Panera Bread — Restaurant in Bloomingdale

Disgusting place, overpriced food, and lazy, understaffed restaurant

Example of disgusting: sticky substance found on table along with crumbs after the previous animal, yes. Animal. Ate there and made a huge mess, your high-school drop-out employee failed to clean it, kinda like they failed their parents. Go figure

Laziness Example: waiting at the cash register while 6 other employees are in the back trying to figure out how to make a chicken sandwich, 3 is enough, and you don't need that many in the kitchen

Overpriced Example: Seriously?! Nearly $20 for a frontega chicken sandwich, a stale cookie, and a drink.. I can go to Walmart and buy a weeks worth of food for that money. All of those things cost them way less, but they're 💅paneraaa💅 so they MUST overcharge you! Because these days any restaurant witg some fancy modern logo has to triple their price because of the "experience" there's only negative experiences here

Another example of both gross and overpriced: I walk in and I just wanted something sweet, I look at the desserts they're jist sitting out there on the counter, not even covered by one of those plastic housings to keep it moist. So any fly could've landed on it someone could've sneezed nearby, and it just looks stale... oh, and it's nearly $4 for a stale cookie. You can buy a box of 40 bigger sized cookies at costco for $10... greed overtakes quality here. You'll get mediocre food at a premium price

I wouldn't eat here even if it was free. The thought of those stale desserts sitting right there no cover over them...

Upon entering, there was no cashier at the front and a 3min wait prior to my order being taken; there wasn't anyone else in line. The associate who took my order had a continuous cough. While placing my order her entire face became red due to the coughing and she kept repositioning her mask which wasn’t the appropriate size for her face. I asked if she was ok, however she didn't respond, just kept taking my order. Then she went in the back and continuously coughed more by the food (bagels& danishes). After placing my order there was a 10min wait to receive the order. It was ready within 5min however I had to address another associate to question when I would receive my order. I was told they would get to me when they can as they have to handle drive-up orders first. The individuals handling the finished orders didn’t have on gloves, and I watched them continuously open bags and look through them prior to handing them out, gloveless. They didn't have a system in place to arrange the drive up orders from the orders of the customers in the restaurant. The bagels were just in a bag, no packaging or folded bag to ensure/sustain heat temp. The website for the Bloomingdale location mentions a drive through, however there isn’t a drive through at this location solely drive-up parking for individuals who've...

This review does not apply specifically to this location, as I have had the same experience at multiple locations over the past year. The food is okay and the service is typically pretty good. The biggest problem I have with Panera of late is that they are out of almost every type of bread after 4pm. Every single time we've gone for dinner, they are out of almost every variety of their "specialty" breads. Last night, my wife ordered soup in a bread bowl. Nope, all out of bread bowls. I ordered a Bacon Turkey Bravo. Nope, all out of the tomato bread. Fine I'll get a Toasted Steak & Cheddar. Nope, out of ciabatta bread. Bottom line: skip Panera for dinner because they will be out of almost everything. Either Panera "can't afford" to pay for staff to bake items throughout the day or they're cutting costs by not making enough bread to last throughout the day. Either way, what's the point in staying open through dinner if you're not going to have a full menu? Panera corporate really needs to stop putting profits over quality before they run this place...