Panera Bread has officially perfected the art of failing at the one thing it still advertises itself as being good at: fast, casual food.
On a slow weekday night, I placed a “Rapid Pickup” order that consisted of the most aggressively basic items imaginable: two mac & cheeses, two soups, and two sandwiches. No customizations. No substitutions. No culinary wizardry required.
The app gave a pickup time. Cool. That time came and went. And went. And went some more.
The order was finally ready over 20 minutes AFTER the stated pickup time, meaning we waited 30+ minutes total for food that’s supposed to be pre-made, ladled, or reheated. This wasn’t a rush. This wasn’t peak lunch. It also was seemingly just our order; probably 15 other orders came and went during the time I was waiting.
What’s the point of “Rapid Pickup” if it’s neither rapid nor ready? At that point it’s just Pickup, and even that’s generous. If I wanted to stand around awkwardly staring at a counter while my food existed only as a concept, I would’ve gone literally anywhere else.
Panera has somehow managed to charge premium prices while delivering cafeteria food at DMV speed.
Do better.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Tracy
I stopped to get breakfast for my wrestler. This is the worst experience we have ever had at bread co. The breakfast sandwiches were cold the coffee was bitter. I spent over $30 for very poor food.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Amber Arbogast
Twice I ordered this week - figured I’d give them a second chance. BOTH times - my delivery orders were not checked and both times missing half my order. Will not be returning.
Food: 3
Service: 1
Dan F.
This place is no longer with the price I paid. I got 1 drip coffee my daughter got a latte. We also got 2 orange scones and a cherry pastry. Spent $20. The floors are dirty as hell. Ceiling tiles and vents are also very dirty and all the tables need cleaned...horrible. where is the manager? Why is all the staff on their phones?? Self serve coffee was empty, only one employee actually working and she looked pissed off. Am I not allowed to sip my coffee while I wait??? Had to ask for my cup, then found self serve coffee empty had to ask another employee if they were making coffee, it took 3 employees to get 1 cup of coffee. $20 poorly spent...not coming back ever!!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 2
Dee Graham
Got the bacon turkey bravo and sum chips. They put small bacon crumbles instead of whole bacon pieces. Didn't have chips that's supposed to come with my order. Was a little disappointed.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Iris Bagley
came to leave a review because the guy that took my order was very helpful and friendly. great customer service that is rare in the food industry now a days.. but when i got home and sat own, ready to enjoy my lunch, i noticed how light my cup of soup was, and it was less than half way full. im hungry as hell and so disappointed that i got 2 sips of soup and paid full price for this. I even left a tip. thats what makes me want my money back cause i over paid for way less than i got
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
Cat Rose
They ran out of the bagel I wanted, but they were very fast to let me know so I can substitute, I order here frequently and love the staff and how communicative/friendly they always are !
Demarcus Roke
Had hair in my mac and chese
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
Ashley Steingruby
For the cost of food and drink at panera I was disappointed. The food overall was okay, my sandwhich was good. Black bean soup was okay. The associate who checked me out was very kind and patient. I am frustrated with the drink situation- I ordered hot tea. The tea bags felt off to me- looked stale/dirty if that was possible. I let the tea steep but noticed the tea was not releasing into the cup. I waited and stirred more, finally it looked okay. I took a sip and it was lukewarm, gross. I went to the counter- the associate offered to get me hot water from the back but I asked for a cold drink instead. First I tried the lemonade, it didn't taste right. I then tried unsweet tea/sweet tea-It tasted very odd and was not sweet at all. Filled it again with only sweet tea(maybe my ratio was off the last time), absolutely no flavor, very very watery and no sweetness. I then just resorted to Pepsi, I will say it was the best tasting Pepsi I have had. It didn't feel like a typical Panera experience I have come to expect.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Jared Bohn
If you're doing a pickup order, always make sure to check your order because they're consistently missing items. For my order today they were missing the side items for every single meal on the order and when I let the lady know at the pickup counter she gave me a bit of an attitude over it.
Edit-removed another star because one of the sandwiches only had the ingredients on it that were asked to be removed.
Edit 2- we decided to try them again and as per usual three items were missing. I'm desperately hoping that we got all the correct entrees this time.
I read that the quality declined a huge amount since they stopped making the dough locally, and I assumed it was exaggerated since it was on the local boards and people love to complain.
If anything, people didn't complain enough. I will definitely not return unless I hear they changed back. The bagels suck.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Ken Crowder
Great place for business meetings
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
DAMISIL2006
Food is tasty , but the old lady at the cashier today has 0 skills as costumer service, super rude when I was asking her for my order .
Austin Malander
The sandwhiches are massive 🤤 also a great atmosphere for studying with a hot bowl of soup.
Panera Bread has officially perfected the art of failing at the one thing it still advertises itself as being good at: fast, casual food.
On a slow weekday night, I placed a “Rapid Pickup” order that consisted of the most aggressively basic items imaginable: two mac & cheeses, two soups, and two sandwiches. No customizations. No substitutions. No culinary wizardry required.
The app gave a pickup time. Cool.
That time came and went.
And went.
And went some more.
The order was finally ready over 20 minutes AFTER the stated pickup time, meaning we waited 30+ minutes total for food that’s supposed to be pre-made, ladled, or reheated. This wasn’t a rush. This wasn’t peak lunch. It also was seemingly just our order; probably 15 other orders came and went during the time I was waiting.
What’s the point of “Rapid Pickup” if it’s neither rapid nor ready? At that point it’s just Pickup, and even that’s generous. If I wanted to stand around awkwardly staring at a counter while my food existed only as a concept, I would’ve gone literally anywhere else.
Panera has somehow managed to charge premium prices while delivering cafeteria food at DMV speed.
Do better.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
I stopped to get breakfast for my wrestler. This is the worst experience we have ever had at bread co. The breakfast sandwiches were cold the coffee was bitter. I spent over $30 for very poor food.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Twice I ordered this week - figured I’d give them a second chance. BOTH times - my delivery orders were not checked and both times missing half my order. Will not be returning.
Food: 3
Service: 1
This place is no longer with the price I paid. I got 1 drip coffee my daughter got a latte. We also got 2 orange scones and a cherry pastry. Spent $20.
The floors are dirty as hell. Ceiling tiles and vents are also very dirty and all the tables need cleaned...horrible. where is the manager? Why is all the staff on their phones??
Self serve coffee was empty, only one employee actually working and she looked pissed off.
Am I not allowed to sip my coffee while I wait??? Had to ask for my cup, then found self serve coffee empty had to ask another employee if they were making coffee, it took 3 employees to get 1 cup of coffee. $20 poorly spent...not coming back ever!!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 2
Got the bacon turkey bravo and sum chips. They put small bacon crumbles instead of whole bacon pieces. Didn't have chips that's supposed to come with my order. Was a little disappointed.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
came to leave a review because the guy that took my order was very helpful and friendly. great customer service that is rare in the food industry now a days.. but when i got home and sat own, ready to enjoy my lunch, i noticed how light my cup of soup was, and it was less than half way full. im hungry as hell and so disappointed that i got 2 sips of soup and paid full price for this. I even left a tip. thats what makes me want my money back cause i over paid for way less than i got
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
They ran out of the bagel I wanted, but they were very fast to let me know so I can substitute, I order here frequently and love the staff and how communicative/friendly they always are !
Had hair in my mac and chese
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
For the cost of food and drink at panera I was disappointed. The food overall was okay, my sandwhich was good. Black bean soup was okay. The associate who checked me out was very kind and patient. I am frustrated with the drink situation- I ordered hot tea. The tea bags felt off to me- looked stale/dirty if that was possible. I let the tea steep but noticed the tea was not releasing into the cup. I waited and stirred more, finally it looked okay. I took a sip and it was lukewarm, gross. I went to the counter- the associate offered to get me hot water from the back but I asked for a cold drink instead. First I tried the lemonade, it didn't taste right. I then tried unsweet tea/sweet tea-It tasted very odd and was not sweet at all. Filled it again with only sweet tea(maybe my ratio was off the last time), absolutely no flavor, very very watery and no sweetness. I then just resorted to Pepsi, I will say it was the best tasting Pepsi I have had.
It didn't feel like a typical Panera experience I have come to expect.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
If you're doing a pickup order, always make sure to check your order because they're consistently missing items. For my order today they were missing the side items for every single meal on the order and when I let the lady know at the pickup counter she gave me a bit of an attitude over it.
Edit-removed another star because one of the sandwiches only had the ingredients on it that were asked to be removed.
Edit 2- we decided to try them again and as per usual three items were missing. I'm desperately hoping that we got all the correct entrees this time.
Restaurantji Recommends
I read that the quality declined a huge amount since they stopped making the dough locally, and I assumed it was exaggerated since it was on the local boards and people love to complain.
If anything, people didn't complain enough. I will definitely not return unless I hear they changed back. The bagels suck.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Great place for business meetings
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food is tasty , but the old lady at the cashier today has 0 skills as costumer service, super rude when I was asking her for my order .
The sandwhiches are massive 🤤 also a great atmosphere for studying with a hot bowl of soup.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
If you have bread addiction, this is your place..
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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