Panda Express — Restaurant in Salem

First and foremost, I'd like to say that I am rarely the type of person to complain. However, the horrendous incident that took place at the Panda Express drive through we visited on Sunday, July 30th needs to be addressed.

My family and (my wife and two young daughters) had just returned from a day trip to the Oregon coast. Upon getting back into town, the kids were complaining they were hungry (one of them is 5 years old, the other is 2 years old). We asked them if they wanted Panda Express or Burger King (since both are on the way home) and they said Panda Express.

We decided that it would be faster (and easier) to go through the drive -thru. We placed our order and proceeded to wait. There were 3 other cars in front of us, but I figure it would move quickly. We waited (and I'm not exaggerating this) 12 minutes just to get to the window. By that point our kids were freaking out over how hungry they were and how badly they wanted to eat. The employee at the drive-thru window told us that they were making more orange chicken, and it was going to take another 5 or 6 minutes at least.

I'd had it at that point. We had already waited 12 minutes, so now he's telling me we've got to wait even longer? I told him that I think that because we've waited so long, we should at least get the meal for free. He told me that he can't do that, and I told him that clearly he doesn't understand anything about customer service. I told him to cancel our order and we drove off (we ended up going to Burger King across the street).

So let's think about this... It took 12 minutes to get up to the drive-thru window. What happens when it takes a long time to make someones order at any other fast food place (i.e. McDonald's)? The person at the window tells you to drive through and park out front, and that they'll bring you the food as soon as it's ready. The ENTIRE POINT of a drive-thru is to have speedy service.

Hell, once upon a time when I was 16 and just started working, my first job was at Burger King. Do you know what our manager was always, always, always telling us? That the maximum drive-thru time should be 1 minute. If it takes longer than that, you're not doing your job right. We were schooled on that all the time, every single day. If the food took longer to make, you told them to pull around up front an wait. You would bring them their food when it was ready, not hold up the drive-thru line.

Clearly Panda Express knows nothing about this. The fact that we had to wait for this long with screaming kids in the car is unacceptable. At that point, any other fast food place would have told you the food was free (and I know, because it's happened before at other places). This rude employee didn't even bother to compensate us in any way whatsoever.

Needless to say, we will not be back to Panda Express after this experience. That's the honest truth. Read the other reviews on this place and you'll see that their is a trend with extremely bad...

Pulled up this afternoon for an early dinner. Walked to the door and saw a sign saying drive through only due to being short staffed. Ok, go through the drive through- there are no other cars. Order our food and we were asked if we wanted to wait 6 minutes for our veggies. Absolutely. No problem. We finish ordering and pull up to the spot designated for drive through people who are waiting. 10 minutes pass, then 15, then 20. I try calling. 3 times before someone answered. At this point the drive through is packed. Finally someone comes out with our food. Great! Checked the order to see if it was right...food was everything we ordered. Get home only to discover no cookie for our sons child's plate, no chopsticks or hot mustard like I asked for and a ton of soy sauce and chili. Not a huge deal about the last few things but the cookie is a pretty big bummer. Just think that having to wait that long and not get all of what we were supposed to get kind of stinks. My son looks forward to his cookie after...

I rarely leave reviews, but Ayden is a customer service All-Star! He was courteous and professional. Despite any unintentional 'inconveniences', he was calm, friendly, and an excellent communicator. These interactions made the experience both positive and memorable, and I would absolutely return to this location again because of the impression Ayden had had on me as a hungry and tired customer.

I can say without hesitation that I have NEVER received better customer service at any other Panda Express. He is an awesome, top-tier representative for this location. He has generally improved my overall opinion of Panda Express, as well. He made sure that everything was fresh and made right, and I left the restaurant very satisfied.

I would highly recommend this location, which was very clean as well. Top marks all around, but ten out of ten stars...