Panera

First time at this location. Both my wife and I ordered Ham & Swiss from the drive thru. Got home to find only ham, no swiss. I wouldn’t think it too complicated to get right but I guess I am wrong. Schlotzsky’s gets my order correct every time. Going to have to treat Panera just like McD’s and check the order before driving away, that is IF I ever go back.

I’ll start by saying that I have enjoyed eating at every Panera that I’ve gone to in the past, therefore it was quite a surprise to stop at this one today and experience what I did.
I ordered a choose two deal with a panini (cheese and spinach) and French onion soup with an Apple on the side. What was brought to me was a melted cheese sandwich on white bread with grill marks on one side, and warmish soup. No side. My sandwich was remade at my request and the second time I was provided with warm flatbread with cheese and spinach. Still not what I ordered.
Folks, Panera is a great chain. I’ve had great experiences. Avoid this particular restaurant, as it is an awful example of that name. They can’t even cook a grilled cheese.

I really wanted to like this place; it’s in my neighborhood and I though it would offer a nice alternative to all the chicken joints in the area. I stopped by to grab a sandwich to go and went to the counter to place my order. There were at least six employees in the are (all young) and they all seemed more interested in visiting with each other than assisting me. After locating a manager I placed my order. Part of my order came over the counter pretty quickly but without my sandwich. After waiting for almost 5 minutes I interrupted one of the employee conversations to ask about it. The sandwich came out and was tossed on the counter with no comment. When I got the food home I was further disappointed; the bread was dry and the chicken salad was nothing special. I’ll not be back.

Disappointing. We thought Panera would be something special and the prices, pictures and descriptions made it seem so. But the food itself was only so so. The black bean soup was thick but lacked flavor. The Fuji chicken salad looked delicious but was poorly dressed.
We wanted this to be good but it missed the mark.

Good food and nice employees. I love that they put the calories next to each item. Always on top of the game.

I visit this location often and they are always clean and friendly however today they went above and beyond. I generally work from this location and will buy a drink and breakfast as I work. They are always smiling and the employees are helpful. I purchased (2) $ 20 gift cards for gifts but then later decided I needed 4. I requested that the gift cards be exchanged for 4 $ 10 cards and without hesitation one employee and the general manager Greg spent 15 plus minutes looking back in the system to try to refund and exchange my cards even after I had lost the receipt. Greg had done this all even before he had taken off his jacket (I got him as he entered the door). This location is well run and I appreciate the kindness that Greg and his employees have shown me today. A friendly reminder of exceptional customer service right in time for the Holidays.

Eh. These folks need some time to work out the kinks. The girls behind the register didn’t know and couldn;t answer questions about several menu items (to the folks in from of us).
We ordered and about 5 minutes later the girl comes by and says they are out of the mediterranean veggie sandwich… what else did I want?
Me: um I didnt order that?
Her: oh. what did you order? (we both grab receipt)
that’s what she put on the receipt.
me: I ordered the Mediterranean chicken salad —
her: ohok, we’ll i’ll be right bk.
All was good and they brought me the right stuff. but… could have been worse.
Very light, very flavorful (tasted way better than it looked)
SOUP: we both ordered broc. cheddar soup with the pick 2 combo.
very good.
SIDES: they offer a baguette (a piece of bread with a sandwich? hmm) I’ll take the apple. my husband got chips. which make way more sense
Be aware you can have different sides b/​c they try to get you to agree to the baguette as the side asking if it is ok to have that as your side.
Luckily, we asked and my apple was delicious!

Let me start by saying Panera is one of my VERY favorite restaurants! I was beyond excited when I found out this location was being built so close to my house. But this location needs lots of work. The customer service is one of the worst I’ve ever seen at a Panera– I’ve waited well over 10 minutes as the only car in the drive thru for a bagel. A bagel – those are already made – just needs to be sliced. I’ve also been asked almost every time «What were you waiting for?» I don’t understand how hard it is to keep an order straight when it’s just a bagel and also as the sole car in the drive thru. They have never been apologetic for wait times or for having to be reminded about what you ordered. Customer service is lacking and in my opinion they should have done a lot more training prior to opening.

Probably the worst sandwich I ever had in my life. I really wanted to like this place too!
My wife and I went here for dinner last night. We both ordered a ½ sandwich and soup combo. I had the steak and cheese and she had an avocado turkey BLT. Let me just say, the sandwiches looked gross, and tasted even worse. My sandwich was flat, the steak was not the thin «Philly cheese steak» that I expected (I expected it because I asked before I ordered), it was think, undercooked, and tasteless. It just tasted terrible, I ended up scraping off the meat and eating just the bread.
My wife’s sandwich was so bad, we ended up having to return it and asking for a grilled cheese. The bacon was undercooked and rubbery looking (like they microwaved it), the turkey was chunky, but not in the nice «oh look, thanks giving dinner» way, but in the «did someone chew this up and spit it out» type of way.
The soups were bland, but passable.
I’m not going to go back, the baked goods looked fresh, and the bread that came with the soup was good.

I have been to this location about 6 – 10 times. Each time I’ve come back, the food and service have gotten increasingly disappointing. The item I always get is no longer on the menu (power chicken hummus bowl), but the first few times I had no issue ordering it still. The last time I went, the salad came out and it hardly filled half of the bowl. I paid extra for avocado but I didn’t get any. Today, my experience was horrible enough to convince me never to go back. When I asked for my usual order, the cashier did not seem to understand. When the manager and two other workers joined her at the register, they said they didn’t have it on the menu anymore. I said I knew it was not on the menu any longer, but that it had been made for me at that location more than five times. She had me list the ingredients of the salad, which I was charged for individually. Due to her method, my total ended up being $ 17 whereas the normal salad is usually $ 7. She seemed to genuinely be trying and so I made an effort not to take out my irritation on her. Slightly frustrated, I sat down at a table and waited for my food. After 15 minutes I began to look around and see what the hold-​up was about. I figured that my order was more complicated than most and gave them some grace. The next thing I heard was a worker walking around the restaurant yelling out my name and asking customers if they were Mary. I raised my hand and identified myself, thoroughly confused. The worker came over and notified me that «I’d failed». Very confused now, I asked her what she was referring to. She said because I had not asked for a table pager, I had failed and that I would hopefully learn for next time. I pointed out the fact that it was the cashiers job to give me a pager, but she disregarded that comment and proceeded to clap me on the shoulder in an oddly joking manner. Clearly uncomfortable, I moved away but she did it multiple more times as if in response to the clearly horrified look on my face. At this point every customer in the restaurant not only knew my name, but was observing me being harassed by this worker. When I finally do get my food, it was not correct (no surprise there). I have really enjoyed panera in the past, however this location has truly let me down. I am not absurd in thinking that a restaurant worker should not publicly out a customer for something that was not their fault, nor should they initiate contact with a customer. I will not be going back.
Updated review:
I returned a couple months later with the hope that the restaurant might’ve finally figured itself out. Boy was I wrong. Here is my bagel, sliced by someone who doesn’t know how to slice a bagel, or what is unacceptable to give a customer. Thought I would include my $ 1.50 plain cream cheese as well. This place continues to disappoint

My hero is now a zero. I was THRILLED that Paneras was coming to my town. After all, it is has been one of my favorite restaurants for years. In fact, when I travel (which I do a lot of) I select my hotel based on its proximity to Paneras, because I want to have good food options away from home.
This store has been open about two months now and every time I go, they manage to give me an even worse experience than the visit before. Sunday was my last. I will NOT go back. I am so disappointed with this store, that it has effective my opinion of the company. When I travel, Panera will not be my food choice every again.
I’ve placed about 7 or 8 orders now at this store. With every order, at least one item has been missing. It’s frustrating, because the staff consists of ALL children who have NO experience, so when you show them your receipt and count up the order to prove that food is missing, and they look at you as if they haven’t completed basic math, you learn to no longer bother trying to have a conversation. Instead, you take what you get and leave disappointed.
The portion sizes are ridiculously small. A handful of lettuce barely covering the bottom of the salad bowl. A cup of soup barely reaching ½ the cup instead of filled to the rim. The quality is even worse. Bread swimming in something, so wet it falls apart when you try to pick up your sandwich. Straws soaking in a container filled with some disgusting liquid, but when you tell the staff and ask for clean straws, they stare blankly at you. They are unable to find straws and you watch customer after customer having no option because they staff can’t even be bothered to clean up the straw container. They’ve ran out of medium size cups 3 times forcing you to have a small water cup or pay for a large. Speaking of availability. Their fresh baked section is the smallest I’ve ever seen offering far fewer options than any store I’ve ever been in (and this is one of the biggest stores in the country). But worse yet, they can’t even be bothered to keep it full; instead at least half the options are sold out at any given time of the day.
Paneras, you should be embarrassed and ashamed.

The American chains continue to disappoint. 4 – 5 years ago smaller chains like Panera were a savior for veggies — with that one veggie sandwich on their menu. But now that almost all good restaurants and food trucks have an extensive vegetarian menu; they are not able keep up. I am noticing this trend in several chains, they are offering a veg menu but are dramatically reducing their veg ingredients to save cost. Usually it’s just tomatoes and mushrooms. Meat is cheap to procure so they offer plenty of options there. Most chain employees seem to be trained in being heavy handed with cheese and bread, but very light handed with vegetables (especially the expensive ones like peppers and avocado). With most chains, veggie options are nothing but cheese and cheap mushrooms.
This location was new and we were around so gave it another shot. The Mediterranean veggie sandwich was small, sparsely stacked with vegetables and barely any spread. No real taste. There was literally one slice of cucumber, tomato and a small ring of onion — that too only on one of the two sandwiches we ordered. No pickle and even the side of chips bag was smaller.
The Mac and cheese had no salt or pepper. The ambiance of this Panera is new so it was updated and had nice outdoor seating as well. They still have a good bakery and decent beverages. Nonetheless, I won’t be returning.

Always polite, helpful, responsive and the food has never disappointed. The morning crew is especially wonderful.

Panera is by far one of my favorite places for breakfast and lunch. Their quiches are amazing, their «muffies» are excellent, the bagels are always a hit at the office. For lunch I shoot for a half sandwich and soup because the full sandwiches and a cup of soup are always too much to eat. I’ve been to multiple locations, but on the several times I’ve been to this one it is apparent that they are new and all the staff are still trying to learn their craft. I’m not going to fault them for that at this point and will continue going there. Hopefully with a few months of «walking the walk» the staff will get in line with the normal Panera culture and be outstanding. So glad I have a Panera close now.

First visit. One of my friends recommended. My sandwich was pretty good. Nothing spectacular. The crust was a little tough. Flavor-​wise it was good. Plenty. Soup was fabulous! It was thick and sweet. Almost too sweet near the end, but I ate it all.
My friends had Chicken salad sandwiches, soup, salad, fruit. The chicken salad was good but not quite enough on the sandwich they both thought. One friend also had Autumn Squash soup. She said it was too sweet to finish. My friend that had salad said it was great. It was chicken. Can’t remember what else was with it.
I probably won’t go back. I was not impressed.

I took my family there the other day for the dinner just after the first opening. The food was mediocre but what really bothered me was that they did not honor any military discount. Every other Panera Bread that I have been to has kindly honored my service with a discount. Georgetown is a growing community and a huge attraction to service members from Ft. Hood. I will not go back until they recognize the service of those who have served this great nation.

Panera Bread in Georgetown on University Ave. opened on Friday the 21^st, so I’ve actually stopped by every day at the drive-​through and tried various items every day since, as honestly I’ve never eaten at Panera before now. Drive-​thru lines were short, service was great each time, staff was courteous and accommodating, and wait times for food was about 6 – 8 minutes, which is not bad at all for prepared food.
The Asiago Steak sandwich was a nice sandwich with lots of seared steak and with a great sauce, although the steak was a bit tough (thick) and made biting the sandwich not enjoyable. I asked at later visit and Mgr. stated that maybe steak wasn’t fluffed just right when added to sandwich to ensure tender bite. Mgr. seemed conscientious and involved, so that’s nice.
Italian Combo has great ingredients and is a sandwich I can eat often. (twice already) The bread is like a very good Italian bread that I’ve purchased and have made before when making a Muffaletta, having not an egg-​shell flaky crust like French Bread, but a firmer bread that holds up to the ingredients, and a crust that tears easily with a bite.
The Soup and Sandwich deal is great for lunch, I’d get the whole sandwich because it’s huge and you’ll want the second half later, if not sooner.
Others had the Roast Turkey Avocado Bacon BLT, which comes on large white bread and was also great, based on the silence at the table.
I had the Seasonal Hibiscus Iced Tea yesterday and the Mango Iced Tea today, and both were excellent unsweetened.
I’m looking forward to trying more of the other menu items over the next few weeks. I prepare many similar items at home, but it’s convenient with school starting, so that’ll likely ensure frequent dining here, when there’s no time to cook or sit down at a restaurant.