Panda Blairgowrie - Food (VIC)

1 /5 Krishna Pryor: Gordon Ramsay, if you’re reading this, please swing past Panda in Blairgowrie — this place needs urgent help. It feels like a live episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Right now, it needs leadership, systems, and somebody actually in charge before more customers walk out. I don’t even know where to start. We walked in and instantly should have realized something was off. Tables weren’t cleared, customers were standing around confused, and staff looked like they were walking in circles with no direction. Before we even got menus or cutlery, someone tried to drop food at our table. We said it wasn’t ours… four different staff then came back to take our order as if nothing had happened. Nobody seemed to know who was serving who, or what table numbers were what (they’re not even marked, so how could we know?). We ordered two very simple dishes. Over the next hour: • Staff repeatedly asked for our order again • One person said it was being made • Another asked what protein we wanted, 30 minutes later • Someone tried to deliver another table’s meal to us (twice) By the time food arrived, we were starving. It was tiny for the price, tasted microwaved, and absolutely not worth the wait. Nearby tables had worse experiences — one family said they had been waiting two hours and eventually walked out. Another table was asking who the manager was. The answer? There isn’t one. New ownership, no management, no systems, and the service staff are being left to figure it out on the spot. They were being grilled by frustrated customers and honestly, I felt sorry for them. They clearly need guidance and training. To top it off, when I tried to pay, they couldn’t find my order in the system and tried to charge me $184 for someone else’s meal. It took four people to correct it. The real bill was $65 — for two small plates and a two-hour wait. In my 38 years, I’ve never had such a confusing and chaotic dining experience. I genuinely hope they fix it — the Peninsula deserves better.

5 /5 L Alexander: Lots of gluten free options. We got the share plate and everything was delicious! Nice cocktails as well. Dogs are very welcome here and water bowls are provided at the table.

2 /5 Andy Nyc: Oh dear. The poor staff were rushed off their feet. The tried so hard but they made mistakes. I ordered steak with garlic butter. But there was no garlic in the butter. They forgot to give use chips and salad with the steak. Others were left waiting a long time for their orders to be taken. They messed up the drink order. Actually I feel sorry for the staff. They tried hard. Not sure what went wrong that night.

2 /5 katerina berry: Sadly Panda is a far cry from what it once was. No longer even remotely resembling the thriving, bustling hot spot it used to be only a few years ago. From the moment we stepped in we were shocked by the atmosphere. Quiet, empty and confused. We were welcomed by a frosty reception from the head of house, a woman in short shorts and a tank top glaring up at us from behind her lap top as though we were intruding on the space - we quickly diverted to one of the waiters behind the counter to let them know we’d made a reservation for two at 6.30pm (what should’ve been peak dinner service). He was unsure which table we were booked for as he couldn’t find the reservation so we politely asked if we could simply choose since only two other tables were seated in the entire establishment. He agreed that shouldn’t be a problem however shortly after making ourselves comfortable at one of the many empty tables there we were asked to move to a smaller one as he’d been advised by his supervisor (the woman behind the laptop) that our table was the tiny one in the back corner of the restaurant and that all other tables were booked. Turns out they were not - only one other couple with kids turned up in the 2hrs we were there. Why you wouldn’t seat a party of two in full view at the front to show popularity and encourage passers by to come in is beyond me but we obliged as we could see her standing up now hands on hips ready to step in and didn’t want to get him or ourselves in trouble. Unfortunately the food didn’t do much to redeem the service either. Our waiter had to return multiple times to get our order straight and still managed to forget we had forfeited the chips from our meals. At least the gentleman who I assume was the owner had the decency to apologise for the current state of things (trouble with the music, no outdoor area and a work in progress menu) and explained they had only took over management 4 months ago. He was jovial, friendly and chatty, likely as an attempt to smooth over all the obviously jarring problems we were having. The deep fried mushrooms were undercooked and bland, having been asked for feedback I let him know that was the case so we weren’t charged for those at least - however we were still charged for the chips we neither ordered or ate. I tried to smile at the woman with the chip on her shoulder as we were paying and only got something resembling a smirk. I don’t know what her problem is but perhaps working in hospitality or customer service just isn’t for her. Neither is wearing shorts that show your off your butt cheeks and crack as you serve tables just FYI. Extremely unprofessional and so disappointing considering how magnificent the place used to be. What a shame for Blairgowrie.