Pagoda Restaurant

Food was good. I agree pineapple chicken need some chicken in it. Everything else we had was very good. I’ll go back. So far I think it’s the best chinese in white bear lake.

I was a little disappointed that a majority of my pineapple chicken was onions, peppers and pineapples, without a whole lot of chicken. The flavor was great and the pick up process was fast, but delivery and more meat in my entrée would have made it better.

The restaurant relocated about a year ago to this newer location. When they first moved, the food was fresher and tastier but appears to now have reverted back to the former quality but at higher price. The sweet and sour sauce is too thick and sweet and the fry on the meat is mediocre at best with a thick layer of breading. Disturbing that the bottom of the container always has a good amount of oil as to me that would be indicative of a poor fry.
The fried rice is hit or miss in that it is sometimes too salty whereas sometimes it is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Not sure where they find the chicken wings too as they are really tiny compared to other places around the area.
Staff is fun and you have to respect mom and pop stores in this day and age but perhaps its time for Pagoda to stop upgrading prices but rather upgrade the quality of the food.

This restaurant has recently moved down the road to a new location.
I decided to give it a try as I hadn’t been there in many, many years. In a word, terrible. In 2 words, absolutely terrible. We got takeout. I ordered wonton soup which was ok and a bit better than some other Chinese places but definitely nothing special. The egg rolls were serviceable but rather lackluster. For mains we got Kung Pao Beef and sesame chicken. The Kung Pao was just a big takeout box full of celery and green peppers. Maybe there was 10 small pieces of beef and a half dozen cashews. Disgusting also. The sesame chicken was just sesame fried breading in a nasty sweet sauce. I truthfully don’t think there was any chicken in it. I dissected numerous pieces and didn’t find one piece of chicken.
Another complaint was wait time. I placed my order and was told it would be about 25 minutes. Really? I don’t know of any Chinese restaurant that takes that long. They took every minute of that time to get my order out.
Last complaint, price. I’m willing to pay more for a premium product when the quality and Flavors are there. This wasn’t even close. I paid twice as much as I would pay at my usual Chinese place down the road near Maplewood Mall. I will never go back to this place. If they have to cut corners this badly, they need to just shut the doors.

I think their fried rice is among the best I’ve had (and the reason behind my ratings). Their wonton soup is pretty flavorful too. When I have a sore throat, I like getting a bit of their soup. There is a fried potato dish that is very good too. I would stick to the menu as the buffet gets a little old. Pretty decent prices. If I went to school at near by century college, I’d come here to eat pretty regularly.

The first time I ate at Pagoda I was disappointed. My food didn’t taste terrible but it was more celery than anything else. I decided to give it a second chance this afternoon. I was told they had a lunch buffet so I thought I might get a better scope of things.
They evidently have the buffet only on the weekends so I was given a very condensed lunch menu. The lunch specials were all chow mein so I ordered from the other limited menu and chose Hunan Pork partially because it was listed as spicy (and celery wasn’t an ingredient). I ordered my dish extra spicy.
I was shocked by the small portion. It looked like an appetizer. The food and plate were scorching hot (as if microwaved) and I had to wait a bit to let it cool down. Once it was safe to eat I was absolutely disgusted. It was not spicy (like I ordered) but it was unbearably sweet. There were only three small pieces of pork and although they were cooked properly, that just isn’t enough. I didn’t get the celery (like the first time) but I got an abundance of cabbage and rice.
I couldn’t eat this so I waited for my server assuming she would come to check on me. I was the only one in the restaurant at lunch time so I figured it wouldn’t be long. After about five minutes I looked for someone but the place was empty so rather than going in to the kitchen, I waited another five minutes. Eventually my server showed up and asked how my meal was. I had many complaints but only voiced the fact that it was overly sweet and not spicy at all. fifteen minutes went by and she returned with a dish of chili oil stating that they have always made it the same way and have never had a complaint.
During those final fifteen minutes I assumed they were making me a new dish. I wanted to walk out but felt that would be rude so I waited. When she showed up with the chili oil I told her that it wouldn’t help. It was just too sweet to eat. She got very angry and said «well you can just go».
I’ve had some poor restaurant experiences before but this one takes the cake. I will never go back to this place.
I wasted so much time there that I needed food fast before work so I stopped at Taco Bell. The food wasn’t great but the employees were polite, friendly and I got what was expected. What a sad story.

I was really hoping this place would be good, but it turns out that it’s not so great. I got the «lunch special», 6.25 which included a little rice, a little general tso’s chicken and a mini egg roll. Disappointing overall.