Good Chinese food but watch out for dog hairs in your food!
My wife and I moved to South Florida in 2016, and we have been visiting this Panda Express about every 4-6 weeks since then. Sometimes we get takeout, and sometimes we dine inside the restaurant. Of course, during the height of the COVID pandemic, only takeout was available. For more than six years, we never saw a single dog inside the restaurant. All of that changed on the evening of Oct. 4, 2022, when I visited the restaurant to buy some food for takeout. While I was standing in line, I saw a man holding a long-haired dog in his arms. The man was in the restaurant for approximately 10-12 minutes, and he held the dog the entire time while ordering his food and waiting for it to be prepared. The man and his dog were in a narrow waiting area between the food serving area and the seating area for customers. Of course, the food servers were working behind a protective glass. However, the only thing separating the line of customers from the dining area was a partition that was about 3-3.5 feet high. Since the dog was in the man's arms, the dog's position was actually higher than the partition, so it is possible that the dog could shed hairs that would float into the customer dining area. As best I can tell, no staff person asked the man if his dog was a service animal. The man got his food for takeout and left the restaurant with the dog still in his arms.
After I returned home with my take-out food, I went online to the Panda Express website. I wrote an evaluation of my experience, including a complaint about the dog inside the restaurant. I left my name and address, but I have never been contacted by Panda Express.
On October 28, 2022, my wife and I visited this same Panda Express. While we were standing in line, I noticed a man with a dog who was several people behind us. This was a different man than the one I had seen a few weeks earlier. However, he was also holding a fluffy-looking long-haired dog. He was in the restaurant for about 12-15 minutes, I think, and he held the dog for the entire time. On this occasion, my wife and I dined inside the restaurant. We could see the man holding the dog, and once again, he was three feet away from the food and three feet away from customers who were eating their food.
After I finished my food, I went to the counter and asked to speak to the Panda Express manager on duty. I spoke to a young lady named Nelcy, and I asked her about the restaurant's policy about bringing dogs into the restaurant. She told me that as long as a customer kept their dog under control and also took their food as takeout, the restaurant management would not object to a dog being inside the restaurant. If a dog began to walk about inside the restaurant and bother customers, the Panda Express manager would intervene. However, as long as the dog did not cause a disturbance, the dog was allowed to be there.
It seems clear that Panda Express's lax policy about dogs is in direct violation of the Food Code of the FDA's Public Health Service, which reads as follows:
6-501.115 Prohibiting Animals.
(A) Except as specified in ¶¶ (B) and (C) of this section, live animals may not be allowed on the PREMISES of a FOOD ESTABLISHMENT.
The Food Code offers the following rationale for this strict prohibition of animals inside a restaurant: "Animals carry disease-causing organisms and can transmit pathogens to humans through direct and/or indirect contamination of food and food-contact surfaces. The restrictions apply to live animals with limited access allowed only in specific situations and under controlled conditions....Animals shed hair continuously and may deposit liquid or fecal waste..."
Of course, the Food Code allows an exception in the case of a "service animal," which is defined as "a guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability."
The federal Food Code, which is of course followed all all states, specifically prohibits the bringing of dogs into a food establishment unless they are service animals. It is impossible to believe that either of the dogs that we saw in our two visits to Panda Express were actually service animals. In both cases, the dog owner held the dog in his arms for the entire time. It is preposterous to claim that either of these animals was trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. It did not appear that any Panda Express bothered to ask the dog owners if their dog was a service animal.
I have filed a complaint against this Panda Express with the State of Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation for violation of federal and state statutes prohibiting dogs in restaurants. In the meantime, if you visit this Panda Express, it would be a good idea to make sure there's no dog hair in your food. read more