Panda Express

The food was OK, but it was 15 minutes before noon and half the containers on the serving line were empty.

Well again there was no food in the serving bar. Every time I come to this panda they are out of steamed rice and 3 of the five entrée Choices. I asked when they would have more walnut shrimp and I was told I don’t know since all the chefs were on break at the same time. I know I shouldn’t expect much but they should at least have the food they offer. And all the trash cans were over flowing and all tables sticky and dirty.

Sometimes you just feel like Americanized Chinese food. Nothing wrong with that.
And while I prefer to keep my money going towards locally owned non-​chain joints, we do want for good Chinese in SLO.
So…yea, I dig this place.
I avoid the noodles because… well, noodles should never look as sad as Panda makes them.
So go with the fried rice.
I prefer the shrimp dishes, and the teriyaki chicken without sauce is really good by itself.
The service is always nice, and they move you through quick even with a long line.

I like the food here fine, that is when there is food in the serving bar. It seems every time I go in — and no matter what time, they never have veggies ready. The cook always has to make them, thus I have to wait. The last time I went in, I went before the lunch rush and the one and only person working the counter stopped helping me to answer the phone and take a huge phone order. Come on! Wait on your customers that are there in person. If this particular owner is planning on taking phone orders on a regular basis, then they need more help in the place. Often times with only 3 people in line the wait is long because of food not being prepared and ready, the server answering the phone, etc. I’ve decided not to give them any more of my hard earned money.

Ew. They had almost no food on the line and what they did have was old and nasty. We tried to get some appetizers and they had maybe 2 of each item. They told us it was all they had and then just stood there and stared at us. It was 6, right around the dinner rush and they didn’t offer to make more.
I get it. It’s fast food, but jack in the box has better egg rolls.

It’s your typical Panda. At this location, the food was skimpy and not very many choices were offered. Service was ok but the workers seemed depressed. Plenty of parking located in the shopping center.

There music was very loud and we asked them to turn it down because we had a 5 month old baby with us. I asked her 3 times. She told me she turned it down but it was clear it was only one notch. She gave me attitude and was super rude about the whole situation. Her name was Ananda and I hope her boss is reading this because she was very unprofessional! And if you’re going to stare down a costumer with a disgusted look make sure they’re not aware of it because you have now just made sure you’ve lost 3 customers who spend about $ 40 every time they come in. Great job Panda Express you hire se REALLY great employees!

let’s be real: panda is probably the best asian food in slo. decent quality food for a reasonable price. staff is always friendly, and usually the line moves fast. I always get orange chicken and honey shrimp; however, I dislike how each employee counts out the individual shrimp. I get you’re supposed to ration it out, but I mean come on. tryna get employee of the month or what? I won’t tell anyone if you give me an extra shrimp or two. also, it seriously ruins my day when they forget to give me a fortune cookie. I need that vague fortune that is not relevant to me none whatsoever!

I have been going to both Panda Express locations in town for a long time and prefer this location on foothill. The staff is friendly and give generous portions, Most of the time it is quite fresh. If there is ever a time when I am not quite satisfied, they offer to make fresh food for me. It seems like the staff is always wiping tables and keeping everything very clean. The managers do a great job at running this restaurant. (Our family eats there about three times a month.)

I will start out with this– I like the food here. It is fast food, but it is good. But the front line staff who serve the food are about as rude as I have ever met. I stood in front of two of their staff for 5 minutes while they stood and giggled, and whispered into each other’s ear. When they decided to actually work, I got what I asked for, but was never asked if I wanted anything else. And she went back to her friend to, apparently, gossip afterwords.
I was here a few weeks ago, and while the staff were a bit more attentive, they still lack basic manners. The grocery store 100 yards away seems to understand these principles. Customers make your business, and the jobs of those who work there.
I know that in a college town with high school students as well, there is little need to try to get help. And I am sure that the pay is not the best. But, come on, hire your people and train then to be courteous at least. This location needs to be more careful with their hiring practices.

This is the best Panda Express I have ever been to. Not only do they give you a very large portion of food, their employees are always smiling and happy to accommodate you with anything you need. The taste of this Panda Express is different than the rest in a much BETTER way. It tastes very fresh and I will definitely be coming back to this location again and again, specifically for these reasons.

Today I had a really bad experience!
The line was empty of food, the cook was super slow, the server dumped the crispy old rice on the new one.
I ordered a side of rice and noodles and took them about 20 minutes to complete the order.
By the way they should be wearing gloves when serving food!

Am I the only one that noticed the «everything here causes cancer sign?» Lol. I asked the server which of their recipes caused cancer and her reply was «pretty much all of them». I applaud her sincerity. As for me, I’ll be eating elsewhere.

In general, I like Panda Express for what it is: cheap, fast food. I would give the chain 4 – 5 stars overall.
This particular location let me down. I went there a few weeks ago, and my meal tasted very burnt (I got chow mein with orange chicken and broccoli beef — I think it was primarily the orange chicken that was burned, but I could also taste a burnt flavor in the chow mein). It was almost inedible, but I was really hungry so I finished it anyways… but it wasn’t pleasurable. And unfortunately I got my meal to-​go, so I could not bring it to their attention on the spot.
From reading other reviews, it sounds like my experience was not unique. They need to get their act together or I won’t be back. I’ve been to the one on Los Osos Valley Road once and had a good experience there.

I’ve been in a few times now. I want to like it here, I do. However there are a few major things that get in the way.
The food– There is a serious disconnect between the «cook» and the server. As someone who loves to cook, I would never consider serving burnt food to a guest, as a hospitable person and gracious hostess I would never serve up something so obviously burnt. But it happens here all of the time. All of the food has burnt taste undertones. From the chow mein with it’s burnt bits to half of my order teriyaki chicken it’s all burnt. The only thing worth eating was my orange chicken. Even my raspberry tea was watered down. This has got to be the most depressing meal I’ve had in ages. Under $ 10, but just sad.

Honestly I’m a little surprised at the number of negative reviews for this place. Seems like the level of expectations for this FAST FOOD restaurant is exceedingly high.
I’ll be blunt, I love this place! It’s all around better than any other Panda Express I’ve dined at. I don’t come here looking for «healthy» or «authentic» Chinese food. Frankly I come here in large part for the quick and relatively cheap sustenance it provides (a relic from my past days as a financially challenged college student). Fortunately I happen to find their food rather delicious so that’s kind of a bonus =P
I’ve been eating from here for the last 8 years and have never encountered bad service or had a bad meal. They generally see a good amount of customer traffic throughout the day, so the food usually doesn’t sit too long as new batches are being made constantly. I normally get a two-​entrée plate with part fried rice and part chow mein as the side (ordered as «half and half»). Always gotta get the orange chicken as one of the entrees and the other I usually pick based on what looks freshest or most appealing that day. Can’t really speak to their other options as I hardly ever deviate from the two-​entrée plate.
Not much to say about the décor or atmosphere but the establishment is kept so clean it would make a health inspector cry tears of joy.

I don’t know why everyone’s hating on this Panda Express. I get decent portions and in my opinion far more than the one by Costco in fact. Chow mein with orange chicken and broccoli beef makes me a happy camper.

This location is terrible! I ordered three large sides of orange chicken for a party and they had to make some fresh because there wasn’t enough… No big deal, and I was told it would only be 5 minutes. As I waited they began to serve new customers… After 20 minutes I realized that they were serving all of these new customers a fresh bach of orange chicken. I finally went up and asked about my order and they completely forgot about me standing right in front of them. When I finally got to my party I realized that they had put my «large» sides in their small rice bowl containers, which are way smaller, and to top it off they only filled them half way. $ 30 for pretty much a single lunch entrée of orange chicken. I won’t be back at this location anytime soon.

Definitely not worth $ 6 for a bowl of rice.
My fiancé and I went in to get our usual. His was a three entrée plate with broccoli beef, and orange chicken. Mine was a panda bowl with white rice and string bean chicken. We ordered it to go, but they had to make it fresh, so we paid first then got our food and left. We didn’t mind the wait because I love it when they have fresh string bean chicken. We got home and I pulled out my panda bowl.
WHAT???
I probably got, not even, half a scoop of string bean chicken. What a rip off. I have been to MULTIPLE panda expresses, both here on the central coast (been to this one quite a few times), and down in LA, and I have NEVER received this small of a portion of food before.
Not only that, but there have been other occasions at this location that have caused them to lose stars from me. I have complained at least three times on their survey about this location specifically, and now it will be a fourth time. I am being generous with my two stars, only because I HATE rating restaurants and other establishments with low ratings (mainly because I know how tough it is to work in food service). I would much rather leave positive feedback, but this has been ridiculous. They need to get their act in gear.

Three shrimp? AGAIN?
Ya gotta be kidding me guys. This is the second time. Portions at this location are so skimpy, I think I’m over it. Wish there was close Chinese food in the foothill area. The closest is three miles! Boo.