Panda Express — Restaurant in Lexington

This was my second time trying Panda Express. The first time, I ordered onlline and picked up at the drive-thru with no wait. I got the beef with broccoli as an ala carte order. There was no wait at the drive-thru. Because it was basically room temp when I got it home - less than 5 minutes - I figured it would be better to order at the drive-thru to get hot food.

Wrong. This time I ordered a bowl with half brown rice, half veggies and their signature orange chicken at the drive-thru which came out immediately with absolutely no wait, so I was looking forward to hot food. But, alas, no. The veggies were just above refrigerated temp and the rice was maybe a bit warmer than that. The chicken was also not even warm. I had to microwave it for a short time to literally take the chill off. While the chicken was tasty, there was only a light coating of sauce on it that did not transfer to the rice and veg at all, so the dish was very dry, even with a good drizzle of soy sauce. The veg and rice were totally bland, barely cooked and not visually appealing. Yes, I know rice - especially brown rice is bland - that is why there should be sauce!

My previous order of beef with broccoli was pretty tasty. Not sure if I will go back for another round of cold food that is priced above its value compared to local Chinese restaurants. Plus, they don't have soup, what kind of Chinese place doesn't have soup? The fortune cookie was fresh and at least as tasty as most.

Maybe the key is to eat inside the stark and appropriately coldly decorated restaurant so you can ask them to heat it up for you and...

First let me disclose this... the workers aside from the lady I had are usually pleasant and professional for their task. It seems to have multi- cultural employee base. However, ironically they might need the training Star bucks offered it's employees after a racial occurrence that broke out on the news. I had an experience with an older Asian lady (who now works at the location by Russell cave) that asked me for my ID to verify it was my debit card through the drive- thru. I asked her if it was policy and she said yes, but I knew she was lying 🤥. I've ordered large orders before and never have been asked for an ID to pay for a meal SMH. Racism is so real but even more sad 😔 when it's experienced through another minority whos culture has it rough to. I try not to let that awkward behavior ruin my mood. So PRAYERS get lifted to the big guy. I also, notice I always have to wait whether I'm ordering for my family or an individual meal and when it comes out it not always hot and fresh. The last time I visited a young man walked straight past my vehicle in the front of the door where I was told to park until they brought out my meal. This fella tried to hand family meal to at least 2 other cars in the lot that were parked eating their lunch since the lobby was closed until 12. Coincidence or...

I ordered online so that I would not have to wait on my food. I pulled into a space labeled "Curbside Pickup Only" and called the store 5 times before someone finally answered. They told me I had to go through the drive through with everyone else who had NOT ordered ahead. After finally getting to the window, Tiffany (the manager) told me that my order, which was supposed to have been ready 15 minutes earlier, was still not ready. (She kept laughing, but I'm not sure what was so funny.) I was told to go BACK to curbside pickup. 15 minutes after that a staff member brought the wrong order. She finally brought me my food back, and explained that no one has told her I was waiting until she'd brought the wrong food. Prices keep getting higher, service keeps falling. No one even ordered an apology. I don't think they even care about customer service.

• edit * Talked to a manager today. There are not even any associates at that store named Tiffany. They weren't terribly worried about the service. She told me I was welcome to go anywhere...