Lying at the edge of Main Street in the heart of downtown Marlborough is one of those much sought after, yet often hard to find restaurant mirages: Quality and cheap Chinese food. Panda House is a family run and operated restaurant that serves up large and steaming dishes of Mandarin, Szechuan and Hunan cuisine.

Because the restaurant boasts just five tables, most patrons order their food "to go." Begin your meal with an order of hearty steamed dumplings, which are a slightly more healthy option than their fried counterparts. The dumplings were also more desirable than their traditional egg rolls, which turned out to be rather uninspiring.

For lunch, Panda House offers 22 combos on their lunch special menu, all of which are under $6 and include fried or white rice and a can soda. The shrimp with lobster sauce served over rice will peak the interest of seafood fans (comes with an egg roll).

If wishing to order from the main menu, try one of the moo shi dishes (shrimp, beef, pork, chicken or vegetable). Tigerlily cabbage, egg and black fungus mushroom are blended with your choice ingredient and served with six pancakes (resembles a tortilla), hoisin sauce and white rice (under $7). This delightful dish was not as greasy as found at other restaurants, and the portion size was large enough for several folks to enjoy.

Panda House Restaurant is located at 46 Main Street, Marlborough. Delivery is available for orders over $10. Call 508-481-9170. And for those late night weekend cravings, the restaurant is open until midnight.

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