Panda Catering

I would highly recommend Panda Catering for wedding reception! Adam and Anni are really professional and considerable, not only provide our guests best Chinese food but also provide lots of additional services and many useful suggestions! They made my weeding so wonderful! Thanks Adam and Anni!

We had Panda Catering for our company’s Thanksgiving turkey lunch.
Excellent food and service, I want to give them 6 stars.

I have attended many wedding throughout my lifespan, but this is the first time I walkout of a wedding still thinking about foods. I was blow away with their quality of foods, authenticity cuisines, setup, and most importantly their professionalism. I was in dyer needs of ice when I first arrive to the wedding. Since food & drinks wasn’t readily available for guess yet, I though I have to either drink out of the sink or wait another hour to quench my thirst. Lucky Adam was able to make the accommodation and get me clean bottle water before the ceremony start. He listen, understand my situation, and went above his paid grade to make sure everyone had a great time at this very special gathering. As I’ve mention earlier; I have attended many wedding before, and by far this is the best meal I’ve tasted at a venue. I didn’t even have to grab McDonalds on my way home cause I was so full from the explosion of flavors. Thank you «Panda Cuisine» for your services, this really help making my Friends once in a life time celebration so memorable. Sincerely

I just want to say these guys are incredibly amazing!!! Adam, Mila and Annie is the real MVP for my wedding. They made it so easy for me to get everything together and out of all my vendors they are the ones that made it such a pleasure to work with. Their food is fantastic and their menu choices were phenomenal! They are seriously on top of their game. As a guy planning the wedding, they made it fun, clear, and memorable. Adam is the man everyone needs to talk to if you need anything done. Such great service with a lot of wedding expertise and fantastic suggestions for newly weds. If it wasn’t for their help my wedding wouldn’t be as epic as it was. So much compliment from my guest on the food and my guest knows Chinese food when they see it. If you doubt what I’m saying please give them a call and make an appointment and see why I’m writing this review. I don’t write a lot of reviews but when I do, it’s because it was worth it!

Panda’s great catering service really made our wedding a wonderful experience! My husband and I feel so lucky to find and choose Panda catering as my wedding catering for their delicious and authentic Chinese food, as well as the excellent and professional service. All of our guests love the food, said it’s the best wedding Chinese food they’ve ever had (some of the guests are professional chefs).
My wedding venue (a golf clubhouse) doesn’t provide Chinese food, so I need to find catering service in LA/​OC area. I looked through all the wedding sites and forums and googled, there are 6 Chinese catering I found and I did food tasting on all of them. Among them, Panda’s food is the most fresh and authenticate one. I grow up in China, so not a big fan of American style Chinese food, Panda’s food is authentic cantonese style, which I love.
Then I started to work with Adam, as the catering manager. He is very professional, detail oriented and very on top of things. It’s really a pleasure to work with him. My venue also highly praised Adam as the best outside catering people they’ve ever work with.
On the wedding day, the food quality is excellent!!! Here are some dishes praised by almost all our guests: steamed whole fish (very well cooked), lobster with ginger and scallions (it’s fresh, delicious and big amount), shrimp stuffed crab claws (crispy outside and tender inside), filet mignon (really good). The food plating is neat and decent, which gave guest a good first impression when food first served. The service is excellent and they works with the venue staff. (The venue staff is also very professional). They also provide special combo meal for vegetarian guest and my wedding vendors.
I highly recommend Adam Yu and Panda catering.

I attended a wedding where Panda Catering provided the food and beverages and it was amazing! I even made a point to ask the bride and groom who did all the catering since I was so impressed with the food and service. The wedding featured very high end food and it was all delicious. This is NOT the same thing as Panda Express if that’s what some people are thinking. I would highly recommend Panda Catering for any special events.

PANDA CATERING MADE OUR WEDDING A CULINARY HIT! I’m Korean American and my husband is Chinese American so we wanted our wedding dinner to reflect both of our cultures. Since Panda specializes in Chinese, they were solid on those dishes. When it came to the Korean dishes they went ABOVE AND BEYOND and actually went to K-​Town (multiple times) to some local Korean restaurants to taste the dishes to recreate the authenticity. That seriously blew my mind! You almost never encounter that type of service and dedication to their craft.
Working with Nicole was such a wonderful experience. My husband and I weren’t sure what we wanted to serve our guests. We had bits and pieces like we wanted a taco cart for our appetizers but them maybe we wanted dimsum as well. Needless to say we were all over the place. Nicole laid out some options for us and guided us in the right direction with a lot of wonderful suggestions that we would have never thought of on our own.
The whole catering staff is amazing. The months of planning leading up to the big day and on our wedding day itself, everything went beyond our expectations. You can say that were delighted, grateful and touched by this amazing group of people.
Panda will now be the first place I think of for all my catering needs. In fact, I reached out to them to help cater my sister in law’s bridal shower!
The confidence and peace of mind that comes with working with Nicole and the Panda Catering Team is second to none.

I recently got married 2 months ago (9÷20÷2014) I knew I wanted Chinese food for our wedding and my cousin referred me to panda inn. I was surprised that they catered weddings and other events. I am so happy we went with them. Mila (the manager) is the best person to work with. She’s professional, hard-​working, organize, and truly wants what’s best for our wedding. Our wedding was held at studio 11 (production studio/​warehouse.) Mila did all the arrangements with my other venues. I did not need to worry about anything because she took care of it and was on top of it.
Now to the food… everyone loved it. We had chicken lettuce wrap, spicy beef salad, orange chicken, honey walnut shrimp, fish fillet with veggies, stir fry veggies, pork chow mein, rice and chocolate covered fortune cookies! Price for all that food was very reasonable! I think $ 25/​person.
I highly recommend panda inn not only because of the food but because Mila is one of the best people to work with. She was like my wedding planner. Thank you so much for everything!

Nicole (the catering manager) and the team at Panda Catering were great! I was referred to them by my wedding coordinator, and I’m glad she did. Nicole was helpful from the first time we contacted her and we were able to quickly set up a food tasting, to help us decide if we wanted to hire them for the hors d’oeuvres during our wedding cocktail hour. All the food we tasted was great, so we decided to hire them. When our wedding rolled around, they stayed in contact with our wedding coordinator to make sure they knew when they were expected to arrive, as well as where they would be setting up. This made things much easier on me, since it was one less thing I had to worry about. On the day of the wedding, I received feedback from numerous guests that they really enjoyed all the hors d’oeuvres and the servers were great. I’d recommend them to anyone else looking for delicious food for any event they’re planning!

I am writing this review for a wedding that took place back in September 2013, I was a guest and had the luck of enjoying the fruitful pleasures of someone elses’ planning. :) I want to say that the wedding planning was executed well and that I throughly enjoyed every bit of the evening that was put together but this review is about Panda so lets continue on. The wedding was done very tastefully and I definitely felt that Panda Catering had molded that experience. The evening started with a bar set-​up featuring a «his and hers» drink, open bar, and plenty of hor d’oeuvres being circulated by servers pre-​reception. We were impressed with the presentation of the Eggplant Lotus, Crispy Shrimp Roll and Tea Smoked Duck Bun. I wish I had taken photos.
For dinner, the bar had moved to an indoor location and continued serving drinks throughout. A set menu was placed on our table noting the dishes that were to be served for the evening so that I was able to section off my stomach for what was to come. :) In a timely manner we were served with Honey Walnut Shrimp, Cubed Filet Mignon, Ginger Scallion Lobster, Miso Sea Bass, Baby Bok Choy w/​Shitake and a few more dishes. The servers were very attentive to our requests and even brought drink orders to our tables. Details, details, details.
Each dish was made very well and the small details really made the difference. As a guest, I highly recommend anyone looking for a catering company and after reading Minh’s review, I have a better appreciation for what they do to cover all bases. In addition, its totally true what he said about it being difficult to cater to older Asian folks and the younger foodie crowd. I’ve been to over 2 dozen Asian weddings and Its a tough fine line to keep with tradition while keeping that ambiance but Panda Catering does an all around great job!

I went to a wedding that was catered by Panda Catering. Their service and the food was amazing. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and have had my fair share of Chinese food. All I can say is these guys take it to another level. Top notch service, great food presentation, and quality quality food!

THE BEST. EVER.
I had Panda cater my recent outdoor wedding. Planning a wedding can be such an ordeal and with the amount of DIY I had planned in the final weeks– I was a complete mess. The only constant thing I had total confidence in was Nicole (the catering manager) and the Panda team.
From the initial meeting, I knew we were in great hands. Nicole was attentive and the food blew us away. It’s not the flowers or your dress or the photo booth people remember — it’s the FOOD. Coupled with the most amazing team and I don’t know why you’re still reading this and not contacting Panda NOW.
Now our venue was outdoors with no access to a kitchen, and I’ve watched enough Top Chef to know this can’t be good. BUT! With Panda, it was EASY BREEZY FANTASTIC. They swooped in, erected a kitchen and the food was restaurant quality.
Nicole was beyond amazing to work with. She’s super responsive, raised questions and voiced concerns that never would have crossed my mind. She requested anything I neglected to send it her way. Many times I even felt she was more on top of my wedding than me! She’s really great at working with you on your menu to make it truly unique and within your budget. They really are there for you and aims to please their clients.
I can’t rave enough about Panda. I owe them so much for executing our most memorable night. Even our coordinator loved them said she would be recommending them to her clients!
The best advice in wedding planning I got was «Get great vendors». With Panda, you really are getting THE GREATEST.

I recently got married and was very very pleased with Panda’s catering services. They definitely delivered all my expectations and went beyond.
I know I wanted authentic Chinese banquet style dinner at my wedding but did not want it held at a Chinese restaurant. I wanted a nice venue that can cater to my needs. Panda’s catering director, Nicole, was extremely professional and so easy to work with. It made my planning so simple and smooth. They are a one stop shop. They provided the food, bartenders, servers, dessert, rentals, set up and clean up.
They can practically make anything you want. All 9 courses plus my appetizers tasted just like my food tasting session. My friends and family raved about the menu and how good it tasted. Everything served was full of flavor and piping hot, even after transporting the food up 32 floors.
They made sure my husband and I ate our dinner so we were served all 9 courses in individual portions. They even helped us pack our left overs so we can eat at our hotel room afterwards. We were treated with exceptional service and was so glad we had food at the end of the night, because you definitely need it after such a long and eventful day.
Overall, we were so happy we chose Panda as our caterer. Catering is one of the most expensive part of a party, so it is wise to choose one that can deliver the food you expect.
Thank you to Nicole and your team for everything.

Kudos and Five Stars for Panda Catering Team. They are so professional, attentive, and bringing your guests to a new level of excellent service.
I always know that their food is good but never imagine that it would be so exceptional. Everyone worked as a team. I don’t have to worry about having guests leaving from my wedding with a hungry stomach. My husband and I received a rave reviews about the food. For Chinese descent, that’s a BIG thing to hear that from our guests.
Starting from food tasting till the day of the wedding, I don’t have to worry about small little things from presentation to the freshness of the food. They are what they say. They deliver their promise. If you are a one picky bride, Panda Caterinng Team is for you!

We used Panda Catering for all of our food and bar service at our Wedding on September 8, 2013.
We first met with Luther and Nicole who were very easy to work with and familiar with dealing with catering both very traditional Chinese style banquets and more modern Westernized style receptions. We were looking for a caterer who could present traditional Chinese food using modern plating, and was familiar with catering at off-​site venues (our venue did not allow cooking in their kitchen, only reheating). Panda was especially qualified because they brought all their equipment and cooked everything on site with their own woks, grills, etc. This made the food fresh and much more appetizing vs. other caterers we met with who told us they cook their food at their own kitchen first, and reheat on site.
Food
Having really good food was very important to us, since a lot of our guests are really big foodies. Having to please the older relatives and the younger crowd, we were given a lot of choices to select from for our dishes. During the tasting, they asked our opinion of each dish we tasted and were open to improving or modifying any dishes to our liking. They even presented us with additional options for our menu, which we ended up picking. We went with eight courses and each dish was delicious! Our guests could not stop raving about the food, specifically about the Chilean Sea Bass and still talk about it every time we see them!
Overall
We would definitely recommend using Nicole and her team to cater your event! They were very professional and responsive during the whole process from beginning to even post Wedding day. The wait staff was beyond professional and Nicole even brought out our signature drinks to us at our table — (had she not, we probably would not even had a chance to taste it!). Many thanks go out to the Panda Catering team for all their hard work — they went above and beyond our expectations!

I never knew Panda did catering until a friend suggested I check them out for my wedding and I’m so glad I did. Nicole Cherng and the Panda team were incredible.
Tasting: We were invited to Panda Inn for the tasting. Nicole accommodated us on a very busy night for the restaurant and I was able to bring 5 people with me. We were seated in a big round table and the service was excellent. Nicole was very attentive to our requests and even made the chef make an special order of a duck dish that was not previously prepared for us.
Wedding: I had an wedding at a house so everything had to be brought in. Nicole went to the house several times to make sure there was enough space and entry ways for all the cooks and servers. The day before the wedding, tables for cooking were set up. Then on day of, all the woks and equipment were set up. Nicole organized a great team that cooked and served 200 wedding guests. The food was fresh, well presented and all the guests said it tasted great. Moreover, the house was left in the same condition before the wedding, they even hauled the trash away! i can’t say enough about how professional the Panda team was.
Budget: Nicole was very aware of our budget and really worked with us and our wedding planner on keeping within the budget. I never felt pressured or that I had to cut certain foods because of our budget.
Tip: Nicole was able to arrange for personalized chocolate dipped fortune cookies for all our guests!
THANK YOU Nicole for everything! I would highly recommend Panda to anyone looking to cater an event.

Panda went above and beyond what we paid them to do. If a wedding caterer could be your best friend, your helpful assistant, your #1 cheerleader, Nicole Cherng would be it. She is their event manager, and she is the most coordinated, friendly, helpful, sweet, thoughtful, organized, attentative wedding catering manager you could ever hope for. The food, service, set-​up and so many other things worked out beautifully just because of her and her team.
The hubby and I are both Chinese American, so obviously, so are our families. What does that mean? It means that, apart from the joy of seeing your two babies getting hitched and your two families becoming one forever, FOOD is the most important part of the wedding. And it better be delicious and plentiful.
We wanted an outdoor garden wedding, so far outside of Chinese tradition that paying homage to our culture by serving Chinese food was pretty much a requirement. Panda is, IMO, the ONLY caterer capable of cooking delicious on-​site Chinese food in LA, Ventura County, and the OC.
We met up with Nicole & team the following week, and were served a couple of the dishes that we were contemplating. Everything was delicious, and they were courteous, friendly, and polite. They gave us a pamphlet detailing all the different varieties of catering that they had done so far, and their standard Chinese banquet menu options. We told them our absolute budget of $ 9500 for 200 guests, and they didn’t even bat an eye.
Over the next few months, I emailed Nicole almost at least once a week, and between the translated menu options they gave us, the two sets of parents, and our Chinese American tastebuds, we finalized a menu. It ran the gamut from steamed fish, honey walnut shrimp, Chinese soup, crispy duck, braised short ribs, traditional dessert soups, and more. We brought both families together for our private food tasting, and everyone, including the restaurant-​savvy dad-​in-​law who had waitered his fair share of Chinese fine dining, agreed that it was good food.
Nicole took super detailed notes of how we wanted each dish tweaked (i.e. slice the gai choy thinner) and worked with us via phone and email to revise the menu and fine-​tune service and set-​up details. By the time we were done, I was absolutely in love with the menu and the hubby went starry-​eyed just at the mention of his favorite menu dishes.
This is where what we expected them to do for us stopped and where they started going above and beyond.
Rentals: We were considering using really nice disposables for the wedding to save money, but our wedding coordinator encouraged us to consider using real dishes and glassware instead. Nicole offered to see what she could do about rentals, and gave us an amazing price for a complete set of dinnerware for each person, as well as the coffee maker, hot water/​coffee urns, and cold drink dispensers.
Cocktail Hour Food and Wedding Drinks: We didn’t have enough $ to cater the cocktail hour or wedding drinks, so our wedding party pitched in. We didn’t expect Panda to help us out with either item since we weren’t paying them to, but Nicole and our best man emailed back and forth and spent time on the phone talking about food safety procedures, how to set-​up the dishes, and how to transport them. Nicole then reached out to us a couple weeks before the wedding when we were trying to figure out how to safely transport everything to the 1.5hr-away venue and offered to both store, transport and set-​up the drinks for us. She even offered to mix in the bubbly parts of the drinks on the day of so that we wouldn’t have to worry about any of it. Talk about amazing service and help.
Dessert Wagon: We opted for a cupcake stand with multiple other dessert options instead of a traditional wedding cake. In the midst of the insanity of trying to plan way too many details for the wedding, the fact that desserts need a place to rest on in order to be beautifully presented completely slipped my mind. Tupperware didn’t match what I was envisioning! I frantically emailed Nicole a couple of days before the wedding, asked her to add on some rentals for the desserts, and she 1) printed out beautiful tags for all the drinks & desserts with our fonts/​logos, 2) got us beautiful trays & stands for each dessert, and 3) worked with our coordinator to set up a breathtaking display. See pictures!
Menu switcheroos: We switched out some of the vegetables for a mango walnut salad, got their delicious white-​chocolate covered fortune cookies, and got half portions of two dessert soups we loved. You truly get what you/​your guests want.
The day of the wedding, the food was delicious, the servers were cheerful and courteous, and everything magically came together. We even got our own to-​go bag for the hotel room. So if you’re looking for someone to cater Chinese or Asian-​fusion for that awesome wedding or event of yours, I can tell you that Panda is a choice you will never, ever regret.

One of the best wedding caterers ever! I had the pleasure working with Nicole and Mila for my August wedding and everything came out perfect :)
Out of the hundreds of weddings I attended in the past couple years, I would have to say that this one served one of the best foods. And I’m not saying that because this is my own wedding. A bunch of people actually came to me after the wedding asking for Panda Catering contact information. It means whatever money I put into this was totally worth it. Woot!

AMAZING! We went to a wedding at a private residence a few weeks ago and were so impressed with the food and bar service that we asked for the catering company’s name. We were surprised that the wedding for over 300 guests was catered by Panda Catering (who knew that the makers of Panda Inn and Panda Express had a catering company?).
The event was beautiful. There were multiple bars set up, a shrimp cocktail and oyster buffet and tray passed appetizers during cocktail hour, and the sit down meal (about 7 courses?) was delicious! We had such delights as Bluefin Ahi Poke, Sweet Abalone Crudo, Ginger Garlic King Crab (my personal favorite), Braised Wagyu Short Ribs (my husband’s favorite), and Misoyaki Butterfish. They even had a shaved snow station with fruits and mochi toppings for dessert in addition to the yummy wedding cake!
Having just planned our own wedding, my husband and I noticed the little things that the Panda Catering staff did that our caterer didn’t. All night long, everywhere we turned, there seemed to be a staff member ready to serve/​help and we never had to ask for a refill of water or wine (a must for a successful event, in my opinion). During cocktail hour, it seemed like we were constantly offered an appetizer or glass of wine or specialty drink. This is a top notch catering company with impeccable service and memorable food. We were very impressed and will definitely call them the next time we plan a special event!

Panda Catering was amazing and I highly recommend them for weddings and all other catering events.
Nicole was our catering manager and she was so easy to work with. Starting from the beginning, she listened to our needs and put together a great tasting that everyone loved. She and her team were always so accommodating and knew what we needed before we even asked for it.
Throughout the planning process, Nicole was responsive, flexible and offered lots of great suggestions which we used. She made what can be a stressful process super easy.
On the day of the event, they arrived early and the food was so delicious. They even brought food to the bridal party. Our guest kept complimenting how great the food was.
Wow, we were blown away. Highly recommended!