Panda King

One of the worst place I have ever been. Dinner plates were very dirty stacks to be served it doesn’t seem like they washed the plate. Food were horrible I will never go to this place.

The reason for my two star rating is because EVERY TIME we go, there is always a «mistake» on our ticket. And yes it is true, if you question them or complain about something, all of a sudden none of them know how to speak English! The reason I didn’t give them a 1 star rating is because there are some items in the buffet that I actually do like; but for the awful service, I much rather go somewhere else! also BEWARE, do NOT go during holiday season, there prices go SKY HIGH and they will NOT tell you until it’s time to pay. I RECOMMEND YOU GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

This place is absolutely terrible. On so many levels.
Most importantly, you go to a restaurant to eat food. So, all other fails aside, you’re there for the food.
Have you ever gone out to eat somewhere, sat down and started eating your meal and immediately become enraged that you’re going to have to pay for the SLOP they just put in front of you? That’s how I would describe the Panda King experience.
Even worse, at Panda King you parade yourself around a dirty looking* buffet desperately searching for something that actually looks appetizing. As your standards begin to degrade, you finally start plating the unpalatable mush from various stainless steel pans. With every scoop from the tepid pans you try to convince yourself that you’re mildly excited about trying it all. Fake smile.
Meanwhile, you shuffle back to your table while trying not to look at your disgusting looking plate when you realize that you’ve been duped. Good job, stupid. You cruised the buffet and saw everything in its gross glory and fixed yourself a heapin’ helpin’ anyway. Now you’re trapped in this shit-​hole until you pay up.
Still, you argue with yourself. «Maybe I just made some bad selections. Maybe I need to try something else.»
As you stand up and prepare yourself for a second round, the sign that reads «Take as much as you want, but eat all of what you take» sends waves of guilt down your spine. «Son of a bitch. I’m supposed to eat all of what I’ve taken? But I took bites of everything on my plate and it all tasted the way the garbage disposal smells after you return from vacation with dirty dishes in the sink.» Defeat. Your mind begins to race as you come to terms with the fact that you will waste food here. You will waste food here because the good person inside of you will make several trips to the buffet in search of just ONE acceptable Chinese dish. Spoiler alert: you will find zero acceptable Chinese dishes.
You sit back down with your second plate. At this point, you know you’ve only collected this pathetic bounty to «get your money’s worth». The anger builds as you realize that you’re paying to feel guilty about wasting what shouldn’t even be called «food». You hang your head in shame as you realize that you did it again. You should have trusted your gut and you didn’t («You saw a huge jug of RoundUp sitting on the floor next to the hostess stand when you first walked in, you IMBECILE!»).
You try to summon your check as the rage continues to build. Your server says she’ll be right back, but she helps every table around you and then begins to vacuum the floor. Is this Panda King or is this Hotel California? You can check out any time you’d like, but you can NEVER leave… because if you DO, these people will chase you into the fucking parking lot without fear of catchin’ a charge (see previous review from ⁸⁄₁₈ when a patron filed kidnapping/​assault charges after being chased into the parking lot).
Suddenly you realize that there are no winners at Panda King — there are only survivors.
This review is based on a true story.
*The place isn’t just dirty LOOKING, check their Jefferson County Food Service Establishment Inspection History. They haven’t had an inspection free of violations — both CRITICAL and NON-​CRITICAL — since 2010! Big Trouble in Little China, my friends.

You know a restaurant is bad when the soda is the best part of the meal. After two plates I was done. The sushi is made with left over salmon. The salad, wontons/​ragoons, and egg rolls are all pre packaged. The Chinese dishes are flavorless. Now that we’ve eaten here I think we’ll pass on this place every time.

Unilocal should offer negative star-​ratings. If it did, this restaurant would merit the «Steaming-​Dead-​Rat-​with-​Maggots-​Bursting-​from-​Its-​Belly» star. Actually, that might describe the food here.
Let me tell you what happened.
You enter a dirty dingy facility from a dirty unkempt parking lot. You are hit with a stench of steaming rotting food. Half my appetite immediately dies and becomes a tiny wad of agita deep in my bowels. We were seated in the table closest to the buffet, so we had a perfect view of the steam tables. During the course of our meal, which was overcooked slop at best, we observed the «hostess» bringing out a handful of forks, which she DROPPED ON THE FLOOR, BENT OVER AND PUT BACK ON BUFFET!!!
Needless to say, what little appetite I had was smothered under a blanket of nausea. My husband and I sat there a minute in disbelief. We got up, went to the register to complain, stood there being ignored a few more minutes, several employees looked at us (incuding our waiter and the hostess), none bothered to come talk to us. So we walked out.
Halfway to our vehicle the waiter comes running out demanding we pay; we tried to tell him about the health code violation we watched and we refuse to pay for GARBAGE OFF THE FLOOR and if he wanted his food back I’d be happy to vomit it on his feet right there.
Funny how people can pretend to not speak english all of a sudden and refuse to acknowledge a very legitimate customer complaint. If we had pre-​paid, like any other buffet I’ve ever been to, I would have demanded a refund if I had been served from CRAP OFF THE FLOOR.
Long story short, the staff at this restaurant refused to acknowledge WHY payment was being refused, the argument escalated to being physically assaulted by them laying hands on us, to which was responded with several of their staff being charged with KIDNAPPING and ASSAULT by forcibly restraining us (police called to the scene.) Apparently one of their staff got a fat lip, and another a broken finger — those rape-​prevention classes paid off! Hands off, scumbags.
Needless to say, you’d be better off eating elsewhere.
Link to health inspection reports (search for it by restaurant name):

This place was NOT AT ALL what I was expecting! Horrible quality food and not great service. Def will not be going back to this place

Some food was okay (snow crabs stank like shit) but the worst of all was the hostess, such HORRIBLE IGNORANT with really bad attitude. She dared to impose food limitations in the buffet environment to it’s customers??? Worst experience ever!!! Junky place that I would never visit again nor ever recommend to anyone!!!

This is a spacious, very comfortable restaurant. The variety of food is unreal! In addition to the usual Chinese buffet items, they have great salmon, ribs and tempura! Wonderful dessert items as well, including 6 different ice cream/​sherbet flavors! They replace the empty food bins right away and the restaurant is clean and service is very friendly! We will be back!

The food was okay, but I wish I’d know that it’s $ 5 more per person on the weekends. I tried not to be too upset – the seafood «specials» were rather tasty. The clams tasted like they hadn’t been rinsed of the salt water, but the mussels were really flavorful. I also enjoyed all of the shrimp dishes, although I could have done without the skins on the peppered shrimp. The cream puffs were terribly old, but the chocolate coffee cake was good (one of my favorite little treats). I’d visit again, but probably not on the weekend. Too expensive.

I always a bit surprised to see overall reviews for Panda King being so low. While I will never claim Panda King to be a great restaurant, I’ve found it to be consistently good each time I’ve gone.
They offer a wide variety of foods and keep their buffets well-​stocked. I am not a seafood eater, but my family consistently comments on the variety and quality of their seafood options. They have a nice Mongolian BBQ set up with a variety of meats and vegetables. Another nice feature is their array of hard-​scoop ice creams for dessert. They offer between 6 – 8 flavors of ice cream at any given time, along with the traditional buffet desserts like cream puffs, fried donuts, and macaroons.
If I have a hankering for great Chinese food, I’m not going to go to Panda King, but does one really expect «great» food at any buffet? No. Panda King does what a buffet is supposed to do, it offers a wide variety of good food, at a decent price. I will definitely continue going back.

Meh. Nothing spectacular. Then again it is a buffet, you get what you pay for. It’s definitively cheap. Cocktail shrimp was good, and I didn’t have explosive diarrhea which is always a plus in my book. The staff were friendly and efficient considering we had a huge party. To the waitress who kept refilling my coke in a timely manner, you’re the real MVP! Typical Chinese food, with some pizza and chicken nuggets, unusual but I guess it’s there for the children and people who dislike ethnic food. Uh… herro? Someone must’ve wokked out of the wok station which offered noodles and various meats and sides which probably would have made it better. Don’t forget to try the sesame chicken and crab cheese wonton, authentic Chinese food at it’s finest!

I enjoyed the food. It was clean, the staff was nice but hard to understand. There was a large variety of food including some sushi and a dessert bar and a salad bar. There were multiple main dishes and some serious seafood. Good all around. Would recommend it!

Giving one star reviews makes me feel like such a douche because not only is it pretentious but it’s also putting a negative mark on a business that provides a livelihood for people. That being said, I had the lunch buffet here and it might have been one of the worst meals I’ve ever had in my life. The food was overly salted and there was no other taste to the food besides salt. There were a few shrimp dishes which were all just breading and salt, the lo mein was mushy noodles with salt, and the jello in the dessert line was «stale» in that way jello gets. Usually I can power through a mediocre buffet and have a few plates of food but I was disgusted after my first plate and couldn’t finish my second (thought I’d be fair and give it another try).
They did have Coca-​Cola, so I made sure to drink a lot of that.
:(

It’s interesting that the reviews for Panda King are all over the map. Having said that, the trend seems to be on the up-​rise, and that has been my experience. Let me begin by qualifying my rating — every rating must be considered in terms of the universe within which it is being compared. If the universe is all Chinese restaurants everywhere, Panda King is definitely not a four. If, however, the universe is Chinese buffets in the metro-​Denver area, my last few visits to Panda King have consistently been on or about a four.
The building is an old Perkins, and while not unpleasant, could certainly use some new carpet and «freshening.» Our service has consistently been good — attentive, gracious and polite — staff look nice in logo polo shirts. The price/​value is good — $ 11.99 at dinner — that might sound a little high, but the number of items they serve and the number of seafood items included supports the value of the price.
Within the universe of Chinese buffets, I think the food is quite good. We went on Tuesday night this week — sailed our ark in the midst of the typhoons — apparently we own one of the few arks in the area because the restaurant was pretty empty. Given this, I thought they might go light on the food in order to reduce waste, but the steam tables were kept full and fresh. Their hot and sour soup (my personal favorite) is excellent for any restaurant anywhere — and, it and all of the items in their many steam tables are kept hot. This isn’t true at so many buffets. They also do Mongolian BBQ within the price of your meal which is another nice feature. And even on a Tuesday, lots of seafood — a tiny bit of sushi (not what you would go there for, but fine), chilled peel and eat shrimp, snow crab legs, steamed clams, half a dozen shrimp dishes, crayfish, salmon, a couple of mussel entrees, and a delicious octopus dish (the most tender octopus I’ve had). Lots of non-​seafood dishes too, but given the option of seafood, I don’t know why you would waste your time on «chickin.» Most Chinese buffets have soft ice cream for dessert, but Panda King has 5 or 6 big tubs of serve yourself hard ice cream and sherbet — a nice touch from my perspective.
Sometimes you’re hungry for Chinese food, and you really want a little bit of a lot of things rather than a single fabulous entrée, and that’s when the universe of Chinese buffets comes into play. Start me off with some great hot and sour soup, chase it with really good octopus and lots of other seafood dishes, top it off with a big bowl of chocolate ice cream, and float me out to my ark a happy man. So swallow your pride, put on a disguise if you must, and give Panda King a try — they deserve better than their current two-​star rating.

Can I be the shy kid in the back of the class and actually say this place is decent?
I’ve been to Panda King off and on since I was little and back then it was AWESOME but now that I know what I’m eating it’s just okay.
I love the «sushi» and crab legs and the soup and wontons are usually good too. I generally get the shrimp dishes and all of them have been good. I do love the dessert though and that hasn’t changed over the years.
The service is quick and attentive and contrary to a few reviews here, I actually see the employees constantly replacing «old» food with freshly cooked dishes.
This place is okay, it’s nothing fancy but if you want some average Asian-​style buffet food then this is the place to go.

I felt slightly apprehensive after reading previous reviews, but we ventured off to Panda King anyway. A friend of mine mentioned to me a few weeks prior that he went not too long ago and enjoyed his meal, so that added a little bit of reassurance. I’m not one to shy away from an AYE Chinese buffet, but you never know what you’re walking in to. I can say that although Panda King isn’t the best one I’ve ever been to, it is decent and worth the occasional visit.
The variety was very nice and they have everything you’d expect to see at a Chinese buffet. They had the standard selection of appetizers, soups, salad bar items, and mains, and also had a bit of sushi and a Mongolian style grill where you make up your plate and they cook it front of you. I liked the lo mein, crab cheese wontons, hot and sour soup, as well as the sesame chicken, broccoli beef, spicy chicken and a few other dishes I sampled.
The service is what it should be at a place like this, quick and efficient. They refill your drink when it’s empty and bring you your check when you’re finished. The place is quite large, but well-​kept and clean. All in all, I had a good experience and I’d go back.

My father-​in-​law loves the almond cookies and I love Chinese so we all came here to chow down.
What a disappointment.
The sushi was old, stale and I was afraid to eat any of it, for fear of getting sick. The Mongolian grill was decent, but the steak tasted funny, like it had been sitting out for awhile. I did like the fresh shrimp, pepper shrimp and fried rice, but for 12.99 $ a meal for dried out, unsafe food? I don’t think so.
The tea was about the best part, because our waitress was rude and M.I.A for most of our meal.
Skip it if you don’t want to spend the rest of the night in the restroom!

I hate to go against the flow, and I really hate to be seen as that guy who is dumb enough to give a good review to a lousy restaurant, but if I’m being honest, my experience at Panda King was actually really good.
I went to Panda King on a Saturday night, and was pleasantly surprised by the varieties of food that were present on the buffet. There were a lot of fresh looking (and tasting) varieties of seafood including variations on crab, lobster, clams, mussels, and scallops. I’m fairly certain that they only had this much seafood variety because it was a weekend, but, especially by Chinese buffet standards, the seafood was all good (especially the lobster in ginger sauce). All of the more ‘traditional’ buffet fare was present, and was all very average. I have eaten both better, but also much worse buffet food, but I don’t have anything particularly bad to say about the quality or taste of the food. I was also particularly impressed with the quality of the service and constant refill of the buffet.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not the greatest restaurant in Denver. But, there comes a time when a person needs to stand up and say, «I don’t care. I am an American. If there is any meaning to being an American it lies in the recognition that there are times in our lives when quantity takes precedent over quality… when gluttony is more important than pretension.» For those times, Panda King is here.

Tons of fresh food, freshly steamed crab legs and some delicious pastries could not be found here. I’m not one to gang up on a business but as I ate I could say with full belief «I’m going to be sick». I use to come here often and always liked it but it fell off something furious. The service was horrible and if your going to charge my two year old son at least give him his own glass of water and silverware… We were basically charged $ 6.95 for a cube of jello that was on it’s way to fossilization and a couple of bites of what I could grab
I tried to post without rolling over stars but it forced me to post one…

Okay, so I visited again for lunch a few days after going there for dinner. The lunch buffet was drab. Sure, they had a lot of the same stuff as the night buffet. Except one thing. The one thing I actually came back for because it was yummy. That would be the honey walnut shrimp. It was the best thing they had there. Lo and behold, when I went to the buffet for lunch, I was excited to see the white sauce. I got a scoop or two of the offerings coated in white sauce. It was CHICKEN. Boo. When I went to get some ice cream, I noticed the sign called it ‘royal chicken’. The sauce did not save the chicken, my friends. Ugh.
The dumplings were still awful and the meat smelled like sewer and old sock. Ewww. The hot and sour soup was a lot spicier this time around. I got the rainbow sherbet (scooped it out of the big container myself… fun), which may or may not be good with chocolate syrup and sprinkles. Two adult meals and two drinks were $ 25, which is still expensive for the offerings. It would have been easier to take if they had the honey walnut shrimp for lunch. But no, they didn’t, so no, I cannot come back here again.