Panda Express — Restaurant in Lone Tree

This is a long one. Scroll to bottom for TLDR.)

We all know Panda is not top tier cuisine. But that doesn't mean service should be horrendous. Here was my experience yesterday:

We walked in around 1150 and almost all of the food was out. We were told we would have to wait for 10-15 min. No problem. During that time an autistic young man walked in and began telling the older woman clerk his order. She yelled at him multiple times that it would be 10 minutes. He called his mother to tell her this and the mother said not to worry about it (as in cancel the order) by which point the woman had moved on to the others in line. Having not completed the interaction, the young man started talking to her while she was helping the new customers and she snapped at him again to sit down and wait. About 8 more people came in, and they were still out of most things. Our food was finally done, but they forgot our rangoons. So I get back in line behind the new 8 or so people and order them. The older lady literally shooed me away to get me to move down the line.

The younger lady at the register was so also insanely rude. When I asked for them she asked how many and I said three. As in 3 total and she said THREE ORDERS?(((She knows I meant 3 total because what one person would want 9 rangoons!?))) I said no politely. She rang me up and then scoffed when I asked for the sweet and sour. I asked for soy because they did not provide any for our main meal, and she audibly scoffed AGAIN, grabbed a handful of every sauce they had and yelled, "HERE! OKAY!?" Slamming the unwanted sauces on the counter in front of me and walking away.

I am a server of 15 years. I know customer service can be difficult and unforgiving but I have never seen or worked with anyone with such disgusting attitudes. It is clear these two women hate working here. I know this because this the 3rd time we have been mistreated at this location and my final straw.

Ladies if you are reading this: there are plenty of jobs out there that don't require so much customer interaction.Especially in this area. Hotels for example. You can work back of the house kitchen prep, maid service or even banquet serving!

Customers: AVOID THIS LOCATION AT ALL COSTS. Just go to the Panda inside the food court at the mall. They will always have fresher food because it is higher volume there.

Manager/Owner:YOUR STAFF IS RUDE AND AFFECTING YOUR BUSINESS! Do you wish to make money? Because that is not going to last long here. Please make some changes. Hire more people so that these women have support during the rush.

Young Man: you are awesome and thanks for making everyone smile while we waited for food! You commented on my boyfriends mustache. Mustaches forever!!☺️

TLDR: horrible, God-awful customer...

Be careful here folks. I've visited this location before, and generally it has been good, that's why I came back. Today however, in this uncertain time of Covid19, I am deciding whether to call the Tri county Health Department. Watched 2 customers that came in with masks on, then TAKE THEM OFF while ordering at the counter, leaning on, and OVER the sneeze guard, and pointing to/directing the employee (Kiara) which of the items they wanted in each person's order. The employee was oblivious, and took their order as if it made no difference, and had no concern of obvious food contamination. Then I observed the 2 guys waiting, and sniffling on the perimeter of the dining area....after they potentially infected the food. Can't say if they were sick, but sniffling is usually not a good sign. I DO understand that Kiara would have had to confront a customer in this situation, but this seemed so blatantly obvious that it should have been done, that I ended up cancelling my order...which they refused to refund, even though I had not touched or eaten any of it. After asking her for a refund (no), the opportunity to talk to her manager (not available), Kiara called "corporate", and to no avail, said she couldn't get them to listen to her, so she took down my phone number to have her manager call me. Ezra was the persons name I think. I normally dont leave negative reviews, but with the staff seemingly unaware that this was not hygienic behavior, I think its necessary to do so. Amazing. Still waiting for a call, and a refund for food I never even took home. I even asked for Ezra's number, and Kiara said she doesn't have it, even though she must have forgotten she called Ezra 3 minutes prior to me asking for...

Panda is one of my go-to for fast food. 12/28/2023

This location provided a rough experience for me. I had placed a pickup order online. I walked up to the online order pick-up area when I got to the location. I was approached by the cashier at that time, which was right around 4-5 PM, and the rep asked if I was there for pick up. I replied yes and shared my name. The rep had a negative tone in his voice when he asked me for the order number. I stated no problem, let me pull that up. Another person was there to pick up their online order, which was not ready yet. I pulled up the order number and shared the number on my phone with him, and he asked for my name with the same negative tone. I gave him my name, and then he asked for my phone number with the same negative tone. I then gave him the number, and he gave me my order. I asked if I could get an order of crab Rangoon as it would not let me order on the website. he then stormed off to get my crab Rangoon as requested and rang me up fast to get me out of the way to move on to his other tasks.

Overall, I felt like a burden being at this location for my order. My business felt unwanted here. I will not return to this location as I did not feel valued here. I wanted to share this feedback with anyone looking to order here in advance or walk in just to be aware that staff could be unfriendly or uninviting to the business you bring to...