Panda Express

This restaurant NEEDS a health — restaurant inspection ASAP!
Ordered and ate Honey Walnut Shrimp four days ago. I am still sick and having a food poison. I’ve been having stomach ache with diarrhea since then.
I SHOULD NOT HAVE continued eating when I felt the food was not as fresh as I thought it normally would be. It seemed like my friend was having a same problem with his orange chicken and rice. They all looked and tasted AWFUL.
I understand that this is a cheap/​fast food place. But come on now, selling old ass shrimp/​chicken to the customers? SO WRONG!!!
Because of this experience, I will not even have a bite of any food from any Panda Express forever.

They don’t have soup anymore. This place is dead to me.
Yes, I know it’s Americanized Chinese food. I can adapt to that. But no soup? That’s like going to an Italian restaurant without bread.
No Chinese place –even a pseudo-​Chinese– eatery should go without soup. Especially anything that serves rice.
I will not return.

The food was great but the line was terrible and I felt rushed when I was placing my order! There are a bunch of extra costs that are hidden that I wasn’t happy about! But the food itself was great service wasn’t personalized outside of the food there wasn’t much else I could say!

The staff was impatient and rude, the food was dry and bland. Very very bad experience.

Panda Express on Adams between Michigan and Wabash adds a little bit more protein to their dishes. There was a huge bug of some sort in my Sesame Honey Chicken bowl! EWWWWW!!!

Listen up, «authentic» Chinese food snobs, because I’m Chinese, my family owned a restaurant for nearly 40yrs until they retired, and I KNOW food – all kinds, but Chinese food is my specialty – and I’m here to tell you that THIS Panda Express is pretty damn good. Fer realz. So please don’t snob on THIS PE, ok?
I’m not a fan of «orange chicken» as a general rule, so I haven’t tried that, but I HAVE had the «stringbean chicken» and sampled the steak entrée they serve up, along with a few others – the spare ribs they have now are SO GOOD – and I can validate the authenticity of the flavors. They are truly delicious! The only thing I’d add is some lap cherng (Chinese sausage) on the side.
My peeps, this IS legit! The Stringbean Chicken tastes almost as good as my mom’s, and the flavor in the steak dish tastes likewise authentic. I LOVE how they get something as seemingly simple as white rice the PERFECT texture, softness, etc… The one thing I’d definitely improve upon is the veggies on the side. There really is no flavor – I’d totally stir fry that with some garlic, light sodium soy, and chicken stock with a dash of white wine and some salt – but that’s just me. :) This place is pretty damn good regardless!
Now, I won’t pretend every single thing there is «authentic», but the dishes I gravitate to are. Plus, there are actual Chinese/​Asian people there, in front and probably cooking – who know what they’re doing. Actually, I’m sure there are non-​Chinese people in the back who also churn out this deliciousness too, but I digress.
The people have always been friendly and helpful when I’ve gone (not too much, because I’m on a budget), but THIS Panda Express is definitely the best PE I’ve been to, and is not typical of most Panda Expresses. If you know what to get, the food is pretty great, the people are friendly, the atmosphere cool, and they deserve props here for serving us, so I’m giving it to them.
No, I am not affiliated with Panda E., nor did I ever in my wildest dreams think I’d review them, but this is a special case.

Worst Chinese food ever!!! I don’t like this style Chinese-​American reastaurant. I don’t know what happen but the food was terrible for me and my stomach! I felt awful after eat there!

I work in the area so I have eaten here many times. Used to love the Kung Po Chicken and Orange Chicken. Used to being the key words here. Not sure has happened, but the food has been so bad the last two times, I will not be back. Everything is so dry and tasteless. What happened to the sauce on the Kung Po. My other selection was orange chicken, which they were out of. They kept trying to pawn off other selections (the slow selling items) to me to avoid the wait. As it was just cooked you would think it would taste fresh but it was hard and dry. I realize this is fast food, but it used to be good fast food. Too bad they stopped caring.

The Harvest Moon brings the taste of crunchy Honey Sesame Chicken breast to Panda Express with fresh asparagus and yellow peppers. Chinese cuisine has evolved at Panda Express to include your choice of vegetables with noodles, rice, side orders, and the best featured Chinese favorites for the season. Panda Express is getting better every time I visit here.

The worst. I had a taste for some oldskool, basic, American style Chinese food. Something Beef and Broccoli-​ish with rice.
Well, the Beef with Broccoli is mostly broccoli with a few tiny pieces of beef thrown in. Right next to the Angus Steak Something or other for $ 1 more, which had nice chunks of meat and mushrooms. Really. You’re gonna play that game to get the BwB fans to spring for another $ 1 just so then can have some actual B in their entrée? Fine.
The steamed rice is gluey and crunchy in spots. How can you *(#&% up the rice? The Angus Steak whatever it was was gluey and sweetish and overcooked. Disappointing. Do the people that like this place not have taste buds?
The counter people are completely unintelligible. I just went ahead with my order, and had no idea what was being said back to me.
So eff this place. It’s right around the corner from where I’m working, but I won’t be back.

It’s a Panda Express, what you see is what you get, but I am writing this mini-​review because I’ve always been in and out of here in less than 6 minutes for a takeout order. They even give me samples, and are always in a good mood. Now, that’s definitely worth 5 stars, amiright?

So… call me an idiot but this is the first time I’ve been here.
I came in for lunch and the while I didnt expect the food to be amazingly authentic it was just alright. Some of the food was at a med temp the other was like literally cold and had been sitting out for god knows how long.
I asked the girl at the counter to heat it up for me for a minute in the microwave and she did… but when she brought it back… it was STILL cold smh. And I mean, it wasnt her fault, she did what I asked her to do and heated it up for a minute. So, I asked her again and apologized for being a pain in the ass, I just wanted hot food. The people were nice. The food… Meh =/

No different than California, small portion… but the food was pretty fresh, didn’t look like it was kept outside for hours and hours. I just love the orange chicken there, but it can be a hit or miss.
The restaurant was very cleaned, not a bad place if you are craving for cheap Chinese food.

How can you tell if a Chinese restaurant is Americanized?
–The restaurant is too clean.
–The employees know how to speak English.
–The employees wear uniforms.
–It’s located in the loop.
–It has a clever, cute name like «Panda Express».
–The business actually has a real consistent logo.
–They have a website (Pretty nice actually).
–They offer unlimited soda! DUH…
–Floor-​to-​ceiling windows. Come on, you gotta admit, that’s pretty baller.
–No soy sauce or hot sauce bottles at the tables.
–They have a revolving door.
–They automatically give you a fork (you have to ask for chopsticks)
–They don’t thank you for coming when you’re leaving the restaurant.
The only time I come back here is when I’m extremely hungry. They give you huge portions, especially when I order 2 entrées. Talk about food coma!
If you want authentic Chinese food, go to China. But you can get pretty close by visiting Chinatown. But remember, the dirtier, the MORE authentic (in my opinion, better tasting).

Great Panda Express chain restaurant. Service is Fast and the Food is great!

Sorry for starting this the same way as my other Panda Express review, but it’s very hard to write reviews for large franchises. I’ve loved Panda Express for many many years, all the way back to growing up in Southern California. But this is a specific location I’ve been to a number of times, so it deserves its own review — just separate from Panda Express overall?
That’s a challenge. Panda Express is awesomeness, pure and simple. There are just days when you crave Chinese food that really isn’t Chinese food. Do you know? If you do, then you’ve probably had Panda Express and liked it — if you don’t, then I suggest you try Panda Express anyway and you’ll learn in time how to acquire that specific craving.
So this location starts off with 4 stars already. I won’t jump a review up to 5 stars based on franchise alone. It starts off on a good foot, because the food is almost consistently awesome and the foodstuffs therein are adequately priced as well. This location luckily pulls through and earns itself that last star thanks to great service and well-​trained workers.
Tired of being gypped by the Panda Express close to my work, I now venture completely across the Loop to this establishment, which used to be one of my favorites and it once again is. They know how to properly pack a take-​out box, tamping down to remove air so that more deliciousness can be stacked on top. Oftentimes I get to watch them STUFF the box closed as the cardboard latch hangs for dear life against the sea of yumminess begging to be devoured.
These are also the first fast-​food employees who have ever 1) made me aware of the fine print on the receipt notifying you to fill out a survey via the phone to get a free discount as a reward, as well as 2) offer me a cool drink because I looked tired. After a full day’s work at a stressful job, I trek across the Loop to reach this oasis of joy and after placing my order (which I will gladly wait for as they shout to the kitchen for refills of everything I’ve just selected to bring mass quantities home with me) they just handed me a cup and pointed to the soda fountain and said, «have drink, you look thirsty and tired!»
This isn’t even just a coincidence. They’ve offered me a drink EVERY TIME I’m in there. Is it because every order I make reaches over the $ 40 mark, making me a «high-​roller» of the fake-​Chinese fast-​food industry? Could be. But I like to think they’re just that nice. They even helped this guy who was looking for some crushed spicy peppers and got one of the kitchen staff to come out and help because they couldn’t understand what he was asking for. It’s a unique request, and they fulfilled it free of charge after taking the time to satisfy a customer.
That’s how a freakin’ business SHOULD be run, and these people should host a seminar or something for the rest of the joints in the downtown Chicagoland area.
Also, they are consistently open later (8pm) than most of the Panda Express locations in the Loop — and they actually have weekend hours!

Other reviewers continue to critique Panda Express – the fast food concept, not this particular location – against other Chinese restaurants, and this comparison just isn’t fair. It’s fast food, folks, and while they may not be as good as your neighborhood’s House of Happy Buddhas, it’s certainly better than 65 Seafood (65 Sicknesses) up Michigan Avenue.
This piddly little Panda Express is wedged between two of the area’s better restaurants: Rhapsody and Russian Tea Time. While those restaurants definitely raise the bar from the generic Bennigan’s and Au Bön Pain across Adams, keeping up with the corporate office’s standards for running Panda Express franchises has not been a priority for this location. Small, busy and apathetic service are hallmarks of my trips here. Believe me, there is a Panda Express location two, maybe three blocks away that is a light year ahead of this location in both quality of food and service.
Having written all that, this location plain out sucks. The people behind the counter are generally unfriendly, the food isn’t as good as other locations, and after 6pm they keep food levels artificially low so they don’t have any waste. They also don’t take special orders like other locations do. Want string bean chicken? Forget it after 6pm. What you see (left) is what you get.