Panda Express — Restaurant in Tyler

I went to visit my local Panda Express which I love. There has been a few Occasions that when I have gone there is 30 minutes left before they close and have always received fresh hot food when I order. Today though my experience was not pleasant we pulled up to order and the young lady on the intercom said hello would you like to hear what I only have available since we are about to close in 30 minutes. I thought wow that is strange but OK well let me go ahead and hear her. she gave me a small list of items that were available and then I asked so since when do you guys start giving a limited menu 30 minutes before you close , and she said it has always been their policy. Mind you this is the panda express that I love to come and eat at occasionally and I’ve never had any complaints but this really bothered me. What is the point of staying open then if you’re only going to have a limited menu. I have been working in food service for about 15 years now and every establishment that I have managed we always stress the importance of serving your customers it does not matter at what time we close we stay open with the full menu until the last customer comes through our door. This young lady proceeded to tell me that every restaurant that she has ever been to in Tyler gives her the same answer that she gave me and said they only serve a limited menu. I have gone to multiple restaurants around Tyler and have received great service every time so I’m not sure what restaurant she was eating it. I found this extremely unprofessional on her part and I will admit I was a little aggravated but I was never disrespectful I just had questions to was to why was a limited menu. Now with your policy then you might as well just close at a certain time and not offer any other food after that what is the point even the lights were off already and they did not have to close for another 30 minutes this just tells me that they had employees working and say they did not want to work up to closing time and wanted to leave right at 9:30. This is pretty disturbing I will be reaching out to corporate manager or to whom ever is in charge of...

Drove by @ 9:30 PM & outside signs were lit. Came back at 9:44 PM and sign was turned off. Saw lady enter, so I followed her inside to order. Lady struck up conversation with a team member (not business related). As a paying customer, I walked cautiously across the wet floors as chairs were raised on tables and a team member was mopping the FOH (no wet floor signs visible when entering store). I was ignored and stood on the front line. Finally a Caucasian lady wearing an ear piece quit what she was doing and acknowledged me. I shared that the lights outside were off and it was completely dark as if they were closed. She stated "we close at 10:00". I said you're still open though, right it's only 9:45? She repeated we close at 10:00 and then spat out something like I'll check the lights when we are closed. She asked me if I was going to order. I said yes and she barked the line starts down there. I looked at the food which was less than appealing (i.e. dried out lo mein). I wrinkled my nose and she told me the company quits cooking at 8:00 PM to avoid wasting product. Does this mean the food you serve to guests on your line sits for 2 hours and guests are refused fresh product? Disgusting! I also asked about ordering a fountain tea and asked if ya'll carried sweetener and was told "No". I ordered a Lipton Green Tea bottle instead. The patron and team mate who were hanging out while on the clock stayed through my entire visit in the restaurant and "shot the sh**" the whole time. Very disappointed to see your team tend to their friends before guests, exhibit horrible customer service, attempt to shut down the store before closing, wet/mopping floors, pathetic product and turning outside lights off early to avoid customers. Do you really quit cooking at 8:00 PM on a Saturday? Seems as though your team wanted to get out and enjoy their weekend night verses taking care of your guests. Horrible brand ambassadors of Panda Express working this evening. I have worked in the restaurant industry for 9 years and this is NOT how you treat guests or build your brand. Frustrated/Disappointed is an...

I pulled in to the south broadway location at 1:05 pm, no line and the parking lot only had a couple cars in it…. for starters, the picture is a bit oxymoronic… I’m asked to give the guy a minute and he’ll be right with me, when he comes back on the com, as I am ordering my food at the drive through menu two state troopers are walking behind my truck about to dine in for lunch. I order two bigger plates, get to the drive through window. Pay for my food and am asked to pull around and before I do I kindly ask the guy at the window to please add spicy mustard chili sauce and chopsticks to my order and he agrees creating false confidence that what I asked for would be in the bag. After parking out front, sitting for 20 minutes staring at this ridiculous sign and watching the two officers who entered the restaurant after my order was placed sit down and finish their entire meal, my food comes out and the lady asks if I wanted sweet and sour sauce to which I replied yes, and at a quick glance I told her I would also like the chopsticks, spicy mustard and chili sauce the gentlemen at the window agreed to put in my bag… by this time I’m pretty worn out by the situation and trying to keep my left eye from twitching, the young lady apologizing, reassured me that she’ll get what I need turns towards the door and heads back in, a couple minutes later she comes back out with a bag that I am feeling certain has what I asked for inside of it, so I start to pull out, no sooner than I drive out of the parking lot I notice there are no chopsticks in the bag so I pull back in and exit my vehicle and go inside to ask for them. I finally leave with a correct order approximately 30 minutes after placing it which brings up the question: do you think we need to ask them to remove the “express” from “Panda Express” or ask them to change the name to “panda whenever we get around to it” side note: I HATE giving bad reviews, so much so that this is my first one ever, but my goodness...