Panda Express — Restaurant in Florida

I like most Panda Expresses, but I had a rather unpleasant experience at this location. There were a couple reasons I feel the need to give them a 2/5 stars.

When my family went through the line, we said the two entrees we wanted. I don’t know what all the entries are called just by looking at them. I had to read the nameplates that say what each item is called. But, the nameplates were not put on correctly. They had mixed them up, and then there was confusion because I said I wanted one thing but they were giving me another thing. I figured out the cause of the problem and explained that the names weren’t put on correctly and they fixed it. But they looked at me like “oh boy, this person is so difficult.” That made me feel not so good and put a bad taste in my mouth. And there was no apology from there end for causing the mixup in the first place.

If this had been the only issue, I would have likely given them a 3 or 4 out of 5 stars. But it wasn’t.

I purchased a fountain drink. Unsweet tea is the only thing I can drink because of my diet. I went to get some unsweet tea and they had it closed down. The restaurant still had another hour before closing, but both sweet and unsweetened teas were broken down for the night. I told the worker I couldn’t drink anything else and asked her to recommend a solution. If it were me, or Chickfila, or somewhere else, they would have said “I’m so sorry. Let me make some tea for you. It’ll just be X minutes.” But they said there was nothing they could do about it. So, I said I wanted a refund because I couldn’t drink anything other than water. When I said that, they went over to the drive through and got some unsweetened tea for me. It wasn’t until I said to give me a refund that they tried to find a solution.

Between both of these situations I felt unappreciated as a customer and I felt like more of an inconvenience to them than anything else. It was disappointing.

I get it that it was evening and they were going to close in an hour. But still, plenty of people were coming in after me. It’s not like they were totally dead. I think they should have held off on breaking the teas down. They should have smiled more and made me feel welcomed. They should have apologized when the labels were wrong and the tea was out. They should have offered to get unsweetened tea from the drive through when I approached them about it rather than waiting for me to say I wanted a refund. Or they should have just made some more unsweetened tea. There is a lot that could have been done better. I will go again in the future and see if my experience is better. Hopefully next time I can have a good reason to improve my rating. But unfortunately, for now I must give them a 2/5 stars. I hope this review is helpful to potential guests to the restaurant and also to the restaurant itself, as they strive to improve their...

My boyfriend and I always thought the drive to Pensacola was worth it for Panda Express and we were SO glad to hear there was one opening in Pace, but every experience there yet has been terrible, and because my boyfriend loves the food, we’re there pretty often, unfortunately we may just begin going back to Pensacola just for better service & food that isn’t dry. The service is definitely my major complaint. One night on the way home we came through the drive thru, we were told it was the time of night where they do cook to order and to please be patient with however long it may take if we order something that needed to be made, my boyfriend wanted an entree that would need to be cooked to order, she told us it would take 10 minutes and asked if that was okay, we agreed to wait & she bursted out laugh, and told us it would actually take 20 minutes. I looked at the time and noticed they closed in 20 minutes. My boyfriend, reluctantly changed his order to something they already had up. That was until we got to the window and every employee was giggling and the girl who took our order could hardly contain hersed, I guess having felt sucessful in getting us to change our order so they could get out at the time they wanted. My boyfriend noticed this & asked to please wait for the food he wanted that would have to be cooked to order, whether it be 10 or 20 minutes, we were asked us to pull around the building and wait for our food to come out. No more than 5-10 minutes later our food came out. My boyfriend noted to the blonde girl who brought our food out that the girl in the drive thru had obviously lied to him when she said it would be 20 minutes to make his entree and that she was just trying to rush us out of the drive thru so they could close, she laughed and said “yeaaaaaah” and walked away. Tonight my family decided on Panda for dinner, my boyfriend and I went to get it for everyone, and the girl had the WORST attitude while taking our order, when we got to the window it was the girl who had lied to him previously, we got her name, Fatima, and most definitely filled out the guest survey on our receipt. I suppose if we hear her name in the intercomm we’ll just head for Pensacola...

I was super excited when the Pea Ridge location opened because it’s close to home. I’ve tried the restaurant twice now, about 3 weeks apart.

For each instance that I’ve gone, I asked for two bowls — one with noodles and orange chicken and the other bowl with teriyaki chicken and white or brown rice, respectively. I also requested teriyaki sauce to be added to the side. On both occasions, teriyaki sauce was not given as requested. The chicken and rice combination was extremely dry without it. My child has said that both times her noodles have been too dry.

Also, with both visits my drive thru order was taken by the same young lady. Her customer service skills need a pick me up. Her tone is not friendly or inviting. Her tone when suggesting items doesn’t come across helpful, but in haste to move the customer along.

I understand the restaurant is just getting its start, but I also would believe the staff were trained in great detail regarding how to prepare the meal items and overall customer service. I really want them to succeed, but maybe a franchise owner should make a short visit with the staff to build up character and pride in their...