Panera Bread — Restaurant in Amarillo

Brought the entire family here because we love Panera. We were just fine ordering from a kiosk and not a human. Except one of the three was broken. And it took us about 5 minutes to get our order in- we brought quite a few people. As soon as I tried to pay, that kiosk broke too and sent a message saying it needed to rest. There was another group ordering on the last, and only remaining, kiosk so we went to the front counter where there are 2 regular ordering kiosks that would be in front of a smiling employee in any other Panera. But not this one. And we sat there for about another five minutes while an employee walked back and forth, not ten feet from us, just completely ignoring us. Nothing in her hands. Not talking to us. Making sure to act like she couldn’t possibly see us when she was facing us. I’m sure she had something to do but it wasn’t filling orders. Whatever she was doing didn’t involve carrying or writing or talking to customers. We watched another employee, at the very same time, bring two drinks around, look at us, and go fill them. She set them both down and just talked on her earpiece for the entire five minutes we were standing there. If I were the drive through customer waiting five minutes for two drinks from someone who wasn’t doing a single thing to fill my order I would be upset. Either way, she had no intention of turning back around and walking toward us while we were there. Both employees were absolutely trying to avoid talking to us or placing themselves in a position where we could ask them how to order. We finally cornered the girl talking to her drinks on the counter and she finally told us they would not take our order from the counter because the kiosks were ready for us to use. I told her that there was only one left because after I’d put my order into the second one, it said it needed a rest. She acted like she had never heard of such a ridiculous thing and I must be making it up because I just can’t operate a kiosk or I didn’t want to. I walked toward the kiosk and showed her what the display was reading. She said they weren’t going to take our order and we would have to wait for the last working kiosk. Absolutely not. We left. I doubt we will eat at this Panera again. We’ve lived this long enjoying Panera in other cities. I think we can keep doing that. It’s pathetic that the focus of the staff was people who weren’t even getting out of their vehicles and those of us who had the audacity to come inside were treated like cattle who were required to follow a procedure for the pleasure of being allowed to eat. Pass. There are plenty of other great places to eat within walking distance of this Panera and that’s exactly...

Complained to Panera corporate already and got my meal refunded, so good on them, I respect them. But this location is a joke and y'all should know that one of the managers hates kids, do not even attempt to bring your family here.

We were not addressed for at least 15 minutes after we initially walked in, had to help ourselves at the self-serve kiosk as the line was backed up, after ordering I stood at the counter for 2-3 minutes waiting for drink cups and gave up. After the 15 minutes, the cashier brought our cookie which unfortunately triggered an EXTREMELY short-lived tantrum from our 3 year old who was tired and hungry, and wanted the cookie- which i understand was disruptive, but it was short and we were ACTIVELY trying to get it under control. We had literally been saying we would take the food to go if she didn't stop.

Nonetheless, the cashier was quick to come tell us that her manager thought "the toddler was being a little loud", which felt sudden and unnecessary considering the tantrum lasted maybe 20 seconds. The cashier gets a point for offering a pastry while we waited, but we really just needed our lunch.

When we finally got our food, I asked for our drink cups, and the cashier didn't address me, but spoke to her manager over the headset to say "they're saying they need cups now.." After I FINNAALLY got our cups, they couldn't figure out the orders and came to our table to ask if we had a salad. I did, the person with me did not. When we said this, they tried to take my salad off my plate and when i stopped her, she said into her headset, without looking or talking to me, AGAIN, "they're saying the salad is theirs." She walked away without apologizing, addressing me directly, literally 0 customer service. We didn't even get an "enjoy", or "have a good day".

We were hardly addressed, even when being spoken about right in front of us, and the one out of 3 times we were directly spoken to was to be chastised for a toddler throwing a fit. This manager needs to learn some stress-management and understand how kids work, especially if you're scheduled during lunch hour. I wouldn't be mad if we were just ignoring the tantrum, but how are you going to be rude about it when we were very obviously trying to get her under control?

If it wasn't for the $30 in rewards I was given for explaining how unprofessional and uncomfortable i felt the situation was, I would not be back. Please trust me when I say our toddlers were not being disruptive before or after the tantrum, and that the tantrum itself was extremely short, albeit loud, as they are.

Whoever owns this location need to teach their staff some serious customer...

12.16.2022 THIS LOCATION IS A DISGRACE TO THE PANERA BRAND. First and foremost, the Manager needs to be changed immediately. She is in over her head. Not a leader or team builder. She needs to be replaced ASAP. First, while ordering I was told they were closing the dining area. Their hours online show closing at 9:30pm. I was there at 6pm. I was okay with that, because we had to get back on the road for a road trip anyway. Second, half of what we wanted to order was NOT available. They were out of flatbread pizza, broccoli soup, and Fuji salad. I ordered alternatives, because I’m familiar enough with the menu and my kids were hungry. It was $73 for soup, salad, 2 mac n cheese, 3 cookies, and 1 sandwhich. No drinks. I should have looked around the dining area before realizing my mistake. I ordered! SMH. We waited patiently for an hour for the food items above. Really?! An hour for simple menu items. While waiting, I noticed the top of the trash cans were flooded with dirty dishes, people started putting the dirty dishes in the trashcans, so many that they were sticking out the outside of the trash. HERE IS THE BEST PART, two DoorDashers wanted refunds on their orders for their customers. They were extremely patient, as were the rest of us. We could tell they were overwhelmed and stressed, so no one wanted to be that Karen. I felt, under the circumstances, we were all pretty patient. Third mistake, I left without triple checking my order. They forgot to give me spoons and my son’s Mac and cheese. When I came back, they had locked the doors and CLOSED!!!! It was 7pm. Suddenly, a COP rolls up. I knock on the window and shouted “You forgot my Mac and cheese!” They let me in, but turned everyone else away. I told them they didn’t want to eat there anyway. The COP stood guard at the take-out area. It was so WEIRD AND AWKWARD!!! I knew at that moment, this Manager is so used to horrible service pissing off customers, that she calls the COPS to prevent problems. The WORST PART, the COPS responded to the call in less than 10min of her calling. They are so used to this Panera causing problems that they show up as though it’s a serious issue. Like what?!!! Just passing through Amarillo, but I’m hoping your City is so safe they don’t need cops on real calls instead watching over soup and sandwiches. In the words of my 10year old son, “can I have a Mac and cheese please?” Manager, “No, I’m calling cops!!” Son, “Nevermind. I’m good. Not that...