Panda Express — Restaurant in Hampton

usually enjoy this panda express because I go through the drive thru. But today we decided to dine in. There was only one family sitting down and no one else in line and no one in the drive thru. One employee greeted me and started my order. In the middle of my order she began tending to the drive thru and told me someone else would help me. I believe she said Marjorie would help me. She was out of sight and did not acknowledge me. I stood there for a few minutes and asked the woman who began helping me if she was going to help me or not. She said "she's counting money". Another employee walked up, looked at the food, didnt acknowledge me and went to the grill. A few more minutes go by and I am irritated and ready to leave. There are people on the grill and no one is acknowledging me. She finally stops counting the money, walks past me and says "one moment ma'am" At this point I have been waiting 5 minutes so one moment is relative. She fumbles at the register after putting the cash drawer in and NEVER comes to serve me. A woman who had been talking by the grill came to help me when she saw I was about to leave. As i was paying, over the loud speaker it said, "we are recording all audio and video at this location." And something about verbalize that you're ok and they did. Thats a heck of a coincidence but i digress. They didn't even apologize for the wait.

It was clear that they were in the middle of shift change AND THEY SHOULD HAVE COMMUNICATED THAT. I would have understood if someone had simply communicated that instead of ignoring me. On top of that, the chicken was tasted completely off. I should have walked out because this was a waster of money...

Well I almost finished my food, I look down and see this! I'm thinking, "what in the world is that?" Looks to be a small piece of cardboard cutout, likely from the side of their boxes, I know food boxes have little hole cutouts on the sides. Not happy about the quality assurance. Pretty careless, and makes me wonder where else they are they cutting corners?? I'm debating whether I want to waste my energy on going in to complain. They don't have a reputation for being a "customer first" company (in this area). Hmmm... I think I'll go in and report back here how they treat me, I may be happliy surprised.....to be continued.

**UPDATE- I went back in the lady at the counter called the manager, Allen. He was very apologetic, he offered me 2 future free meals. I explained that his location was not the closest to me and asked if I could have a gift card to go to the other location. He said he couldn't do that, but then thought for a moment. He gave me two free meal cards and a note to take to the location closest to me. He said they would accommodate the request and asked if I would like that. I accepted the offer. He did not try to make any excuses for the mishap, as I said, he was very apologetic, made me feel heard, and put the customer first. Good job Allen! For me customer service goes a long way and you handled it well! Food quality assurance is important, I'm leaving my review at 1 star for the cardboard, but for customer service...

I was just in tonight and experienced the WORST customer service ever. And this is the third and FINAL time at this Hampton location. I placed an order through Grub Hub, received a ready for pickup message and headed towards the restaurant. By the time I had entered the restaurant 10 minutes had already went by since getting my ready for pickup message. A lady was at the counter, a gentleman was in line to the right, and two young ladies behind him and a couple sitting at a table. They were ALL online pickup customers. All had received the same message I had. New customers who were placing NEW orders, placed them, got their food paid and left. This happened 6 or more times. This didn't seem fair. The WHOLE point of placing online orders is to not have to stand in line and wait. Furthermore, why tell customers it's ready for pickup when it isn't. What really infuriated me was how the young man who was the cashier responded to me when I questioned why all the online customers food wasn't ready. He responded it's not ready, and I said we'll my phone says it is. His response was I'M TELLING YOU IT ISN'T. Extremely horrible customer service. The manager Alysia said we're understaffed. NO EXCUSE. Being short handed has nothing to do with it. I and the other online customers were being IGNORED. NEVER AGAIN. And I will be warning others. TOO MANY CHOICES OUT THERE. I LOVE A...