Panera Bread

I absolutely love the food here and everything I’ve ever tried has been amazing. It is a bit pricey for a sand which and a salad but it is fresh so I can’t complain too much. I have only had one bad experience with a young high school girl who was more worried about her hair and flirting with the boy than taking care of my order so I could go. I also feel like their pastries are either in abundance or there is nothing there to choose from. I had a free pastry for my birthday and when I went to pick I got to pick from only 3 things and none looked appealing to me. I also wish the space was bigger, it always seems crowded with nowhere to sit.

I have no idea what I ate at this Panera yesterday. I ordered a BLT w/​avocado. It had globs of chicken on it, bacon didn’t appear to be cooked, bread crust was so chewy & tough I cut it off & left it on the plate. This is not the first time a Panera sandwich was disappointing. Have had bad food at others as well. May be done w/​Panera.

I had a love/​hate relationship with Panera while I worked in the campaign office across the parking lot. Without much time to visit other restaurants, Panera was a go-​to for the whole office. I had more Cuban chicken paninis than I can remember, and a whole lot of coffee too. Panera the chain gets a three from me, but this location gets a four for consistently great and friendly service.

Funny story about this Dubuque Panera! I was in for the day from Chicago to go canvassing in Dubuque for President Obama (YES WE CAN!) and me and my canvass buddies stopped at Panera for some relatively healthy dinner on our way out of town. So we order our food, and two of us (self included) get the Roasted Turkey Avocado BLT. In the car, on our way out of town, she opens her bag of food and goes, «they forgot to put turkey on mine!» And I’m all like «haha!» And then I open my bag and they left turkey off my sandwich too! What the damn? the receipt said «roasted turkey avocado BLT» so we paid for the full sandwich, and didn’t get it. It was just this sad, silly sandwich. Two slices of bread, a few slices of bacon, some avocado pieces, a leaf of lettuce, a tomato. It was mostly bread, without the turkey. Awkward! But we were so tired from canvassing and already on the road so we just ate our bready BLTs.
BUT — redemption! I actually emailed about this on the Panera website. I got a call from the manager in Dubuque. He was incredibly polite and apologetic, and offered to send me a $ 25 gift card. Hurray! I really believe in giving positive reviews for places where mistakes were made, and the management remedies those mistakes. Sometimes things happen, turkey gets left off sandwiches, but it’s how the manager handles it that matters most. Given his fast response, I would have no qualms about stopping here on my way home the next time i’m in Dubuque. I’m sure it won’t happen again, and they care about making their customers happy. Friendly, fast service, and the tastiest/​healthiest «fast food» chain on this chain restaurant strip in Dubuque.

This store is always clean and nicely decorated. I usually only get a drink and breakfast item, and the quality is pretty good — my biggest complaints being that they only have Vanilla to flavor the coffees (why even offer specialty drinks?) and the choices are really not very healthy unless you get a piece of bread (look them up online). It’s hit or miss on how friendly the staff is. I continue to go back because it’s really a nice place to meet with friends or family — fairly quiet — good atmosphere.