweet and sour chicken is always a crowd-pleaser. It's white chicken meat covered in a batter and dipped in a sweet sauce - it is universally beloved. That's an easy win in case the other selections weren't as favored.



The general tsos was not my favorite rendition. Pretty chewy and stringy - though, honestly, that seems to be the norm nowadays. Or maybe I'm more cognizant of it? I'm not sure. But I don't want to feel like I'm chewing on an old piece of chicken - even if dredged in a tasty sauce.



The pineapple chicken was the same quality of meat, but it does give me a faux sense of "health" when there's a fruit involved. It definitely makes it sweeter, but this sauce was almost soupy. The chicken breading got kinda soggy. Flavor of the sauce wasn't bad; just the texture wasn't my favorite.



And veggie lo mein - this was a hit. Simple, straight-forward and tasty. 

Grade: B