Panera Bread

P.U. Does this place stink. Not in the literal sense of the word, it actually smells pretty good inside. It stinks metaphorically: the service, the food, and the overall experience were about as appealing as the south end of a northbound skunk.
I’ve only been to this location once and it was enough to make me never go again. I used to love going to Panera, ordering a «You Pick 2» combo (usually the Sierra Turkey and the chicken noodle soup), parking my butt in a booth and catching up on some reading. It was always quiet, calm, and distraction-​free.
This Panera is none of these things. It’s so loud and cramped that I couldn’t concentrate on my book. The sandwich and salad I got were super tiny — it wasn’t even enough food for a four-​year-​old. And the price… good Lord. I could have gone across the street to McDonald’s and took a Scrooge-​McDuck-​like bath in all the Chicken McNuggets I could have bought with that money.
I will not be going back here again. Not to say I won’t ever visit another Panera, but this one won’t be getting any of my business.

Bleah.
Panera used to be our default, go-​to place for a quick sandwich or bowl of soup, but it’s become a pale shadow of what it once was. This location is a prime example of that problem. sandwiches are pre-​made, so they bread is invariable stale; salads are bland with too much lettuce and insipid dressings, dreadful ‘anit-​biotic-​free children’ that tastes of weary marinades, soups that are bland — that is, if the listed soups are even available, and staff that will ignore customers while they argue about who is supposed to do what. The sobas are inedible (and premade, so heaven help you if you don’t want every ingredient) and the bakery items are bland.
The only redeeming point is the baguette — but it’s hardly worth going out of your way for a piece of decent bread.
Without a massive rethink on the part of Panera corporate, and an attitude adjustment at this location, this company is on the way out, and this location has seen its better days as well.
Skip Panera; life is too short to eat average food.

First it’s not St. Louis bread its panera.
And in general I like panera even though I think they are a little overpriced.
This location though doesn’t know how to cook the non bakery items and they get your order wrong all the time.
Cream of potatoes soup taste old. Panini sandwich only toasted on one side… clueless cooks in the kitchen.

I don’t know what happened to this location, but the workers are a disorganized, unhappy, stressed, not-​so-​friendly bunch now. I stopped in for a chicken sorrentina pasta to-​go and received a pesto sacchetini for dine-​in. While they corrected the order, I asked if they could give me chips instead of apple as the side, and she said yes. When I got back to my office, the side was still an apple.
People were waiting for their order for a while. A lady before me had her order packed to-​go, even though she requested dine-​in. While waiting, I noticed the food preparation area was very messy.
There are much better lunch options in the area.

Don’t know what to get? Try this!
STEAK AND WHITE CHEDDAR PANINI! SO GOOD!
This place is a bakery and a sandwich to go shop. Conveniently placed Downtown, and also noticed. where’s the people at?
Seems like we were the only Asian people around in Batavia, IL.

You know what? Downtown Batavia is kinda cute. I mean, it’s the red-​headed stepchild of the Tri-​Cities, and not quite as charming as Geneva or as happening as St Charles, but. It’s got its pluses.
I was in downtown Batavia this weekend for a play on the river — Shakespeare on Clark Island. A local volunteer theater troupe put on Twelfth Night on this cute little island (with a cute little raised stage-​ish area) and invited people to bring picnic dinners and enjoy the night.
So a friend of mine and I went, but first we had to hit up Panera for some dinner. This Panera is about two blocks from Clark Island and was staffed with some very friendly and efficient people. The young man behind the counter warned us that the tomato-​mozzarella salad now was «more lettuce-​based» and nicely offered me a water cup after I forgot to order anything to drink. Our pick twos came up quickly, the food was well-​packed to survive our trek to our picnic spot, and we enjoyed our half sandwiches and tasty, tasty salads while watching the theater troupe warm up.