Panda Express — Restaurant in Oakland

841 pm Saturday dining room closed and I'm not going to acknowledge that because we're in Oakland that makes it acceptable, they have armed guard security inside, I just drove out of my way to come here and something just throws me off about the dining room being closed so early when it says it's open till 11:30, now yes I can definitely order still in the drive through I think is open but the problem lies that they present themselves as a buffet style where I'm able to walk in identify the food that I want and make a decision from fresh-looking food, and I want to physically see fresh food that's why I came to this place instead of somewhere else, and as I looked in the window to try and see if they're buffet was filled with fresh food or possibly empty because I could not see what was actually in stock and when I come to places like this specifically want to make sure that it has been freshly stocked and I'm not getting the bottom of the bowl scrapings which are a real thing you know obviously that last bowl of food is not going to be as fresh and hot and cooked, as I'm observing what is stocked i watched a worker empty the contents of a styrofoam to-go container into the chow mein now I'm not trying to overthink it and say anything negative as a fact that was one of the servings of food that I was going to get was going to be the Chow mein noodles and now knowing that that just came out of somebody's either leftovers or something that somebody did not come to pick up and it's been sitting out and now they're pouring it back in the serving dish the main serving dish on the buffet is big metal bowls full of supposed to be fresh hot food and I watched them poor food from an individual to go styrofoam container back into the big metal serving bowl and that makes me feel like not necessarily that it was left over foods but definitely somebody's food that they did not pick up so it's not hot and fresh and I'm going to get in there and get that exact same serving of food that was just pulled out of a container, I'm not an advocate for wasting food and so I do understand that the food can be repurposed that way but you know I also am paying full retail price for food that might have been sitting out on a counter for an indefinite period of time and I don't know as a fact that somebody was not eating out of that container and that it has been possibly contaminated by people handling it and serving it and etcetera and no I am not in the Drive-Thru right now I've just decided after seeing that that I'm good 👆 and now I understand why they close early so nobody really sees what...

I went to Panda to order the vegan chicken. They said no problem, but they didn't have any made so I would have to wait in the parking lot stall. 15 minutes later someone came out and said they were out of the vegan chicken option. They asked me if I wanted a different item. I said no, just give me my refund. The employee said he would need to go inside and ask his manager. He comes back outside and says they are too busy to provide my refund at this time, because they have to help customers as they are backed up, and that I would have to wait about 15 more minutes. I told him that was unacceptable because I arrived before those other customers, so I went inside to talk to the manager. The manager saw me walk in with the employee and stayed near the drive through window so he could ignore me. After waiting in fron of the register 5min, I asked him over to the register, which he ignored. I raised my voice to insure he heard me after asking nicely another two times. This got the attention of the people in line. They asked me what happened, I explained my situation and then other customers basically started calling him over as well, because they also agreed that this was unfair and unprofessional, to not be helping me as I arrived before all of them. Finally after me and multiple people called him over he decided to finally help me with my refund. This ordeal wasted 30-45min of my day, was embarrassing and completely unnecessary. It took him all of 2 minutes to give me my refund. I also sent this complaint to corporate, it's been 3.5 weeks since this happened and corporate still hasn't responded to my complaint besides the automated email saying they received the complaint. I will never go to Panda's locations again, they are the worst. If I could give them negative...

I wish I could give this place zero stars, but sadly Google won’t let me. I’ve always had very bad experiences at this store, ranging from a crappy intercom, unfriendly demeanor of some employees, and frequent shortages in supplies. But what happened today was beyond belief. I ordered in the drive-through but didn’t mention the sauces because I took them as given, and I never ask for sauce until I went to the window to make a payment. After I paid, I asked for some sauce, and they said they only had soy sauce. I said I can deal with not getting the other types of sauces, but I really need the teriyaki sauce, and they said they don’t have it. I told the employee that I don’t want the food and asked for a refund, and she said, “Give me a second,” and went away. While I was expecting some type of excuse to deny me a refund, which I didn’t really think was possible, she came back and gave me a packet of the very teriyaki sauce she just said they were out of. I was very surprised. I exited the drive-through because there were people waiting in line after me, parked my car, and went inside to try to speak to someone about the situation, but I saw another employee telling a customer that they don’t have any sauce at all. Anyways, I talked to one lady, but she had trouble understanding English, so I decided to leave the store because it seemed fruitless. Come on, Panda, do better. Denying customers small packets of sauce that probably cost you a few cents is simply shameful. I will make sure to never visit this...