Panda Express — Restaurant in Pensacola

Been coming here at 9pm for almost 10 years since I moved here, closest thing to island food back home. Never had an incident or complaint until tonight.

Every time I go through the drive through the cashier usually lets me know whats cooked and ready and if anything I need to order isn’t ready, they usually let me know it’s gonna be a short wait so they can cook the food. I usually ALWAYS tell them no problem, I don’t mind waiting and I’ll happily pay for any extra charges.

This night was completely different, the cashier who took my order (wearing the name tag powell, mentioned her name was mohome or something similar, she’s usually polite or was my last 2 visits but I could tell she was angry because I wanted to order food that wasn’t ready yet) was determined to not hear anything I was saying and even more determined to not make anything I ordered, she was extremely rude with me and said she didn’t care that I traveled a whole 45 mins to get there at 9:21pm for her to say they close at 930pm when I’ve been coming to this place for years knowing they don’t close the drive through or stop making food until closing @10 pm and never had an issue even made some friends at this store, they usually also offer me the option of a discount for the food they do still have hot or just have me wait.

There was none of that, from the moment I pulled up her exact words were, This is all we have we’re closed, I tried to ask her to repeat herself because I had a hard time understanding her, she got short with me and said “DO YOU WANT THE FOOD OR NOT” when I pulled up to the window because she never let me order or talk she pointed at the Sunday store hours on the window sticker showing closed at 930pm and today is Wednesday. Clearly stated Mon-Fri 10am-10pm/Saturday Sunday etc. I’m not mad because she was rude, I’m mad because she works for a company that I’m sure would love to take my money for the food I traveled there for but because she wants to go home early, nobody, not even a paying customer can stop her.

Definitely won’t be going back there while she is on shift 🤦‍♂️ at least it wasn’t a complete waste but I had company over and was only able to get 3 plates for a group of 5 people. Told myself it happens and to let it go like I always do, but this...

My family goes to this Panda location at least once a week. The service and food is always wonderful, except for when one specific person is working.

This is I don't know... the third or fourth time that Helen has been unacceptably rude. However, her service today compelled me to write a review, which I don't do often.

Helen was ringing up our party of 6 as she was telling us to sit down. Not even five minutes later, she comes up to our two tables and starts harassing us about what we all got, because she "didn't get the chance to ring us up properly"(despite her telling us to sit down). She was bouncing back and forth between us, like a ping pong ball, interrogating us on what each of us got. Mind you, she's rolling her eyes and getting impatient the entire time. Flash forward another 5 minutes, she finally walks away with one last eye roll and says "next time stay up there so i can get your order." Every time I looked over after that she was glaring at me, along with another one of her co-workers. I'll add that she charged us for 7 people instead of 6. She could have been much nicer about it, but instead she was rude and impatient.

Apart from her and maybe one or two others, the service and food is always fantastic.

UPDATE: Not even two weeks later, I take my boyfriend and little sister to eat there. Helen so happens to be working. She's walking over to serve us, but as soon as she sees who it is she whips around, rolls her eyes, and starts talking to her coworkers. The entire time we're eating she's sitting behind the cash register with some of her coworkers, laughing and talking while they're all looking in our direction. So I look over and she literally makes a face at me. You know the kind of face a pissed off second grader would give to you. I'm not sure what Helen's deal is. But I feel sorry for her that she feels the need to actively ruin our...

Was there this morning when they opened. Their doors were still locked and it took the manager several minutes after "opening" to let me in. They were obviously very busy with how frantic the manager was acting. Upon unlocking the door for me, I heard him say the "f" word while muttering about the door still being locked. He then scurried back to the kitchen to tend to the wok. His associate working the drive thru was also working very hard. It did take them a while to get to me (only customer waiting inside), which was no big deal since my take-out order was for 1045AM but what I did have a problem with was the manager's attitude who was openly talking to his associates about how it was bull** how slammed they already were and how he should not have cut hours, which he was told to do my corporate I imagine. The manager carried on for several minutes and I felt his language was very inappropriate to have in the presence of a customer. If I had still been waiting outside the restaurant or after I had left (since there weren't any other customers), that would be fine but I felt very uncomfortable inside the restaurant. The young associate (Caucasian and a little overweight) working the drive thru was very polite and had a great attitude, I just wished he had put a little bit more honey walnut shrimp in my order but everything else was great (pictured). I did not have any interaction with the young Asian associate aside from knowing he had seen me waiting outside the locked restaurant. The food tasted great. I had been to this location before during T-Mobile Tuesday's Panda Express promotion, which was a very busy evening for them. The manager (same gentleman) had a great attitude despite how busy it was and that was something that stood out to me then. Not sure why he had such a nasty attitude...