Panda Express

1^st time ever at a Panda Express. Pleasantly surprise. Food was awesome. Service awesome. I will be back again

This place was so dirty. They don’t wipe down the tables. Went in around 1:30 after lunch rush. Rice was a little hard. Probably won’t be back.

The teriyaki chicken has a strange texture. But that’s not the worst thing about this restaurant.
Something is wrong with their card machines. My card was eventually accepted, but let me tell you about the amount of struggle I had to endure and the public humiliation dished upon me by the staff because they didn’t know how to run a credit card.
I placed my order and when I went to pay, I was rudely told that my card wouldn’t go through. I asked for them to try it again and again it wouldn’t go through. I knew it was working, I had just used it elsewhere. I had to ask for them to put it in manually. Apparently they struggle to be bothered that much. So then I was told my card was declined, loudly and by now I had other customers staring at me with those looks of pity as if I’m poor.
Since I had been spoken to so rudely and now they had publicly humiliated me, I felt I needed to prove they were mistaken. I stepped aside and checked my bank balance. As I knew already, the balance was fine. I asked they run it manually again. Again it was declined and again, it was announced loudly. So I called the bank. The bank tells me they are putting in the wrong verification code. I pass this information on. By now the manager is there, is pissed that she’s having to perform her managerial duties and she punches it in. It is declined. I call the bank again. The bank, again, says they’re putting in the verification code incorrectly. I pass this information along… again.
The manager fusses at me about having already tried it several times. I convince her to try it again. She types in the information and voila! It goes through.
For all of the public humiliation dished upon me by the staff, all I get is an «I’m sorry for the inconvenience,» and now cold food.
Believing this was a hiccup due to their recent opening and perhaps because I’m a glutton for punishment, I tried them again. My card, which works everywhere else, won’t go through and I have to again convince them to type it in manually. I’m looked at as if I’ve grown two heads. But someone types it in manually and it goes through.
In this case, I don’t believe that a third time will be a charm. Food poisoning perhaps, but not a charm. Sad because in this area we could use a place that sells something besides fried chicken.

Really bad. I can handle the occasional Panda meal just fine but the food at this location just doesn’t taste right. Hopefully that gets corrected. Staying very busy somehow. Pei Wei is the same price and much better.

I know that this is a new location, but that’s not an excuse for horrible service and depressing food.
I decided to stop by since I enjoy Americanized Chinese food and I don’t have many good options in this area (I still don’t, BTW).
After a wait in the drive-​thru line, I was greeted by the clerk who suggested the Honey Sesame chicken, which was not on the menu (along with a lot of other items in the online menu). Since I wanted to try it, I accepted, along with Lo Mein, Sweetfire Chicken and Broccoli Beef.
Arriving at the window, I was greeted with a barked total and brusquely handed my Dr. Pepper. Then a bag of food arrived with nary a word spoken… so I kept sitting there. The clerk finally noticed, and after giving me an expression that clearly showed that she thought I was retarded, she gave a thumbs up. I took that to mean my order was complete, so I drove away (thank you too, dear).
Upon arriving home, I laid out the order and quickly realized that the Honey Sesame Chicken that I was so looking forward to looked and tasted an awful lot like shrimp. Admittedly, it’s an easy mistake to make if you’re the quality of employee I dealt with tonight, so I can’t fault them too much.
My Sweetfire chicken, was (gratefully) chicken, and was okay. The Broccoli Beef would have been alright if the beef tasted like beef, but it tasted more like beef-​flavored tofu. The Lo Mein was extremely doughy and completely tasteless. I had to add two soy sauce packets to just get minimal seasoning.
At least my Dr. Pepper was okay. Even though it didn’t come with a straw. Perhaps that’s an extra charge?
Final verdict: This brand new Panda Express is already a stain on Roanoke’s reputation of having well above-​average dining choices. I’d rather have a second McDonald’s.
UPDATE: Decided to give them another shot today and see if anything has improved. Incredibly, it has gotten even worse! My Lo Mein was far undercooked and the Angus beef was terrible. I can’t wait until they shut this place down and put in a Burger King.