Panera Bread

This restaurant has a lot of space with tables, seats, and booths if you want to hang out with some friends for a while. The cashier was very nice in her conversation. My order was prepared very fast. I enjoyed the taste of my broccoli cheddar soup and baguette. The bacon in my BLT roasted turkey avocado sandwich was soggy and not as good as I have eaten at other locations of Panera.

Went during lunch time and it was busy, but the cashier was pleasant and took my order quickly and accurately. The wait for food was a little bit longer than I expected (~13 minutes) and I could’ve gone next door and gotten some Thai Iced Tea had I not have the buzzer given to me. Once I received my order I briefly checked to make sure that my order was correctly filled and then left to meet a friend elsewhere since all the tables and seats were full. What I was not expecting, was a charred Chicken Frontega Panini — despite the busyness of a weekday I cannot believe they had the audacity to serve such inedible food. though I had a to-​go order and the priority is to provide fast service, I would’ve rather waited an extra 5 minutes for an edible Frontega chicken panini — as long as I was told (otherwise I’d be in the dark about the extra long wait for a measly Frontega chicken). By all means, the other half of the panini was great, but would’ve been better had I got to enjoy the entire sandwich that I paid $ 8 for.

This location even though it is usually very busy, the staff is friendly and fast. I visit this location at least three times a week and usually my experience for bagel breakfast or pick two lunch is very good. Just a few times, mainly in the weekends I have come across some not well baked bagels.

I’ve ordered catering from here several times for my company, and I was not too happy with my experience. For catering orders, you choose a 15 minute delivery window and they delivered 30 minutes after the end of the time frame. If it was just lunch for myself it would not have been an issue, but it was catering for a large event at my company, and it was a big issue that the food was late.

I just got the Lemon Chicken Orzo soup and it was really awful. There was barely anything in it and the broth tasted like water. The one piece of chicken I got in it was so gross looking I had to take it out and throw away (it was attached to a string of purple weirdness and fat) so disappointed.

Love the cinnamon crunch bagel especially as a breakfast sandwich. The atmosphere is great with free wifi with lots of available seating. Service is speedy.

I absolutely love Panera! I like the pick 2 that they have on the menu. I usually get a salad with soup. I would recommend trying out the steak and blue cheese salad. I’m not a fan of blue cheese, so I ask them for feta cheese instead. The cream of chicken and wild rice is really good too! I have yet to try the broth bowls, but if you go on their website and watch about 2 videos that are 2 minutes in length then you get $ 5.00 off of the broth bowl! Hopefully, it’s still on the website! Check it out! :)

Standard Panera, from what I’ve experienced. In general, I feel that Panera doesn’t give much food for what they charge.
On Thursdays from 4:00 to 8:00, students can get any soup in a bread bowl for $ 3 with the purchase of a drink. Pretty good deal. The bread bowl also comes with chips, apple, or bread. I’m not sure if it was because of the deal (I’ve only been on weekends before), but there was quite a line when I went around 7 pm. The wait time to order and for the food to be ready wasn’t bad, though.
I’ll probably be back only for this deal – there are plenty of other places that will give more food for less money.

Let me start out by saying that I love me some Panera. Usually, I get my soup and salad or even some soup and a sandwich and I am on my way. There new broth soups are awful. Seriously. It was flavorless and gross. I was not amused. Especially since it was so expensive. I will go out and update my review. But for now, it has two stars.

Soup in the breadbowl comes with an apple. Don’t know it’s usual or it is holiday special. I like soup and bread so this dish is definitely for me and panera does a good job. BTW, I tried mix vegs and chicken noodle. I prefer the latter one since it is less salty.

I’m not a fan of the Panera in Oakland. Often when I have been there the salads have no dressing on them or are missing a vital piece. Last time I went I ordered a breakfast sandwich on a bagel and they pressed it on a panini press making it flat as a pancake and burnt. Very unappealing.

I overheard a male manager and female employee making very rude and racist remarks about chinese culture. This sort of behavior is ignorant and unacceptable in any situation. I found it to be extremely offensive and refuse to visit this location ever again.

I’ve waited a bit to write this review because for me this branch deserves a 3.5 star review; however, Unilocal confines me to whole stars so I lean towards a 3. I’ve been here quite a few times for lunch and in between writing sessions in the library. It’s always quite busy, particularly during semesters, and sometimes it’s a bear to wait in line for a while. The quality of the food is always good, and the staff seem competent and friendly. I’ve been disappointed here a few times that the types of bagels I want are not available later in the afternoon. Sometimes, there are only a couple of types of bagels left as early as 3pm. I wish they had a variety of bagels available throughout the entire day rather than «while supplies last.» Overall, though, I enjoy this place and will continue to frequent. Their black bean soup is amazing.

Hey, a Panera is a Panera. I have fond memories of this one just because it’s located near Pitt, where I attended college; I would meet a number of friends for dinner here and even interview people for the school paper here. Good times!
However, no Panera is perfect. The biggest drawback to this Panera is its location. The service is wonderful and the food is as good as it is at any other Panera, but unfortunately if it’s time for the midday/​dinner rush nothing will save you from getting lost in the swarm of students and staff members all looking to get a yummy sandwich or bowl of soup. It’s always good to have a back-​up plan in case the line is really long here — fortunately it’s Oakland, so there’s no shortage of alternative eateries. Also: if you want parking, try the Panera that’s along Boulevard of the Allies; that one has a parking lot, but this one does not.
On the plus side, in recent years this Panera’s added a LOT of new space to accommodate the population it feeds, which is wonderful; it doesn’t do much to help when you’re standing in line, but at least once you get your food you have a greater chance of finding a table hidden in the back corner and you can use the wi-​fi in relative peace. Still, fair warning: extra space or not, be ready to compete with a massive student population if you want to sit in here.
One final note and tip: if you’re looking to host a class or meeting here, go for it: this Panera, (like many, it seems) has a nice meeting room that’s separate from the main dining area. The one here is almost constantly in use — that’s how popular this place is. Everyone likes Panera in Oakland, I guess!

We stopped in here a couple times while we were in town to get some work done, grab a snack, and have a coffee or smoothie. Both the mango and berry low fat smoothies were fantastic and the coffee was good as well. Great scones too (we liked the blue berry and the orange best). The place has free wifi and tons of seating, so I can see why it was packed with students. The facilities could have been a bit cleaner (both the tables and restrooms needed a good clean) so I will take off one star for that, but I get that its tough with so many students in and out.

Large & fast but they forgot my toddler’s food.
If you’ve never had a toddler, this is one of the worst possible things that could ever happen that doesn’t involve death or dismemberment.
resulting commotion sounded a lot like death &/​or dismemberment, though.
Two year olds are awesome, FYI.

Actually, for a Panera, this was quite nice.
I was at the Petersen Event Center and this was a quick walk down the hill… idiot me never realized I’d eventually have to go back up the hill.
The restaurant is huge… they must have room to seat 300 people, and every visit it’s always been packed.
Surprisingly, this Panera, for its location has a decent staff. They’re quick and they prepare their easily prepared national chain foods quickly.
Personal pet peeve that Panera’s are Pepsi establishments but soda and pop are bad for you and I shouldn’t drink it anyways.

Awesome location and free parking!
They also have a large isolated room that is excellent for studying. I think this might be the same location as 3401 Blvd of the Allies.

Huge! Convenient, friendly and with WiFi. Plenty of parking. And unbeatable for a good — and healthy breakfast. Probably the healthiest lunch menu out of all the «fast food» chains. And despite the crowds, it’s clean and airy.

1. Is it me or do the portions keep getting smaller as the prices get higher?
2. There is plenty of seating but its always crowded.
3. The food is okay but if I had to choose a place in Oakland to get soup, salad, or a sandwich it would be red oak café.