Panera Bread — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Valerie McKinley the worst manager in restaurant history. Allow me to explain. I attempted to purchase a meal with a gift card. A problem arose with the register and the night/evening manager attempted to reverse the transaction. It was done incorrectly and the money was deducted from my card. I took down the information as well as got a business card for the owner and manager. I wound up leaving without food that night. I waited four days to see if the money would be put back on my card as promised, it never was. I attempted to call Val to see if a resolution could be met. I was rudely treated, as she said that if it wasn't an emergency, I needed to call later as she was "very busy." Two and a half hours later, I decided to stop by the store since I was in the area with my wife and daughter. The parking lot was empty and there were only four table sat inside so I thought it may be a better time. I attempted to speak with Val, but I overheard her tell her employee that she was too busy. I indicated that I'd wait. After a 5 or 10 minute wait, she finally met me, and before saying anything else very brashly said "I really didn't think you would just show up." I replied that I was hoping we could come to a resolution and I would be happy to have a meal there on the spot. I explained what happened with the card, I explained the computer issue, I explained how I got her business card in my possession, and I explained why her assistant manager wrote down his details on the back. None of this was good enough, she said that she has never seen a card like the one I possessed, and she had no interest in helping until she could speak with Richard (the assistant manager). I said that was fine, and I asked when he would be in again and I would happily meet with him as well. She adamantly refused to give me any information about his next appearance at this location. I asked if there was any resolution that she could assist me with and she flatly said "no." I questioned this, asking if she was really just content stealing my $25. She offered to take my name and number but has thus far not gotten back to me.

I decided I would go another route and got a hold of Panera's corporate number. In less than 3 minutes I was speaking with a customer service representative. They were extremely disturbed to hear the way that I was treated, in the company of my family no less. Not only were they insistent that I provide details about my incident for an official report, they were able to provide me with a $25 replacement card can less than 15 minutes online. I literally drove to the next closest location and spent it out of spite.

Please do the community a favor and withhold your business from this location. They were content to take $25 from me. Withhold at least that...

My wife and I just had the worst experience we have ever had at any place of business or restaurant. At 5PM today When we tried to enter at the front door the doors were locked. We looked at the note on the window and it said Saturday and Sunday Dining Room 10AM - 7PM, Drive Through 10:AM - 8PM. We were there at 5PM and well within the time where the restaurant should be open. We went to the side door and that door was locked as well. We looked inside and we could see employees inside, but none of them acknowledged us. We then went to our car to call the Panera customer service and while talking with them and our complaints we could see several people and families drive up and walk to the door trying to go in and perplexed as to why the store was closed. Then we noticed two employees drive up with drinks and go through the side door and one customer followed them in. We told a couple of customers the situation but they said, “We don’t want to eat at a restaurant where the employees don’t want to work.” All we wanted was to get our free drink with our subscription so we went to the side door that was now unlocked. When we walked in we questioned and complained to the employees there and they said just starting today the restaurant lobby closed at 2PM but the drive through is open. We told them that there was no note at the front to inform customers of this fact and many customers were coming to the door, finding it locked, and then just driving away. We asked them if we could get our free drink under our subscription and the employee said we could. So we went and logged into our account at the kiosk and put in the order for the free drink and then got our drink. As we were walking towards the door the manager, Alyssa Baca, came out from the kitchen area and in a very rude manner said, “Sorry but we are closed right now. I need to ask you guys to leave.” “We then replied that the employee said we could get our drink and we inquired why they were closed if the sign in the front said they were open. We also told her many other customers were coming to the door and leaving with no notice whether they were open or closed. The manager in a very rude way said they had to wait for the new sign to come in from corporate and were very dismissive toward our frustration and the frustration of other customers. The manager was very rude toward us and didn’t show any understanding nor did she sincerely apologize to us. We have never been treated in this rude manner by any restaurant or business and will never go back to this Panera location and may never go to a Panera ever again. We are looking into possibly canceling our subscription...

I ordered food from this location on Tuesday 2-27-2024 around noon. There were two cars in the drive thru. I sat for 30 minutes to get my food, I almost drove off and wish I would have. I was thinking if this un-organized wait is any inkling of how they handle their food, I may be in for a ride and boy was I correct. Late Tuesday night, I wasn’t feeling well. I hadn’t eaten really anything except Panera bread in the past 24 hours so I know that this place got me sick. By Wednesday night after puking 9 times I went to the emergency room. Because I was so sick, I was admitted into the hospital that night, they kept me Thursday then was released on Friday afternoon. My diagnosis was food poisoning. If you want to be stuck with hospital bills and your life turned upside down for a few days. Eat at this location. I ate the pick two - home style chicken soup and the southwestern chicken melt. I told a friend that I got sick from Panera Bread and they said omg was it the one by I25 and Jefferson. I said yes. So this has been going on for a while and management needs to be held accountable or the health department needs to make a visit to this location. Needless to say I will be contacting other local health entities so other unsuspecting customers won’t endure what I had to endure...