Panera Bread

This place is usually a mess, tables are never clean, drink station/​napkin station is always under stocked and the employees, frankly aren’t very welcoming. The only reason I give it 2 stars is because usually the food is pretty good. I’ll avoid going here until they clean up their restaurant and have a little more in their establishment.

When it comes to food the only thing I really order from here is the the Soba Chicken Noodle Bowl. It is one of Panera’s creations that really stands out for me. Their chicken is rather tender, and the noodles are cooked correctly (not too rigid, not too soft, but juuuuust right).
This deserves four out of five stars when it comes to simple and quick dining. By no means does this compare to actual restaurant quality.
As a final note, this is a good location to wind down and study (if you want a change of pace from your usual spots on campus)

7:45 am: This café is feels comfortable, clean and spacious, with big windows and a patio that overlooks the Flatirons. But my breakfast was very disappointing. This place serves cheap-​ass corporate food.
* Everything about my bagel was dreck. Light in weight, gooey /​gunky in the mouth, barely crispy on the outside and barely warmed from the toaster. Low quality.
* I was shocked when my selection of schmear — veggie cream cheese — arrived before me in a tiny, sealed tub. It was not made there but in some industrial facility God-​knows where. It was a unitized, peel-​top plastic thingy and the contents were a measly two ounces — barely enough for one half of the bagel. The white spooge was watery, barely had a trace of vegetable in it and, well, not at all wholesome.
* Coffee in two of three self-​service urns was cold. I settled on the only warm-​ish one, hazelnut, despite my derision of flavored coffees. The café had only a handful of customers in it so «being busy» could not have been an excuse.
I can’t imagine spending money here again.

Great little Panera location. I work down the block and visit here often. If it offends you that this place is busy during lunch then go away, it’s good food, so of course it’s busy at a time when the general populace is expected to eat. Silly people. Must be from Aspen. The staff here are rock stars! They always are cheerful and pleasant, even with a huge line. They always recommend s few things to try, my personal staples are the Chipotle Chicken Panini and the Broccoli Cheddar soup. Great combo for lunch or dinner. There’s a little bit of something for anyone. The cinnamon rolls are akin to paradise. Buy them. I also just started getting the smoothies, very good and not too bad of a price for the quality and quantity of what I ordered. Great layout, even with crazy kids and cranky old people yelling about the 1930’s. Good spots to sit outside or inside, nice place for coworkers, friends, family, or solo. The staff really takes this place to five stars and I’m glad to have them up the street as my go to lunch spot.

Panera is a favorite of my colleagues and we often come here for unofficial staff meetings (i.e. journal club etc.). Compared to other Panera’s the Boulder location is suitably sized (you rarely have to wait to find a table) and there is also ample outdoor seating.
There is truly something on the menu from everyone, though it would be great to see a few more vegan or gluten free options.
My favorite soup as of late is the vegetarian Black Bean soup (I typically don’t go for black beans so this is saying a lot). The soup is well seasoned and the consistency is thick though very pleasant. Previously my favorite soup had been the French Onion (they changed the recipe about a year ago and it just isn’t the same).
About a year ago I had a piece of plastic in my French Onion soup. The cashier on duty was less than helpful (seriously, why would I want another bowl of soup when the bowl I just had contained plastic?!), however the manager was very apologetic and accommodating (following my visit I took the survey noted on my receipt).
More recently this location has added the chance to order ahead of time and pick-​up upon arrival called Rapid Pick Up (there’s a little bookcase when you walk through the main door. Bottom line is no line no wait). You can order ahead of time on-​line or via an app (which I believe I saw advertised in store). This is especially helpful during the M-​F lunch (for example today I waited amongst at least 10 other people for my order to be ready).
This location also does an excellent job with catering (I was in a pickle and was able to secure catering within hours of a meeting). They are always attentive, friendly, have my order ready in time, and most importantly the order is accurate.
I’ll definitely be returning soon. Before I forget to mention, the Panera Rewards Card program is worth joining. I hadn’t been in for awhile and received a free coffee (no purchase necessary) every day for the month of April. Score!

They mess up on my order almost every time & the salads taste chemically lately.

The food here is pretty good, but not at a good price. There is lots of seating, which makes it a great place to study because you have unlimited coffee refills. There are plenty of outlets. At lunch it gets incredibly busy, but it eases off by 2pm.
The wifi here is INCREDIBLY slow. I can’t even load a PDF. At a chain with so much seating, I would expect more. I’m marking this off of my list of study spots.

I am almost happy with Panera. There food is delicious and it is conveniently located across from my work.
On the downside it can be expensive and their reward program isn’t really that great.

I went to panera last night because I love the Greek salad. They happened to be out of romain so I got the field greens mixed with spinach. It was good. My issue was with the portion. Apparently because they were out of romain they couldn’t fill my bowl all the way up? Didn’t make sense. When I asked them why my bowl was ¼ full they said it was the standard full sized salad and acted irritated. I guess I just paid $ 8 to eat out of a bigger bowl, yippee! That’s fine, but if someone comes up to you and asks about the portion size, wouldn’t you do something about it? Just throw some extra greens in there to shut me up! It was really bad customer service. Either way for $ 8 and if that is a full size it was not worth it, even though I think I got screwed.

Hmmm… let’s see… tomato soup was ok. Iced coffee comes with unlimited refills and is also quite decent. However, the cashier recommended the grilled cheese and it was not good at all. I ordered it with cheddar however the cheddar was a horrible tasting smoky cheddar. Ended up throwing it away. I realize I could have said something but was having a not-​so-​great day and not in the right state of mind for any sort of critical communication. Altogether with tip it was over $ 10 for soup sandwich and iced coffee. And it was a stingy sized half sandwich which i ended up throwing away.
To add to this not so stellar experience, the wifi connection was not good either. Could not do the work I needed to do. Connection kept going out. i did briefly ask staff about this, but staff I asked stated she did not know anything about it but nobody else had a problem with it so it must be my computer. Well, then, why does my laptop do fine on the internet everywhere else but Panera?
Panera is a comfortable place to sit, and soup is ok to order, as well as soft drinks or coffee, but that is really not enough of an incentive for me to return there as a customer.

Slow and unfriendly most of the time, food takes WAAAAY too long for what it is… There are a few people who work there that are nice, but when people have «trainer» on their name tag and have a bad attitude to customers I have to ask myself what they are instilling in new employees…

Ok food for the price. Restaurant is filled with people on laptops and not eating… Makes it difficult to find a place to eat.
Menu does not list all items on item ordered. That could be dangerous…
Steak Sandwich was flat and did not look appetizing. As a chef I would never put raw onions on a hot sandwich w/​melted cheese, but that is me.
Soup was OK, guessing they doctored up something canned, I have had worse.
Would be better without all the wifi vampires just taking up space.

They ALWAYS run out of bread bowls. I love their bread bowls but they always seem to disappoint me by being sold out. Today it was 1:15 pm and they were already gone.

Panera is quickly becoming one of my favorite breakfast and lunch places because of the service and quality of locations like Boulder, CO.

Honestly my favorite part about this Panera is the fireplace in the back. So cozy in the winter when I’m studying!
The food is always good at Panera and there’s always room for my friends and I to spread out and get our work done. It’s decently priced for the portions (lots of food) and it always comes out fast which is a plus!
I always seem to end up here somehow…

It was good but thay got my order wrong. If you Are looking for a great meal fast here is whare

I usually think of Panera as a quick casual restaurant and I have had a couple of meals at other locations, though it is not on my go-​to list. But I always knew they sold bread to take out. I just never did it.
Today I was in the neighborhood of this location on my way to do some non-​food errands when I remembered I needed some appropriate bread for dinner to go with the ravioli. I ran in here as I was walking by rather than make another stop at a grocery. I got the asiago demi baguette and it worked fine. Not special in any way, just fresh and simple. I dressed it up with garlic butter and broiled it to serve.
The staff was friendly and quick.

This is an easy place to have a quick lunch. I prefer it for a business lunch as its informal and cafeteria style. That way when the food comes we are not disturbed when talking by a waiter. The food itself is pretty good for ‘fast food’. I love the breads and the ingredients come across as wholesome.

Love that panara has a panara card now. So when you order, they swip your card and you can earn a free pastry, $ 1 off items, I just got a free bagel. It is a great perk and makes me skip Starbucks for my latte and come to panera instead. Also their killer cinnamon crunch bagel with honey walnut cream cheese… AMAZING

Dear Panera Bread,
You are a bakery and bake lots of bread and you have NO gluten-​free options. When I went in to your place and asked the cashier what I could eat that was gluten-​free, he was dumb-​founded and directed me to a salad. I asked if there were gluten free soups and he had no idea. Also, the salad I did end up getting had gluten on it. Panera Bread used to be one of my fave places to eat lunch and now if I want to eat there, I must suffer the consequences of a horrible stomach ache later. Please help us gluten-​free people out and make some gluten-​free bread. Jump on the bandwagon!