Panera Bread

Delish! Great place to catch up with friends/​co-​workers l wish they didn’t do away with the butternut squash soup though!!! My absolute FAVORITE!!!

Sadly, Panera no longer serves their delicious French Onion soup. They made a disastrous decision. it’s the only reason I ever went to Panera. However, it would be wrong of me to review this location on something that was a franchise-​wide decision. So let’s get to what I can say about this place:
Pros: Spacious seating (including an upstairs loft), a short wait to get your food and the place itself is very clean.
Cons: Employees. The girl taking my order seemed extremely annoyed by any question I asked about their menu. The menu doesn’t specify what comes on each sandwhich, sorry if I want to know what I’m getting before I order it! Also, I do not recommend Take Out from this location. Many times, my order has been screwed up or missing items completely. They’re definitely more careful with your order if you’re eating in.
All in all, the food is average, but it could be a little better for the price. It is convienent. Solid 3.

I recommend this place primarily for breakfast. The lunch food tastes prefabricated, and is pricey considering the portion sizes. Today, I ordered french onion soup as part of my meal, and it was so loaded with salt that it was inedible. I pointed this out to the person who took my order. She said, «I know, it IS salty. Would you like me to get a manager? Two problems with this response: If she knew it was salty, why didn’t she give me a heads-​up when I ordered it? And why should I have to wait to talk to a manager? She should be empowered to either replace the soup with a different one or issue me a refund.
But, if you’re going for breakfast, order the oatmeal. Good quality, sufficient quantity and healthy, to boot.

Visit Date: October 19, 2014
I’ve been to this Panera a few times. It’s decent. It’s clean, the food isn’t memorable but still good enough to eat, the coffee is okay, the seating is spacious, it seems to be two floors although I haven’t ventured up the second level yet. I did see a staircase on my last visit and I’m not sure if it’s a staff staircase or a staircase that leads to another level of seating for Panera visitors.
They’ve always had my food ready in a timely manner, the staff has always been decent too.
I’ve never been crazy about any panera but I do go to them often because I have friends who like eating at the various locations and since the food is decent enough I don’t mind joining them.

No bagels In correct bins. No spoons to eat my soup with. Manager looked miserable. Women playing board games in the dining room. Welcome to long island. I feel sorry for the poor people that work here.

They are like the gang that could not shoot straight! I have never seen so many mistakes in Panera Bread. I have been to many others but this one gets it wrong more than right. How could you not have tomato soup when it is on the menu every day? Get your act together or you will not be seeing my face in there again.

If you open at 6:30am and its already 7am how about you unlock your doors to let customers come in to purchase their breakfast before heading to work.

Food is fresh but overpriced and I hate cleaning up my own dishes. If rather pay a few bucks and too a server. Just my 2 cents.

I’ve never been a fan of Panera, that is until I came to this new one here on Merrick Rd in Bellmore– this place was roomy and still managed to feel quaint. The staff were friendly. I sat upstairs, there is a fireplace here (not on this time of year) the temperature was perfect (most Panera’s I freeze to death in because they bast their a/​c so high).
I was served a beautiful cappuccino in a giant mug! It tastes good too! It feels so comfortable, it feels like home!
I love the upstairs, seems to be a bit of a quieter reprieve– which is good for me because I come to get some work done. I hear lots of kids, etc. downstairs, I think the walk upstairs is a deterrent for some who have kids, etc
The place just needs to be a bit cleaner– looks like they haven’t cleaned up here in a couple of hours– there are crumbs all over the chairs, tables, and floor and I am stepping on large pieces of bread where I walk. I was unable to sit on one of the couches because it had drops of liquid on it. There was also some garbage on the table from the person who must’ve sat here before me– I threw it away. I wish people were better at cleaning up after themselves.
I imagine the downstairs is cleaner, perhaps the upstairs gets neglected because it isn’t on the main floor. The bathroom was clean.
Update: so it is getting a bit nosier up here now– more kids arriving. Also a woman came upstairs, she wiped down all the tables and chairs– but she didn’t clean the dirt off the couch and she did not pick up the large pieces of bread on the floor (really, why wouldn’t you?)
If you have a kid or are a kid– this place is for you!
really, it is like a giant playground here–
just to give you an idea,
I literally have kids who are of no relation to me, who I have never met in my life running circles around my chair.
among them are two little girls wearing pink outfits and sparkley shoes dancing in circles around me, and three obnoxious and loud teenaged boys skateboarding and horseplaying in front of me.
I am still working on my gigantic cappuccino — it is so good, I’d order another!

Yes. There’s now another Panera close to my home. Oy, this is probably both a blessing as well as a curse. But anyway the building was beautifully done and looks great! (As far as I know), this is the only Panera in the area that has both an upstairs and a downstairs. I looked at another Unilocaler’s comment which is so true… Trying to balance a soup up the stairs is probably a difficult feat. But nonetheless, it’s great for maximizing space since this will be a high traffic location. The food of course is tasty as always… as well as the layout works pretty much like all Panera establishments.
They have their own private lot which is nice since it’s right along Merrick Rd which of course is always busy. So far, so good!

I am a regular Panera guest, however, this location has a very rude manager. Our group booked the back room, which we are more than willing to share with anyone who would like to join us. The manager actually demanded to know how many tables we needed. He then told us we could stay as long as we continued to eat. When I asked him if they could put a napkin dispenser at the drink station he glared at me and said «NO»…we all just looked at him and burst into laughter… I mean, really, you have one area to fill your beverage cups and no napkins for your meal/​pastry. Not too impressed with this store. The Massapequa Store and Carle Place stores are fabulous!

Scoped out the new addition to Bellmore /​Merrick. Found it to be clean, run by nice people, not overly crowded and offered fresh food and good coffee. The layout is a bit odd, with a separate back room and small loft upstairs. I did see some people going up and down. I am not going to attempt to carry tomato soup up a flight of stairs anytime soon however. Very good smoothies. The Pumpkin muffin was great as well. Welcome to town Panera!

Definitely still working out some kinks. First visit to this new location for take-​out. The cashier said they didn’t have the Mac n Cheese in a bread bowl since they ran out of the bread needed. The manager was quick to inform him that there was an ample supply about 3 feet behind him. Order came pretty quick but when we got home there was no side bread for the soup and salads we ordered (a big part of what we looked forward to). I called the manager and he apologized and offered us a free meal the next time we were in. Salads are a bit small and without the bread was still hungry afterwards. Give this new location some time.