Panda Express — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Here's a tip: Focus on the customer in front of you. Food was ok, normal Panda Express. But chinzy portion sizes and disinterested - almost rude - staff means I won't be coming back and NO, I do not recommend this location. 2-3pm rainy Saturday afternoon. You'd think it would be quiet. But like me, perhaps there were other people wanting to get out of the house/hotel and made a trip - specifically - to get some Panda. The dining area was about 1/4 full, a constant line of 2-3 customers. So, the 3 people working were busy, but not slammed at all. Tip #2: Even though I seem to order pretty much the same thing as the previous two people in line.. I am not them. And don't get me started on the cashier - who clearly needs to not only work on her ESL skills, but stop mumbliing so loud the customer can hear, but not loud (or clearly enough) to completely understand. And if a customer asks for some sauces - in my case I asked for 5, because... I use 5 of each to go with all of the items I order - don't just grab a couple, dump them in the bag and walk away. So now I had sauce for SOME of my chicken, ONE of my spring rolls, but none for the rest or for my 3rd side of Orange chicken. Finally. I have NEVER been dismissed so thoroughly or casually in my life! Not even at any of the DMV's I've visited over the years. And no fortune cookie? Who doesn't get a fortune cookie??? Apparently the people who want extra sauces and who says "No" after asking you to repeat the mumbled "Do you want to support mumble, mumble cause?" don't get a cookie. No, I won't be returning here. No, I...

I am upset with these folks. I have eaten here many times over the years and never had a problem, but I did today. I ordered iced tea to go with my meal. At the drink stand, the tea was obviously just water. An employee was standing there cleaning up. I told and showed him the problem. He said he would tell "them" and it would soon be fixed. My wife and I ate our meals. When we had finished and there was still no tea, I went to the register and asked for my money back for the tea. That simple request had to be kicked up to a supervisor. The supervisor was highly suspicious. I showed her that water was coming from the tea urn. She then checked the paper cup to make sure we had not substituted another beverage. After all that, she still refused to give us a refund. She offered me a bottled orange juice, which was not of much utility after the meal. I took it, being certain I would get no other satisfaction. Turned out the oj actually cost less than the tea. I felt both cheated and insulted. It would have been so easy and so appropriate just to refund the money I had paid for a product I did not receive. The true character of a business only shows up when something unexpected goes wrong. This particular Panda Express and its supervisor could easily have done the right thing but chose not to. ...

I came thousands of miles away to visit California, and Santa Cruz was a stop along the way. I was quite hungry, so I decided to stop at the Panda Express on Mission Street in Santa Cruz, California. A worker there decided to be rude (her name I cannot recall at the moment) and Jacob, another employee was exceptionally dismissive and forgetful with orders. Jacob in specific would constantly be going back and forth, checking the other customers boxes, and then preceded to check the same boxes of food again 3-5 times over... I have seen countless reviews for this specific Panda Express exclaiming the same situations: rude employees and terrible service (not to mention the burnt food: the fried rice and cream cheese rangoons I received today). As the cherry on top, if you will, the servings they provided are strangely low. How is a grown person supposed to get their fill when the employees give so little food? Anyways, TLDR: please consider (and reconsider) your food options for trips and residents of California when you think of the Mission St., Santa Cruz Panda Express.

Edit: Another female employee, as my partner recalled, was playing with her nose before going back to cooking. She didn't even bother applying Germ X or soap. Cannot have had a better...