Panda Express — Restaurant in Surprise

What a HORRIBLE experience. I had to go to this location twice and wait 30 minutes after I ordered to come home and find I still had not received all the food I paid for. This location also does not answer their phone so I can apparently only speak about my poor experience online or in person to the store directly.

Here are all the details for those interested:

When we arrived, ordering was pretty fast since it was slow inside the restaurant. We paid not too long after arriving. The chow mein was out and still cooking so we had to wait for our plates which wasn't an issue. After about 5-10 minutes, they brought out our food and we left the store. We didn't think we would need to check our order since we had waited for awhile, but I guess that was a mistake. We had ordered a medium orange chicken entree and 2 egg rolls which were missing from our bag. We turned around and went back to the store and requested our missing food which they apologized for. They gave us a small drink for our trouble and said they would have it right out. Well, they were out of egg rolls and had not yet started cooking a new batch so it did not come right out. We waited another 10-15 minutes for the egg rolls to be dropped and cooked. Then it sat in the window for a few minutes before one of the workers noticed and then finally brought them out to us. We left the store with our food at 6:05PM. 30 minutes after we finished paying for our food. But wait, there's more!

THEN, we got home to eat and opened our plates and found that one of my entrees from the Bigger Plate we ordered was also missing. I tried to call the store 3 times and each time it went to voicemail after ringing 5-6 times. I left a voicemail and it's been almost an hour with no callback. I'm now left with no other option other than to go to the store in person to obtain what I've paid for since the store doesn't answer their phone. It's incredibly frustrating that I will now need to go to this location a 3rd time to receive what I ordered. Mind you, I only ordered a Plate, a Bigger Plate, a medium box of orange chicken and 2 egg rolls...

If you go here, triple check your order like I should have before leaving.

Side note: if you come here to the drive-in within a half hour closing (as they close the dining room a half hour before close), don't bother. They stop cooking and will essentially just let you choose from whatever entrees they have left. I came back for the wonderful experience described above because we were unable to get what we wanted after going to this location 30 minutes before close on Friday night (with 4-5 other cars in line at the drive-thru). We waited in line and pulled up to order when the worker said they had very little left and we could only pick from 4-5 entrees that they had left for the night. So we left and decided to go back later in the weekend...

Needless to say, I would advise you to take your money and business elsewhere, because I sure will after...

Update: This location has vastly improved, Better staffing, more prompt service, and the quality of food is as good as ever. Whatever difficulties they were having are in the past--as are, it seems, the outrageous crowds. Back to 5 stars.

Below is the 2nd review. It implies how good the first one was--a standard this restaurant once again meets:

This was a 5-star review two weeks ago. The only reason why it's not a one-star is the food we got--not exactly what we ordered--was great. But nothing else about the experience tonight is at all acceptable.

I placed my order online and received a time when my order would be ready. When I arrived (right at that time), the restaurant was slammed. People in line, people in the drive-thru, and a bunch of people waiting for their online orders, like me.

So, I waited. And waited. And waited. I watched people come in, order, get their food, and leave. I watched cars doing the same thing. People who waited for online orders were left in the dark, and there didn't seem to be any sense to who got what when.

After 30 minutes, I inquired about my order. They asked for my name, but never came back to tell me what was going on. By then, even people who came after me to pick up their online orders were getting theirs...eventually. But it was utterly random. I asked about my order again at 40 minutes. They again took my name but gave me no information. A bunch of orders for people picking up much later than me emerged, but mine (and others) remained unfilled.

At 50 minutes my name was called. I was offered no utensils, no sauces, no fortune cookies, and absolutely no acknowledgement that I'd been sitting for almost an hour with this random swirl surrounding all of us.

If the website had projected that time, I would have showed up at that time. If the website was a bit wrong, well, I'd wait. But the time it took to prepare my order and give it to me was FIVE TIMES as long as projected, with absolutely no indication of when it would end!

When I got home, my order was wrong. One of my entrees (the Kung Pao Chicken) wasn't there, with a side order of lo mein included instead. Thanks for ripping me off. Should I have checked each of the five containers? Would YOU?

Again, I'm not complaining about the slowness. I'm complaining about the utterly mismanaged chaos and how badly customers who were waiting (for, remember, indeterminant times) were treated. This wasn't inconvenient or inaccurate. It was incompetent and insane.

Slow down and get it right. Tell the truth regarding the delays. Do something nice for--or at least be nice to--the people you're running...

My daughter's received, from school, free kids meals. After waiting for 25 minutes in the drive through we made it to where we could place our order. I informed them we had the free kids meals from their school and was told they could only redeem one via drive thru. In order to redeem the others I was told to come inside. So being stuck in the drive thru for an additional 10 minutes with hungry children further tried my patience on being a decent human being in accordance with societal standards. It goes without saying that the internal battle between my patience and anger was quickly becoming a very uneven matchup. I stood in line for another 40 minutes before I could order food for my children where I was then told I could only redeem one for a second time. As I paused for a minute to suppress the immense frustration I was feeling, I am sure my face very clearly stated how I was feeling. I gave the cashier one card just to be done with this ridiculousness. The quick thinking cashier said she could process them as individual transactions. If it is that difficult to see that this was an obvious easy solution to the situation, I will happily take my business elsewhere. The amount of time spent dealing with this was absolutely not worth it. If you are going to hand these out to children who work hard to earn them, be accommodating. This was honestly one of the worst experiences I've ever had at a restaurant which is saying alot because anyone who knows me knows that food and I are...