Panda Express — Restaurant in Orlando

After a few visits, I can say this is one of the worst Panda Express locations in the Orlando area. There are a lot of other choices nearby, check them out instead.

We arrived at 9:05, stood in line with 5-6 people in front of us, which took 20 minutes. Note that no one was making multiple entree orders. Drive-thru orders were a clear high priority, at some point I think we figured out two staff were doing drive-thru orders, leaving 1-2 people for lobby guests. Most items were out and having to be made. Folks were kept waiting for no apparent reason (before they could place their orders). It was like the staff were hoping we'd all leave. Some folks behind us did walk out. Those of us who stayed were more or less there for the "show" at that point.

We were the last dining room customers. First it was 8 minutes, then it was "even longer" for veggies. "Lauryn" told us they don't make food after 8pm" and she said "I tell everyone not to come in after 8, and I work here." They made one of our entrees, and wrote the other on the back of a paper plate. They started shutting things down about 9:20, going through the dining area putting chairs up, and such. The cook kept giving us a look the whole time, like we had done something wrong. Once he finished putting orders up, he was tossing hot water with a spoon, from the wok, onto the back wall. This concerned me. What if he somehow flung the wrong direction, onto staff or toward the front area.

We noticed Lauryn and someone else clearly having a personal conversation on their headsets while they did different things.

Our food was given to go, even though we didn't ask for it that way. We had to ask if we were allowed to remain and eat. The person who rang us up really wouldn't speak to us. The floor looked like it hadn't been cleaned all day, and we ended up sitting at a dirty table as everything else had chairs put up (unless a small table by the window counts).

I'm not sure if the staff are to blame or ownership for trying to close early, but it certainly affected our experience. I love Panda Express, it's usually decent food for a fair price, done easily and quickly.

Bottomline, there are absolutely better locations for Panda Express, and in this area there are other places which will deliver...

This has been the worst Panda Express experience ever. The restaurant showed open till 10pm. We placed an online order for pick up at 9.18pm. Within few minutes we received a text saying that our food is ready for pick up. When we reached at 9.48pm, the lobby was closed, so we were asked to go through drive through. We gave our order details and the server, Elvia says that they don't have our order. We said, we have email and text confirmation. Then she says, is your name.....? To which we say yes. She very indifferently says, we don't have your food. We stopped cooking at 8.30 and we don't have food to give you. Absolutely no apologies, we were livid. We asked, why did we receive a text saying that our order is ready for pick up? She said, our system sends the text. We said, you should have at least called us to inform us that we won't be getting our food. We would not have driven all the way and arranged for some other food. We say what can you give us? She packs some left overs, not what we ordered and way less than what we had ordered. So we ask for refund of half the order, she says we have to call customer service to get refund. Her co-worker walks out and interferes and says he can give us a number to call but we have to give the food back to get the refund. We told him that we need food and we aren't asking for a full refund. We had hungry and sleepy kids in the car, it was almost 10 pm by then. We desperately needed the food that we ordered and paid for online. Instead of a sorry, we got treated like beggars begging for free food. Panda Express needs to fix it's systems and hire polite employees. If your restaurant stops cooking at 8.30pm, why are you accepting orders at 9.18pm and then also sending a text that your order is...

When food is actually available, it is decent. I once visited at around 8:30pm (they close at 9:30pm), and noticed many of the entrees were missing and a lot of people waiting for food to be made so I left. Today I placed a mobile order at around 8:15pm, and then received a call from the store saying that I have to cancel my order because they don't have the entrees I ordered and they won't be making anymore since they are closing soon. They close at 9:30pm...why stop making food so early?? They also told me they cannot cancel my order and I have to do it. I looked up how to online and it says to call the store to cancel or the app. The problem with the app is the store marked the order as "complete" so I couldn't cancel. Why do that when they didn't complete the order? Confused I called the store back and they gave us another number to call besides the corporate number (which was unresponsive). I asked why they stop making food early and the employee explained that even though their drive thru remains open till 9:30pm, their lobby closes at 8:30pm so they stop making food at that time. They need to either continue replenishing food till the drive thru is closed or close both the drive thru and lobby when they no longer want to replenish food. The way they have it is just misleading to the customer. There also needs to be a more efficient way of canceling orders when the item is not available. It shouldn't fall on the customer to deal with this complication. I would avoid ordering online at or after 8pm cause it's a pain to cancel the order...we won't be able to call corporate till tomorrow due to them...