Panda Express — Restaurant in Lawrence

During my visit at 11:00 AM at the Panda Express in Lawrence Kansas at Iowa & 33rd, I experienced multiple issues.

1: First Impressions: Upon walking up to the line, barely half the hot food items were done. I had to wait over 12 minutes for the rest of the food items to be cooked (Wife wanted certain items, you don't disappoint wife if there's a remote chance of getting those items). This should already be done by the time the store is opened.

2: Employee Attitude: The attitudes of the employees were... 'meh' at beast. Not a single person smiling, and they all appeared to not want to be there. There was no apology or anything done to make the wait for the rest of the food worth it.

3: Employee Cleanliness: While waiting on my food, I watched an employee, whom I am assuming is either the shift manager or some type of leader ( and whom was the one cooking), meet up with an Aramark uniform delivery service driver. The employee proceeded to touch the drivers mobile device to sign his name/initials and then go right back to cooking without washing his hands. He then also used his bare hands to 'season' some of the food that was being placed onto the line. Had I not already paid for my food, I'd have walked out at that point.

4: Food Quality: Poor. While waiting on the rest of the food to cook, the already dished food was kept at the line where no heat lamps are located. That's 12 minutes sitting in a Styrofoam container cooling down.

-- Bigger Plate 1: Half Fried Rice / Half Chow Mein | Honey Walnut Shrimp | Broccoli Beef | Honey Sesame Chicken Breast ---- Rice was bland and undercooked. | Chow Mein was decent. | Honey Walnut Shrimp was decent. | The Broccoli Beef needed to be cooked a bit longer, broccoli was very hard and the beef seemed to be luke-warm at best. | Honey Sesame Chicken Breast was mushy, bland, and dry.

--Bigger Plate 2: Fried Rice | Honey Walnut Shrimp | Grilled Chicken Teriyaki | Honey Sesame Chicken Breast -------- Rice was bland and undercooked. | Honey Walnut Shrimp was decent. | The Grilled Chicken Teriyaki seemed to also be luke-warm at best. (Which, again, may be a part of sitting on the line shelf without heat lamps for 12 minutes waiting for the other food to cook). | Honey Sesame Chicken Breast was mushy, bland, and dry.

5: Food Quantity: Extremely Poor: The only thing of decent quantity was the Fried Rice and Chow Mein. The Honey Sesame Chicken Breast (as part of the bigger plate) was placed into the cardboard container which was barely half full. The containers used altogether seemed to have shrank. The quantity of food previously was much better. For the prices paid, the quantity was extremely lacking.

Altogether, I have learned that it would be in my best interest to continue going to the Panda Express's in Olathe KS as their quality is much better and staff are much friendlier. I just happened to be in Lawrence KS during this visit which is the only reason this store was visited. I also happen to believe with 5 employees at the Lawrence KS location ( with possibly more in the back ) there was no employee shortage that particular morning.

If anything gets done to correct this I will update the review. Until then, I highly recommend taking the time and go to Olathe for a better experience at another...

So I haven’t been eating at Panda due to bad experiences with the Topeka Store. I live in Topeka. Last Monday I was meeting a friend who lives in Lawrence at the AT&T store so we could add her to my unlimited plan. I was looking forward to it as I love sweet fire chicken and panda was right next door. Went to the store around 7:30. Not sure exactly what time. I got there and they had no sides except white rice. And had a bit of a line and some mobile orders waiting. Do to this it took longer than normal to get through the line. When it was my turn I asked how much longer on chow mein? Was told about 8 mins. I wanted sweet fire but they had maybe enough for a bowl. And it didn’t look to fresh so I asked how long would it take to get fresh. I was told 7 mins. They took me to the register and I ordered a drink since I would have a little bit of a wait. I waited about 12 to 15 minutes and asked about my food. I saw that they just put out orange chicken and since I had been waiting awhile I asked about my food. They said it wasn’t ready yet. It appeared that they hadn’t even started cooking it even though I had been waiting. I said if it not about done I just need my money back and I’ll leave. If I had been told the wait would be more like 20 to 30 minutes I would have not ordered and just eaten somewhere else. The person who I assume is the manager came over and asked for my receipt. I didn’t have it. When I ordered I was asked if I needed one and said not really. I was told by the manager that he couldn’t refund me then. I said fine. I would like the number for your corporate offices and I’ll file a dispute with my bank since I didn’t receive my food. I was given the number for the survey which is automated so I had to find a number for there corporate. I called and was told that he should have been able to look up my receipt. They took my info and I was told they would email me or call me after they looking i to it to see if they could get me my refund. One week later no refund and no emails or calls. Called again. They found my previous issue and resubmitted it as they said usually there would be a response in 1 to 2 business days.

While I love there food. I will not be going back. I believe that the regional management either doesn’t care or isn’t capable to improve this store. As I looked at there reviews on yelp and on here and there seems to be issues at this store. This probably explains why the Topeka store has similar issues. And obviously there corporate customer service isn’t setup to help with this as I got no follow...

I don’t know what is going on with this location (Iowa St). I get off work around 7:30pm during the weekdays and pick up food for me and my family. I work literally across the street. So by the time I get there, it’s maybe 7:40. All 3 times this week. Half of their stuff was out. And they weren’t willing to make more for the customers. This is busy store I’m sure, being located in a college town. So to see customers walking out each time clearly upset that half of the menu is already unavailable is obviously bad business. They had already cleaned a lot of the dishes already and were scrubbing the walls at 7:40pm!!! They are supposed to close at 9pm. And I have confirmed this with the employees each time I have came in. One time my son said he still wanted me to pick up something for him from there, so I got him orange chicken and brown rice. The orange chicken was as hard as a rock. This is all within the past month. Don’t get me wrong, I know there is a staff shortage all over, but that is not the case here. I’ve been eating here for the last 8 years because the food was always good, but I can no longer eat here, nor can I recommend it to any of my coworkers anymore. I really do hope things get...