I was an eyewitness to this incident and want to clarify what actually happened because the 9/18/2026 review by Monte D. does not accurately reflect what I observed. My review is completely unsolicited, and I have no affiliation with or connection to this restaurant. The party initially arrived as three people, NOT 5. Later, another group of people joined them, and the combined group wanted to sit together. The waitress explained that guests were not permitted to move chairs which is exactly what they did. From what I observed, the waitress remained professional and was simply enforcing the restaurant's seating and safety policies which is actually advertised on the front entrance door of the restaurant. Large groups are required to make reservations, which they had not done. It appears that this group felt entitled to make themselves at home at the restaurant. When they didn't get what they wanted, they made comments like 'be sure not to leave a tip' to influence other customers. They became upset making a scene before ultimately leaving the restaurant. But before leaving, they requested water drinks to take with them. Their yelp review commented that the waitress was "really, really rude and nasty." If this were the case, why did the waitress act professionally and provided them water cups to go? I have no reason to defend or promote this restaurant; I simply believe that when a review presents a situation very differently from what an independent witness observed, it is fair to provide the other side of the story. This is an established restaurant in the community that has been around for decades. read more

China Panda Garden is a small Mandarin/Szechuan restaurant run by a husband and wife team.  Reminds me of my favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant Shanghai Cafe. Won ton strips were crunchy and had a delicious fresh fried flavor. Wor wonton soup had bbq pork, shrimp and chicken along with snow peas, napa cabbage, and carrots.  Bbq pork was tender and had a 5 spice powder based flavor.  Shrimp had a nice snap and light shrimp flavor.  Chicken was tender, dry, and did not have much flavor.  Won tons had a pork filling and had a nice white pepper flavor.  Pretty good dish which made for a good size lunch. Fried chicken wings had really crunchy batter.  I was a bit worried seeing a few blackened spots.  Wings were a bit dry.  Flavor was good with lots of salty flavor from the batter and a little bit of sweetness. Bbq pork lo mein had lots of bbq pork.  Bbq pork had a tasty 5 spice powder flavor.  The pieces were sliced thin and well done.  I liked the soy sauce they used to season this dish.  Noodles had a nice mild flavor that reminded me of Qoun Yick Chinese style dry noodles my mom bought.  Pretty good dish. The owner was very nice.  Service was fast and friendly. read more

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Very rude waitress. Only had 2 people in restaurant and we came in with 5 people. We brought a chair from another table and waitress went off on us. She said that we had to make a reservation to accommodate 5 people. This place was almost empty and she refused to move two tables together. She continued to argue and we got up and left. Will never go back! It's too bad, as we were looking forward to trying a new place. She was really, really rude and nasty. read more

This place is so consistently so good. The portions are huge, the owners are friendly and sometimes they give you free egg rolls with large orders. Chow mein noodles are delicious and so is their orange chicken. read more

Best egg rolls I have ever eaten. Never a long wait for dine-in or takeout and the service is always great. Cute spot.

Food was amazing and the staff was remarkable. I normally order to go but every time I'm in there I wonder why. Maybe it's because I have puppies at home lol read more

Lunch specials. Hot & Sour soup is excellent. I have been a few times now. Will continue.

Our favorite place for our weekly family dinners. Food never fails ... yuuuum! Our favorite server is Olivia, she is the best! Definitely make reservations if its more than 4 people. read more

Love their Sweet and Sour Chicken. I often call ahead for a take out order. Pay attention to their hours since they do close between lunch and dinner. read more

Small quaint family owned/ran spot. Authentic Chinese, high quality. Great service. Locals are pretty much all close to this family and have been coming here for years. Great food!! read more

This place needs to be featured on the Food Network or something. I've been coming here for at least 13 years and the quality has always been amazing. Every time I'm visiting East County, I always stop here to grab orange chicken, potstickers and egg flour soup. It's classic Chinese American food and they do it so well. The whole restaurant seems like it's straight out of a movie. Family owned and operated, it really doesn't get much better. read more

I have eaten here a couple different times both inside seated and pick up. Trying new dishes each time and I must say, this is THE REAL DEAL. The fried rice is always perfectly cooked with a great balance of egg and veggies (not dry and not sticky) with the perfectly toasty flavor. The Cashew Chicken is my personal favorite! Tender chicken bits with sautéed veggies and cashews-the most delicious I've ever had and the portions are quite large on the dinner menu! My husband and I could have easily split one meal. Their soups are scrumptious, even to-go they are piping hot and rich with flavor. The Hot and Sour soup is in my opinion the best. They give you complimentary fried crispy wonton chips which make a great addition to your dish or soup for some crunch. Love this place. HIGHLY RECOMMEND for a little hole in the wall. 10/10 read more

We were seated immediately, I really wish they had full booths and not one side with chairs. First thing I always ask for is green tea. Apparently they don't have any, but the waitress said we have some kind of tea. I don't remember what it was , something like Jasmine or something like that. I wish she had just said no we don't have green tea. We have jasmine tea or whatever the name of it is and I would've said OK. And I asked if they served it in a pot, and she said yes, so we got the tea. And it's just pretty much like any other brown tea, it wasn't bad but I like my green tea. Any Chinese restaurant should have green tea in my opinion, so that takes one star off. This place has a potential to have five stars from me, but when we were served our tea, since it wasn't green tea, and the waitress did not specify that they didn't have green tea, she just named the tea they had, and she kind of got miffed and acted like a jerk when I questioned her about the green tea. A simple misunderstanding, but the loss of another star when this place should've had five stars. The egg rolls were great, I really enjoyed the sauce and the spicy mustard shot right up my nose, which makes me laugh even writing about it. I ordered the Kung pao triple, spicy. I like my Chinese food spicy. I also got the fried rice although I'm sure I'll be back so I'll try the steamed rice next time. The sauce for the Kung pao meal wasn't quite as good as some I've had, but it was adequate. My companion had Szechuan shrimp, and she said it was really really good, I had a taste and the sauce was excellent. She also had the fried rice . The place is small but quiet, almost too quiet. There is some background music. When we finished our meal, we asked for to go boxes and she brought them back along with our ticket to pay for the meal. We were never offered dessert, not that I would've had any, but you never know I only ate half of the food so I still had a bit of an appetite. Even so, we should've been offered dessert before the bill was brought to us. The small place is really a four or 5 Star place to eat, but because of the server and the lack of the green tea, which I am a stickler about, it gets three stars from me, maybe they'll change things if they read this and add green tea to their menu and suggest that tea to others who eat there. read more

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This place is amazing. Great food and great service. Love this place. We found this gym just driving on a vacation

I absolutely love this place! Great food! Great service! Lovely ladies who work there! I highly recommend!

I do not recommend this place at all. They've always had great food, but their poor customer service is unacceptable. My family and I showed up today at 11:30 for a birthday lunch after not eating there for sometime. I didn't know that their rules had changed. There were six of us for lunch. When I asked to be seated the woman who runs the restaurant was absolutely rude which was so unnecessary. She said "we only do reservations! " I was like- "Oh I didn't know. I told her it's been a while since we have been there. She said rudely "read the sign on the door" ! I was shocked at her response. She then said we don't serve more than 5 at a table anyway. So I asked if we could split up and use two tables and she first said "no" then said well if you do then you're going to have a long wait because we have a lot of take out orders. I told her we'd be willing to wait then she changed her mind and said "no, not going to be able to seat you. For some reason she just didn't want our service. I had my 92 year old mom and my 85 year old uncle who needed a decision to be made because neither can stand for too long. So I told her that she was so rude and she could have had a different and more caring response. If it's true that she didn't have room for us and their rules changed, that's ok but there was no need for her unprofessional and rude attitude. So we went a few doors down to Marietta's Mexican restaurant where we were served and welcomed with kindness. I definitely recommend Marietta's. Food is amazing and their staff is awesome. SO RUDE! I've never had an experience like this at a restaurant or any place of business. read more

China Panda Garden - Chinese food - Chinese Near Me - El Cajon, California

Our family knows them as the soup and egg roll place because we love the egg rolls (you get some free based on how much you spend), wor wonton soup, egg drop, and hot and sour. They are very friendly and always chit chat when I arrive before my order is ready. We have tried many dishes over the years, but I think our favorites are the kung pao chicken (Kung pao trio is good, but the chicken is better), twice cooked pork, and the szechuan pork. My daughter and I also like the chicken lo mein. Recently we had the mongolian beef and shrimp with snow peas and those were good. The fried rice that comes with the entrees has good flavor. read more

The absolute worst customer experience I have ever had. I never leave a bad review but customers need to be warned. We came here this evening as we do every year to celebrate my brothers birthday who has passed. We had a family of 5 and they refused us service as they would not seat a table or more than 4. The way we were treated was discrimination and absolutely embarrassing. Extremely disappointing read more

The salt and pepper chicken wings are amazing!! I also liked the vegetarian egg rolls, they were good sized... try it out

I always get the salt and pepper chicken wings. So yummy! Its such a wonderful feeling there. Food made with family attention to quality.

China Panda Garden is AMAZING. It was the best chinese food I've possibly ever had. Our Waitress Olivia was outstanding. She recommended, she slayed our service and was just really sweet. Cindy the owner is my new spirit animal and I cannot wait to go back. read more

This is our favorite chinese restaurant in East County. Order the salt and pepper wings. 5+ make reservations before hand. Ordered the Kung Pao Chicken and the Sweet and Pork. You will not be disappointed. Yum. Everyone has always been friendly and great!!! read more

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They won't serve a party over 4 people, so don't waste your time. We clearly didn't know and they were rude about it, saying there's a sign on the door. With this in mind, their high reviews surprise me. read more

It is very disappointing, after years of supporting a local business, to find out the owner's daughter has no pride in the restaurant her parents worked so hard to establish. Many of you probably already guessed I am talking about China Panda Garden. 1788 E Main St El Cajon, CA 92021 +1 (619) 588-8098 The daughter acts like she dislikes customers, either she doesn't care anymore as it wasn't her effort, or she has gotten to big for her britches and things she doesn't need to EARN people's business anymore. Almost sent me to the hospital last week by putting PEANUTS in our cashew chicken and I am allergic to peanuts. I called and she offered to replace the entree on another order. So far so good, right? We order from them today and I reminded the person taking the order we had a credit for an order of cashew chicken. We ordered Beef and snow peas as well. Because they were replacing the item due to their previous mistake, I wasn't assuming they would include rice like they always due, I asked if BOTH entrees came with rice. I was prepared to pay for an order of rice so wanted to make sure as we are a family of 3. The lady said YES. My husband picked up and for the very first time since we have been their customers, the boxes had been put in a paper bag and leaked all over the car seat (see photo). They send only ONE order of rice even though I asked. It felt like they weren't replacing the order in good faith. It's not like we weren't paying for another entree to give them at least sale for rectifying what could have been a serious and costly mistake. I called and asked to speak to the owner. At first they didn't want to put her on the phone. Finally she came to the phone with a very hostile attitude. I explained they shorted us the rice and the white car seat was really messed up. She turned around and asked the person who took the order I had asked if each entree came with rice. She blatantly lied and said I only ordered fried rice. She then said "you heard her" you didn't ask. I can't tell you how wrong and at so many levels that is. Basically she called me a liar. If I was prepared to pay for rice knowing the entree was a replacement, why would I NOT ask, and why would I be taking the time to call dissatisfied instead of enjoying our dinner? She then said she is my niece. I told her, "the more reason NOT to lie to you". My husband and my mother were sitting here when I SPECIFICALLY ASKED. I remind you, all this nasty interaction with her loyal customer over a measly order of rice I was happy to pay for! Petty. She told me "you need to find another restaurant". That's when I knew this person doesn't have the least understanding of running a business and thinks she doesn't need customers. The quality of the food has also gone down quite a bit. They really just don't care anymore. Just read owner's response. Not surprised she would lie, apparently it's the norm for her. As I stated BECAUSE I wasn't expecting them to also comp the rice I ASKED so I could order some and PAY for it. But she preferred to call me a liar. The responses she gives all the negative reviews speak for themselves. Also the uncountable comments on Facebook relating similar experiences also speak volumes about how rude she is and the horrible reputation she has in the community. When you have to go as far as to put words in my mouth, you really have no defense to your lack of class and manners. read more

China Panda Garden - Poorly packed food leaked all over new car seat - Chinese Near Me - El Cajon, California

I was here while Victoria (the review below) threw a fit and was totally out of line to the waitress and hostess, she started cussing about this an that in front of my 8 year old, I knew she was going to complain on help because people like that are why Yelp exist, they think they are better then everyone else and there opinion means more then life itself, the truth is Victoria made a fool out of herself, the rest of her family is still here eating the food and when she stormed out, multiple tables laughed at her. Come to china panda, if you want the best Chinese food in town. Great service, and great food. read more

When I called they tried to deter me from ordering as they said it would be a long wait, when I went to pick up my food they were kinda mean. The food was kinda gross, greasy and didn't taste very good. read more

This place has the best Chinese food I've ever had. It is a small family owned business with great staff. They are always friendly and welcoming to me and my family when we come. Based on the negative reviews, if you are rude, they will treat you accordingly. I'm grateful for that because the obnoxious customers get driven out and it makes for a more pleasant atmosphere. Keep it up! I'm so spoiled now, I won't eat at any other Chinese food restaurant. I recommend the kung pao triple but everything I've had had there is great! read more

Really is the best Chinese food in East County. We've been enjoying their menu for over 20 years. Our favorites include sweet and sour chicken and vegetable chop suey. Fried rice and egg rolls are always consistently good. read more

Service is quick an friendly An there salt pepper shrimp an fried rice is my go too i have had party tray an the whole family loved it will be a repeat customer read more

The food is mediocre at best. However, the service is not just unfriendly, it is abusive. Who wants to pay good money to be treated in a disrespectful manner? Owner is the worse. She treats the employees horribly in front of the patrons. read more

Ok so first the staff is so friendly and greet you with a warm welcome. This place seats about 44 occupancy so it's not a mega place. I dined in and was seated at a booth which are located near the walls but has tables that are in the middle of restaurants that can seat 4 to a table but can be moved closer to accommodate larger groups. This place is at the end of the shopping center but they get a lot of traffic. I started with the egg flower soup which was yummy and the perfect consistency and it comes with the crispy tons on the side. The egg drop soup had small carrots, peas, bamboo shoot and little pieces of tofu which pleasantly was delicious. I had two egg rolls which were fried in a spring roll wrap which was so yummy and seasoned so good inside. It's was especially delicious with the hot mustard which opened my head up completely. I can literally smell all the way to China now lol with the hot mustard opening my sinuses. Love it! The entree I got was orange chicken which comes spicy but can be altered I got the mild and it was perfect and the chicken was sweet crispy and made fresh to order. The portions are plenty two people can eat off one entree easily. It was so amazing I will be back. Sorry I didn't show the rest of the food but I was so hungry I totally forgot to take pics. Lol anyways this place is a must if your in the area and want great Chinese food. read more

China Panda Garden - Orange Chicken comes with bowl of steamed rice - Chinese Near Me - El Cajon, California

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The new owners are mean and yell at everybody. Me and the 3 other people in line all got screamed at by the lady at the counter for random things. She double charged me and refused to give me a receipt in case there was any issue later on. Another family came in to let her know one of their entrees was missing and instead of correcting the order, she called them liars and told them "too bad" and kicked them out. Stay away from this place until they sell it or take anger management classes. read more

The food is authentic Chinese food. It's a family owned restaurant. The restaurant is mid size with an open dining room. The food is very good and fresh. They have a larger waiting area where you can place to go orders. The bathroom and restaurant are always clean. The parking lot is very big so there is ample parking. read more

Will not go back. Very rude owner. Your food is decent but would rather support China 1968 they care about their customers. No one had pizza, so clearly you are rude to multiple customers. You might keep your older customers but your new business you will scare away. We have heard you talk badly about other customers. You never know who is listening. Maybe be more empathetic it goes a long way. read more

Our family favorite! Delicious freshly made food. So many great items on the menu all fantastic. I love the Hot and Sour soup, the chicken chow main, the lemon chicken...my list goes on! And because they make it fresh, they can make sure it allergy friendly. Perfect for me! The service is so good. Cindy knows her customers and treats them like family. She's honest and kind. The update of the restaurant is nice, cozy with a family flair. We have been eating here for over 25 years. We just love it!​ read more

I recently tried takeout from this place and it was a huge letdown. The food was incredibly bland and overpriced. My husband ordered chicken and broccoli and when he opened the box, the chicken was so unappetizing. He also ordered wonton soup and ended up throwing it away because it had no taste /: I ordered the orange chicken with fried rice which tasted nothing like it. Even Pick Up Stix does better. I won't be going back there ever again. Complete waste of money which was $51.32 in total ): --- read more

I recently read some of the reviews for China Panda. My wife and I have been coming here for years and have never been disappointed. It appears that one customer that was disgruntled has put in multiple reviews as if they were different people. It's pretty sad when people have nothing better to do than try to destroy someone's business. This is a family run business and they've always been very accommodating and friendly. Also, the food is always been great . Cindy is fantastic and so is the rest of the staff that wait on tables. read more

We came on a Friday evening and waited about ten minutes for a table. It was our first time coming here. We started off with the eggrolls and pot stickers. I especially liked the eggrolls, perfectly fried and the filling was amazing. Our entrees were the crispy beef, orange chicken, and broccoli beef. They were all great. I'd definitely order the crispy beef again!! Service was great too. The atmosphere was busy, which is a good thing to see when you're trying out a new spot. I would definitely recommend this place. read more

Truly the best Chinese in East County. Generous portions and meticulous attention to quality. Not pretentious, but still a civilized sit down restaurant. read more

Incredibly poor customer service, after years of coming here. So disappointed to get so much attitude from the hostess, grace and kindness go a long way. I can't recommend this place based on that. We won't be returning. Small place that can hardly fit anyone in there, and won't take more than parties of four without a reservation, so skip if you're trying for a last minute reservation. They don't even open till five. Food was good, which makes this all the more disappointing. Try panda machi for your fix instead! read more