Panda Express — Restaurant in Duluth

I rarely write reviews, but after what happened during my last visit to Panda Express, I feel absolutely compelled to share my experience. It was, without a doubt, one of the most disappointing and disrespectful customer service experiences I’ve ever had—not just at a fast food restaurant, but anywhere.

I walked into the store and immediately noticed that the food trays were clearly full and ready to be served. You could see the entrees sitting right there behind the glass—orange chicken, Beijing beef, chow mein, everything looked stocked and fresh. So naturally, I approached the counter expecting to be able to order what I wanted. But instead of helping, the employee behind the counter just stared at me and, with the most dismissive tone imaginable, said, “We’re out. There’s nothing.”

I thought I misunderstood. I even pointed toward the trays and said, “Isn’t that orange chicken right there?” The staff member didn’t even bother to look. He just shook his head, smirked, and said again, “We don’t have anything.” Then—and I wish I were exaggerating—he literally laughed. Laughed. Not just at the situation, but directly at us. Like we were some kind of joke.

It was insulting, unprofessional, and frankly infuriating. There were multiple trays of food sitting there in plain sight, fully prepared. It wasn’t closing time. There were still customers coming in after us who were also confused. But the employee seemed more interested in mocking us than doing his job. It wasn’t just bad service—it felt deliberately hostile.

We ended up leaving without ordering anything, completely stunned. I’ve been a fan of Panda Express for years, but this experience was enough to make me never want to return to this location again. If this is how customers are treated—lied to, laughed at, and denied service while the food sits in front of them—it’s a serious reflection of how poorly this place is managed.

I hope corporate sees this and takes it seriously. No customer deserves to be treated with such blatant disrespect. A simple “we’re short-staffed” or “we’re not serving that right now” would’ve been disappointing, sure, but understandable. But to lie, mock, and refuse service while laughing in someone’s face? Completely...

Absolute worst Panda Express experience imaginable. We order and they are taking awhile even though there is only one car in front of us, but panda sometimes takes their time, no big deal. We pull up after ordering and they tell us they are out of certain items and we need to change. We change our order and confirm TWICE that everything was good. They have us pay and then 5 minutes later say they don’t have what we changed to and we have to change our order again. Please keep in mind this wasn’t 10 minutes before close, we got there an hour before close. They tell us they can’t give a refund and that we have to change our order. I asked why I would pay for food I don’t want. And they said I can come back tomorrow to get a refund and not today. I asked for a manager but apparently the manager left early and nobody could help. I asked how they are supposed to close the store if nobody has the authority, since there is no manager. After several minutes of back and forth the mysterious manager who doesn’t exist shows up. Complete incompetence all around it’s almost laughable. Don’t go here, it’s not worth the headache just based on the lack of any semblance of professionalism and...

I have placed an order at 9:48am for 12:15pm pickup today, while I arrived at the store at 12:13pm and confirmed with the employee that I was there for pickup. I was told by one of the employee that they are still making me order, I would need to park my car in the front and wait for her to bring out the food for me. Guess what, I had to wait for 20+minutes for my order. And I found out that the car and two cars behind me who just ordered from the drive through was a lot faster than my online order and took off already. Finally I went inside the store after finding out that I was being forgotten. The first lady I spoken with even refused to help me by saying that I need to go back to the drive through again even I showed her the pickup's ready message. I went straight to the manager and I was told by her that the order was ready long time ago. I was curious that why they cannot bring out the food to me just like other customers. The manager was telling me that they thought all the online order would go inside the store and pick up the food by themselves, it was communication mistake. What a shame! Be aware of this location unless you are expecting an unreasonable...