Ethnic fast food and fast casual restaurants

OP, you’ve not heard of Panda Express?

Panda Express?

PF Changs and Panda Express

Zankou Chicken for Armenian/Lebanese -- only in LA though

Panda Express, pfchangs, and pei wei for generic asian "chinese" food

Panera Bread for Fraus

Las Vegas has drive-through Thai restaurants -- I saw it on Padma Lakshmi's show.

There's a butt load of rich Asians in this world, can't they start their own restaurant chains? I would love to have access to more food choices.

Outside of the west and east coasts, Thai is a limited option and its my favorite.

Panda Express > P.F. Chang's

P.F. Chang's sells overpriced crap. You're paying for the theme decor, like Elephant Bar.

We have Thai Express in Canada.

R10 - that is so good. I remember it back in Toronto in 2007. But tbh some Thai places are amazing.

Beside Panda Express there's also Pick Up Stix and lots of local chains.

If someone ever comes up with a successful national Banh Mi chain, Subway will have to watch out -- it kicks their sandwiches' ass.

Lee's Sandwiches (banh mi) has locations all over California, with some in Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma. I think they're expanding to the DC area as well.

Panda Express is gross.

Una Panda Rapida

Thai Original BBQ throughout SoCal and Las Vegas.

There are many ,though maybe not in the US. In Berlin there are these little take away chains called Asian and it serves a hodgepodge of cultures. Here is is very hard to find sit down Chinese but very easy to find fast food from all the countries.

OP does bring up an interesting point that, other than Panda Express, there aren't really any truly national Asian fast food or fast-casual chains. Yes, there's Pei Wei (but they're small and they're actually closing more locations than opening), Pick Up Stix is strictly regional and probably will never be national, PF Changs is actually full casual, not fast-casual or fast food. I think it's partly that there are so many independent mom & pop Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean places.

Did anyone try the now defunct ShopHouse? Chipotle's pan-Asian concept?

Maybe Pei Wei is just a west coast establishment, but they're an asian fast casual/takeout place that is pretty ok. I believe they are owned by PF Chang's. Sidenote, as a kid I thought PF Chang's and Kona Grill were so fancy. Now I know they're both low quality, overpriced Shitholes. Also, why are all Kona Grills attached to shopping malls under the portico? Every location I've seen is under a portico near the valet. Has to be deliberate. Such a weird choice. Exhaust fumes and overpriced shitty sushi, YUM!

Sbarro Italian in every airport.

r17 I've lived in SoCal for 33 years and have never seen or heard of that place.

R22 - I have bit it is laden with sugar as is Pick Up Stixx. At Pick Up Stixx the basil chicken noodles are ok, but again the sauce is sweet and and the portions small.

[quote] I would love to have access to more food choices.

Yeah, because that's what Americans are missing. Access to more food choices.

R6, who do you think owns Panda Express? And Asians have their huge own chains in Asia.

For Christians there’s is Chick-Fil-A. For Masochists, there is Arby’s

Bonchon is a Korean fried chicken chain.

There is Jolibee for Filipino fast food (ugh). Japanese has Yoshinoya. For me, almost all Thai food is fast and casual.

I expect Chinese dumpling places to be the next fast food to take over.

BonChon is sooo good.

I don't buy from chains. not now. go local or go home

there aren't really any truly national Asian fast food or fast-casual chains...

And a good thing too!

Thai is limited outside the coasts? Maybe 10 years ago. i live in what I wouldn’t even call a midsize city in the south and it seems like there’s a Thai place every couple of miles.

Where can I get pangolin with a side of bat soup?

[quote]OP does bring up an interesting point that [...] there aren't really any truly national Asian fast food or fast-casual chains

The Asians know better than to go mainland.

The West Coast/Southwest is where they make their money and that's fine.

I’d always assumed Magic Wok was everywhere. I guess it’s only around Toledo and the three in Bahrain.

At the nearest Klan meeting, Chad.

We have a chain called Magic Wok in SoCal, but I don't know if it's related to the one in Toledo.

Yoshinoya is a secret guilty pleasure and one I would frequent having the small veggie beef with lots of ginger and red pepper when I wanted something fast and cheap under 650 calories.

Thai Basil

I don't think you really need a Chinese food chain because the Mom & Pop Chinese places are all formulaic and basically the same anyway.

shameless plug for Doc Chey’s in Atlanta!

Also add Yoshinoya to the mix for So Cal.

Some of you all really need to get out more.

Taiwan Din Tai Fung is an international chain with locations in the US. Wherever they are located, the lines are long.

Panda Express used to be owned by Tony Rezko who was accused of bribing Barack Obama. Don't any of you have brains that track back ten years?

ShopHouse was great and even made the Washington Post’s critic’s lists. It was streamlined but didn’t dumb down Southeast Asian cuisine. Most of the locations were replaced (using the same decor and kitchen) by Bibibop, which is ok but less ambitious. You can get cheese and potatoes added to your kinda Korean rice bowl!

Yoshinoya is vile. Grey meat slathered in a gravy over dry rice. Surely there is a better Japanese chain out there.

[quote]Taiwan Din Tai Fung is an international chain with locations in the US. Wherever they are located, the lines are long.

They recently closed one of their two locations near me. (Arcadia, CA) It was their first US location.

r44 Stop posting stupid misinformation. The Panda Express chain was founded by the Cherng family, and is still owned by them. Rezko was involved in some deal to partner with them for restaurants in one area, but he certainly never "owned" Panda Express.

LaMadeleine is popular in Texas. French, you know.

IMO, Panda Express is not great, even by fast food standards. The fried rice, which could be and should be tasty, is just blah and meh. It shouldn't be that hard to make a better fried rice. Other dishes are unnecessarily oily. I realize that it's not a low-calorie place, but still. The orange chicken is nice when it's crunchy, though. Lemon chicken would be better, though. Everything is dumbed way, way down at Panda.

R50, their chow mein is also bad.

And salty as hell, r50

Genghis Grill is somewhat national but they're all closed now. That serve yourself model is goin' bye-bye and probably not coming back anytime soon.

I think Thai food on the whole, apart from Pad Thai, is probably too spicy to appeal to the mainstream American palate. They also tend to have a lot of ingredients. Not well suited to a fast food concept. Yes, I've seen Thai places in food courts, but I don't think there is enough of an audience to sustain a big chain. Panda Express is bland as fuck but I suppose the fact that they have somewhat healthier options than fried chicken or burgers helps the

R54, I think people could get into Thai curry and Pad See Ew. Also those stuffed Angel wings. Thai food hits on a lot of the same notes that American palates crave -- salty, sweet, acidic, etc.

R55 And fat-inducing, that's what Americans really crave.

Here in MA we have Bon Chon!

Rice noodles do not last under heat lamps. Pad Thai or pad see yew are a no go for fast food unless you like a mass of dry gummy congealed food on your plate.

Pei Wei, dope.

Ghengis Grill is apparently NOT closed.

No love for that horrid food court staple, Manchu Wok?

And, yes, R14, Lee's Sandwich has opened inside the Beltway. Right down 50 from DC Sandwich so... good luck, Lee's.

Wong's Wok. Big servings at decent prices.

R58 you sound a little judgmental.

*Puts on eatin' caftan*

[quote] Rice noodles do not last under heat lamps.

That's why it's cooked to order.

This redneck eating a whole Habanero is hysterical!!!

SushiMaki, but the quality varies greatly by location.

Asian Chao is often found in mall food courts. I love their Bourbon Chicken and their steamed cabbage with mixed vegetables.

Has anyone seen the new Popeye's Chicken commercial with the wigger singing in his car? I guess Popeye's learned from the backlash when Mary J. Blige sang about the chicken in Burger King a few years back. I won't even link the Popeye's commercial, as it's a new low for humanity.

R68 "wigger" is the dumbest word ever. If by definition a wigger is a white person trying to act black - you're essentially calling all black people the N-word while simultaneously assuming all black people act a certain way.

Iron Sushi?

Arby’s roast beef reminds me of loose lipped pussy.

Uncooked Arby’s roast beef looks like an aborted fetus.

You mentioned Chinese and Thai but as other people have mentioned other Asian cuisines I thought I'd add -

In the UK, Japanese fast food is pretty big now. The two main places are Itsu and Wasabi - they both do sushi, bento boxes, Japanese curries and noodle dishes, as well as ramen (I know this is a noodle dish too but it's a specific category).

They are in pretty much every big town/city in the UK, at least in the South. There's also Yo Sushi! which is a conveyor-belt style sushi place.

R19, I loved ShopHouse. Loved the vegan options. I hope it comes back someday.

R54, where do you live? People order Thai as often as Chinese in most major cities. It's not exotic or "too spicy" anymore.

R54 is in deepest darkest West Texas.

In the US, Thai has become more common than Chinese food.

We have Leann Chin's restaurants here. It was started by Leann Chin who sold it to General Mills. It uses the same concept as Panda Express except the food tastes good and isn't so greasy. Their fried rice is good as well.

Most of our Thai, Vietnamese, Korean etc. restaurants are small family owned. You can usually get takeout quickly and most taste pretty good.

We have no Indian fast food chains. I've never heard of one. Here they are family run and before Covid usually had a lunch buffet.

LOL at r65. We used to perform a full physical inventory at a prior workplace. It took about a week and a half and towards the end would always get pretty out there. Like chicks making out for money out there.

The warehouse manager (Who looked a lot like the guy in your video) had gotten some concentrated hot sauce. The stuff you were supposed to dilute before using. This big fat stupid temp took a dare for $100 to eat a dozen wings with the hot sauce concentrate slathered all over them. He got them down and then his face puffed out and his eyes rolled back in his head. I really thought he might check out right there. Eventually an ambulance was called and he ended up in the hospital.