We need good food places. If a local is willing to open one, I'll gladly eat there. If a non local is willing to open one, I'll gladly eat there. We just need better restaurants.
All businesses are a-holes, my friend. Small business aren't any different and treat their employees typically like crap. Some of the pettiest tyrants are small business owners.
Point to where the small business owner hurt you! There are crappy small business owners, but that doesn't mean theyre all that way. I've worked for good and bad ones. Large chains typically pay only the very least they can get away with and rarely give back to their communities. (though there are exceptions) Corps definitely get stuck with less fines and law suits because they have giant HR depts and legal teams on retainer. Usually they have a formula for less violations in the first place, but if they get stuck with any cases of substance, they're using corporate franchise resources of HR/ attorneys to get out of them.
> Large chains typically pay only the very least they can get away with and rarely give back to their communities
Small business typically pay only the very least they can get away with and rarely give back to their communities. Why would they do any differently? Why do you have a delusion that small businesses are any better to their employees or the local community?
We should be against all corporations, small and large, alike. Stop thinking small business are good, they're not.
I would love for all establishments to be coops or collectives, but that simply is not the reality right now. If you think a chain franchise is equal in value to the community as an actual local business you are seriously lost my friend.
In n out gives better wages than 95% of local restaurants here. So they’re bringing more value to their workers than most local restaurants are.
What we need is local businesses to step up instead of being worse than the chains.
Never worked for a small business that has rewarded me more than a chain. Chains offer scholarships and other benefits that a small won’t. Plus a lot of the food here isn’t good. Panda would pay way better than a small business could.
A small business keeps more money in the area. Large businesses suck it out and send it to distant cities. Supporting local businesses actually helps the economy. Every burger at a big chain hurts the community.
Paying people less money sucks way more money out of the local economy.
Panda Express would pay about 150% of what a local place would. So they're better than the local businesses for our economy.
They are certainly doing more than most, I'll agree to that. But this could be accomplished by putting in a county wide minimum wage increase. Which seems even better an option to me.
Yeah, we need more local business owners like Joe Mazzotti who frequently didn't pay his employees and violated tons of employment laws. Small business do more wage theft, and violate the more labor laws proportionally than giant corporations.
I'll say this about nationally owned chains, they're soul sucking evil monsters but at least they are at least typically better about paying their employees on time. And they typically have harder and stricter employment laws enforced upon them. This isn't because larger corporations are better, it's because they have more oversight than the smaller ones.
Panda Express is strait up the most Americanized Chinese food you can get at a restaurant and even the owner admits that. So when people say that Panda Express is better is because you are looking for overly processed overly sweet bastardized Chinese food. So stop calling it Chinese food start saying American Chinese fast food.
And our Chinese restaurants are the real thing. Us customers just don't have the palate to appreciate them and so we yearn for the terribleness of Panda Express.
Or maybe, just maybe. Our restaurants can't even measure up to overly processed overly sweet bastardized Chinese food of Panda Express. So we'd rather pay Panda Express prices for crappy (but better food), than the vastly more we're paying for F-tier local Chinese food.
We'd all prefer actually good food, but let's be realistic.
No, I’m fully aware that Panda isn’t good. So by saying it’s better than what is available in Humboldt, I’m hoping to further slander the terrible restaurant scene here.
Chinese gourmet express or whatever it's called in the mall in Eureka has fast food quality stuff and you get a ton of it for not much money. You kinda gotta get a bunch of it to make it worth it, but it's good for 2-3 meals. I like it better than panda express for sure even if their options are more limited
When a local can make normal crappy American Chinese food as good as Panda Express then we need a Panda Express. Our local Chinese food sucks. No one want's puffy ass breaded chicken with dipping sauce. Not available at Panda Exp but I haven't had good Lemon Chicken in 10 years.
Sweet fire chicken = sure-fire diarrhea!
Coming from a place where Panda Express was readily available (and I took advantage of the availability more than was good for me), we are not missing out on anything.
Szechuan Garden may not be as good as the restaurants in SF China town but it is a lot better than Americanized Chinese fast food. They have spicy braised chicken hot pot and Mapo tofu and things that Panda Express would never have. Most of the people saying Panda Express is good wouldn’t recognize a Sichuan peppercorn if it stung your tongue . So dissing local Chinese restaurants and saying they should be like Panda Express is so podunk.
No one's saying Panda Express is good. We're saying it's better than the crap we have here.
Maybe your tongue got too numb from the peppercorns to notice the lack of flavors in Szechuan Garden's food.
We need to support our local businesses and not drag up here every box store and chain restaurant.
Also, Panda Express is not the express route to better Chinese food. Not even close. It's cheap, processed crap; you'd get better "Chinese food" from oriental buffet.
I'm not stoked all the time about our Mexican food situation, but I don't go griping for a Del Taco to make it better.
Move back to the city if you want a panda express.
I’m not going to support a business just because it’s local. They cost more, in most cases here the quality is worse, and they’re still buying their products from Sysco.
Just because the business owner was born or lives somewhere is not a valid reason to support them.
This is mainly why I stopped going local for the most part. Local stores and restaurants (and food trucks) charge way more and the quality is usually not worth the price. Then from my experience a majority of business owners treat their employees pretty poorly and frequently break labor laws.
Panda Express is purely family owned. They aren’t a franchise, so we would need the actually family to open a Panda Express up here.
On a side note, the more corporations and investors come into the area, the more gentrified everything is going to become. But tbh maybe Humboldt needs to be gentrified. The current status quo is pretty shitty.
We need more local establishments — too many chains popping up already.
y'all always say this but never support them and they go out of business quick af
Not every model is destined to succeed. I try new places and support them if they’re good :)
Are there any spots you're referring to specifically?
Panda Cafe been here since I was was small. Same with Chins and Hunans.
We need good food places. If a local is willing to open one, I'll gladly eat there. If a non local is willing to open one, I'll gladly eat there. We just need better restaurants.
I’m not opposed to outsiders moving here to start a business. My issue is with mega chains vs small biz.
All businesses are a-holes, my friend. Small business aren't any different and treat their employees typically like crap. Some of the pettiest tyrants are small business owners.
Point to where the small business owner hurt you! There are crappy small business owners, but that doesn't mean theyre all that way. I've worked for good and bad ones. Large chains typically pay only the very least they can get away with and rarely give back to their communities. (though there are exceptions) Corps definitely get stuck with less fines and law suits because they have giant HR depts and legal teams on retainer. Usually they have a formula for less violations in the first place, but if they get stuck with any cases of substance, they're using corporate franchise resources of HR/ attorneys to get out of them.
> Large chains typically pay only the very least they can get away with and rarely give back to their communities Small business typically pay only the very least they can get away with and rarely give back to their communities. Why would they do any differently? Why do you have a delusion that small businesses are any better to their employees or the local community? We should be against all corporations, small and large, alike. Stop thinking small business are good, they're not.
I would love for all establishments to be coops or collectives, but that simply is not the reality right now. If you think a chain franchise is equal in value to the community as an actual local business you are seriously lost my friend.
In n out gives better wages than 95% of local restaurants here. So they’re bringing more value to their workers than most local restaurants are. What we need is local businesses to step up instead of being worse than the chains.
Employee wages are just one part of what supports a community.
They are the biggest part of supporting the community, since we need people to be paid well enough to spend money in the community.
Never worked for a small business that has rewarded me more than a chain. Chains offer scholarships and other benefits that a small won’t. Plus a lot of the food here isn’t good. Panda would pay way better than a small business could.
A small business keeps more money in the area. Large businesses suck it out and send it to distant cities. Supporting local businesses actually helps the economy. Every burger at a big chain hurts the community.
Paying people less money sucks way more money out of the local economy. Panda Express would pay about 150% of what a local place would. So they're better than the local businesses for our economy.
They are certainly doing more than most, I'll agree to that. But this could be accomplished by putting in a county wide minimum wage increase. Which seems even better an option to me.
Heads up bro, restaurants are *-gasp-* businesses!
Came here to say this. Let's not have more money siphoned off our economy. Local business!
Yeah, we need more local business owners like Joe Mazzotti who frequently didn't pay his employees and violated tons of employment laws. Small business do more wage theft, and violate the more labor laws proportionally than giant corporations. I'll say this about nationally owned chains, they're soul sucking evil monsters but at least they are at least typically better about paying their employees on time. And they typically have harder and stricter employment laws enforced upon them. This isn't because larger corporations are better, it's because they have more oversight than the smaller ones.
We need BETTER Chinese food, not worse
Panda *is* better then what we're stuck with....
Panda is hands down better than every Chinese restaurant in Humboldt County.
Sadly panda is better than 99% of Humboldt Chinese food
Panda Express is strait up the most Americanized Chinese food you can get at a restaurant and even the owner admits that. So when people say that Panda Express is better is because you are looking for overly processed overly sweet bastardized Chinese food. So stop calling it Chinese food start saying American Chinese fast food.
And our Chinese restaurants are the real thing. Us customers just don't have the palate to appreciate them and so we yearn for the terribleness of Panda Express. Or maybe, just maybe. Our restaurants can't even measure up to overly processed overly sweet bastardized Chinese food of Panda Express. So we'd rather pay Panda Express prices for crappy (but better food), than the vastly more we're paying for F-tier local Chinese food. We'd all prefer actually good food, but let's be realistic.
No, I’m fully aware that Panda isn’t good. So by saying it’s better than what is available in Humboldt, I’m hoping to further slander the terrible restaurant scene here.
https://thewoksoflife.com/category/recipes/ Great recipes. I’ve made the Lo Mein, orange chicken, and fried rice. All turned out amazing.
I vote to turn the shitty Burger King in McKinleyville into a Panda.
Chinese gourmet express or whatever it's called in the mall in Eureka has fast food quality stuff and you get a ton of it for not much money. You kinda gotta get a bunch of it to make it worth it, but it's good for 2-3 meals. I like it better than panda express for sure even if their options are more limited
When a local can make normal crappy American Chinese food as good as Panda Express then we need a Panda Express. Our local Chinese food sucks. No one want's puffy ass breaded chicken with dipping sauce. Not available at Panda Exp but I haven't had good Lemon Chicken in 10 years.
Lemon chicken is not real Chinese food it is actually Canadian- and British Chinese food.
Did you read my comment? "normal crappy American Chinese food". The locals here can't even get lemon chicken right.
There are already enough bad restaurants here, we dont need more.
I'd imagine Panda Express would cause some of the bad Chinese restaurants to close. So we'd probably end up with less bad restaurants in the end.
That is highly possible!
Sweet fire chicken = sure-fire diarrhea! Coming from a place where Panda Express was readily available (and I took advantage of the availability more than was good for me), we are not missing out on anything.
Szechuan Garden may not be as good as the restaurants in SF China town but it is a lot better than Americanized Chinese fast food. They have spicy braised chicken hot pot and Mapo tofu and things that Panda Express would never have. Most of the people saying Panda Express is good wouldn’t recognize a Sichuan peppercorn if it stung your tongue . So dissing local Chinese restaurants and saying they should be like Panda Express is so podunk.
No one's saying Panda Express is good. We're saying it's better than the crap we have here. Maybe your tongue got too numb from the peppercorns to notice the lack of flavors in Szechuan Garden's food.
We need to support our local businesses and not drag up here every box store and chain restaurant. Also, Panda Express is not the express route to better Chinese food. Not even close. It's cheap, processed crap; you'd get better "Chinese food" from oriental buffet. I'm not stoked all the time about our Mexican food situation, but I don't go griping for a Del Taco to make it better. Move back to the city if you want a panda express.
I’m not going to support a business just because it’s local. They cost more, in most cases here the quality is worse, and they’re still buying their products from Sysco. Just because the business owner was born or lives somewhere is not a valid reason to support them.
This is mainly why I stopped going local for the most part. Local stores and restaurants (and food trucks) charge way more and the quality is usually not worth the price. Then from my experience a majority of business owners treat their employees pretty poorly and frequently break labor laws.
Look, I understand your point. But if any of that was a slight towards Oriental Buffet or Del Taco.....I'm gonna have to defend them both!! 😂
Well crinkle-cut french fries have no place next to a taco, let alone existing at all.
The audacity!!! 😂
Wasn't there one in the mall some years ago & it died?
Panda Express is purely family owned. They aren’t a franchise, so we would need the actually family to open a Panda Express up here. On a side note, the more corporations and investors come into the area, the more gentrified everything is going to become. But tbh maybe Humboldt needs to be gentrified. The current status quo is pretty shitty.
WINGSTOP #FTW!