Panda Express

It was past 10pm and we were on the hunt for anything to eat. Given its Escondido, most places have already closed and I didn’t feel like a CA burrito or carne asada fries. So thank you Panda Express for being open late night! Kind of late night.
Quality of food is what you’d expect when it is close to closing time. But it was fast and open, so it made this hungry girl happy. :)
Side note: these places need to bring back eggplant tofu! Please!

I know Panda Express isn’t really authentic Chinese food, but I crave it here and there. Whenever I do, I come here. The parking lot is a bit weird in front of the store because sometimes people make spots when there really isn’t one. It can get busy since there are other food places next door. The workers here are nice. They always ask to see if you want to try a sample of anything they have or any of their new dishes. I typically just order my same old half and half with honey walnut shrimp (for a $ 1.25 more) and orange chicken. The mushroom chicken and Mongolian beef or beef and broccoli (not sure of the name) are good choices too. They are pretty fast with their service as well. Not usually a long wait, unless they need to cook more of an item you are ordering. They have a lot of seating inside and outside as well. But if you are eating here, I’d recommend eating inside because there are usually a lot of homeless people outside in the parking lot for some strange reason.
I’ll be coming back here the next time I’m craving some orange chicken and honey walnut shrimp for sure!

Lemme just state that this certain location is not my favorite to say the least. First of all, I got food poisoning which put me in the emergency room and left me with a 1,000 bill. It was the worst experience I have ever gone through. I highly suggest not going to this location.

Not friendly very bad service girl was that seems to be the manager (wearing a black shirt) was giving me a costumer attitude… Serve very poor food I rather to to the location on Mission. .need to get need staff

I love panda express it never fails me where ever i go. I always get double steamed rice and double kung pao. Or chow mein and double kung pao. Once i went to a thai restaurant and felt so lost until i saw Kra Pao on the menu. Though it wasnt kung pao i had to settle with it. Panda express is cool especially when you’re served by a panda#

We love Panda Express. Generally eat at one on a weekly basis. I travel the country frequently, and seek out a Panda wherever I am because I know what I am getting. This particular one on east valley is consistently low quality. I have had to complain multiple times about the quality of food and the quality of service.
The reason I’m leaving a one star is because of the manager, Marivel. She is the definition of poor customer service. Inattentive, flippant, unapologetic, and unable to sympathize with her customer. She has been rude to my wife and I multiple times, both during regular ordering, and when we have had an issue. She has no ability to make her guests feel welcome, and no desire to fix something that has gone wrong. I have reached out to Panda corporate twice concerning her, and haven’t received a response.
Avoid this location, head to the location on Mission which is always on point, attentive, and fresh.

I love Panda Express, but this location makes me not want to go eat to one anymore. The girl with the blue hair, I think her name was Beatriz, was rude and she lied. I asked her for four hot sauces and she said she only had two. However, she gave the person behind me hot sauce, wtf! Her manager was also rude to the lady behind me. Bad service is all I have to say.

We come here because it’s fast and easy. We got 4 pieces of chicken in both our panda bowls. That’s not even enough for a kid to eat. The girl that helped us was so rude. She talked so loud she was yelling at us. That is not ok. I had to repeat myself 4 times before she understood me. She didn’t even great us. She just stood there and stared at us until we started ordering. She was rude to the guy working in the back. Not an environment I would want to work in.

Came here for the first time and there was a line to the door! My husband really wanted panda so i decided to wait in the long line. After i ordered two plates to go and a bowl the lady said it was a 5 minute wait for the teriyaki chicken so we waited. After paying we were offered a cup while we wait for free so we drank soda. The wait was longer than 5 minutes. After we got our food and walked out to the car i looked through the bag and was missing egg rolls. I went back in ladies were very apologetic and gave me 4 chicken egg rolls instead of the 2 i had ordered. Customer service is awesome but the long lines and waits are frustrating. So if you come here be prepared to wait and search your bag!!!

So glad to have some Chinese food in this area even if it is not considered the super authentic style. The portions are good and when I’m craving stirred fried dishes, this is the place that i like to go to. Escondido has a lot of Mexican restaurants but not enough variety of other foods. This is the closest to a Chinese restaurant that hits the spot. I enjoy coming here for lunch or dinner. Keep up the great work Panda Express!

Everytime I go to the place they never have teriyaki chicken ready I always have to wait 15 minutes for it to be made

This is the Panda closest to me, and it is open pretty late, maybe even later than the Felicita location. The parking lot gets crazy sometimes, with Rubios, Starbucks, Que Torta, and Game Stop with it all in a small area. Friday and Saturday becomes a game of where do I park/​how do I keep from getting run over?
They can be a little stingy with the portions, but it helps if you figure out how to get the most of ordering. If you order a 3 item combo, say them so that the item that’s got the smallest pieces goes into the extra little box. Orange Chicken in that box will be like 4 pieces, so do it first.
I order the vegetables, so I often have to wait for a fresh batch. That’s ok, then they’re not overcooked and grey. They also will often give you a kids size drink for free if you have to wait for an item.

If you think I care about only eating authentic Chinese food just because I’m Asian, you are mistaken. That’s like me trying to eat only bacteria-​free rocks because I’m morally opposed to eating living things.
Panda Express (hereinafter referred to as «PanEx») is literally at the peak of fast-​food Americanized Chinese chains. Just hearing its name can send me into a trance where I can almost feel the sweet and sour oil vapors stinging my nostrils.
I especially like the 3-​for-​2-​entrée deal with the phone survey code. Are 10 minutes worth $ 1.20? Clearly I don’t value my time. But I do value having a box stuffed with food.
And that is the main reason I will be biased against returning to this PanEx.
Décor: ****
The interior is kept clean, has a modern feel, has plenty of lighting. I think if the premises were larger, it could accommodate more customers, but I have never seen it filled up. I usually take food to go, so this isn’t a problem for me at least.
Food: ** (x 2)
Well, what can I say? The taste is good. I regret nothing when I go to PanEx – generally.
But the portions, man, the portions! I got a 3-​item box to go as usual. What did I get? A box so light I thought it would fly into the sky like the feather from Forrest Gump. I guess that’s what life is about, though. Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. Buyer beware.
She casually and shamelessly sprinkled a mere half scoop per section in the Styrofoam tray. If we’re going to cast aside environmental stewardship, we might as well make the most of it. How can anyone be comfortable with leaving so much space in the tray? Is it just my OCD talking?
I didn’t have the heart to ask for more because I already did that last time, but I guess I could have tried since I am not going to return here willingly. Please report back on what happens if you do.
The portion/​price ratio is sorely lacking. It is unacceptable that I remain hungry after eating a 3-​item box.
Service: ***
The servers are actually pretty friendly and are not hesitant to let you sample entrees. But again, the portions. I am rather irritated that one could think the amount given was appropriate.
Overall: 2.2÷5
Unless someone explicitly informs me that the portions are as good as those of the PanEx on Felicia (near Vons), I will not return if I have the option. I mentioned this in the most recent phone survey (because one of the prompts is to describe, on the spot, why I was dissatisfied), so I guess there’s hope?

I’ve been coming back over and over again hoping for them to get there act together. And don’t get me wrong I’m not the kind of customer to ever complain even if they got the order wrong, but this place deserves to be called out or at least to be held under new management. The employees always seem to forget your order and it doesn’t seem like anyone is working together in a team there. They never have honey walnut shrimp. They have made me wait multiple times for at least 15 minutes or more. If it wasn’t for them giving me a free drink every time for making me wait I would give this place 1 star.

I usually like the service there but today was the worst to be specific it was a lady in a blue shirt wasn’t even the panda express uniform. I went in there was no line I wasn’t greeted right away because she was too busy talking to the guy beside me, when she decided to take me in consideration she started giving me attitude and well I wasn’t going to take it so I gave her attitude back and so she slammed my tray on the counter that got me pissed not only that she decides to tell her coworker something about me (it was obvious bc the coworker just started at me) ugh dumbass I can freaken hear. Hope it doesn’t happen again.

Hands down the WORST Panda Express I have ever been to! And I am a Panda Express lover.
First off the food portioning was pathetic… normally i have trouble finishing my 2 entrée to-​go box. When I order my orange chicken, kung pow chicken and chow mien my to go box was barely full… and not because I was super hungry but because the girl barely filled it. My kung pow was mostly peanuts… literally and my orange chicken amounted to only 4 pieces. To make matters worse the veggies in the chow mien were mostly raw… not just crunchy but flat out raw.
To make it worse again it was lunch hour, right around noon, and they did not have ANY back up entrée items prepared. The girl serving the rice and chow mien had to leave her position to start cooking chicken.
Mean while the other girl working the cash register had a back up of 3 customers and had no understanding of what the marks were on the boxes. Instead she had to open each box to determine what each person order… she could have just asked…
I normally love Panda and consider it my one guilty take out food that I can’t give up but this specific Panda Express fat out sucked! Poor quality food, poor quality service.

I’ve somehow managed to only show up at this Panda when it’s busy; and by busy I mean has maybe four people in line and the kitchen so backed up that Mr. Third-​in-​line-​only-​ever-​orders-​orange-​chicken ends up out the door first.
I don’t know what is is about this location but the manager, who is always up front serving with two other employees just can’t seem to expedite anything. I’ve honestly never understood how this location has the most staff I’ve ever seen at one time in a panda and yet is the slowest at filling orders, cooking the food, ringing people up. There isn’t even a drive thru for them to have to man.
The food is meh, the veggies are usually overcooked and squishy, and they up-​charge you for the shrimp.
At least the location is pretty; they have big flat screen TVs and modern furniture, I’m dying over the glass pendent lights.

The rudest (non) customer service EVER! I understand it’s close to closing time and you have «last minute» customers coming in to eat but guess what? You are still on the clock, be respectful and not roll your eyes. To the lady working the line, Yan. Common guys! Pick it up! Also pay attention to the guest’s orders and it won’t take you so long to close! Just a suggestion.

Let me first say I am from Escondido and lived here for 20 years. I don’t live here anymore but I know my way around and I know where to eat and where not to. Sadly, this panda express location has become one of the «not to» areas. I was in here with a few of my friends on the 4^th of April around 7pm.
It was busy but the wait wasn’t horrible. There were about 5 – 7 people in line behind me when my friend went to order.
She ordered honey walnut shrimp as her first entrée of a 2 entrée meal. The server advised her of a $ 1.00 increase in price and she obliged to pay. She then handed the container down to the next employee for the second item. The employee (Ally) looked at the shrimp in the container and asked the previous employee how many are supposed to be in a serving. She replied with 7, Ally then told my friend she would need to pay double for the portion as it contained well over 7. My friend replied no, «I’m already paying the $ 1.00 more as the sign indicates. I’m not paying double.» This argument continued for several minutes while other customers waited and the line continued to grow.
I then asked to speak to the manager and was told Ally is the manager. My friend then said she would be leaving and would not be paying double for extra shrimp that was included without her request or consent, and would only pay the $ 1.00 additional charge. Ally said she was fine with us leaving and she wasn’t serving us anything since we weren’t paying for the shrimp. She made a motion that implied she was going to put the food back in the food trays, and we then told her that its unsanitary she can’t serve that item or put it back as it has touched the noodles and rice already in the plate and that she would have to throw it away. She replied in the affirmative, and then repeated that she would but she was not be serving it to us unless we paid double for the shrimp entrée.
This is a situation of an employee not meeting the expectations of the management regarding portions of food and the customer feeling the consequences of an employee’s actions. As a paying customer this should never have been allowed to occur. I wrote a complaint to their corporate office and received an insulting reply. After the standard «give us a chance to serve you better» reply, they gave me a 10% off the next 5 meals I get there. Now if a meal is $ 7.00, that’s $.70 off a meal and it implies that I want to go back to any Panda express 5 times. I would have preferred being given a phone call apology, and a confirmation that the manager would be talked to.
My continued patronage after being insulted, harassed and made to feel like a bad person by one of their MANAGERS is worth $ 3.50 total. They are a franchise, and I understand that each is individually owned and operated, however it’s clear that this particular Panda Express has no value on continued customer satisfaction.

Here’s the bottom line:
Hot food = happy customer = will come back again and again
Please continue to keep the food hot! Been here twice so far and the food was great! I know it’s just Panda Express, but come on, you don’t f’in crave Panda Express at all from time to time???