restaurant staff

restaurant manager

shift leader

store manager

kitchen team member

Panda Restaurant Group

During my time with the company, I gained meaningful experience working across different locations and handling a variety of operational situations. However, I felt that training, communication, and leadership support were inconsistent, which made the role more challenging than necessary. In my experience, support from management feel biased at times, with certain employees receiving more convenient assignments or quicker responses than others. With clearer expectations and stronger, more consistent managerial guidance, the overall employee experience could improve significantly.

A typical day involved managing operations, addressing team needs, and adapting to whatever challenges came up at the assigned location. The pace could be fast, and every day brought something different depending on staffing, customer flow, and the area’s needs.

I learned how to adapt in changing environments, handle responsibility independently, and work effectively with different teams. The experience strengthened my communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and ability to stay flexible when things shifted quickly.

In my opinion, management support was inconsistent and felt unevenly distributed. Communication could take longer than expected, and guidance wasn’t always readily available. Performance feedback felt limited, and clearer expectations along with more structured development would have been helpful.

The company has a strong emphasis on its culture, which can be positive. However, my experience was that the culture didn’t always translate evenly across locations. The environment depended heavily on which team or site you were assigned to, making the experience vary day to day.

The most challenging aspect was the lack of consistent support and training, especially when facing operational issues that required timely guidance. Being assigned to some of the farthest locations more often also added to the difficulty.

The best part was working with different teams and meeting new people across locations. I enjoyed the variety, the fast pace, and the sense of accomplishment when a busy shift went smoothly despite the challenges.

I suggest you to avoid this company especially in Edmonton area. But here are some pros and cons.

***THE GOOD***
-Amazing and caring coworkers. Fun to work with.
-Decent hours. (Depends on your performance.)

***THE BAD***
-ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS 
management.-New area manager is WORSE than the last one. (Rude to employees and lacks respect. Several people who worked for a long time already quit due to rudeness and belittling of management.)
-ABSOLUTELY LAZY managers and will only do things that is easy for them. (Takes advantage of some hardworking employees and push their work onto them.)
-Gives almost no regard for employees and will prioritize sales over safety. (Was forced to work in cold -15deg. because heater was broken and they refused to close due to risk of losing sales. Lasted 3 days.)
-Understaffs some shifts on a BUSY day to save money on labour and will blame the employees for being "slow" when customers have to wait for a long time.
-Does not appreciate the efforts and hardwork of their employees.(Will only point out mistakes even though most of them are due to their poor management.)
-A lot of equipments are old and broken.(Sometimes dangerous. Took them 2 days to replace a leaking gas hose.)
-Will shame you for your mistakes and make you look stupid in front of everyone before correcting you. 
-Shows favoritism. (Will promote anyone they like despite having no outstanding qualities. Management will get commission for every promotion.)

The people are amazing at times. Some people you just work really great with and others you just don't get along with at all. There is a bit of bullying going on. The systems are so bad. The store really needs tap because it takes so long to get people there orders and ring them through so they can actually eat there food, the food is only semi-warm if not cold. The bosses ride you hard. Everything about you has to be perfect. I understand your uniform should be clean and everything but when you're called in for a shift that starts in 20 minutes and its a 15 minute drive to get there you cant have everything perfect about your look. There are times when I feel uncomfortable or unsafe there. But overall its a pretty good place to work.

Note to management: This is not a boot camp, there is no need to treat employees with disrespect - no need to yell at them, talk down to them, or make examples out of them for making mistakes.. Knowing what you stand for/ will not tolerate is important because they will push your buttons if you question them. It is ok to have leaders to keep us in line, but it isnt just about the Bottom line ... I wish management did a better job with respecting others - it is a basic human right, but somehow, they seem to forget it even exists.

when i worked there was a problem with unfair management, rude coworkers and people feeling left out of the core work group. this place makes the workers act like robots around costumers rather than acting genuine. I got so tired of saying hello welcome to panda every single time. Just let the worker be nice in their own way, stop making them act a certain way since that results in being fake. Also we should be serving costumers more food on their plate, it always  felt like we were cheating them.

They don't treat you like co-workers but family. Easy to talk to and I've learned so much on the works of a General Manager. Doing the inventory, making the schedule and dealing with guests. hardest part of the job is to work a double shift because your teammate doesn't show up on his/her shift. But the most enjoyable part of the job is that you get to cook and serve guests who knows you (regular guests).

A work place where you could discover yourself and your self capability.  A lot of self growth happening too which I found very useful.
If your looking for a job that will teach you independence, I suggest trying out this work place.  They will guide you but of course you will have to learn to do it by your self.  Overall, this company did a lot of good things for me, made me the person I am right now and I would always look back to what they taught me.

Do not work here unless absolutely necessary because it will suck the life and soul out of you, the managers can be rude and they do not respect your availability. you will works on day you asked off. be prepared to miss out on a lot

Everything was pleasant working there, the management team was always there to put you up for a challenge and also work on things that hold you back from growing personal and within the business aspect. It’s a great opportunity to learn management at a rate you are able to comprehend. I’ve helped with 6 locations and fly to Toronto to work as a member to help sales.

I get to work at 9 sign in.then wear my apron and safety shoes and hair net and start chopping vegetables and slicing and peeling fruits.Prepare a large pot of rice or patatoes for chef can use or to prepare a dish.Then i would manually wash the pots and throw out the trash.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Restaurant staff 7 salaries reported	$16.46 per hour
Restaurant manager 1 salary reported	$21.50 per hour
Shift leader 3 salaries reported	$18.25 per hour
Store manager 6 salaries reported	$84,583 per year
Kitchen team member 3 salaries reported	$16.33 per hour

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