Panera Bread — Restaurant in Atlantic Beach

Disappointing Experience – Needs Serious Improvement

I arrived at 9:23 AM and placed a mobile order from the parking lot. The app indicated my food would be ready by 9:39 AM, but it wasn't marked ready until 9:47. According to the instructions in the app, I was to wait in the Rapid Pickup Lane—so I proceeded to the "Stop Here" line. I watched another car pull forward, while I stared at the back doors (which never opened). Confused, I backed up my car to the order box area, but nothing about the pickup process matched the in-app instructions.

Eventually, I drove up to the window. After waiting for the previous order to be completed, I was met by an employee who looked confused and unprepared. She left to locate my order, and when she returned, I began explaining the situation. Mid-story, she interrupted, saying, "old on." I asked her to please give me the food first. She did, but I saw her speaking to someone who seemed to be the manager, offering excuses rather than solutions.

When I explained what had happened, the manager told me she had let everyone go on break and personally cooked my food, hence the delay. I mentioned that no other customers had come through between 9:30 and 9:47. Rather than being understanding, she was dismissive and confrontational. In a condescending tone, she asked if I "wanted a cookie." A cookie? I had paid nearly $70 for breakfast and tipped generously, I didn't want a cookie. I wanted what I ordered to be delivered with professionalism and courtesy. After some back and forth, she finally said, "I'm sorry." I thanked her and drove to the parking lot at 10 AM—only to discover that my customized sandwich (which I paid extra for) was missing key ingredients: no cheese, barely any avocado, and a single dry egg white.

This was a frustrating, disappointing start to the morning with this location's poor service, attitude, and food quality. I expect better, and customers deserve...

Wow, there are SO MANY Panera Bread restaurants in the vicinity of my home! And truly, some of them are just better than others. This is a statistical fact where we can see the data right here on Google Reviews. So hubby and I had a looonngg day and we checked Google Reviews for the Panera Bread restaurants near our location which, at that moment, was the Atlantic Beach area.

We made an excellent choice, and here’s why:

-a minor mistake by the cashier resulted in hubby getting the wrong kind of soup. Kitchen staff corrected this in less than 5 minutes. -a glitch that I was hardly aware of, but that the kitchen staff stated they wanted to make right, resulted in us given a huge bakery box with several pastries (that we chose) inside. —We signed up, finally, for the Panera discount card! And the first reward is-guess-Yep, a PASTRY! I wanted a chocolate croissant , but hubby wanted a muffin. The manager generously gave us both what we wanted! (I am thinking that our behavior was at the level of toddler tantrums and the man realized his quickest solution!). —The restaurant was very clean—except for the restrooms (These can get out of control really fast). They weren’t horrible, but they required attention. —The food was terrific —The service (always my personal make-or-break aspect of all service facilities) was awe-inspiring! See, I will drive miles/kilometers out of my way to patronize this specific Panera Bread, because they treated me so professionally and with such kindness. Thank you, CJ, and ty, night manager for this particular restaurant!

The next time I’m shopping at the Town Center and craving amazingly fresh awesomeness at Panera Bread, you can bet I’ll drive the extra 30 minutes to this one! Most strongly...

Don't take your order back if it's wrong! I've been several times and always order the spicy chicken salad in the drive thru w no problems. This time I ordered it but got an important call about my son. I guess I should have ignored it based off by their attitude? First, I paid more than I anticipated for the wrong salad and lg drink but again, was still distracted so went w it. When I got home and saw my food was wrong but I tasted it in hopes of liking it- nope, didn't like the southwest salad. Realized I never got a receipt either so I head back to them to swap it out. I put everything back in bag so they didn't think I was lying. They quietly exchange the food out with little apology on there end as this must have been my mishap? (someone else is waiting for their food to be fixed too) and I drive back home. I discovered in my neat new bag: my old bread, fork, crumpled napkin and a seriously soggy salad drenched in dressing with more on the side- it's only supposed to be on the side from past orders. I threw it away bc the lettuce was dripping. Wasn't edible. Well played, Panera! & I've worked in restaurants from Cruisers, Ale House, Barbara Jeans to Roy's so I'm not an unreasonable client. I get how it works! But the manager brought me back my used salad this time so it wasn't "just" an unknowing employee. Disappointed in their service when it's needed...