Panera Cares

I had no idea what Panera Cares meant… I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is a non-​profit location. Where you can buy a meal for someone else (via donation). How cool is that? You can fill you belly and someone else’s too!
Feel good meal in a chill spot, just come in early to avoid the craziness of Trader Joes next door.

I hate this place with a passion. The food is mediocre and expensive for the meager portions. The entire set up is awkward and confusing. I am still not sure what the Panera Cares brand is and how it is different from a regular Panera.

I had the worst grilled cheese sandwich! How do you screw up a grilled cheese sandwich. It was so gross!

Very nice, clean atmosphere with an above average selection of breads and soups. I enjoy the nice little corner tables for free wifi use on my laptop.

Sandwiches are okay, the potato soup is delicious. Kind of confused by the menu but the staff can help you out.

Since I moved to Portland a few months ago, it’s been hard to afford anything at all, including food. But when we were desperate to eat out, I stayed clear of this place because of the terrible reviews. That made it sound like a shaming experience I didn’t want to go through. But I finally decided to risk it when I was in the area and needing food before work.
My experience was nothing like those described.
I walked in, ordered a sandwich and a soda, was told the price, emptied my pockets and dropped my two fifty in change into the box, and moved along. Nobody was rude or anything, and the food was just fine; standard panera fare.
I will say, however, that I was dressed normally, am small and unassuming, and went right before the typical lunch rush time. I do imagine that my experience could have been different were these not the case.

Ugh. They need to convert this back to a regular Panera. I live in the neighborhood, so I initially liked the concept, but now it’s just threadbare and dirty. I have to bus and wipe the tables every time. I always overpay for a mediocre limited menu only for the convenience factor. It also closes at 5, so I can’t study and end up driving to a regular Panera instead. If they really want to be charitable, they should be open for dinner as well.
If they can’t afford the dinner donation rush, they are not «sustainable.» Please remodel and switch this one back. They can still donate unsold baked goods at the end of the day.

I have never seen such a tip hungry business that shouldn’t be asking for tips. Seriously, they have these see-​through tip boxes LOADED with cash, trying to convince people that it’s normal to tip $ 5 and $ 10 bills and then if you pay with a card they ask how much extra you want to add to your bill. It’s ridiculous and pathetic
Also, I paid for extra condiments and when I was given half of a normal panera serving and asked for the extra I paid for, they tried arguing with me when it was clear as day I didn’t get it.
Go to a different panera

The non-​profit branch of Panera Bread is truly a life saver! I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that in spite of my best efforts I still struggle to find enough money to be able to eat fresh, nutritious food. The truth is, early I in my adult life a had some major set-​backs. And so I have found myself impoverished, and once you’re down it’s hard to get back up.
That’s why programs like this are so valuable. I’m an educated, hard working, able-​bodied person, but even so, I still need a little help from time to time.
If anyone from Panera is reading this, please know that this café means a lot to me and many others. Thank you so much for the great food! I can’t afford to pay very much, but I do really truly appreciate it.

This place is great, the food is delicious and the prices and great and all the money goes to support people in the nearby community. Come to this place if you’re nearby.

I have been here 10 plus times since i moved here two years ago and always have a good experience. Listening to some reviews below — sounds like staff can get pushy, and that sucks and is unfair, but i can only comment on what I have experienced and witnessed. No one has ever questioned how much I pay.
They also have day old breads you can take home — no questions asked.
And I gotta say, im disappointed at many of the reviews deducting stars cause they had to look at ‘dirty’ or ‘poor’ people. Why are you guys here?
And to the girl who «felt unsafe» when someone outside asked for spare change — March your scared yuppie ass somewhere else for lunch, obvy.

I work in the neighborhood, and have come here often.
When Lyndsey and Katilin used to work they were SO sweet, they knew my name and my order and were just interested in getting to know me as a person.
I am a medical assistant and make decent money, I always pay the suggested donation as well as round up to donate.
Recently, I’ve been avoiding Panera like the plaque.
Out front a lot of scary homeless people hang out, and hound you for extra money or change. Which as a 5’3 female alone, that’s intimidating and scary.
On a recent trip in, I ordered a lemonade with my meal and the lady ringing me up snobbishly told me I’d have to pay full price for this. Leaving me to feel uncomfortable, that she assumed I was going to «short» them on money.
Yesterday, I went in, and while the lady was ringing me up (She was an older lady, I’ve seen a few times) I put my cash in the box in front of the register. She then proceeded to scold me, in front of everyone about waiting to put my money in.
I told her I had seen the total on the screen, and wasn’t planning to short her.
It left a horrible taste in my mouth, I was incredibly embarrassed and I decided I do not want to return to this location, ever again.
The french onion soup here is DELICIOUS, but not worth the trouble and embarrassment of dealing with the staff. I hope the owners/​managers read this, however I will also be sending them an e-​mail. the way the employee’s have treated me is absolutely ridiculous.
When I first started coming in, the people making my sandwich once were commenting on how disgusting the Sandwich I’d ordered was, right in front of my face.
This location has left a bad taste in my mouth. And I’d encourage anyone who wanted to check it out, not too.

This place is embarrassing and made my mother cry!
It says it’s not expensive, but trust me for what you get, it is.
On your sandwich you get: wilted lettuce, day old bread, packaged lunch meat, and a half slice of bacon!
For 8 bucks? REALLY?
Now I understand they have to round up because of all the homeless people eating for free, but still.
I was homeless with my mom and brother when I started coming here, I thought it was great!
The tomato soup tasted good and I liked the sandwich. We paid only a dolor to three depending in how good we where that week.
We came in every third day.
My mom, my brother, and I found ourselves an apartment, and are now happy!
But we went back to Panera because we wanted a sandwich, and we hadn’t eaten yet because we are poor.
We came in and the FAT manager who is balding and looks like pickled pigs feet looked at us funny as we walked in.
We shrugged it off because that’s part of his horrible «charm» that we always see.
It was busy that day with a mix of people, drug addicts, people taking cups of water and washing their boyfriends hair at a table, and a soccer mom screaming on the phone about her new website.
I get the drinks, my brother gets us a place to sit, and my mom and I grab the sandwiches and sit down.
We start to eat when pickled pigs feet comes over and almost yelling says «you can only come in here once a week, we see you have been coming in here twice a week» and so on…
We where embarrassed! My mom was petrified!
I wanted to punch his 826 pound body in for almost making my mom cry!
That’s my momma!!!
We left out the back and didn’t come back for a month until we had to eat again…
We are not loud, we clean up our crumbs, we laugh at that old lady’s jokes, and we put up with pickled pigs feet!
Later on about 5 moths later my mom had an appointment near Panera, she came in and ordered a 8 dolor sandwich, only having 5 dolors on her she out it in the donation box.
The woman who was taking her order started talking really loud and in a rude tone «you have to wait until I filly press in your order to pay! You can only have a bagel now.»
My mom was embarrassed! She was lectured like a child!
She took her bagel to go and cried on the bus, she is a very privet person, so you can imagine a pretty 43 year old woman crying into a scarf trying to hide her tears.
I cried when I saw her.
SHAME ON THEM!

The food quality at Panera Bread as a whole has declined far from where they started. Gave them another shot the other day.
This location runs a program they call Panera Cares. In theory this could be a great idea. Basically if you pay cash, they had you the cash back and point you at a «donation» box in front of the register. You pay what you can afford. Any extra is applied to those who cannot afford full price. Sounds great, but the employees treat you poorly. After the cashier explained the program, and handed me back the $ 20 I gave her in smaller bills, I stood there and read the sign next to the box. After I finished I looked up to find the cashier staring at me intently. I found this disconcerting, and it made up my mind that I was going to pay exactly what my meal cost and no more.
We sat down to eat. Meanwhile a security guard roamed the lobby area glaring at the customers. This made for an unwelcoming vibe. Another employee wandered around cleaning tables. I later heard this employee tell the young guys at the table next to us «If you drop one more crumb on the floor, this mean old lady is gonna come after you.»
They were not being disruptive, nor causing any problem. I don’t know why she was treating them like this, but I suspect it had to do with how they looked. Regardless, this is no way to treat your customers.
We felt unwelcome in the place after paying them to eat there. Not a good feeling.
The soup was luke warm. The sandwich I ordered came cold when I was told it was a hot sandwich. They changed their sourdough rolls to «soft rolls». All in all, very disappointing food.

First let me say that I’ve been into Panera Cares many times and when I’m able I pay more than my share in order to make sure that someone else can eat without feeling like a burden.
I took my mother into Panera Cares today because she just moved to town and is on a very low fixed income. I wanted to show her that the community cares. I wanted her to see the compassionate side of Portland. I picked the wrong place to take her! She ordered a soup sandwich combo. Simple enough. When the total suggested price was given my mother put the money she could afford into the box. The cashier watched her and said «we can do a discount once but if you come back this week you’ll have to pay full price. We only do a discount once a week here.» This was said with others behind us and very loudly. That is not posted anywhere in the store.
My mother stood mortified and near tears as we walked away and waited.

WTH is going on today? People darting in and out like rats taking free bread. Hipsters, homeless, lots more hipsters than homeless, a person bragging she owns a café and uses this bread for croutons BS. Can’t relax. Employees discombobulated too. Ugh

I have been a regular here, and have eaten 3 – 4 meals a week for over a year, though I’ve taken a few breaks because the place can be so frustrating I just can’t start my day there. Panera Cares is 1.25 miles from my house, so the round trip walk makes for a perfect bit of morning exercise. I can have a low calorie meal with leafy greens without waiting until 11:00 am, when most lunch spots open. Today however, I decided I just can’t go back; I have to stop supporting this place.
THE FOOD: The food is adequate. The chicken is dry and is probably shipped from a different location, sometimes the apple chips are old and getting soggy. As a rule, they need to do a better job cleaning their lettuce, and throwing out the rotted bits. The portions are inconsistent; sometimes a half salad will be a tiny bit of lettuce in the bottom of the bowl other times it’s to the rim. Quality wise, it’s about what one would expect of «healthy fast food.» It’s not a foodie place by any means, but it’s convenient, and no where near as bad as McDonalds.
THE CLIENTELE: It often times feels like eating at a soup kitchen. I am pretty live-​and-​let-​live, but there can be a smell of body odor that many people would find objectionable. It’s not constant, but when it’s there, it’s there. But there really is a good mix. Some days it’s all gutter punks, other days it’s a group of elderly men railing against unionizing college football or families with small children. one never knows what to expect, but if you come enough, you will run in to The Smell.
THE STAFF: The paid employees are generally nice, friendly and accommodating. If they think you are solidly middle class they will treat you with respect, the lower they perceive your income level to be, the worse you can expect to be treated. If you run a card, which is my typical form of payment, the cashier will always ask if you want to round up to help somebody else. (The $ 10.37 bill becomes $ 11. and the 63¢ goes to help people who can’t afford a meal on their own.) I did this with each purchase for several months. But then I saw how people were treated when they tried to get food for less than the posted price. They are questioned, spoken down to, sometimes shouted at and often refused. (I think this probably violates their 501c3 status, but I’m definitely not a lawyer. But they do get a tax exemption based on a PAY WHAT YOU CAN financial model. Somebody offering $ 2 – 3 shouldn’t be turned away.) I just don’t like seeing people treated that way, and I felt duped, because I had been donating money, hoping to help the same people Panera Cares were treating like s#!%. I sat near a pair of managers one day while they were talking with some sort of community organizer and their language disgusted me. They say that they are only helping «people who are trying to help themselves.» This is apparently determined at a glance, because if they think you are not doing enough to improve your station, they will come down on you in a mean, and very public display. It is appalling. I’ve seen staff walk through the café giving free baguettes to people– but the only people who received them were dressed nicely, with their hair made up.
There are also volunteer employees, people who spend an hour or two cleaning tables in exchange for a meal. They don’t prepare food or work the register, but there is still much that can go wrong. The best story I have, observed with my own eyes, is a volunteer brushing crumbs off of tables with the broom he just used to clean the floors with.
MISCELLANEOUS: You have to get a manager to open the restroom for you. You Can’t just get a key from the cashier– or better yet, just walk in and go. You have to find a manager who will walk you over and unlock the door for you. I feel like I’m in school, asking for permission to tinkle; it takes just the slightest bit of privacy away from my private functions. Other local businesses have the same issues with gutter punks hanging around, but I can’t think of another business in that neighborhood that even locks its restrooms –not even McDonalds! I once suggested that there might be a more customer friendly way of handling the bathroom, and was told «I like the exercise» which apparently has something to do with customer service?
I was once yelled at for bringing my dog onto the patio. There is no sign prohibiting dogs, but signs prohibiting other behaviors such as smoking and loitering, so I thought it would be OK. I wasn’t approached a with a polite «Excuse me, sir.» I was hollered at from across the patio. I explained that the patio was empty, my dog has been quiet and under control, there are no signs prohibiting dogs, so I would just like to finish my meal in peace. She continued shouting at me, still from across the patio, then probably realized she was acting like a crazy person and waved her hands with a «whatever» and walked away.

Delicious bagels and pastries. The soups and salads are okay, but way overpriced for really small servings!
Since they are conveniently located next door to Trader Joe’s, I occasionally stop in for a bagel and schmear.
«Panera Cares» is a great concept, in theory. Unfortunately, the reality is that it causes a lot of (very aggressive) vagrants and panhandlers to congregate in front.

I am living in my car and on food stamps so I rarely get a warm meal except for here. The manager has avoided eye contact with me every time I come in. The employees are overly sweet to the point of annoying and likely fake. I usually donate a fair share for my food here if I can– much more than I can afford. Today I only had 50 cents and the cashier embarrassed me in front of everyone saying my donation wasn’t enough and offered me a pastry. She, then so kindly, let me have my food just for today. I would like to volunteer here but there’s no way I’m dealing with this lady manager that apparently doesn’t like the way I look. I’ll only return here if I’m desperate. Hopefully I’ll find something better to support.

I love the idea of this place. I actually had dreamed of one day opening a place with a similar concept; so I was disheartened to see the way a «pay it forward» system had been flat out ruined.
I brought my clients to PaneraCares to make them aware of resources available to them should they ever become food insecure-​I work with an at risk population. I encouraged them all to pay what they could and they all did. A manager overheard me explaining the system to one of my clients and then cornered me to tell me about people «abusing the system» and that they were having «pressure from corporate.» Surrounded by three managers, I nearly cried.
I emailed their customer service to detail my interaction at that store. No word back now for 6 months.
Don’t give Panera your business. There are lots of local restaurants in the Hollywood district who deserve it more.