The restaurant was clean and well maintained. Angelina took my order and prepared it for take-out. She was friendly and efficient. The Beijing beef was tasty. The teriyaki chicken was a little tasteless. The Chow Mein was also bland and dry. The Chow Mein used to be moist and tasty. It's the same in Reno, where I live, so it has nothing to do with being in another state or region of the country. read more

Wow! They are so inconsistent -- some days really good and some days really bad. Seems like the food is much better at lunch and sucks at dinner time. read more

Coming through the drive-through being told it'll be five minutes for the chicken egg rolls. It's been 17 minutes now I had to call inside the store to let him know. Hey, you forget about me again. This is the second time this happened one more time and I won't be back. read more

Disappointed in portion size. $10 for basically rice and a taste of meat ! I find a lot of inconsistency with portion sizes at this location read more

5260 Forest Drive Columbia SC Management and Crew 1. The food portions ! Too little for price ! 2. Employees do not have respect for who order was placed first !! We were there and they took another couple order and gave them what I asked for ! Then tell me to wait on more to cook ! ?? Is that fair ?? I will never give them a dime! And the food is processed food and pre packaged anyway!! 3. Do not answer their telephone to hear criticism or if the order was incorrect. read more

Best orange chicken I've ever had at a Panda Express. I almost gave up on this franchise until I came here haha. Whoever cooked the orange chicken on 31 March 2025 between 11-1145 am needs a raise read more

First time at this location & ordered a bigger plate with an egg roll. The rations they give u are so small for the price & they didn't even give me my egg roll! I didn't look in the bag before driving off because I thought even a child could remember 3 meats, rice and an egg roll... they also didn't give me no sauce so the experience was very disappointing. The ambiance is good but they will scam u portion wise. About $17 and I didn't even get everything I was owed.. read more

Good food, choose from the buffet as the serve healthy portions. Friendly service. The decor fits the theme. No live Pandas read more

No indoor seating. Only take out. I ordered chow mein and greens. I couldn't sample the chow mein to see if I wanted it. I had to order it and hope I liked it. I was told the greens were coming right up. I waited over ten minutes for the greens to be cooked and served. I only asked foe greens on my plate but was given greens on additional entree. They did correct it and apologize which I'm super grateful for My other issue was the chow mein temperature. I specifically asked if the chow mein was fresh because this place is notorious for giving stale, as I would call it, chow mein. The chow mein I received was stale and barely warm. Don't think I'll consider frequenting a place that serves food that's not so fresh. read more

They skimp on the portions for the price of food. If you order beef and broccoli you will probably get 2 pieces and more broccoli. Rip off for food. read more

4.5 Stars. Clean restaurant and friendly staff. Good choice to beef or chicken entrees. read more

Panda Express - Beef and Shrimp - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I was really excited to visit today after hearing about the new beyond orange chicken, as I don't eat meat. So I made my way down before work to get a bite before my shift. Pouring my rice into a bowl to save the rest for later, I was greeted by a dead bug in my fried rice. After calling to get a refund, the manger informed me he wouldn't be able to refund my order and that they would "take care of it next time". Now I've wasted $15 and I'm working a shift on an empty stomach. Never again will I eat at this location. read more

Panda Express - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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Come to this location whenever I am in the Forest Acres and want Chinese food. The thing I like about Panda Express is the fact you get a cool selection of food to add to your plate. The entree I got was great with both chickens they specialize in. Got spring roles and they were awful. Seems like they were old, but I paid full price for them! Gross fail! Bathrooms were dirty. The vents didn't look like they had been cleaned - ever. Too bad too bc this place has been good. I suspect this is a management issue. read more

Frustrating experience. 5 orders through the drive through. Turns out they are sold out of orange chicken. Well, there goes my 3 kid orders. After some tears we finally get their substitutes. We pay and are asked to park by the other car that is waiting for their drive through order. 17mins later...still no food. I go inside and guess what? They forgot our order. Nice! They finally get to it and can't even get the order correct. We have extra rice, veggies and spring rolls. Great, if you like it. To top it all off they were out of fortune cookies!! 25 minutes later, wrong food and out of the basic food options. It's like going to McDonalds to find out the ice cream machine is broken. read more

Two bowls, two small drinks, two small spring rolls $27.39. Bowls were 90% rice with minimal entree/protein. Just go get your money's worth at a Chinese buffet. read more

The rice was not cooked correctly. It was hard. Everything else was ok. Service was fast. Nothing special. Just happy they had what I wanted. read more

Panda Express - Angus steak And sesame chicken - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I am not sure who the manager was but PANDA EXPRESS deserves and award for excellent customer service. There was a rush to come in right before we did. So, they were out of a lot of the entrees, but the waiting staff worked as a team to fill EVERY order for us and after us!!! I always fill out my survey and get a code for a free entrée with a 2 entrée plate meal. They honored my coupon and offered us drinks for waiting. But we didn't accept. When I am ever in the Columbia area again, which I am sure I will be, I will be going there. I ordered 2 entrée plate with 1/2 Chow Mein and 1/2 rice with beef and broccoli, sweet fire chicken and Teriyaki chicken! Great meal and it was 8 bucks! read more

This location I have officially crossed off my locations to give business to. Not a busy Saturday afternoon and was told to wait in parking lot (ordered drive thru). 10 minutes passed and still no food. Went inside and there's FIVE employees just hanging out talking and not working. No one apologized. In fact they all looked at me like "uhhhhh" without a care in the world. One of the girls saw that I was clearly upset and had the nerve to have a little attitude because they were being careless. read more

Don't bother visiting this location. They are always out of food. Two of my last three visits, only a few menu items were available. Such a disappointment to make a 15 minute drive to find out that what you wanted to eat was not available. read more

I ordered online for a pick up. Since I ordered a lot i decided to check the bags before i leave. Sure enough item was missing. Only thing that taste stale is chow mein. They are dry as desert. Rest is good. read more

Straight trash and don't do the drive thru they skimp, and got my order completely wrong.. smh only reason it's a 2 is cuz I still ate my food... terrible experience read more

By far the WORST WHITE RICE I've ever eaten. Nearly every bite was dry and hard. The toughness of the rice was comparable to plastic. Sold out of several entrees and sides. Waited 15 minutes extra for drive through order. Not worth my money. read more

Made an order through Uber eats ordered rice beef and broccoli Walnut shrimp and teriyaki chicken And spring rolls Received no sauces. I receive no teriyaki sauce for my teriyaki chicken it was dry received no soy sauce or sweet-and-sour sauce for the spring rolls they were dry it was very very dry. It was common sense to add the sauces not good service, read more

Place is very clean and the staff are very friendly. The food is on par with the quality of other Top Panda express stores I have been in I recommend this place read more

Panda Express - Their food line - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Okay, first let me cool down from frustration before explaining how my experience was at this location. I can't say bad experience let me be completely honest with you all..it was a horrible experience." I thought I was doing myself a favor by ordering online,giving them the benefit of the doubt to actually have my food ready..but NOPE!! I waited over an hour...let me help you guys out. I'm currently waiting for my food as I'm doing the review...still no food. I have witnessed customers get their food quicker at Golden Corral quicker than I got mine. This is a shame and a waste of time! No care for people and their time...obviously not my money as well! read more

Tried the "Bacon Orange Chicken"which wasn't too bad as far as take out Chinese food goes. The servers on the line let me try several items while I was in ordering my food some items like the shrimp and other items cost up to 1.50 per entree. Would I go back here, the jury is still out on that one. read more

Panda Express - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Best Panda Express location I have ever been to! Everything was cooked perfectly and the portion sizes and perfect as well. Great location!

Best experience I have ever had at a Panda top to bottom. Food was cooked perfectly, good service, awesome day.

As previous reviewers have stated... the wait can be extremelllllllly long (I've also waited 30mins or so in the drive-thru) and the food can be hit or miss... 1st visit, my bf ordered the chicken w. broccoli I think... He didn't have any complaints - but it was late and he was hungry... I just "ate" the cream cheese rangoons and hateddddd them, they tasted bland/sweet/commercial - so we threw them away (what was I expecting). 2nd visit, I ordered the honey walnut shrimp, mixed veggies and chow mein... I lovedddddd the shrimp and veggies, the chow mein was more like lo mein and tasted dry and old!!!! 3rd visit, ordered double honey walnut shrimp and mixed vegetables... The shrimp were good again, but the veggies were raw and kinda burnt in some spots (like they ran out and tried to fill the line quickly). Sooooo I guess my expectation now when coming here is to expect inconsistency and cross my fingers that the shrimp remain the same!!! Staff has always been friendly though! read more

Panda Express - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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Stopped by to grab lunch. The drive thru was quick and the menu is fairly simple. Pick a side item and 2 or 3 entrees then add on an eggroll or a couple other options or a drink for an additional cost. 2 entrees and a side item was $7.25 including tax. I ordered the fried rice with orange chicken and teriyaki chicken. The fried rice was nice and I really enjoyed the orange chicken. The teriyaki chicken was not my cup of tea. The sauce was very sweet and the chicken strips had a weird, chewy texture. I wouldn't get it again. They will put the sauces in a cup on the side for you. If you are going through the drive thru I definitely recommend getting it on the side. I asked for it on the chicken and it was a bit messy by the time I got home. read more

Panda Express - Shot from the car! - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Great place to kill an hour and a half! That's because it's going to take you about that long to get your food! Unfortunately they take the fast out of fast food at this location. Regardless of what time of day or how long the line is it will take you a while because they are disorganized. The food is freshly prepared, which is good, except the reason it is so is because they're always out of the dish that you want and have to make it fresh. It takes a minimum of 10 minutes to get your order, assuming you're the only one in line. Unfortunately this is has deterred me for eating there a few times when I really wanted to, because I wanted to get a quick lunch. The food is pretty tasty, and it's not greasy, though the vegetables are drenched in butter. The Beijing beef, the honey shrimp, and the orange chicken are all very good. read more

Tried this place again. We waited about 15-20 minutes for the entrees we wanted to be replaced on the hot line. With the delays that still occurred between plating and sitting down to eat, nothing was still hot. There is a problem somewhere with this place: either they are not making enough at one time or they cannot produce enough volume on the fly to keep up with the demand. The former is management choice and the latter may be a restriction of the facility or staffing. Either way, it does not work. read more

This was my first time ever eating at Panda Express. The building is really nice and the interior is as well. It's mostly set up for groups so we used a table meant for more like 5 people. Which I'm ok with. It's a nice table. Shaday was very nice and gave me a takeaway coupon as a first time visitor. They'll let you sample any of the entrees. Got the Orange chicken with bacon & Shanghai beef. Both were really good. I'm pretty particular about my egg rolls so I decided against that option this time. Their fortune cookies are also not the usual "yellow orange" kind and seem like they're better quality. We will surely be back soon. read more

Panda Express - Orange chicken with bacon and Shanghai angus beef - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I stop here everytime I go visit family in Charleston and the service is always outstanding everyone is very nice the place is always clean and the food is always delicious! This manager definitely knows what he is doing and has an amazing staff! 10/10! read more

I eat at this restaurant when ever I see one,but this branch in Columbia,SC was bad.The vegetables was cut too large,and under cooked.Just a hot mess,didn't look very appealing.I was disappointed,I can usually give a 5star. read more

We live in Northeast Columbia near Clemson road so the Killian road Panda Express is much closer and convenient. That being said we make the extra 20 minute round trip drive to go to the Forest Drive location. The Killian location hardly ever cooks the food all the way so you get very raw onions and under cooked sauce that is more akin to jelly or melted jello. The rice quite often filled with burned and dried pieces of rice which is painful when you bite. The Forest drive restaurant has been perfect every single time we've gone here. The service is fast and very friendly and the food is always fresh and excellent. Oh and the drive through for Forest drive is waaaaayyy better than Killian's drive through which has likely caused hundreds of thousands in damages to people wheels and tires. read more

So disappointed, hope the higher ups see this and investigate the cleanliness in this place, if i can give it zero star i will.. this is not good.. hope to check their workers as well regarding safe and clean handling of the food.. read more

Panda Express - Does the workers wear something on their head when preparing food? - Chinese Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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I have never received good service or accurate food at this location. Every single time I come I wait 30mins for food, the staff is rude and my food is never correct. Tonight I waited twenty minutes with my newborn baby and 1 year old only for them to bring me incorrect food without and utensils or condiments. If this wasn't the only location for miles I would have stopped coming here months ago. I really hope they get things together and work on having better customer service in the future. A simple "sorry for your inconvenience would go a long way". read more

Pretty cool place. Food is reasonably priced, but good quality. New building, associates friendly.

One of my favorite places to go and get a great meal. Food was awesome and hot. Very affordable. Restraunt was clean and neat. Dining room very clean. Service was friendly. Highly recommended. read more