Panera Bread

I have been to this location 5 times and had problems 3 out of the 5. First time I was there I ordered a sandwich — instead of putting the pickle in a separate layer of wrapping, they left it on top of my sandwich, so by the time I went to eat it the bread was soggy with pickle juice.
The second time I went I ordered a dozen bagels and two cream cheese spread. I get to my meeting and find no cream cheese at all. I called and complained and they gave me free bagels next time I went through.
Then — yesterday, I drove 25 minutes from my house because I really wanted mac and cheese. I waited 10 minutes in the drive through line and ordered two bowls of their mac and cheese. I exited the drivethrough and pulled into the parking lot to check my order. I got the mac and cheese out of the bag and thought they had mistakenly given me soup. I opened the lid and it was completely liquid milk sauce that was cold and pasta that was uncooked. I was furious. Those small bowls of cost $ 8. How could someone serve that and think it was OK.
So I went back in the drivethrough line and waited another 10 minutes. A manager was at the window. She didn’t seem to really care about what had happened. I was specifically upset that at least two panera employees would have touched my order and yet it was still served to me. First there is the guy that ladled that crap into a bowl and KNEW it wasn’t cooked and still tried to serve me it. Second was the girl in the drive through that put it in a bag and would have noticed that mac and cheese shouldn’t be liquefied. The manager lady said she would refund my whole order (which also included a sandwich). She said she would let me keep the sandwich for my trouble (plus, they would have just thrown it out anyway). She didn’t have the key to access the register to do the return so she called over another guy who was some kind of regional manager. I explained what happened to him and he didn’t even bother to look at the mac and cheese. He just said «yeah, I guess we have a quality control problem». I told him «no you don’t, you have an employee problem». Then — the guy took my credit card to give me the refund and he only refunded the mac and cheese and still made me pay for the sandwich — despite what the first manager said. Then when the 1^st lady came back to the window she asked if I wanted a cookie for my trouble. NO — I DON’T WANT A FREAKING COOKING. I WANT MANAGEMENT TO CARE THAT I WAS CHARGED $ 17 FOR MAC AND CHEESE THAT WAS THE CONSISTENCY OF SOUP.
What I have learned about Panera bread is that their employees just don’t give a crap — probably management doesn’t either. Not a single manager actually took the lid off the mac and cheese to see what I was served. They didn’t apologize for the employee that served me that. They didn’t even refund my whole order as they said they would and then they tried to make everything OK by offering me a cookie. I will NEVER go to a panera bread again.

Panera Brand but… quality was off. The taste was right but it was crystal clear the workers here have not been properly trained in the Panera Methodology. Soup was room temp, salad was ok and made with the correct ingredients, and the bread had the right Panera taste. Overall, everything seemed right but knowing how a well run Panera tastes and feels, a difference was observed. Waco seems to lack healthy choice options so Panera has a fair base of non Pizza/​Burger eating patrons to keep management feeling happy with sales. Location is a premium and could break some sales records with some Panera quality upgrades. Doubt I will go back to this franchise anytime soon. There’s a deli near that offers far superior food that is about 10% less expensive than this hip bread chain.

Passing through on our way to Arkansas. We like Panera, and this restaurant didn’t disappoint. Fast service, and the food and drinks were great. No complaints at all — and they were very busy.

Came in for a quick dinner to go for the family (6 people). I thought before this was a nice fresh place, so I was shocked to watch the «cooks» warming packages of precooked Mac’n Cheese in boiling water. That can’t be healthy-​boiling water and plastic, yuck. No surprises that our order was wrong. The amount of food we got and what we paid for it was wrong. You’d think for what they charge they could afford to pay someone to actually cook it there, not warm it up.

Poor service on a consistent basis. Today it took them over 25 minutes just to make a coffee. Just avoid this place if you can, otherwise plan to spend a lot of time waiting for your order.

My first time in and really didn’t know what to order. I did a togo order. My cashier was Gailey, she was very helpful in my choice and also offered a pastry but since she didn’t eat sweets she didn’t know what to tell me. So she went and got me one that is a good seller and told me if I didn’t like it she would get me something else. It was cinnamon roll of some sorts. And dang it was good. So way to go Gailey! I had the turkey BLT, bread soft and outside crispy. Veggies in sandwich was fresh, bread wasn’t over dressed with mayo. Had the chips, chips are chips. Speed of the order was good and they checked the order. So for sure I will go again!

Stopped in for a quick Mac n Cheese while I traveled between Dallas and Austin. They were out of Mac n Cheese so I ordered the Butternut Squash Ravioli. Never had it before and wasn’t sure if it was a long wait (I’m new to Panera Bread). The young lady at the cash register asks for me and returns with a less than 5 minutes. Hearing this I decide not to go get my computer from my car and just wait. I walk to the wait area just in time to hear a young girl in the kitchen say, in a hateful sarcastic demeaning voice «How long for the ravioli? Like I can’t wait». I stopped and explained why I asked then spoke to the manager. To his credit he was professional, polite and responsive. No one likes to be made fun of, demeaned, or embarrassed in public. My suggestion, if you can’t manage to work in public, don’t. Buyer beware, unhappy hateful people handling your food here.

Tomatoes were green. Soup was cold. Forgot my frozen lemonade. Guy tried handing me an entire baguette loaf that I did not order.

No lemonade, no bakery items and coffee machine had been shut down at 9:30 that night. They also only had two kinds of bread. Ridiculous!

Birthday lunch
I love the food here. I always do a pick 2 and get a ½ salad and ½ sandwhich and a frozen mocha. I’m always so happy with it. The restaurant is always really clean and I get my food relatively fast.
My only complaint is that the cashiers always seem something to be desired. They don’t know what a lot of the items are or they mumbled. However I still find it worth it to get good food.
I will definitely be back for a long time to come.

We are usually Panera fans but… we were on a road trip and stopped at this one for a late breakfast (10:40 AM) and were told breakfast ended at 10:30. We wanted to order a breakfast sandwich or something (not lunch). But the lady at the counter just moved on like we weren’t even standing there when she realized we only wanted breakfast. Didn’t offer an alternate or suggestion. Isn’t this a bakery type restaurant that always has pastries and bagels? Can they not make an egg after 10:30? Did the bacon leave the building at 10:31 A.M.

Each time I go I get the Salads.
The foods fresh and the dressings taste unique in a good way. Its a little pricey I suppose however they counter that with an enormous bowl of goodies.
Service has been average.

I got the mac n cheese here and it came out cold. I also got the iced green tea and did not like it. The flavoring tasted as if it was sno cone syrup — very artificial taste.
I would order the mac n cheese again because I do like theirs but I wouldn’t order the drink ever again.
I like the ambience of all panera breads. Makes me feel good about myself and I’m not sure why HAHA! It must be all the windows and natural lighting.
Ordered food around 12:45 and it came out around 12:51! Very fast service. Just wish my food was not cold…

They have the worst customer service here. Just to order I have waited for 20+ mins. Every time I go someone is either checking in for their shift or no one is available to take an order. This is seriously frustrating.

I was not thrilled about the 10 minute wait to order. One girl taking orders with 10 people in line? The floors were dirty (napkins, crumbs) & vacant tables were not wiped down.
They redeemed themselves by having my food out very quickly. The Smokehouse Turkey was tasty.
Update: The bathroom was a disaster area!

The service here just plain sucks! I stopped in for lunch on a weekday and was basically ignored for 5 minutes. The girl at the register doing register stuff then stated the other girl who was sweeping the floor would help me out. That’d be great if she wasn’t busy sweeping the floor and ignoring the three customers waiting to get our order taken. The kicker was the manager walking by us all three times and not doing a thing to see why there were customers waiting in the lobby during the lunch/​rush hours. Whatever happened to «all hands on deck» to get the customer in and out as fast as possible? I digress, back to the cashier who finally was able to take our order. For some reason she decided to pass off the rest of the order taking to the girl who originally was too busy. So sad. The foods good but not good enough to waste my precious time.

3 stars only because the food is delicious, so 5 stars there. Service and employees 0 stars. They are out of things A LOT! I ordered a chicken salad as was told they were out of chicken. I asked to have the price reduced due to no chicken. I was told no. To go orders and drive thru orders are always missing items when I get my food. If I go through the drive thru and want to redeem a reward, I get eye rolls and was even told I couldn’t use it on the order and had to wait until next time. I mentioned that the reward has been on there 2 visits ago. Still argued with me. I suggest some customer service training for this location instead of test market for the food or technology.

Okay so I go through the drive through, the girl is totally rude & everything I tried to order they were out of– including their seasonal feature soup the autumn squash. The girl didn’t apologize– nothing, she wasn’t out front to see what bagels they had so she said she didn’t know if they hadn’t it available. When I got to the window to jokingly ask if she was sure they were out of the autumn squash she very bluntly said «no, I’m sure.» «I know because we’ve been out since 5:00pm) — it is now 8:15 … You can’t make more soup? Considering you are a café?!? I could’ve handled the whole situation if she would’ve at least been kind about it! I love Panera but this is the third time I’ve come here and had a bad experience!!! go to another location!

Came here with my mom for an early lunch (10:30) They were open before 11am, unlike a lot of places, because they have breakfast too. I had the chicken cobb salad with avocado and a bowl of the lemon chicken orzo soup. Both were great. Love the house vinaigrette. Prices are decent and the staff were super courteous.

The service here was very slow, and I noticed that the portions have gotten a lot smaller.
Not impressed.
What happened to the panera I used to know and love