Panda Buffet — Restaurant in Bradenton

So we go to the buffet for Christmas dinner at night time around 8:30 ish . My mother and I were driving around, looking for a place that was open on Christmas Day. Now we got there around 8:45 and the waitress said they close at 9 . I didn’t have an issue since it was Christmas Day and most places were already closed. I myself have no days off of work. My issue isn’t that they were closed at 9 cause obviously that’s what the schedule says. But when I tried to ask about the current time it was 15 till closing and she seemed really dismissive and irritated by my presence as if I was just a bum trying to get a plate on Christmas Day . And I get it, ppl wanna go home early on “Christmas Day”. But the professionalism is trash. I see why they only have 3.9 stars currently. That’s only just enough to stay afloat of business in my opinion. I don’t like to stereo type either, but if I didn’t know any better the place probably got some violations with that many stars. This is what I observed in the past. I won’t share my identity on here but she honestly had no idea who I was and I feel like if she did, she would probably kiss my ass every chance she got and accommodate all my needs. I didn’t have a problem with the buffet closing at all. But had she executed the message a bit more professionally, I wouldn’t have left feeling a negative type of way.This was my first visit to this restaurant I probably would’ve still returned in the future but definitely not anymore. My status might not matter but regardless of who I am, having a professional attitude, especially on Christmas Day, woulda gotten this restaurant very far with me ! Have a good day...

Went to the Panda Buffett last night, with my sister from out-of-town, and one of my daughters. Overall, our experience was great. We went for dinner, around 7:00 pm. Were greeted and seated promptly, and water brought for my sister and daughter. (I don't drink any liquids with my meals.) The selection of buffet food was extensive. Not only were there a LOT of seafood selections, which my sister loved, but there were fries, chicken, sauteed mushrooms, and other "American" food. My sister and daughter made themselves salads from the well-stocked salad bar. I had some of their spinach/cheese dish, salmon, and stuffed mushrooms. My food was excellent. I don't eat most seafood, with the rare exception of homemade crab cakes once in a long while, so I was glad to see the salmon. It was moist, flaky, and delicious!

That being said, I would like to have seen a bit more friendliness on the part of the staff, and had to request knives, as we were only given a fork and a spoon. The knives had some "residue" on them, but I cleaned them up with some of my daughter's water, and napkins.

My sister tried every different shrimp dish they had on the buffet, said her salad was good, and enjoyed her meal. My daughter tried the peanut chicken, some salmon, and several other things. She also got dessert, and seemed to like everything she chose.

Synopsis - the food was great, and I...

Honestly I highly would not recommend to go here, my mom and I could barely eat half our plates and the food was almost cold, dispite only coming in an hour after opening. Genuinely the staff was rude as hell when we talked to the manager like we aren't the kinda people that say something in a restaurant but this was not acceptable. We had to speak up and when we did the manager straight up argued with us over the food quality " I've worked here 11 years and never had a problem" meanwhile their Google reviews are like 3 stars ... The noodles were like cold and soggy, the chicken was all like warm like it had been sitting there for a while. Honestly kinda hard too and I feel like the food safety department should be called cuz I've worked in food industry some food shouldn't get to the customer boarder line cold and still be safe to eat. Honestly when we asked for a solution she said " best I can do 20% off" like... Yeah we didn't even eat 80% of our 1 plate each. It was ridiculous. She claimed they've been busy... There were maybe 10% of the seats in the house filled. That's slow.

Update couldn't even make it out of the parking lot my mom and I got sick in the bathrooms at Publix next door. Not 10 mins later. NEVER EATING...