Panda Express — Restaurant in Chattanooga

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. I ordered the family meal for the second time. This comes with 3 large entrées and 2 large sides. The first time they were out of things and it took forever. My second experience I got home and my 5 year old told me her rice didn’t taste right. Being the parent that I am I taste it and the steam rice tasted like a dirty dish rag. When I smelled the rice it smelled like a dirty dish rag. I called the store and two people who claimed to be managers informed me that they could only replace the large side because I ordered $42 of food. They kept telling me they could not replace my order nor give me a refund because I ordered $42 of food and that was a lot of food as if they paid for it. My child ingested this horrible food (thank the Lord she did not get sick). I ended up having to cook my child something to eat and being out of $42 dollars for a meal that I didn’t trust was cook properly. They didn’t even put me on hold when talking to me. The girl just put her hand over the phone and continued to talk trash as if I could not hear her. “She wants us to replace her whole order just because the rice....yea...unreal....it’s just rice”. This store completely put the chain of store in jeopardy. By the time I talked to the 4th person who said she was a manager she said I could come back the next visit and get my order for free. I offered to bring all my food back and they told me there was no manager there that could issue that much of a refund. I will never return to...

I decided to place an online order for lunch today since I had a meeting to get back to and didn’t have much time. Because I was in a rush, I couldn’t double-check the contents of my order before leaving. I specifically asked the worker/cashier to confirm everything was in the bag—orange chicken, the new shrimp entrée, chow mein, and spring rolls—and she assured me it was all there.

Unfortunately, when I got back to my office, I realized the orange chicken was completely missing. This was extremely frustrating because I had paid for it and relied on the staff's word that everything was included. I didn’t have time to go back due to my meeting, so not only was I left with an incomplete meal, but I was also left feeling disappointed and frankly, a bit ripped off.

While I take some responsibility for not double-checking the order myself, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect accuracy when I’m told my order is complete. The food that was included was okay—warm, not hot—but I can’t say I fully enjoyed it knowing a key part of my meal was missing.

This is the kind of careless mistake that turns customers away. It’s a simple fix: staff need to be trained to double-check every order and ensure customers walk out with everything they paid for. Sadly, after this experience, I don’t see myself returning to Panda Express. It's disappointing to pay full price and walk...

Why order online if the only way to pick up is through the drive through line???? Seriously can you not have someone walk it out or at least let people in to pick it up one at a time?

Their food is average but since this whole quarantine thing started we’re kind of running out of choices. My biggest complaint is that I ordered online (as instructed to do by the recorded message when I called ahead) and when I got to the restaurant (on time) I have still been sitting in the drive thru line for 20 minutes and will likely be here at least another 20 based on the amount of cars in front of me.

Then when you try to call (and actually try to talk to a human voice) you listen to an automated recording that just reads the menu to you. Eventually it puts you through to a “store representative” ...except it doesn’t. It rang for 2 minutes straight and then hung up on me!

Where is the customer service? Or any kind of service for that matter.

P.S.

.... and it gets better. After 45 minutes in line, and 1 and a half hours after i originally ordered my food (and 40 minutes after the time I was told it would be ready) the food wasn’t even ready! Plus when I checked the order, they didn’t give me the full order. I was missing an entire meal and my sons drink he ordered. Ridiculous!

You can do better Panda Express. But if you don’t, that’s fine. I won’t be back either way...