Panda Express — Restaurant in Philadelphia

This location was busy. I took that as a sign that their service & food quality must be up to par. The restaurant looked new with a nice layout & modern fixtures. The seating areas, floors, & restrooms were clean. I've never been to a Panda Express before so I was completely unaware that it's the "Great Value", knockoff version of Chinese cuisine. After waiting in line for 20 minutes to place an order, the only main course I was interested in, the Honey Walnut Shrimp, was dwindled to 4 dry pieces of shrimp in an empty wok. I asked the young lady if there was some more in the works and if the fresher version was saucy. She told me that it would be ready in 5 minutes and that it was covered in a "honey" sauce. I asked her to make me a bowl of that with half white rice and half Super Greens. I step out of line to use the restroom. Upon returning 6 mins later, I stand in the pickup area for 15 mins. After not seeing my bowl at the register, I get back in the order line, which again was long because they were really busy. I wait another 15 mins to get back to the same young lady who took my order. She didn't remember me, so she asked what I wanted and I replied, "Where is the bowl I ordered forever ago?" She immediately began to apologize, frantically searched for my order, and told me to go back to the pick-up area. She then passes the cashier a bowl that contained mostly white rice with about 8 small, dry shrimp on top. I asked where was the sauce and my veggies. The food prepper rushed over with a small, separate container of the Super Greens. The cashier replied that the shrimp is coated in just a small amount. I explained to her that I'm used to a more traditional version of this recipe that uses a thick, sticky sauce made from mayo and sweet condensed milk that usually makes the shrimp more of a white color and is abundant enough to coat at least the top layer of rice. She explained that I would need to order something else if I wanted a "gravy" of sorts mixed in my rice, but could offer me packets of soy & teriyaki sauce. At that point, I just wanted to go, so I could eat during my ever-shrinking lunch break. $10.11... I sit in my car to attempt to eat as I don't have much time left. I reach in the bag and everything is covered in the juice of the vegetables that were inappropriately housed in a paper box that had overturned. I wiped the bowl down and tried to move past it. My first and only bite of white rice was crunchy and dry and reminiscent of undercooked Minute rice. Some of the grains were translucent, as they had completely dried out. I was done. I went back into the store and asked for my money back. The cashier looked at me as if I was robbing the joint. "Refund"?! What is a re-fund? We awkwardly stared at each other before I just said the word manager. Some gentleman heard me & comes over so I explained to him that the rice was hard, I expected a more saucy main course, my bag was soggy, and I was off-put by my entire experience and just wanted my money back. He told me no. You read that correctly... He said NO. That I could switch out my main, my sides, that they would repackage everything, but that I was not eligible for a refund. We debated about this, all while he individually named & offered almost every menu item I could have in its place. After 15 mins of this Twilight Zone-like conversation, I had the wherewithal to ask him if he was indeed a manager, to which he replied NO. Again, you read that correctly! Now I'm becoming irate. "Why would you offer your services when you knew I needed & asked for a manager?" His response... He figured he could help without us bothering the manager. So now I ask every person behind the counter for the manager. Apparently, he was the only cook so I had to wait another 15 mins to speak with him. We spoke calmly, he asked for my receipt & walked away without saying anything, leaving me to wait for another 10 mins. Finally, he returned with my cash. It wasn't even about money at that point. It was the principle of being denied MY MONEY....

Panda Express has really good food and we use to dine there atleast 3x a month. They have a new young female manager there at nights who unfortunately has lost control of the way we were accustomed to dining at Panda Express. We noticed so much change in the last 2 months that it has become impossible to eat there anymore. We tried to stick it out , but each time we went there, there were long lines of people due to long 20 minute waits for your food. We walked in and the pre cooked food dishes were 70% empty and when asking for a dish, they would have to make a new pan and due to rushing to get the food ready for you most times it was undercooked. The chicken Teriyaki after taking a bite out of it was still pink on the inside making it impossible to eat and that was just one dish. We started noticing people in the long lines fed up and just walk out of the store. I was given so many discounts over the months for the service that still didn’t make up for the long waits, bad service and the horrible taste of the food. The female manager tried to just keep smiling and be friendly, but she was so overwhelmed, it trickled down to the employees running in circles clueless what to do from trying to catch up on all the orders and customers complaining to receive their food , it just made it one big mess. I do miss eating at Panda Express, but they need to re evaluate the management to bring the store and food back to the way it was meant to operate and taste, I just can’t eat there anymore. I’ll try again in a few months, but until then, I’m...

Please choose a different location to go to. The unprofessionalism at this location is baffling. The manager is highly incompetent, nasty, miserable, and I strongly suggest Panda considers the people they choose to put in leadership roles. It doesn’t cost anything to be a decent human being. I made an online order and arrived at the store around 15 minutes later. My order was not prepared, and the staff continued to serve guests AFTER I arrived. I was later made aware the delay was due to the rice being cooked. This is an example of their poor customer service. If someone would have made me aware the rice was causing the delay, I would’ve simply adjusted my order accordingly. I then requested a refund, and the manager told ANOTHER staff member to tell me she was too busy. She could’ve taken a few minutes to assist; however, she chose not to. I watched the manager cook rice and rinse dishes for an extensive period of time (although, there were 4 other staff members who could assist with those tasks and the restaurant was not crowded). I could possibly understand her disposition if I was rude; however, that wasn’t the case. I didn’t have an encounter with her at all. The manager has a bad attitude in general and customer service is not a field she should be in. She wouldn’t even address me directly and the way she talks to other people is disgusting. This location…especially the staff needs a review from their HR team immediately. I’ve never had such despicable...