Panera Bread

I’ve seen the largely negative reviews regarding this place and yet I’m a fan. For a bakery and sandwich shop, however, that is their weakness. They have some tasty and filling egg white breakfast sandwiches and a good salad selection. The medium salad also comes with a nice piece of crusty bread. The loyalty program is generous as well. Best thing is the Rapid Order they offer via website or phone app. Ten minutes after I order I can walk in and my order is waiting for me in a special section. Always ready and have never had a mistake on the order. For some reason I’ve also earned a free bagel for every day in the month of July.

I generally love Panera, just not this location. Bagel was stale and burned in the bottom. I guess I know why it not busy on a Saturday morning…

Love Panera but this location is very disappointing. Bagel was hard and Café Mocha coffee tasted like hot water. Slow service. No wonder this place was not popular even on a Saturday morning.

Have gotten a hair in my food twice at this location. Otherwise I would like it. Also my sandwich tasted really gross last time. The lettuce tasted old and mushy. Id rather go to kneaders a few miles away, which is unfortunate as I live right next to this panera. Was great when it first opened, but has gone downhill since. Will be back once it’s cleaner and fresher food

We eat here often and this is the first time I have seen it so messy. There food on the floor in front of the garbage cans, lots of dirty dishes in the bin, garbage on the floor in the women’s bathroom and many dirty tables. There are hardly any customers in here at all and well past the lunch rush. (It’s 4pm) we didn’t even get greeted when we came in although the other two groups of people did. Kinda disappointed with this location right now.

I’ve been here a few times and the service was great but today the gal at the drive thru had a huge smile on her face almost laughing and we were kind of wondering why. well I had a live fly in the middle of my salad. Very very disgusting especially knowing I ate alot of the salad before I discovered the fly crawling around.

Used to LOVE panera until the other day I got my mac n cheese FILLED with hair. Not one, not two but a lot of hair pieces in it. I was disgusted and will be telling everybody I know to beware.

I absolutely love their Lil bakery! The salads are probably my favorite around compared to some of the other fast salad places. I enjoy there sitting area too, comfortable and quiet. The service has always been good and fast!

Love coming here on my lunch breaks. Always relaxing atmosphere, Delicious and healthy food. Also Casey is my favorite, she always friendly, helpful and even remembers my name.

I get that a lot of people are disappointed that Paradise was purchased by Panera — I miss Paradise too. And the remaining Paradises are not what they used to be as they now have the Panera menu. That said — this review is based on the Panera location on S. Arizona. I have seen improvements in management here over the past 6 months. Sometimes tables can go too long without being bussed, but again, it’s improving. The staff is friendly and efficient. You can tell they have to deal with a lot of first time customers as the Panera menu is a bit confusing, especially the whole Pick 2 thing — that’s a corporate problem, not a local problem. The restaurant is clean, the wifi is good, the bathrooms are clean. The service is prompt — inside and thru drive thru. Panera’s ‘clean’ food is still high in calories, but unlike other restaurants at least they make their full nutritional value available. This location is really like a neighborhood hangout/​café. Mornings it’s a lot of retirees and business people doing meeting, afternoon, it’s kids from the local high school and night it’s a mix of families having dinner. Are the prices a tad high (yes, especially on the sandwiches), the bowls deliver the best bang for the buck. And a few months ago they finally got the Panera baguettes instead of those tasteless dinner rolls they were serving with soups and such. I definitely think Paradise has the better bakery, and still does. But if you need a neighborhood place to hang out with decent, consistent food and good service then this is your place.

I’m surprised with all the negative reviews. The only reason I removed a star is because of the cost. If Panera Bread was more affordable I would frequent more often.
I’ve gone through the drive thru and also ate inside. Every time I’ve been there the staff has been friendly and quick.

The bread can be stale, later in the day. The wait takes forever. Where is the supervisor? The $ 8 mac and cheese is so small it’s unbelievable. Chicken soup is good. Turkey, bacon, avocado sandwich is good. Panera is way overpriced, especially at this location, where it takes forever.

On Fridays, I get excited because I LOVE clam chowder. When this Panera opened near my house, I was really happy because I knew I could get my Clam-​Chowder-​in-​a-​Bread-​Bowl fix. I have never been more wrong. I have tried to get this meal (at least 5 times since I started counting this hilarious repeated event), and literally – LITERALLY – every time I order it they are out of either a) clam chowder, or b) bread bowls. Why. How. Why. Most times, I order and pay and – if I sit down in the restaurant, they come to tell me – and I have to come up with another order and it is a whole ordeal. If I’m in the drive-​thru, I will pull up to the window and they will ask me if I want rolls or slices of sour dough bread in place of the bread bowl. One time, I said «Rolls, please.» And… wait for it… they were out of rolls, too. In addition, I have ordered cookies 3 times in the drive-​thru, and EACH time they did not put the cookie in the bag. Now, you might say: «Jen, why do you keep ordering something that you know they won’t have?» Or «Why do you pay for cookies you know you won’t get?» I don’t have a good answer for you. I guess I’m dumb. But I will suggest to Panera that if they CONSISTENTLY do not have a particular item available for purchase, or if they have a bakery item that they are glad to charge for but somehow physically unable to put in the to-​go bag, then it should not be on their menu. Panera, please. Stop this nonsense.

I thought it was ok. I had a kale salad with chicken, and it was nice. I also had a soup, but did not care for it. I don’t even remember what kind it was. The chocolate chip cookie was good. Overall it was fine, nothing outstanding, but I am willing to try it again.
The drive though line was crazy long, but they mananged to keep it going, so I didn’t have too bad of a wait.

I took a long time to express my dissatisfaction. I’ve been a. fan of Paradise Bakery and knowing Panera was same family and being around the corner I’ve given the several chances.
A) always running out of items
B) drive thru is horrible. they always mess up my orders. ALWAYS
c) 4 different occasions we have found hair in the food and twice inside their cookies (gross).
Very bad service… way too bad because have been a loyal client for years to their PB stores

I called in a cookie cake order and my instructions were…“no words just do frosting around the rim and random squiggly lines and dots, just the basic brown and white frosting is good” I then had my assistant pick it up for me and I about died when I saw it! This was supposed to be a treat to a local church but needless to say the staff ate it instead, I will NEVER order from this location again! Picture is posted…

When they first opened, I was so excited since it was right across the street from my school. The mac and cheese was still wonderful so all was well.
Then I had to stop eating the Mac and cheese and I went to a Caesar salad, which I’ve ordered quite a bit. The last maybe 5 times I’ve gotten it I’ve been very disappointed. The lettuce was soggy and old and I had to throw it away.
Lots of waste for such an expensive meal. Will not be eating there anymore.
BRING BACK PARADISE!

I can’t say I wasn’t warned — the reviews warned me not to go through the drive through — yet I did anyway. I was missing a sandwich and my salad was not made how I asked for it. I then parked and went inside to let them know and the lady behind the counter actually started arguing with me stating that my order was correct. I told her no, I didn’t just pay $ 20 for one salad — one that was not made how I asked for it at that.
Needless to say — these reviews are spot on. I will NOT be going back to this location.

Ordered a smoked turkey sandwich to go. The wait was not too bad, and I was on the road in no time.
When I opened up the wrapping, I have to admit I was underwhelmed with what I saw. It was a very basic looking sandwich for close to $ 7. The bread, while nice in that it is baked fresh, tasted gummy. They forgot to include onions in the sandwich, which would have helped to break up some of the saltiness of the sandwich from the smoked turkey meat.
Overall I wasn’t too impressed, but I’ll return to see if other items are better.

I was happy to see a Panera open in my neighborhood because I’ve been carrying around a My Panera card that I can only use when I go back to St. Louis. When I did live there Panera was my goto in the winter mainly for some quick, inexpensive comfort food, like a grilled cheese and a nice bowl of soup.
Due to the hot temps here in AZ, I’ve looked for lighter options. I’ve used the drive-​thru only at this Panera 4 times and overall have had good experiences. I’ve gotten bagels and iced green tea twice and also tried their Mediterranean veggie sandwich and the Roasted Turkey and Avocado BLT. All have been very fresh and tasty and only one time they forgot the napkins, but I was headed home so it was no big deal.
I feel for them and all the negative reviews. This is a tough to please neighborhood with an inordinate number of people speeding around in their luxury SUVs acting like they are the only ones on the road, and the only ones in the restaurant. If you don’t cater to them you are in big trouble. Hopefully this location can get their issues straightened out. I know from the St. Louis perspective, Panera is a great corporate citizen which does a lot in the community and gives back to many charities that fight hunger. I don’t know if they are doing that here in AZ, but the next time I’m in I’m going to ask.