The Popular Entree You Should Really Avoid Ordering At Panda Express

Panda Express is one of the biggest names in fast-casual dining — and it's not slowing down. The chain, which first had the adorable name of Panda Inn, has grown into a mall food court staple and national comfort food standby. It's especially known for churning out one specific hit: Panda Express sells a staggering amount of orange chicken every year – over 100 million pounds worth of it. With numbers like that, you'd expect the rest of the menu to keep up.

Daily Meal reviewed and ranked the full Panda Express menu, judging each item based on taste, texture, ingredient quality, and how well the dish actually lived up to its name. One dish landed squarely at the bottom of the list: the Grilled Teriyaki Chicken. What should have been a savory, crowd-pleasing protein ended up being the biggest letdown of the bunch.

The main issue? It didn't taste like teriyaki — or much of anything at all. Without the sauce, the chicken was tough, overly salted, and stringy in all the wrong ways. With the sauce, things didn't get much better; it was still bitter, rubbery, and somehow even saltier. While it might pass as a basic protein add-on, it completely missed the mark as a signature entree. Compared to other items on the menu, it just didn't hold up, and the only thing it delivered was disappointment.

If you think we were harsh, just wait until you scroll through Reddit. What was once a decent dinner pick has become a running joke among Panda Express regulars — or rather, former regulars. One user on Reddit wrote that they used to order it every time, but stopped altogether once they realized that the dish has now turned "slimy, gelatinous, [and] just has a creepy texture to see and feel." Another comment on a Reddit thread said biting into the Grilled Teriyaki Chicken felt like "trying to gnaw into the midsole of [their] Nike's." Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a grilled entree.

That texture isn't the only thing that's changed. According to longtime customers, the Grilled Teriyaki Chicken was actually better in the past — flavorful, reliable, and cooked with a little more care. Now it's often described as rubbery, overly processed, and wildly inconsistent between locations. Even with sauce, it struggles to pass as anything more than filler. One Redditor summed it up best: "Panda Express teriyaki is the lowest tier of teriyaki you can eat."

Even fans who once swore by it have stopped ordering it altogether, citing an oddly artificial texture and a lack of consistency across locations. Without the sauce, it's bland; with the sauce, it's saltier, stickier, and still somehow unsatisfying. For a dish that sounds like it should be a wholesome pick, it's closer in experience to some of the unhealthiest items at Panda Express — just without any of the flavor payoff. Whatever it used to be, the current version isn't fooling anyone.