Learned the hard way that Pan Pan Diner at Northgate mall closed its doors for business on 10.31.18, heard many great things, sad I couldnt experience. Hopeful they might open a new location in the future.

After reading many of the bad reviews, I decided to give the place a chance. I have family members that have traveled 3 hours from home to eat at Pan Pan Diner. Glad I decided to dine in. Great experience. Tasty food, good customer service, great prices, unique buffet set-up. Im impressed and will return soon.

This a good place to grab a quick and easy southern dinner. Its got a buffet and some other menu options. It is the total opposite of fancy or formal, but what would you expect since its in the mall. Looking for some simple southern cooking. Try Pan Pan inside of Northgate Mall. Totally safe and family friendly.

At Pan Pan Subday 9:30am. Receive good but we were the only ones there. Buffet not offered this early. Our food was quick and good. Biscuits tasted like Pillsbury. Everything else homemade.

I went to this restaurant at the recommendation of my friend I was trying to cheer up. He had eaten at a previous location where they specialized in good old fashioned Soul Food. We purchase several pounds of food to go from the Buffet more than 1 hour before closing on 5/10/15. I spent close to $50 on a variety of their hot precooked available offerings. The chicken and turkey tasted old and awful, its gravy flavor was sickening. The BBQ Pork ribs were below average. All the fried seafood was stiff with a gummy coating, it had a poor un-fresh taste. All the starches (including stuffing) were gummy, they had a putrid flavor. The only items that tasted almost average were the cooked vegetables. This was a day of special occasion. If the food we had was typical, this restaurant should be closed ASAP. This was the worst dinner buffet I have been to in the city of Durham and the state of North Carolina. Please note: I tried to discuss my overall dissatisfaction with the management, instead I got someone telling me my personal taste was the problem. I wanted to give the location another chance to improve my evaluation, I was made to think I was the problem. I should add that I didnt order any on-demand fresh cooked items that were reviewed.

Its ok. I just wish they had more variety. Some of the food looked suspect so I didnt even bother. Their shrimp, and greens were pretty good. The desert(cakes) looked nasty. Ill go back.

The service is absolutely HORRIBE! Please I am begging you, please do not come here. We had a mix up with our food and the manager blamed the server yet the sever put the order in correctly. When we voiced our concern they did nothing to fix the situation and were extremely rude. Please do not go there! If there were a way I could contact corporate I would with no hesitation!

Price: 2/5. Negotiable.Service 3/5. Served myself. Pathetic!Cleanliness 1/5. If you are sick, DO NOT COME TO WORK! DO NOT COUGH INTO YOUR HANDS, HANDLE MY MONEY, AND HANDLE MY FOOD!Quality 3/5. Meat was tough as leather. Christ, I should have taken the dead cockroaches on the floor at the entrance as a sign.

I had eaten here before and it wasnt great, but passable. However, the experience I had on 8/26 was absolutely awful. The lady who was supposed to be waiting on us didnt seat us at all and made us pick our own seats. We were originally going to get food from the buffet, however, the food on the buffet didnt look fresh at all. We decided against it and went for food from the menu. I ordered Pork Chops, a Pepsi, Mac And Cheese, Hush Puppies, and Mashed Potatoes with gravy and cheese, My mother ordered a Sirloin Steak, Tea, Collard Greens, a roll, and Mashed Potatoes with gravy. My best friend ordered Chicken Fingers, Mac And Cheese, French Fries, Pepsi, and Hush Puppies. Well, I drank my drink and asked the waitress for a refill. I didnt get my refill until 30 minutes later. My moms tea wasnt received until well after her meal had arrived. Our meal arrived an hour after we sat down. The pork chop and the chicken fingers were horribly dry and didnt seem fresh at all. I could literally break the pork chop in half with my hand it was so dry. The mac and cheese had burnt bits on them and another waitress told us that the mac and cheese came burnt and there was no avoiding that. The collard greens smelled terribly and my mom disliked them because they were extra slimy. The french fries were bland. The hush puppies were decent, however, they were also quite dry. The mashed potatoes were the worst part. Ive had better mashed potatoes from a box. They tasted bland and the gravy wasnt appealing. The cheese was hard and tasted awful. Ive had better shredded cheese from Food Lion. The waitress rarely checked on us, took forever to get our items (including drinks, food, and a steak knife), didnt clean the other tables that were empty when we got there until well after we got the food, she got our orders wrong, she didnt write down our orders in the first place, and she would stand around doing absolutely nothing. The other lady wasnt much help either, though she was a lot faster. The prices were ridiculous too. Especially for food that was literally taken from the buffet and not made fresh at all. I wish I could rate this diner lower, but unfortunately, 1 star is as low as I can go. I will never go there again and I advise that no one else do so either.

Well after not going in to dine for several months due to a baby roach crawling down the wall thought I would give them another try as the manger explained at the time that they had just sprayed the day before. Well I just got my plate sat down bowed my head to bless my food said amen and then I prepare to get my fork and to my disgust I see another roach crawling on the table. I called the server over and she says oh no not again...SMH I showed her my lunch guest that came with no intentions of paying for my meal 😂. Never again will I eat here. The health department need to shut them down until they clean up that Restaurant.

Ate here a few times in the last couple of years and must say my last trip was very unsatisfying. Soon as we walked in, our server looked at us like we were intruders in her own home. After she finally showed us to our booth, everything went as normal.The seat covers at the booth, need to be replaced as you can clearly see the wear and tear. Also, the section we sat at, you had a birds eye view to the kitchen, where you seen cooks not wearing the proper equipment of hair nets, gloves, etc. I also witnessed one cook, cleaning the stove right next to another cook who was preparing food.When it comes to our food, the BBQ seemed like it was just covered in grease, too much to be exact. After eating a few bites, it definitely let you with a sick feeling to your stomach.Regardless, I would just tell people to eat here at your own risk.

Damn... I see why this place has a 2.5 rating... Called 4 times [phone line not even busy] to inquire about food/prices as a new perspective customer & nobody picks up. Just looked at the other reviews too regarding the food, manager, staff & dining area environment . NEVERMIND!!

The food was okay, but not worth the price. We had to wait 30 minutes to be seated even though there were tables available but needed to be cleaned off. Then we had to wait 10 minutes for them to make some sweet tea.

Food was hot, food area was clean food taste was average. I even are the citterlings which were very good. Over all staff needs uniforms and they need a better system for lunch and dinner change over. I will eat hear again

Everybody put to much hype on this place. It wasnt that great for what we paid. Poor servers as well.

Closed now, but saw roaches last time I tried it

The food is great...loved the service...the young ladies were on the job!!!

I never look at reviews before I go to places because I would like my own experiences without having others opinions in my head prior to going. With that being said, I love Pan Pan! I am not sure of the waitress name, but I can say she looks about under 20 years old (black female) and she just makes the place homie! My fiance and I went there all of the time when we use to live in Durham. If it was not for them, I would never go to Northgate! For all that have mentioned about bugs, I have honestly never seen any. My favorites there are the pig feet, cabbage, corn bread, and most definitely the seafood gumbo! Yum! Thanks yall!

I havent gotten a meal so cheap in 20 years. It was only $8.50 for breakfast for 2 of us. And it was good!

Has anyone noticed the big ass roach on the peice of ham in the photo section??? I cant be the only one who has noticed this!! Who would consider eating here???Really ruined my appetite!!!

I waitressed there for ten months since i been there i heard its nothing like the old panpan how that man homecooked everything and have breakfast buffet and stayed open latenight after club . the food isnt all that yall think it is and thats facts them chinese people only give a damn about thereselves they money hungry ... They dont care about the business because they dont do nithing abiut the problems there customers have or anything .. I wouldnt eat there perioddtt only thing fresh is the damn sunday buffet that starts at 12 ... Place need to be shut down Perioddtt ....

I dont know about the food or service but the menu link on Google Maps takes you to an explicit dating site. The website URL takes you a domain for sale site. (no website) If you dont care about your internet presence to the point of negligence; Im going to assume you are a disaster.

Good friendly and knowledgeable staff who will tell you about the buffet

Chilterings were not as clean as you would think I got Chilterings and did not eat it because it smelled bad and the collard greens couldve been seasoned a little better, and also the fish was not properly seasoned they have cooks that do not truly know Soul Food but all in all they have good classic music so I would say eat at your own risk.

What can I say about this place that hasnt already been covered in one of the other one star reviews? Staff were impatient and borderline disrespectful. Manager is seldom on duty so if you have a complaint (like I did) you go unnoticed and the problem never gets solved due to careless attitudes of employees who refuse to report up chain of command. Kitchen and dining room dirty and a horrendous odor eminates from the coolers I presume. Bottom line, this place should be avoided like the plague unless youre a fan of foodborne illness! Will be contacting the Health Department to lodge a formal grievance.

Loved the breakfast! It was great!

We will never return here or refer anyone. The food was not fresh, the waitress was very unprofessional with poor training. She played with her hair the entire time she spoke to us. We werent greeted when we walked in and practically had to seat ourselves. There was no wonder why there were only 2 families in the entire restaurant on a Saturday night.

One of my favorite bullcity resteraunts

Do NOT EAT HERE POOR SERVICE BAD PRICING BAD EXPERIENCE

I found hair in my food. all the cooks did not have gloves or hair nets it is by far the worst restaurant in Durham.

Really good food and customer service!

The food is delicious, service is fine. Lets go eat!

I was eating my lunch here and a roach came up on my table. It was trying to get on my plate which lets you know that it was used to doing it. Disgusting! Ill never eat here again.

Omg I used to love this place when the original owners used to run it but now it’s totally AWFUL ...this place used to be the best place to eat in my childhood life...BUT NOW everything taste like it comes straight out of a can and the chicken and gravy is disgusting 🤮 PLEASE BRING BACK THE OLD PAN PAN off hwy 85 🙏🏽

Very slow service. Bland food. Will not be eating there again.

Slow service. Called for buffet price was given to go price of $5.99 not dine in price of $12.99. Food okay but not worth price. Will NOT be back.

They were closed down. No longer opened.

Nice soul food restaurant. If your not into southern cooking and dining this isnt for you.

Always on time and the food is delicious!

Me and my family just left this place, the Chinese manager sat across from us the whole entire time looking at us eating to make sure we were not sharing she did not moved the whole hour we there. Very unprofessional and the food was not good.

I was not there, so I dont have a review

Closed / Out of Business

Absolutely HORRIBLE. Dont eat here. Seriously. Think $14 for school cafeteria food, except worse.

Great food

Excellent Food

0 stars