Panda Express — Restaurant in O'Fallon

I love Panda Express food. It's delicious for Americanized Chinese fast food. It's the service that I can't vibe with.

Disclaimer: This is a very long review, sorry. Needed a place to rant, figured I'd share my experience, so that maybe some upper management can do something about it.

Today, I wanted to get some lunch after work. "Mushroom chicken sounds good, let's go to Panda Express!"

First, the drive through line was terribly long. Now this is usually not their fault, but from what I saw, the cars were moving very slowly, which tells me that they were not efficiently taking and making orders. Now that may not be a red flag to anyone, but take this into account: the dining room was COMPLTELEY closed. No one was allowed to come in. Not even to order. They were only dealing with drive through orders. And possibly some online orders.

Well, I didn't know this before coming, because I figured since restrictions are being lifted, that the dining room may be open now (compared to maybe 8 months ago which was the last time I came). I didn't want to go outside just yet because it was 100+ °F, so I called the number listed on Google Maps for Panda Express. THREE TIMES. No one picked up. I called three times and not one single person was available to answer my simple question of "Are we allowed to order inside yet?"

Okay, so I figured they were "super busy" or something (despite the drive through line moving slower than a dead turtle). I decided to get out and see if they were open. The first sign on the front door says "Enter through side door." I was like "Okay, well, I'll go through the side door, then, and I can order inside. That is what it is implying." Walked around the building to the side door, and guess what THIS door says? "Dining room closed, only drive through." Seriously.. If they are going to have their dining room closed, please don't make people go on a scavenger hunt to figure it out.

PLEASE, SOMEONE, UPDATE YOUR SIGNS. And answer the dang phone, at least on...

Panda Express used to be one of my favorite fast food places. I live 45 minutes away and this is the closest one to me. After this last visit I won't be returning anymore. While the staff has always been friendly, I can't imagine not telling your customers that you are out of stuff. Really important stuff. My last visit was about 3 months ago. We walked in and ordered teriyaki chicken with half noodles and half rice. We had about a 5 minute wait for the teriyaki. Upon receiving our food we go to the car and something told me to check it. We had both been served properly, but there wasn't any teriyaki on our chicken. I go back in the restaurant and ask for a cup. The gentleman behind the counter kind of chuckled at me and said, "We don't have any." Ummm, we would have went elsewhere had we been told. The lady behind me waiting to pay said you don't have any? I don't want this, and she left. I can only wish I had caught this before we paid. Back to today's visit. Eight minutes wait for teriyaki, no problem. Finally get my food and go to the car. Guess what? No teriyaki on the chicken. I go back inside and ask for some and they give me two packets. Then I drive the 45 minutes home. Arriving there I sat down to eat and there is no stir fry sauce on the chow mein or the fried rice. Again, why wouldn't you tell your customers these things before they order?! I'm 100% disappointed and had I been at the restaurant I would have asked for a refund. I can understand that places may have difficulty getting items that they need, but its the blatant disregard for the customers that did it for me. I'm not saying to close the restaurant, but maybe hang a note on the door with the items that are...

This is my very first 1 star review, i always give at least 2 stars if its a bad experience, but this needs to be brought to people's attention, especially the owners, and the chain.

Went here on Tuesday, May 4th at 5pm, sat in the drive thru for 10 minutes, and never moved. Had to leave to go to an appointment, came back at 6:15pm, there were 16 cars in the drive thru when we pulled up (that's been normal since Covid). They had a sign on the door to enter the side door, which was locked. We could not order online either. I tried to call twice, and there was no answer.

We waited over 30 minutes in the drive thru before we could order. When we got to the order menu, they were out of chicken egg rolls, string bean chicken, sesame chicken, and wok seared beef and steak....every single thing I ordered they were out of. I'm not sure what else they were out of, because at that point, we decided to leave and go someplace else to eat.

If they are out of certain things, then they should put a sign at the entrance to the parking lot to let people know, instead of waiting over 30 minutes till they get to the order window to find out.

Very poor management!! Extremely disappointed!

Friday, May 7, 2021....gave this place a try again. They open at 11am. Got there at 11:22am and they were already out of Honey Walnut Chicken and the...