There was a wide range of student reactions Monday to the opening of Panda Express' sushi bar. While most said they enjoyed the food served, many complained the restaurant did not prepare well for the number of customers they had.

Allan Lam, Panda Restaurant Group regional director of operations, said employees did not expect such a huge turnout on opening day.

"Sales were more than what we projected," he said.

Ted Tong, Panda Restaurant Group area manager of operations, said that although he could not remember the exact amount, the sushi bar made at least $700 Monday.

Chris Cornman (sophomore-information sciences and technology) said he noticed many students were waiting.

"I think they just underestimated the demand," he said. "Sushi takes a long time to make."

The sushi bar did extremely well Monday, especially in the sale of boba teas, Lam said.

"The boba tea sold better than we thought," he said. "We're selling the three most popular [flavors of] bobas now."

While Kristen Erny (sophomore-advertising) enjoyed the green milk tea boba drink, she said she grew impatient waiting for the miso soup to be made.

"The guy said they were going to make a big bunch of it, but I think they were making it as people came along," she said. "That just takes too long."

When she had the soup, Erny said it was pretty good and that she wanted to try more of the foods on the menu.

"I'm looking forward to trying the sushi," she said. "I'm so glad they finally opened a sushi place in here. It was long overdue. I hope just they're able to work out the kinks."

Ted Tuai, Panda Restaurant Group regional director of operations, said it was difficult to quickly serve the customers.

"We [were] catching up on orders all day," he said.

Erny said she thinks sushi is a great food to eat on the go when you can get it quickly.

"But if you're waiting in line for 20 minutes, it kind of defeats the purpose of it," she added.

Tong said, however, that the restaurant is still adjusting to the demand for sushi.

"Give us a couple of days and it will be a lot smoother," he said.

Tuai said Panda Express would wait until production was stable before they introduce more products to the sushi bar.

"We have a lot of ideas, but sushi has a lot of skill involved in making it," he said, "and we don't want to screw up the quality."

Calvin Ko (freshman-aerospace engineering) said he was very impressed with the sushi Panda Express offered.

"There was a pretty good quantity," he said. "For the price, they gave you 10 pieces, when it's normally served in six pieces. The sushi also had a very abundant amount of fish and the meat was very fine, high grade."

Tuai said he was very excited to bring sushi to Penn State.

"We want to thank all the students for their support," he said. "We would love to hear student feedback because a lot of the recipes come from the West Coast, and they're accustomed to it there."