Panda Express

Being that this Panda Express is in a mall food court the prices are slightly higher than other Panda Express locations. When you order the honey walnut shrimp the workers usually hesitate in scooping a big portion compared to let’s say an orange chicken or something but my problem was if you’re going to charge me an extra $ 1.50 for a «premium entrée» at least put more than one piece of walnut in it. And the honey walnut shrimp did not taste fresh because it was dry. No Bueno.

With all the choices in this food court location, I wish we had tried a different place. Food was tasteless, NOT good! I’ve decided as a consumer if we don’t start writing feedback management will miss knowing what customers are experiencing. One of the worst food court eateries I’ve ever tried. We won’t go back.

overcharged me for an entrée, the workers there even gave me an attitude. Terrible service.

Consistently good food with generous portions and fast service at a reasonable price. Do the survey from your receipt and get one free selection on your next visit.

Worst Panda Express I’ve been to in the country. Didn’t know they could use different ingredients than the standard ones!?! Chow fun was horrible. Our noodles didn’t seem fresh at all so it was braking into little pieces. Maybe this location is trying to adapt the local palate so both entrees we tried were saltier than normal. Chow mein has been my favorite dish at PE so I was extremely disappointed when I had it here. Noodles were thicker and bland. So sad I didn’t get my Panda fix the right way.

The food was okay. I ordered chow mein, teriyaki chicken and honey chicken with green beans. Very unimpressed with the honey chicken. It reminded me of chicken tenders covered with sauce and the green beans were weak looking. I just couldn’t finish it because it wasn’t worth the chew factor. The chow mein was fresh and hot so I was happy with that and the teriyaki chicken. I did have the cashier fill my soda to the top since I’m paying for a full cup of soda and the one I received was not at a discount.

I wanted to buy a large conatiner of the steamed ginger fish. I noticed that the employee was loosely putting the fish in the container and trying fill it with some of the mushroom. The container was approx. 75% full and she started to close it. I asked her if that was it and why wasn’t she filling it to the top. She said that each serving was 9 pieces of fish. The fish was unevenly cut and she gave me the small pieces also noticing that she was cutting the larger pieces into smaller pieces. I told her if that was the case that i didn’t want it. I demanded to speak to a manager who was this very young female. I told her that I was paying for a large container at $ 10.95 per large conatiner. She stated that the serving for the fish was only nine pieces. I told her that they were ripping people off by first not informing the consumer as to how many pieces they were purchasing and secondly by cutting the larger pieces into smaller pieces. I would never ever again patronize this business as they knowingly rip off the customer.

I’ve been to 2 Panda Express restaurants and they were both ok but the first one had a much friendlier service and for that reason I’m giving the one in Alamoana 3 out of 5.
Panda Express is a fast food place, but the flavor of their food beats most ‘quick Chinese food’ restaurants and I’d rather have a meal there then at the average burger joint, any day of the week.

My favorite fast food chinese restaurant to go… i love the orange chicken and the chicken with bean spourts.

Reasonably priced. I wish the food didn’t have so much MSG. However, they do offer a good selection of entrees. It can be a hit or miss — because sometimes the good seems like it has been sitting there for a whole and other times you’re lucky and get the fresh batch of orange chicken. Definitely one of my favorite places to eat at the food court.

Pretty darn good food for a fast-​food Chinese place. I like that they have added vegetables as an option to the starch and that they have some pretty tasty low calorie options for the entrée choices.

I was actually impressed by the food I had here.
The Surf and Turf entrée, even though it is no where near traditional Chinese, was excellent. The tender beef and sautéed shrimp with a light sauce was really good. There is a slight up charge for this entrée.
There is plenty of good choices for food in the mall food court, but stop by and see if they have this entrée. I know that will be the first place I’ll go and check out before making my food selection.

After getting my annual eye exam at my optometrist who is located in Ala Moana Center my friend and I didn’t feel like driving to Ray’s Café, as we were planning to do. We walked over to the Food Court and looked around the various eateries.
We stumbled to Panda Express and the staff was very friendly. She gave the woman in front of us a sample of sesame chicken which looked really good. We also got a sample and my friend just LOVED it so we ended up at this place. We got 2 plates and shared the food:
Plate #1 Chow Mein Noodles w/​Sesame Chicken and «Surf-​N-​Turf»
My friend order this plate and the food was OKAY. Noodles were tossed with some veggies and a light sauce coating. No meat. Very simple. Sesame Chicken was good. They use breast meat which was a great surprise as traditional Chinese places will use chicken thigh meat. This dish had some yellow bell peppers and string beans mixed in.
«Surf-​N-​Turf» was NOT to my liking. First of all, the beef was tender but it had an ocean/​fishy flavor to it. YUCK!!! However, the shrimp was delicious. No batter outside and had a nice «crunch» in texture by itself. But sad to say, I sure did NOT like the small bits of potato in this dish. It was just SOOOOOO wrong!!!
Plate #2 Fried Rice w/​Orange Chicken and Honey Walnut Shrimp
Fried rice had NO egg, meat nor green onions. Just rice, sauce and frozen peas & carrots. Very bland. Honey Walnut Shrimp utilized SMALL shrimps with a hefty batter coating. It may have tasted okay but OILY in my opinion. And get this, my serving only had ONE small piece of walnut!!! I chuckled and told myself it wasn’t worth it to bring this up to the staff who served me. Orange chicken tasted good but could taste the batter more than the chicken itself. Dark meat is used in this dish.
If you ordered entrees with shrimp in it, there was a surcharge of $ 1.25 per plate. The staff politely informs you of this increase before scooping the food.
Call me a food snob but Panda Express was horrible. I know what Chinese food should taste like and this place is just not for me.

Just to let those that don’t know — there are 2 lines and 2 cash registers in the center so you can start at either end at the corner of the food court area–
BTW– this is my favorite place to tell anyone in the world where to meet me — even if they are on leave from an Aircraft carrier visiting Hawaii, in from Chicago or a Peace Corps volunteer flying through from the ends of the earth — I have told them to meet me right here by the tables in front dozens of times different people and I will always find them and they always find me — and it is so easy for them and they can easily go bathroom.
Food wise– it is still Panda– I wish they had new or different entres but it is the same as any otehr Panda in Hawaii — good bad or otherwise. I can count on them for my beef broccoli and noodles and get my fill.
the servers are used to tourists so jaded or otherwise they try to be as friendly as they can and as helpful as they can– or at least trying.

I’m a fan with Panda Express for the taste was so good and made me think I was dining in at a restaurant at some other Panda Express at that time. Wait? Do they have a restaurant? Anyways, what I noticed with this fast food chain is the inconsistency of whoever was the cook at that time. I don’t know if they have 2 different cooks but I could really tell it must have been. Some days, the food was really blahhh, the next day, food was really delicious and the more I am loving it. But lately, it’s been really good so far. Hope the other cook was fired lol!!!

I’ve been working at Ala Moana Center for about 5 years and the one place that I ALWAYS receive great service and awesome food is from Panda Express in the food court.
The workers are always friendly and the food is never disappointing. I always get the 2-​entrée of orange chicken and mushroom chicken with steamed rice on the side. What I also love is that I’m able to call in my order and just pick it up during the afternoon lunch rush!
In conclusion, go to this location because they are friendly, efficient, and fast!

Dear Panda Express Ala Moana,
You are better than other Pandas.
I made the mistake of thinking Panda’s were all the same. But after eating at the Kahala, Pearlridge, Ward, and Windward locations, you are definitely not equal.
Your flavors are more subtle, your shrimp more delicate, your chow funn actually possessing a semblance of flavor.
Windward, bleah. Pearlridge? Bleah. Ward? Really bleah. Kahala? Okay, I think. You? Yummy. As yummy as Panda fast food gets.
In fact, we might see you later today. My kids like your orange chicken. Except for my son. But I can force him to eat just about anything.
Sincerely,
Angela

Panda Express! I think everyone has eaten here before! (sometimes I go to chinatown express to the right of Panda’s)
When you can’t make up you mind what you want to eat and your tired of McDonald’s many people go to Panda for chinese food.
Ok it’s not authentic chinese food you will get at a chinese restaurant or a dim sum place… But it is still pretty good and stops your hunger!
What do I LIKE about their FOOD!?!
* To split my starch, half chow fun half chow mein, half fried rice half chow mein (you get the idea!)
* All the food is made and displayed in front of you: I always liked getting a preview of the choices and I don’t have to wait for someone to make it!
* They always giving samples! This can help with my decision making process, and they don’t seem to be annoyed when they do this!
* Orange Chicken– a classic and they usually give samples of this
* Bejing Beef! –One of the newer entrée choices– Tasty!!!
* Mandarin Chicken: Just a different chicken dish thats not to bad
* Walnut Shrimp: a newer dish: Different from the rest of their choices but tasty!
Service:
Fast and actually good when comparing it to the rest of the food court! People seem to be more mature about their jobs and none of them seem to be hating their day!
Warning– sometimes its hard to understand them.
THE BAD…
It’s not that Panda is that bad. it’s just that theres is nothing special about it. The food is sometimes bland, and pretty greasy. I never really have a craving for Panda’s… And just to mix things up I go to chinatown Express too!

If I ever eat at the Makai Market Food Court I usually go here for meal kine grindz. This is probably one of the bangin’ Panda Expresses on the island. The speed of service is crazy especially during lunch time. If you know what you want you can prolly go in and out in less than a minute. They tend to give you more if you order take out. They also give you samples sometimes. My main combo is half chow mein, half fried rice, beef and brocolli, and of course orange chicken. Their duck soup is pretty good too. I wonder how much pans of orange chicken they go through daily? If you order dine in good luck finding seating during peak days/​times. I like how they give fortune cookies. Sometimes the fortunes are good and sometimes they just make me laugh.
Unilocal 365 Challenge #33/​365

Yes, I am reviewing panda express. So, on vacation we find ourselves at the mall. There. Are. All kinds of restaurants at the mall here. Really a good variety of food especially Japanese, Chinese and korean food. So, what do I do? I go to panda express.
I never go there in LA. It’s so common in LA. But I tell you, what I like is that the food is always changing and being replaced by freshly made dishes. It’s a reliable place. The people were nice. THIS particular panda is super efficient and the food was SO good. Not just because i was hungry. I had mushroom chicken, veggies and noodles. The panda bowl is the way to go. The noodles were good and fresh, the mushroom chicken flavorful without grease and the veggies were firm, not greasy not ruined or overprocessed.
This good panda experience makes me wanna go for panda in LA when nothing better is easily available,
Honolulu panda, you have opened my mind…;)