Panda Inn — Restaurant in Pasadena

I was pretty excited when Panda Inn reopened after remodeling. Initially, my family and I had a positive experience. The atmosphere was very nice, and the food was great.

Unfortunately, our following visits were less than satisfactory.

Second Visit: We waited over an hour to be seated, even though there were plenty of open tables. When we were finally seated, our waitress had zero personality. She didn’t greet us—just silently handed us menus and walked away. We had to flag her down just to place our order. When she finally returned, we ordered our drinks and meals all at once. She never came back to check on us. We had to wave her down for drink refills and again to get our check.

Third Visit: Since our first experience had been good, we decided to give it another shot and invited some friends to join us. We called ahead to make a reservation and were told they weren’t accepting any until after 6:00 PM. So we asked to be put on the waiting list for after 6:00, but the lady repeated that they weren’t accepting reservations until after 6:00 PM—then hung up. We called back exactly at 6:00, only to be told that reservations were already full. We decided to go anyway since our friends were visiting, and we waited an hour and a half to be seated. When we were finally seated, our waitress was initially great, but the food took forever to arrive—and half of our order was wrong. We let it slide since our friends enjoyed their meals.

Fourth Visit: We successfully made a reservation and arrived on time at 6:00 PM. We were seated, but oddly, two different waitresses came to greet us. Both seemed bothered by our presence, and we noticed we kept giving the same order to both of them. When we asked what was going on, they said neither of them knew whose table we were.

Then a young Asian woman in a pinstriped shirt—who I assume was a supervisor—came to our table and asked, “Who are you?” I was baffled. She asked if we had a reservation and what our name was, then told us she couldn’t find us in the system. At this point, we had already been seated for 45 minutes. It was extremely embarrassing in front of our guests, but we stayed calm. She was very rude and made no effort to apologize even after realizing the mistake. Eventually, the food came out—but my dish didn’t. I asked both waitresses several times, and each time I was told it was coming. By the time my plate finally arrived, everyone else at the table had finished eating. I asked to speak to a manager, but no one ever came. My party and I left shortly after.

Fifth Visit: This visit was the worst of all. We called ahead and, as usual, were told no reservations were available. We decided to show up and ask to be put on the waitlist. My wife approached the front counter and was met by the same young Asian woman in the striped shirt. My wife asked if we could be added to the waitlist, and the woman rudely replied, “No, we’re not accepting anyone on the waitlist tonight,” then walked away. My wife, visibly upset, walked out and let me know what happened as I was unloading our kids. I went inside, and immediately a different young lady greeted me kindly. I asked for a table, and without hesitation, she seated us. The food was good, and our waitress was better than the previous ones. However, the experience at the front counter left a bad taste in our mouths.

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Final Thoughts: Without a doubt, the food at Panda Inn is good. But the customer service is awful. There seems to be a serious lack of communication and organization among the staff. Maybe in the future, we’ll consider going back—but for now, we have no desire to spend our money at a place that treats...

Overall this place is really good and must try! There is a parking structure in the rear, currently offering complimentary valet - just tip.

Inside is very modern, sleek, and sexy. It gives you a vibe that you're in a very upscale restaurant with quality service from the hosts to the servers to the chefs and sushi chefs

Definitely get the sushi! The sushi chef told us she helped create the sushi menu. Top notch! And the fish is flown in daily except on Sundays.

The con:

It felt as if our server didn't listen to what we had ordered, but maybe miscommunication. example: we asked for shrimp and lobster wonton but we were given shrimp egg rolls. We had asked for Arnold Palmer, and he came out saying that they didn't have an ingredient for the Shirley temple. We kept getting dishes in the beginning that weren't ours and then realized they put in the wrong orders, also I had ordered the jasmine and lychee green tea - but the server came back and said that there was a typo and that the drink is not available... even though it's on the new menu? But after that miscommunication everything went a little smoother.

Food:

shrimp and lobster: 10/10 - nice kick of heat, wrapper to meat ratio was great. Lots of flavor and crunch from the shrimp. You can taste the lobster.

Egg drop soup: 8/10 - it tasted like homemade. Especially on a cold day this brings a comfort of home

Dungeness crab roll: 11/10 - this is super delicious, must get. Don't look at the price just get it. The crab is so fresh lots of flavor, and you get so much crab it overflows. You don't get that fishy taste, perfect mix of sweet and savory and melts in your mouth.

Golden snapper: 10/10. Good fish to rice ratio, lots of flavor also from the first bite you get enveloped with different flavors.

Shrimp fried rice: 10/10 - large pieces of shrimp, lots of flavor and it's not dry like some places. The shrimp is nice and tender, perfectly cooked.

Beef lo mein: 9/10 - a little bit on the saltier side. The beef to noodle ratio was perfect, the beef was just on the more cooked side.

Black pepper beef: 10/10 - don't look at the price on this either - it's worth every penny. It melts in your mouth and you get an explosion of flavors. It's not overly peppered but it's prominent.

Warm rice pudding: 9/10 - not sweet at all! And a surprise it's chocolate rice pudding. It's really good pairs well with the ice cream on top and coconut milk

Eel and mascarpone roll: 10/10 - I love how they sear it in front of you. It's very good. You don't really taste the fishiness of the eel, great flavor profiles with the mascarpone and it has just the right amount of rice...

After reading some of the hype and positive reviews about Panda Inn we decided to check it out for lunch since we were in Pasadena that morning. What a huge mistake! Unfortunately the Overall experience was extremely disappointing. I am actually still nauseated from eating the food almost 2 days later so I'm not 100% confident about their food contamination/safety procedures. I had heard that Panda Express chain originated from this restaurant and we would have been way better off getting some fast-food at Panda Express for far better food at less than half the price. (Oh yes this place is expensive too! Over $175 for 3 for lunch) . The server (William) was painfully slow. Two examples: 1) we waited 1/2 hour after we finished our appetizers until the entrees arrived and the entrees were all cold. William pulled a complete disappearing act during this time so no drink refills, no water, nothing. And the food was not only cold after sitting at the pass for God knows how long - it was all bland and under-seasoned. 2) Ultimately we figured the only possible saving grace was to add some Chinese hot mustard to give the food some oomph of flavor but they never brought any to the table despite asking the waiter William and even a couple of the others servers repeatedly (at least 6 times) for the elusive mustard that was never coming. The honey Walnut shrimp was under battered and tough and overcooked. The Popcorn Chicken was boring and gristly and came plain without any sauce (some hot mustard would have helped!) The Panda beef (their specialty?) was cold and the meat was tough. It is described as a spicy and was entirely bland (Again why did they never bring our hot mustard??!) and finally the same story with orange chicken. Cold, unseasoned, no spice. Again this could have been a little better with some hot mustard but after asking 6 or 7 times and waiting almost an hour- we gave up. We left almost 3 full plates of food at the table, uneaten. And did not ask for containers to take any of it home. You would think a manager would notice we were not eating most of our food or taking it home and check in with us, but no one noticed or cared. Don't waste your money at this over-hyped and...