Panera Bread — Restaurant in Bee Cave

I had a terrible experience at my local Panera yesterday. I had not been since earlier in the year because my friends have all sworn off. I did yesterday with my daughter because we wanted a fast lunch before we shopped across the street so thought it would be easy. First my daughter cannot eat most things there because of their insistence to put nuts in everything which she is anaphylactic to. So her plan was just a salad. I went because I was in the mood for the French onion soup. I found out this is no longer available - disappointed. Then none of the salads were appropriate for my daughter because they had things in it she was allergic to - again what's up with the nuts? We ended up ordering a bowl of lettuce with tomatoes at the tune of $5. We asked for just olive oil and were told they no longer carried that either. So we said just NO dressing - again because of allergies. I ordered 1/2 roast beef which they said they didn't have and I was told Sunday was a bad day for having a lot of their food. What's that about? I then ordered 1/2 turkey sandwich and cup of chicken noodle soup. As this was served on cranberry/walnut bread I asked to just have whole grain. After 5 minutes I went to the counter to confirm they switched my bread. They acted very frustrated and said they may have already made it (which was a lie) but would TRY to accommodate. Seriously? They would TRY to not give me nuts that I'm allergic to. Finally 30 minutes later our food showed up. They had put dressing on my daughters salad so she couldn't eat it. I asked them to take it and remove from my bill. She ate a bag of chips and ice tea. My meal was pathetic! A few spoonfuls of soup and 1/2 of a COLD sandwich with a few slices of turkey a slice of cheese and a few apples. This took 30 minutes to prepare? And the cost was $20? It makes me VERY sad as this was my favorite lunch spot when I was in graduate school in St. Louis and it was called The St. Louis Bread Company. Originally, the Panera franchise maintained the integrity of the original menu but this new Panera is very sad. I know they are trying a healthy menu but healthy does not mean bland and overpriced. I get wanting to jump on the gluten free band wagon but by and large this allergy is not anaphylactic like the peanuts and tree nuts thrown in everything. And the staff is not only incompetent to prepare the food but have obviously not been trained on working with food allergy issues. I will be joining the other neighborhood ladies in not...

We have a fondness for Panera Bread's bagels, but our recent experience with the staff and managers at this particular Bee Cave location has been disappointing. I placed an order for a dozen plain bagels through the Panera App. However, upon my arrival at the restaurant, I discovered that they only had 5 plain bagels available, despite having already charged me for the entire order. Unlike other stores that typically notify customers of order issues, I received no call from this store, with the explanation being that they were exceptionally busy—although there were employees at the counter and no customers in line.

Upon requesting the available bagels, the cashier insisted I take alternative options, which I did not desire. When I asked for a credit instead, I was informed that I needed to speak to the manager, who was reportedly on the phone. Despite explaining my time constraints due to picking up my child, I faced delays. Eventually, I accepted the partial order, requesting the manager to call me and, if possible, provide a credit.

I did not receive a call from anyone so I called back, "a" manager picked up the phone, apologized for the shortage, and offered me the remaining order for the following day, which I accepted. However, when I called the next day to confirm the availability of the remaining order, the General Manager (Michael) accused me of being extremely rude to his employees, alleging cursing and banging on the counter, which was an absolute lie. I told him that since the store has cameras, he should go back and review the video and should not accuse customers by his exaggeration at this he had no answer. I also questioned him, why he did not approach me directly if the situation was so dire.

Rather than addressing my concerns, Michael insisted on my return solely to collect the order, forbidding me from revisiting the store. Disheartened by this response, I attempted to communicate my disinterest in the remaining order, but he abruptly hung up.

Upon contemplating my experience, I discovered numerous negative reviews on Yelp about this store, indicating a systemic issue. While acknowledging the staffing shortage, hiring managers with inadequate customer service skills is detrimental to the brand and the overall business. I sincerely hope that the district manager or higher-ups take notice of these concerns, addressing the need for better customer service training and potentially reconsidering the management of this...

I'm only posting this because of today's visit. Very disappointing to say the least. We went to the counter to place our order, and the only person in the area had her (Rachel) back to us. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she didn't hear us standing there. She continued to do whatever she had to do, and after a few moments, she turned and walked by us to take something back to the food line prep area without even acknowledging we were standing by. She came back to take our order, one of which was a decaf coffee. My mom went to get her coffee only to find out that the pot was empty. Proceeded to let Rachel know this. I have to apologize to Rachel for interrupting you while on your phone. Sorry, Rachel. She did go to make a fresh pot of decaf after informing her that they were out. We were halfway done with our lunch, not realizing the coffee was done, maybe we could have been told? I went to get my mom her coffee only to find it was full of coffee grounds. I brought the half filled cup to show Rachel, she did apologize and offered to make a new pot or give a refund. Since we were almost done, I just declined on both accounts. Again, my apologies for interrupting her while she was on her phone. The thing that really didn't surprise me is that the decaf coffee full of coffee grounds was not pulled so that another customer of yours wanting decaf didn't have to wait for a new pot. It seems that being on her phone was more of a priority than taking care of your store and customer needs. I wasn't expecting red carpet treatment or anything, but as a paying customer, we all should expect your people to represent. We also weren't told that they were out of sides (chips bread for the soup) during the order process. I did talk with Cliff (I think) about today, apologized, and said he would inform his DM. Also, your floors were...