Asia Bistro
7426 Fishers Station Drive
Fishers, Indiana 46038
http://www.asiabistrofishers.com

It what is becoming almost a monthly Sunday night tradition, it was time for me to venture out again for some Chinese takeout and since I was spending some time with my mom and her husband at their house, we decided to try out one of the relatively new takeout places in her area, Asia Bistro.  Since it was my first time trying the place, I decided to go with one of my “testing” Chinese dishes and got…

What I Got:  Quart of General Tso’s Chicken (comes with white rice); $8.95.

As you can see from my very “arty” photo, the dish comes with a quart of General Tso’s chicken mixed with broccoli and then a smaller pint sized container of white rice.  Visually, there’s not a whole lot there.  The chicken bits were covered in a sticky sauce and there were noticeable red pepper flakes in the sauce on the chicken (you can also see them on the broccoli in the picture above).  One thing I did notice that the chicken was particularly soft and the breading of the chicken was also soft as well.  I’m all for tender chicken, but not for mushy breading, so I was little worried as I got ready to eat this one.

My worry subsided a bit, but I can honestly say I was not particularly impressed with this version of General Tso’s chicken.  It’s not that it was overwhelmingly bad, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly good either…it was just edible.  The thick sauce was neither overly spicy, nor overly sweet, but instead somewhere in the middle.  When you order something like General’s chicken, you’d like the sauce to be one of those things (I prefer the spicier version), but this one was neither and that was a big disappointment.  As suspected, the chicken was tender and that was nice, but the breading was soft and doughy and since I like a bit of crunch in my General’s chicken, I really missed that.  All in all, this was just boring.

Would I Buy It Again?  No to the General’s Chicken and probably not to Asia Bistro.  Just too boring and not really worth a purchase.  If I want Chinese food, I don’t want to be bored by it and Asia Bistro gave me that sensation.  The name of this place is deceiving, because this is not what you think of when you think of “bistro quality” food.

As an aside on some of the other menu items, my mom and her husband got different dishes and my mom’s response to her Shrimp with Lobster Sauce was “I’ve been eating this for forty years and this is the worst I’ve ever had” and her husband’s response to his Roast Pork Lo Mein was virtually the same as my review of my food as he said his was “bland.”  Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a place, eh?

-IndianapolisEater

Over a year of reviews and this if our first review of Panera.  You will soon see why.   I used to go to Panera when I worked right by it.  I thought it was convenient and inexpensive.  This was pre-Paradise Bakery as well and Panera was the first fast-casual resto in this area.

I decided to go with the “You Pick Two” menu.  I ordered the Chicken Bacon Dijon and Broccoli and Cheese soup.  What I like about Panera is that they have their calories posted by the menu items.  However, it is depressing to see 420 calories in 1/2 a sandwich.

The sandwich was thin and pretty small.  A few scattered pieces of chicken and bacon between two tasteless pieces of bread.  I quickly realized that of course they need to smother it in fat (bacon, cheese, etc..) because the over processed tasteless chicken could not carry the sandwich by itself.  I could’ve used some lettuce or tomato on this.

I can’t imagine that the broccoli cheddar soup is made in house.   Was it horrible?  No.  Was it better than a good quality canned soup?  No.  Dipping the piece of bread into the soup was a good comfortable combination, almost like yuppie biscuits and gravy.

Would I Buy It Again?  No.  For close to $8.00, I didn’t see a lot of value or more importantly…taste.  If I didn’t eat the bread, I would be starving after this almost 800 calorie meal.  My lunch partner ordered a salmon salad and at first glance I thought they forgot the salmon as the portion was tiny.    I am not going to totally diss Panera though as I do like their Cinnamon Crunch Bagel and almond cream cheese.  I also applaud Panera for putting nutritional information on the menu.

-wibia