Even thought its fast food Chinese food (and people argue it doesn't taste like authentic Chinese food) I still love the orange chicken. Can't help it! read more

Horrible customer service. The portions that they've been giving lately have been so small. I asked for more shrimp with my order and I said I didn't mind paying more, charge me double. He looked at the plate and said "I mean I already gave you 9 shrimp and I'm only supposed to give you 7" the plate in fact did not have 9 shrimp & I'm asking to be served more obviously okay being charge more. I wasn't served more so I quickly paid for my meal and left. read more

Service is lacking. Walk up to start order. An employee is giving instruction to what appears to be a new employee. No pause to greet us or to say "be with you in a moment" or anything, just going on and on... I notice that there are no veggies in the tray. So I say "excuse me" could you please prepare more veggies? (At least those could be cooking while you are talking.). She says yes, veggies will be a 4 minute wait. Fine. The cook in the back takes out some veggies and appears to put them on a scale to measure... So I continue with the rest of my order. ( I'm going to skip over some minor things, because the employee that was helping appeared to be new, so I'll give some grace). But the whole time this is going on, the veggies are still on the scale and not being cooked! I want to tell the person helping me but, bless her heart, she already appears to have a lot on her mind with two plates - two entrees each... so anyway after paying (which I usually don't do until I have all my items, but again, don't want to confuse... lol). I go and stand to the side to wait. Finally the veggies made it to cook. While I'm waiting. I start doing a little twist move (dance) and am kinda having fun, noticing how my feet easily slide around on the floor... Then I'm like, "wait a minute, I'm spinning in grease!" Omg... the floor is so greasy, it's ridiculous. And why is it so greasy way over away from the kitchen.... ?!?!?! Smh. Finally god my order and bounced. Food was par for Panda Express... service and cleanliness were not. read more

I bit into a hard bone! It stabbed my tongue, unacceptable. The cashier was quick to get our order, but rude. read more

Panda Express - Chinese Near Me - Buellton, California

We love Panda, it's one of our favorites. We're from out of town and we found one. We were excited to eat here but we're let down. The orange chicken and Beijing Beef were both super dry and crunchy, the Chow Mein was dry and not so enjoyable. The chicken egg rolls were extremely crispy and fell apart with one bite. Maybe we caught them on an off morning. read more

It's Panda Express. It's fast food Chinese. Get the two item plate with double orange chicken. I mean, come on, that's guaranteed happy stomach. No surprises here. It's Panda. It's terrible for you but you'll enjoy every bite of the experience. Don't play around thinking there's some entree item better than orange chicken. Everyone knows the OC is tops. Just get it. And only it. read more

By far the worst panda I've ever been to, and we've tried multiple times. It's not even worth going to, choose something else.

I believe I'm being generous with 2 stars. Your management needs to get together and figure out how to retain employees. In the beginning everything was great with a fully staffed restaurant and fresh food, and now not so much. On the past occasions since I've gone back, I've seen a lack of staffing and longer wait on getting what I ordered. It is not a good thing to have the manager leave the line and have to go back and do the cooking as well. Whatever the restaurant's policy is on amount of food being put out. Man you all gotta anticipate the lunch rush hour! read more

The only reason I am giving two stars is because the people working were polite and friendly. 1230 on an afternoon and half of the food dishes were empty. Only one cook and boy he was awfully slow. Waited 15 minutes for orange chicken a long with 3 other customers. Clearly they need more people working in this Panda Express. There was a line out the door because only one person was serving food. Man, so bad! Food was good though so that's a plus read more

This is probably the best panda I have ever experienced. It is brand new, so that may have something to do with it, but it seems to be run very well. They have learned from previous stores in the way they set this one up. The food is standard panda fare, but it was fresh, the staff was on point and the selection was good. That being said it is panda express chinese food.... but as I said, as far as Panda Express goes, this is one of the best locations. read more

not good rice was not cooked, super hard. orange chicken was old. bad attitudes of workers read more

I've gone to Panda Express in Buellton a number of times, usually around 5-5:30 pm. The food is good, the service is quick, and for the most part friendly. BUT the last two times I've gone there, they've been out of so many menu items. It is not an exaggeration to say that last evening, at least 2/3rds of the hot entrees were gone. This is difficult to understand, given that this is the beginning of 'dinner time'. Since not even one of the four entrees I was looking for was available, I ended up leaving. read more

My family and I had been on the road most of the day, and stopped in the Buellton Location to get dinner. Upon entering the buffet line, that seemed to not have any food, the ladies at the front were not very accommodating. I could see one of the staff members was boxing up an online order. My husband really wanted to eat there, so besides the fact they only had 3 items to chose from, one of them was my hubby's favorite. We continued to get our order.   They had honey walnut shrimp, chow main, orange chicken, maybe enough green bean chicken for maybe 1 1/2 orders and barely any rice. I'm not sure of the business protocol here, but half an hour before closing seemed like a very early time to be completely closed down, on a Saturday night. Nobody offered to make more of anything. I asked about egg rolls, which seem to be simple enough to drop in the fryer, but was told they were all out of everything. If this is the case, maybe you shouldn't be taking online orders. My husband asked for napkins, since the dispenser was completely empty.  The lady brought him a paper towel from the kitchen, and said, " I don't  think we have any napkins." My husband made a comment so she checked the supply cabinet, and voila... napkins! She opened the huge pack, handed him a few off the top and then just sat them on the counter beside the dispenser.   While we were in the dining room eating, we saw multiple people come in and leave because they didn't have food. They are probably glad they did, because what we witnessed after eating our meal was disturbing. One of the staff member ladies was sweeping the front dining room, while talking to her coworker while she had sat down and was eating. She took the broom and brushed the table top off with the broom she just used on the floor. Needless to say, we will never be back to this Panda. That is disgusting to do anytime, but especially in winter and during covid! So gross. When we got back to the car, it was 8:40 pm which by the sign on the door, meant they still had 20 min to be open and should be serving food!! If I was the manager or owner I would be making some changes, especially in cleanliness, and customer service. read more

New management has whipped this location into shape. Much better! Food is great, fast service, this is my regular lunch spot.

idk people be just too picky when it comes to side of the highway fast food. it's not the greatest food in the world but it's not all bad. the employees are real nice and have no attitude against you. read more

This particular restaurant only gets 2 stars from me. Not only were they out of 89% of their dishes at 6:30 on a Monday, but it was a 15 minute wait for them to make more. Our server/cashier rushed thru our order with a unhappy attitude and by the end forgot to ask if we wanted sauces or DRINKS! They redeemed themselves by giving us 2 drinks when they gave us our order 15 minutes later. read more

Don't go there right at open. They have less than half of the choices available. Even had to wait five plus minutes just to get teriyaki sauce. read more

Thanks Lorraine! Thanks Mariah! You made my visit enjoyable once again! Plates overflowing with food! 2 thumbs up! I leaving very full and satisfied! read more

Prices at Panda Express are too high. They also give small portions. It's as if they are trained to weigh the food before plating. $1.99 for an egg roll. I went to a competitor(Chop Stix), 2 For .99. They also fill up the plate to where you can't even close the lid. Then to top it off, employee solicit money for charity. I just want to eat, not get gilt tripped into making Panama Express look good, do a match or donate yourself. I donate straight to the charity, not through a middleman. I hate it, makes you look like a bum asking for money as I try to walk out the door. Never going here again. read more

On our way South, stopped at Panda in Buelton, Ca. There was a large selection to choose from. Everything was barely warm. Not Hot. I thought Panda had guidelines for the temperature To keep the food at. Not here. Probably the worst Panda Express I've eaten at. read more

I have been at Panda express many many times . I like the food but They are notoriously out of items such as white rice sweet andsour sauce; they are always waiting on foods from the cooks. waiting on some thing last week how do you sweet-and-sour sauce many times out of white rice that seems a bit ridiculous to me I think what they need is good management and training tno the staff is friendly they are kind of all on top of each other and not knowing what to do and that is not their fault that his lack of training , greet the customer and also train that the cooks that when you're about out of something the staff needs to let the cooks know it needs to be replenished. They are open till 10 o'clock and you can go in at 8:30 but we don't have any more of this or we don't have anymore of that they're just not wanting to cook that you've got to have a system there's a trend that tells you what are the more popular items and what you need to keep on hand I understand not to waste things but if you're going to be open till 10 I don't think you need to stop cooking the item at 8:30. Again I'm not blaming the cooks I'm blaming management that doesn't come in and train these people properly to greet the customers acknowledge us when we're in there train them have a system have if you have Door Dash letworkitto people work on the customers that are presently there another two staff you have the phone issues Basically it's management needs to train these people would be a shame of that restaurant want to wait but I've heard many many people say they won't go there and I'll drive to Santa Maria before they go to Lompoc and express just because of the way it's run please improve this thank you read more

I cannot understand for the life of me why this Panda Express should get only 2 and 1/2 Stars. If that's true then Santa Maria Panda Express deserves 1/2 a star! Our server Jesus greeted us with the nicest smile and friendly attitude! Both me and my husband were very impressed. He got our order correct and even though it was 1/2 an hour before xlising, he brought out fresh food for us!! From now on we will try to dine at this location instead of Santa Maria. Just a great experience over all and consistent every time. read more

Came in late from LA to Solvang last night and was just in need of some good food... unfortunately the lady on the cashier looked so unhappy and generally snapped at us while ringing up our order. I believe her name was Valerie. We came back tonight to grab dinner hoping she wasn't there but I guess bad luck because she was the one taking our order again. Not very personable and mediocre customer service just made our visit to the area a bust. We have eaten at many Panda Express in a multitude of cities and by far this was the worse experience. read more

Nice enough staff.. but the place was dirty....food on seats, food scraps on tables, floors were not swept, napkins, forks, etc. not picked up after customers were done.I had to get napkins and clean my table and remove bits of food off my seat before my wife and I could sit down... the food was ok... our mixed vegetable side was not nearly cooked (we took them With us to cook as leftovers for the next day). Plenty of good portions but entrees could have been warmer... Female staff taking a break eating Starbuck's food in restaurant (weird). Line server forgot what my wife wanted after she ordered and went to the restroom ... FYI we were there on Sat. March 17 about 3pm. EASY STUFF TO FIX... but staff needs to be more diligent... or this place will not survive. read more

Again am back order my food on line thinking it would be different order for it to be ready at 11:45 they made wait about 15 mins and when they gave the order one chicken roll was missing. So I when back and they told me I need to wait 8 more mins for the other one to come out what a joke. Get the right people in there. I love Panda Express food but this bad I never seen a business so disorganized. And they forgot my small order of orange chicken which I need to wait again for it horrible horrible horrible place read more

i stop by for a quick lunch obviously when you go to places like panda express you don't have hight expectations !! i ordered teriyaki chicken and fried rice the chicken was dried and taste like grease most likely was seating there for hours the rice was as bad uneatible !!!! i when back and told the guys in the counter he can't care less, he didn't apologize, offer me a new order or give me the money back terrible food and terrible service read more

This Panda Express doesn't even deserve one star... We around 8:45 pm and half of the food was empty and all the chairs were up on the tables as if they were closing. When we asked what time they were closing they said 9:00. Google maps showed me they close at 9:30 pm and now looking on Yelp it says 9:30 as well. The employees had no customer service skills and one lady hovered over us until we finished our meals. Oh and the food was as bad as this experience. Worst Panda Express EVER. read more

2 stars because the service was not good. The food is of Panda's quality, fresh, hot, and good flavors. The girl serving up the rice and noodles was screwing everything up. While having to wait on noodles she had the counter lined with peoples entrees getting cold. When I told her I'd wait she proceeds to give me a plate full of rice that had been sitting there. I told her I wanted 1/2 rice/noodles, she scrapes out half the cold rice. Omg. Really! When I told her I didn't want cold food, she laughs and tells me nobody does! Really?! Epic fail for a new establishment! read more

Unfortunately this is probably my last time going to this particular Panda Express. I was so looking forward to it because I normally really enjoy their food but I've now tried the Buellton location twice and it's really bad! The portions are small and the chow mein both times was cold and flavorless. I hope enough people complain to where they improve their food. And my food was cold too:( read more

Stopped by while traveling from SF to LA. Food is not consistent with other Panda Express restaurants. Orange Chicken had too much spice and tasted like cardboard. Same with Beijing Beef. Vegetables and fried rice were dryer than usual, and vegetables in the noodles were not cooked enough. No pot stickers on menu. Also no soap in restroom, both when I arrived and 20 mins after letting employee know. This place needs to get it together. read more

The food was pretty good no complaints but I have to say you better watch things real carefully. I wanted to buy a bag of crispy noodles by the register and all four bags were old and out dated by 3 weeks. I told the girl at the register that she should not sell these they are old and out dated. I handed them to her, she left them by the register for about 10 mins and put the back to sell. I couldn't believe my eyes so I went up to check and sure enough she put the old ones back. That makes me concern about how they handle all of their food. I think I will save my Panda trips for Goleta. Habit across from them is always FRESH!!!! Somebody needs to get good management then maybe they might be ok? I came in at 10:30am opening time 08/09/19 one guy here no food out no tables set up. The poor guy was scrambling to get some stuff ready I had to wait forever to get my food!! Not good!! The positive was he was really nice and trying but you would think they would have employees come in prior to opening to have it ready!! Once again I went in 01/30/2020 at 4:45 to get dinner for my family( why don't learn). From start to finish took 40 mins to get my family meal. They had one employee up front and one cook in the back and one spoonful of each item ready. Finally after waiting 10 mins the female manager came out to try to help but by then it was too late they had 12 people in there waiting for partial orders to be cook. Last review the manager contacted me and said he was really concerned and going to change the problems there. Well it's worst maybe corporate needs to get rid of everyone before it's too late read more

So I came in to eat at a peak hour but GLORIA was very nice welcomed me when I came in also my entree want ready but she made me feel very important and got my food ready right away ! She was attending every table making sure everything was satisfying while it was busy ! Great customer service 10/10 read more

I always feel welcome in this location, and it's always very clean. Employees are friendly (smiling and attentive) and efficient!

We love Panda Express, but this location definitely has a problem. Awful food and service. We got there about 6:30 pm and all the selections were gone. They had not replenished the items as they were ordered. The staff acted like they had just been smoking weed out back, not very helpful. We made a meal out of the few items that were still available, but had to wait for the mixed vegetables to be made and when we got it, the broccoli was in giant pieces. There were no forks, no problem because we like to eat with chopsticks, but when we asked for forks, the gal behind the counter got nasty! Perhaps this was an off night, but if not, the manager and the entire staff needs to be fired! read more

Stopped by on Tuesday evening at 7:30. Only 3 of the entrée selections had food. One cook and two servers. 4 or 5 others waiting for completion of their orders. The teriyaki chicken they said would be around 15 minutes. Panda Express is the only place we stop for "fast food" between San Diego and SF. We live in Solvang and were please that they opened nearby. Tuesday was not an anomaly. This is the worst Panda in the entire chain, in our opinion. read more

Been in the store for 25 mins and still have yet to place my order. Bowls empty. One guy taking orders, filling and cashiering. Completely ridiculous. read more

I got to the restaurant early and they had not made most of the dishes but immediately made my order fresh. I had just stopped by to get a diet Pepsi but it smelled so good I had to eat. I come by often just to get a fountain Pepsi. read more

Love this place . Every time I go in everyone is so friendly . Great staff. Always welcoming in with a smile . Keep it up Panda Express . read more

I WILL NEVER RETURN TO THIS PANDA EXPRESS! I visit this location often, it's close to home and for the most part quick service. As a customer I try my best to put myself in the workers/manager's position. I try to remain calm and be patient. Today as I went in, I had to wait for my food to be made, which happens probably every time I come in. It's fine though, I prefer fresh food. But the thing that made me EXTREMELY upset was it seemed as if the cook was sick. I am very cautious with my health, especially with the corona virus being active and the other sicknesses in the world. But this poor young man was coughing as he was cooking. He turned away, but at least from what I know(my job, WITHOUT working with food) if you have a cough you must be sent home. Even though he turns away, he is still putting his sickness in the air. Allowing it to contaminate the air quality around him. I do not blame this young man for doing his job. But I do blame Panda Express for allowing him to work even though he is visibly sick and coughing. It seems they don't care about health of the employee or the customers. Which disappoints me the most. I believe it is against labor laws to allow the worker to work. I will not be returning to this panda. If needed, I will drive 30 minutes to Lompoc if I want Panda Express. I am most disappointed with this Panda Express. read more

Just went in last night just before closing and as I went to pay my wife payed with a 100 and the manager said it was faulty , so I pulled my wallet out and gave him a 100 I had and he also said mine was also faulty. And since they were faulty he said he'd had to keep them and turn them into the police by law . Both 100s used were real and from Walmart and the well fargo in Lompoc . So after talking to another employee about what I should do they referred me to call the company and make a report on him or call the police , so as I was going to call the police he immediately gave me back the bills and told me to never come back . So once I get back into Lompoc I go to a gas station use the same 100 and ask if they can check they were real with there machines and they said it was 100% real . Idk why but the mama her at panda in Buellton definitely needs to reported for trying to keep and lie to a customer about there money being fake . Going to definitely call corporate! Worst and most embarrassing time at a panda ! read more