Panera Bread — Restaurant in Brecksville

Have to be honest, today was the worst experience I've had at a Panera to date. When I came in at about 11:15am there was a decent line and only one person working at the registers. The bakery counter registers were not open. I ordered a toasted Asiago Cheese bagel with butter, a chocolate croissant and a coffee. I was told to wait at the end where the lunch orders come up which I thought was odd but they were busy and it was nearly 11:30 so it was lunchtime. After waiting 10 minutes and watching several people's orders come up who were after me in line, I asked them to check on my order. The lady at the lunch counter in a somewhat annoyed tone told me that I was supposed to pick up my order at the bakery counter.

So I went to the bakery counter - they hadn't even started it yet. I had to ask for the order to-go since I needed to get to a meeting and had wasted so much time waiting for the order to be made. When I ordered they told me I had to put butter on the bagel myself (the tiny and cold butter packets were on the counter by the coffee). There is no counter space to butter your bagel, and I had to take everything out of the packaging. I had hoped to enjoy my breakfast with my coffee at Panera - but instead had to try to eat everything in the car while driving to my meeting. I stained my shirt with chocolate from the croissant and spilled my coffee all over the back seat of the car.

The worst part - I watched as the kid who had taken my order, told me to go to the wrong area and then didn't even start my order, talked back to the other employee trying to explain what he did wrong. He never apologized and he seemed pretty put off by the whole thing. The lady who eventually did make my bagel apologized to me but you could tell she was having a tough morning. There was no such thing at this Panera as service with a smile or even a hint of kindness in their voices. Maybe everyone was just having a tough day.

This is clearly not the norm for Panera, and I'm a rewards member - I'll be back. I just hope the manager at this location reads this because it was a pretty awful experience. They clearly need to address the quality of service with...

This location has become the worst Panera I've ever been to. Yes, it's a chain, however when I first started going here a couple years ago, it was not this bad. A couple experiences...

Got a mediterranean veggie sandwich to go as a part of a you pick two, when I got home I discovered the sandwich had two half cucumbers, one onion and half a tomato. Maybe some lettuce. These sandwiches are usually full of veggies, I was super disappointed.

Another occasion, I ordered you pick two with soup. I immediately sat down and started to dip my bread in it and the soup was lukewarm or colder. I went back up to the counter and the girl said, "we have a microwave". I asked for a replacement instead because SHOULD be hot and she said the soup warmer wasn't working that day...then why are you serving soup?! On this same visit, my boyfriend didn't get his food as he watched people who ordered after him pick up their food. We were given two free meals after complaining, but we pretty much avoid this location, not worth the...

Panera used to be one of my favorite places & I would frequently order breakfast, lunch or even dinner. Lately, I feel as though their service has lacked and food reflective of the service. While the Brecksville location seems to be the best out of all the locations I’ve visited (vs Strongsville, mult. Cleveland locations, Parma, Mayfield, Canton, NY, Columbus, Sandusky, etc) I’m still disappointed, especially with how costly everything has become. The coffee used to be robust with flavor and I didn’t mind driving out of my way just to enjoy a morning cup of hazelnut coffee. The bakery used to always be fresh and a delight to indulge in. As much as their coffee tasted like an awful watered down, flavorless version of what I used to enjoy, the bakery always tastes like it was a few days old - dry, stale and just blah. But, at least this way, I’m saving more money by not making visits as often...