Panera Bread

It’s pretty much your run of the mill Panera Bread. Nothing more nothing less. Service is fairly prompt and the place is fairly clean.

Mike took our order. He was very funny and kept us laughing. He was also knowledgeable about the food and recommended the frontiga chicken, I was going to get my same old ham and swiss, but now I have a new favorite. He made a game of using my panera card and when he went whaaa whaaa not a winner today we cracked up. Great guy and a great way to start a delicious lunch.

Busy but it is what I would expect from Panera.

This place has really slipped on service and food quality recently. I don’t come here very often any more as a result. They obviously have started watering down their soups. Seems to be operated by kids with no evident supervision. I rarely get even a look in the eye by staff who just chit chat with each other and don’t care about customers.

I have been going to Panera for years, and I used to cater a lot from them but my most recent catering order left me not very happy.
Here is why: if I buy 5 Turkey Sandwiches at $ 6.99, that total should be about $ 35. However, if I order their Via Panera Catering, they sell me 10 half turkey sandwiches, which is the same as 5 whole sandwiches, for $ 49.99. They basically charge me an extra $ 15 for the ‘privilege’ of catering and them splitting the sandwiches in half and wrapping them in half. Same amount of food, its just packaged differently. I do like their sandwich options, but not this price issues
I cater from a lot of different places, and the bulk of restaurants offer you a discount if you order in bulk, but not Panera. They actually charge me extra for my order. Now, I will say I spoke to their catering specialist and they told me I could go ahead and order the food a la carte, but come on. I shouldn’t have to worry about ordering a certain way to get my food.
I also find their soups to be a bit flavorless and watered down. The chicken noodle is all broth and the noodles are mushy. The French onion is pretty good, as is the chicken and wild rice, but again, they are a bit flat. Zoup! is much better if you want soup for lunch.
They do shine on breakfast, so I will give them a star for that. Their bagel packs, coffee, and breakfast sandwiches are fairly good.
Oh well, there are other options in town, and I will just vote with my wallet. I like Zoup, CBerrys, Qdoba, Chipotle, Noodles, Panda Express, and Raising Canes much better for catering, among others. I stick with catering breakfast from Panera and skip the lunch.

Not happy today. The place is cooled down to a felt 45 degrees. Not comfortable to stay there a minute longer than I had to.

The food was always wonderful, and I really love the atmosphere for studying or catching up with friends. Staff is friendly and helpful.
However, I brought my family here last week for lunch. We were sitting in a smaller room towards the back of the seating area. During the middle of our lunch, an employee came in and informed all of us in that room that we needed to leave, that the room was being a used for a meeting, then left the room. Two older ladies next to our table required help moving out the room, and my sister and I helped, as there was no employee to be found for helping find tables and moving food and people mid lunch. We also checked and there wasn’t sign anywhere saying reserved for that room. Definitely a letdown to bring my family to a place that I love, and this to happen.

It’s Panera. They have an upscale atmosphere and the employees have always been nice.
Granted, their prices are a bit high for what you get, but the food is well-​made and presented nicely so I don’t have a problem spending money here.
The Bacon-​Turkey-​Bravo sandwich is the bomb-​diggity, seriously try it.

Love their French onion soup.

Good lunch spot, quick and tasty.

COFFEE SNOB ALERT!
I cannot believe I was charged more for iced coffee than hot coffee based on the way they prepared it.
I was sitting at a table waiting for my order to be made. Then the employee walked over to the outside coffee counter with a cup of ice, filled it up with hot coffee, and handed it to me. What I got was diluted, luke warm coffee with a few melting pieces of ice floating at the top. I told him it was a problem that the drink was prepared this way and he just ended up walking away.
Who doesn’t have pre-​chilled coffee to make iced coffee?!? If that is how Panera prepares this item, it should be taken off of the menu or have the name changed to «Barely Chilled, Watered Down Coffee.»
Of course I understand that this chain has plenty of other food products, but it’s nothing I can’t get anywhere else.
I will not re-​visit this business again.