Panera Bread in Fairfax

“I placed an order for a salad but received a sandwich instead. When I returned to the counter to inquire about the mix-up, I realized that I had mistakenly ordered a sandwich item. I actually wanted a salad. The manager was very understanding and corrected the order without making me feel bad about the error. I truly appreciated the excellent customer service. Thank you for going above and beyond, especially given that it was my mistake! 💕💕“

“This place is awesome. Delicious & fresh food daily. Bagels to die for. I've enjoyed the sip club I joined last week so much. A great deal if there's a Panera Bread near you.
The staff are absolutely fantastic are very well mannered. Enjoy, I know I do.“

“I spent 25 minutes this morning from 9:05 to 9:31 when I was promised A CUP OF COFEE WITH AN ESPRESSO SHOT AND A PIECE OF CAKE. It wasn’t even busy. People who arrived after me got bagels and sandwiches and all sorts of drinks and left. I finally said something about it and the girl looked confused and a tall bald white guy stepped in and found the order. The cake was in front of both of them. The man tosses the cake at me and the cup without the shot of espresso and didn’t even give me the courtesy of putting the cake in a bag with napkins and utensils as does the Panera bread in Kingstowne near my home where I initially signed up for Panera rewards. I asked the girl and she grudgingly obliged and tossed the bag back on the counter with a blank expression. This occurred another time when a white lady barely filled the cup two thirds full for a $7 chai tea latte! I just let it go because I was too busy and would have been late to class.

Positives: the outside is nice to sip coffee eat and study but that’s about it for this Panera location!

So I am updating this review because I went back this morning and the gentleman said he read the review and apologized (and began to justify it but stopped and that is really why I am adding stars) without making any excuses which I respect. He also offered me a free Espresso shot which I declined because I had not paid for it and I am not in the custom of taking things for free. He gave it to me anyway and said sorry. They were out of honey. He said the truck had not delivered. (More on that in a second and why I added a second star).

I was annoyed again at that but thought to myself how stressful it can be to manage this place on such a large campus and how busy it can get (like yesterday when I spent 25 minutes for a coffee and piece of cake!) I just used the cane sugar even though he offered me syrup (not to be rude but I am diabetic and it is honey/cane sugar/regular sugar never artificial sugar or syrups as they are unhealthy for a diabetic and people in general but he was genuinely being nice!) I looked for him behind the counter to say thank you for the Espresso shot and that I understood how busy and how stressful it can be managing this place on campus. She said he was downstairs looking for the truck to arrive and that tells me how hard of a worker he is!“