Panda Express

Last we went into the Van Nuys location (store #1419). I wanted steamed vegetables. There weren’t any. We waited. Then, my wife went to order and they were out of chicken and string beans. They were out. We waited again. 3 people ordered while we waited the second time — the vegetables were GONE. They didn’t make enough for more than 3 customers??? We waited another 15 MINUTES for the store, which was almost EMPTY at the time to make more steamed vegetables. We paid. Another woman was waiting already at the register for some other item that wasn’t ready. It took so long that we decided to just eat at the restaurant instead of taking out. ALL tables were dirty. Every single one — empty and dirty. I have pictures if you’d like them. The last time we were in this location, we waited 10 minutes for fried rice… TWICE because the cook forgot to put vegetables in the first time! This location has been a disaster lately. When we got home, my wife called after all of that time waiting because I ordered 3 entrees…2 were vegetables. They only gave me one. The box was half full. Instead of addressing the issue, the lady who answered argued with my wife — ranting about «2 scoops» and how she remembered us (maybe because we had to wait so long at the counter for food to be made over and over). The attitude, service, and cleanliness of the store is completely unacceptable. On top of that, the lo mein didn’t taste right and was greasier than usual — that went into the garbage. We’re at Panda at least once/week…this used to be a one of the good locations.

SCAM — PRICING. This is how they Teach their Employees to RIP YOU OFF.
Go Ahead and ORDER: 3 ENTREE and a Choice of Rice or Noodles MEAL…
AND if you Order an EXTRA SIDE of Spring Rolls…$ 2, They Make the Cheaper Spring Rolls the 3RD Entrée… and Then CHARGE YOU $ 4 MORE for the EXTRA ENTREE… Your Single Order just cost you a FEW dollar more and you didn’t even see them slide that Extra Money out of your Pocket… I confronted the cashier and she insisted she had Evenly rung up all the items… and Pointed out how each was shown on the Receipt. She was correct, BUT by switching the items around… they get to Charge you MORE MONEY just because they Want too! I told them to look up at their own Menu and add up the Numbers… its simple. BASICALLY… if they Do this SCAM… they can make an additional 2 – 4 dollars on Every Single Meal they Charge their Customers!.. After I Told the Manager to REFUND my Card for the meal and that I NO LONGER wanted it… Then she SAID she Credited MY CARD. and RE-​Rang UP the Meal the way it was Supposed to be Charged. I can only imagine HOW MANY CUSTOMER NEVER looked at their Receipts to SEE THIS SCAM… NICE GOING. NOT at HONEST or REPUTABLE Way to do Business. Its worth Noting that While I held up the line a little. and Yes, I felt bad for those behind me, Instead of feeling the wrath of those waiting… the next guy in line Smiled and Said he had Always Wondered why they had done this when he Ordered… and that he had never really taken the time to READ HIS RECEIPT to See what they are Really Charged him. He Admitted to me that They had done this to him many times. As far as the Food? its PANDA EXPRESS… not the Greatest… but I didnt feel like cooking and it was close by.

On a beg of late night greasy food we painfully come here. why? I don’t know. .it sucks! Stop being stingy with portion panda !!! Don’t waste your money here!

Basically, come here if you would like to get smaller portions than at any other Panda Express. The manager who I have unfortunately Got as my server the last three times I’ve came here makes sure that if there is ONE piece of orange chicken too many inside of the scoop that it will most definitely not make it to your plate. Usually the good thing about Panda Express is that when you go there you get full. Not this location, not if the manager «Fausto» has anything to do with it lol you’d think customer service and not penny pinching would be more important! But it’s not and I guess panda express is in a position where they need to make sure that they’re reaaaallly cutting costs. Even the cashier said that Fausto gets mad at the employees If their scoops are too big lol that’s a problem. I had to order an extra side of orange chicken for it to be enough for one person, no bueno stop being such a stickler It’s not your families personal orange chicken supply like dang

I’m not going to give panda 5 stars. But the employees continuously changing out the food to put fresh food for the duration of my visit motivated me to write a review because it did reflect a great amount of care for fresh food by the staff. Everyone was friendly & helpful.
I tried their Eggplant & tofu today & it was good.

The food is never ready. Long wait times. Don’t go after 9. They are too lazy to cook anything new and they seem like they’re ready to close the store by 8:30pm every night. My online orders have been messed up quite often. I gave up telling them to put me on the list of free meals. If they don’t have your side, they’ll just leave it out of your order. So, always check your bag before leaving. It’s the newer younger employees that are the worst. So many damn mistakes, and the dishes are never full of fresh food. I don’t get how some of these people are employed. There is an older female manager that’s delightful. The rest suck.

Whoa, what’s with all the haterade on Panda Express? Yes, I understand that (1) I’m supposed to eat the «famous» orange chicken and (2) that I’m supposed to hate the service here. In that case, I failed in my mission, and wound up actually enjoying what seemed like reasonably healthy food with friendly service. Oh, and one big detail: I came in here on Xmas day, and it was packed. It did take awhile to get to the front of the line, but it’s not like it was due to lackadaisical service. There’s only so much throughput you get with a fully staffed takeout place and a deluge of Chanukah-​loving customers.
Anyway, the «famous» stuff shouldn’t have been. I tasted my friend’s orange chicken and it was just OK. It suffered from the same problem as the honey walnut shrimp, which is that it was breaded for seemingly no reason — the breading made the protein soggy, and muted rather than accented the flavor. The also-​somewhat-​famous Beijing beef was painfully dry. Which brings me to the things that were actually tasty: the black pepper chicken (which, despite sitting in a rather large warm bowel for awhile, wasn’t too dry at all), and the Shanghai beef, which was equally moist and tender. The mixed vegetable and chow mein sides seemed plenty fresh and tasty, as did the veggie spring roll. There were plenty of other items I didn’t get to try, but I’d check out the ones that were not breaded or seasoned to death.
Oh, and it was dirt cheap. A feast for 3 adults and one kid set us back all of $ 28 including tax. I’ll be back.

I don’t give many reviews because I generally don’t feel compelled to share my experiences, but this time I feel differently.
Bottom line is that the food is fine (it’s the same as you’d expect from Panda Express, which is say is good) but the service at this location is horrible. Absolutely horrible. This one location takes at least 20 minutes to get you through the line. Happened to me weeks ago, then again the other day, and again today.
They have one person starting your order, another finishing your order, and one person handling payment. They need another person on the register and possibly helping expedite the order fulfillment. It’s ridiculous that they start putting your food in a dish and it takes at least another 10 minutes to get the rest of your food put in the same dish. By then half my food is cold!
I just see lots of boxes half fulfilled and a bunch of people waiting to pay or get he rest of their food.
At the very least they should have another person handling register so that those of us who have a single item bowl to go don’t have to wait for the families of 6 ahead of us who are waiting for some item to be cooked before we get to pay and leave.
UPDATE.
15 people in line, 1 guy fulfilling orders and 2 cooking. Been here 5 minutes and the line hasn’t moved at all. I’m walking out in another 5 minutes if I’m not giving my order by then.

This Panda Express always leaves me disappointed. I have been there only a few times even though I live a minute away. The service is terrible. I ordered the chicken teriyaki and came home with no teriyaki sauce. I had to drive back and ask for some and when I asked why they didn’t ask me if I wanted teriyaki, he had the nerve to say with an attitude, «Well we only give the sauce when it’s requested.» Really? Is that why it’s called teriyaki chicken? Also, compared to other Panda Expresses, this one seems like they are stingier with their servings.

One of this guys
almost kicked my BUT because I didn’t know the name of one of the dishes,
really bad attitude ‚
I like the food

This location is very poorly managed. Second time here just before the lunch hour at 11:40am and they were out of vegetables, fried rice and half of their entrees. They really need to get it together.
UPDATE: Received a poorly written reply from someone I presume to be the manager. I tried to post a screen shot but for updated reviews you cannot include one:
«in case you dont know but, that panda express is the most busy panda restaurant in all california so thats why at that time you cond not find what you wanted, you can stay there all the time you want and youll see the as soon the food is ready it goes pretty fast. they can make a lot of food so you dont have to be waiting and it can sit there for hours. but the policy is to give fresh food to the costumers. just to let you know. why costumers dont go to the panda express that is in riverside? if you could see, in the back they have food ready but it gets cold while waiting for the other tray to be empty. what is lost there? the quality of the food, dont you think?»
–Yesica M.
I have to say that I sincerely doubt that THIS is the busiest Panda Express in all of California. As far as the Riverside Panda goes, I have never been there, and am not sure why it was mentioned.
I have visited quite a few Panda Expresses throughout the state and country and none are as poorly managed as this. I don’t think it requires a complicated algorithm to understand the ebb and flow of customers and their demands in the restaurant. No one is saying that food should sit and get cold, but the line workers should be able to understand at what point in the tray they need to request additional food be made. This simply comes down to poor training and ineffective communication. Nothing more. No food needs to get cold, and no trays need to be empty. Train your line staff better. End of story.

Every time I come to this panda the lines are incredibly long and it takes forever for it to move faster. What prompted me to write this review is the attitude of a worker there, sadly I don’t know her name. She’s Latina (tan, curly hair, thin) and she gives the worst attitude each and every time. Mind you she’s the one working every time there’s a long ass line. I was at Bank of America in laurel canyon earlier today, I saw this woman in that line and she has the audacity to say that the line was too long in there and that the manager there is the reason for the long line and all these other ridiculous sayings. Like if she takes care of the line in her job all that well !!! Is she serious ?! I’ve gone to that B of A several times and the manager is sweet with all the customers. Unlike this witch who gives attitude and keeps the lines long, gets orders wrong, moves slow. She’s the problem with this business please train her properly or get rid of her.
TL; DR? : Long ass lines that move slow and when you get to the end you’re greeted by a bitter bitch.

Ridiculous had me waiting for food for 20 minutes and didn’t even apologize for the wait, bessy and rahab were overly rude and ridiculously mean, never coming back go to the one in lankershim they have better service and overall all the items when needed.

If the line is long that gives me the idea that the food is good. Overall panda is as in & out one of the food chain with high demand. I drive all over and every panda that I been has long line.
I been several times here and until now no problems.
It’s clean, the food is fresh and staff friendly.
For those that complain. I hope you’re super fast at your job. So every time you talk bad about others you understand that who ever is on the other side is trying to do their best.

I have no idea what is wrong with this employee of there’s name Cindy but I’m amazed she still has a job. I have been to this location twice and she has the worst attitude ever. The first time I was here she was very unpleasant and rudely asked «What else did you need?» are friking kidding me? Then today, which will be my very last trip to this location, she sees me and just ignores me and takes care of other customers when the other cashier was busy helping another one and I have an online order to be picked up. She did make eye contact with me but went on to help others. RUDE! it’s 1:50 and I’m still waiting for my order when I had a set time for it to be picked up.
Only reason I gave 2 stars is bc food is good and really convenient from my work but me coming back here is out of the question!

Horrible new Manager named Fausto.
They need to bring Olga back the old manager.
I use to love this place.
I asked for fresh orange chicken .
Place was empty this guy took 1 hr to make a big huge batch that ran out really quick.
Then he said sorry cant make u special order Im a new manager .
I was like nobody is asking for special order.
Just fresh orange chicken like they always have .
Thats a panda express policy.
I told him the mistake is you did huge batch .then it got full then u did all these other orders.
When you should have done mine .
He was like o ok.
What an idiot .
Horrible new Management

I’m really fan of Panda Express! Orange chicken + Beijing beef + Chow Mein — my ultimate choice =)
In Panda on 14 445 Burbank Blvd i prefer to take away my meal, because there is always a queue and there are no free places)))

Wait time is awful, sense of urgency is about the same from the employees. They give absolutely no eye contact or greeting. I figured I’d test this out a few times but the 3 times I’ve been here nothing changes. I had to walk out this time just bc there were literally 15+ ppl in line. Wouldn’t you think there would be a more efficient method ! This is the only panda I’ve had this issue at ! Sad bc my other option is a panda at the mall so at this point I don’t feel like it could get any worse

I’ve been in denial about this place for a long time. It really is as bad as the lower star reviews suggest. Here’s an amalgam of the last few visits:
Slow line. I mean s-​l-​o-​w.
Staff short you on the portions.
They will literally let the line explode while several employees stand around and watch.
They do not turn over the food often. Good luck on anything but orange chicken.
They refuse to replenish most dishes towards later in the evening.
There are about 2 friendly employees. The rest have contempt in their eyes.
Like the rest of the schmucks who eat here, I’ll probably be back simply based on proximity. I really hate myself sometimes. Where’s a dollar Chinese food place when you need one?

Parking can be a nightmare coming here on your lunch hour. i usually bring something to drop off at the Cleaners across the street, leave my car there, then walk over to Panda/​Chipotle/​Starbucks. lol
Friendly fast service here!