Panera Bread — Restaurant in Arroyo Grande

Visiting in SLO for a few days and just happened to run into Panera. I am a daily+ customer as I love the Sips. I've been to Panera all over California & Arizona with little differences mostly if the store has been remodeled. This I find to be older in looking around some chairs have covers, booths are extremely dirty, tables were dirty however customers just left. Outside was clean. We had to park in the hotel area which didn't bother me one bit as it's a beautiful day. Not to mention I had great company (Victor). We ordered at the kiosks that blocked registers kinda weird. Then when you should be given the option of a Sips pastry I select yes then it immediately clears the screen and changed it to food menu and 2$ off purchase. The same exact thing happened to my boyfriend. Not happy about that at all. The rewards systems is so inconsistent to begin with but the bait and switch is truly agrivating. Rewards systems needs work. We both opted to place a separate order for a bagel each. I never get mine toasted sometimes they do and it's never a problem to get another. Today however a first happened the girl took the toasted bagel from me and sliced another. Which I appreciated. This may sound strange however it's against the health code and they just usually say keep it. Now I paid for my bagel so I'm not mentioning this because I didn't get to keep it. Only because that has never happened at any Panera before. Just found that to be very odd. All is well. And my star rating reflect today's visit. If I should ever visit again with a different experience I shall edit my review. Coffee was great love...

I am a multiple small business owner on vacation out of Nevada. My wife and I have patronized Panera Bread several times in the past week. While they offer free WiFi, having several companies comes with lots of emails. With my wife needing to run a errand (45 min to an hour) I chose to stay (outside on patio) to enjoy my iced coffee and hot cocoa. A very rude employee named Amber repeatedly came outside where I was alone and not interacting with anyone else intrusively and aggravating probed me for my intentions. I made her aware that my wife had ran an errand and that we were to meet and catch an Uber from the starting point she had left from, since I was still enjoying my products bought from Panera I basically want to know why we give school age kids authority to dispense poor customer service prejudging it's patrons. Do I have to wear my business attire on vacation so snot nosed punk kids working fast food can show respect. Upon my wife's return this Amber returned to the outside again and said we were now considered loitering. With that being the case, put a timer on your WiFi if you don't want paying customers to inhabit your establishment when still consuming your products. Maybe I should have guzzled my hot cocoa in hopes of 3rd degree burns to the throat so I could sue for millions like McDonald's. No need to check my honest business emails anymore then. POOR JOB PANERA.. Learn some respect as I respectfully retain anymore accociation with your franchise....

This is an update to my previous 3-stars I left but with no explanation. 9 months ago I went through the drive-thru and they were out of several items. This is understandable but my most recent experience has caused me to downgrade them to two stars.

A different visit but I learned they were still out of items such as the chocolate chip cookie and candied pecans for my wife's salad.

Those things happen but the extra disappointing part is we decided to dine in for a quick, quiet small dinner date together. What we did not get was quiet. We chose a table in the corner and next to us was a couple. Also eating. One was I believe a manager or assistant manager of the establishment. Well in company uniform there was an inappropriate amount of affection and kissing before she finished her break, got up and went to work.

But what made things more frustrating is after she left her significant other, stayed behind and continued to play a TV show at high volume. I believe the show was Gordon Ramsay's Hell's kitchen. I got further annoyed as I observe this person not even watching the show but rather drawing in a notepad. Allegedly just using the show as ambient noise.

Either way, I don't plan on dining in there anymore.

I will continue to use the drive-thru and hope they have in stock what I'm looking for. The food they do have in stock is still high...