Panera Bread — Restaurant in Burlington

I recently drove over half an hour with a friend to grab lunch - so, as one could tell, it is already quite a quest to arrive to the establishment. We arrived to Panera and were pleasantly surprised at how slow it was for a weekend lunch hour. Regardless of the stagnant pace of customers, the Panera staff was acting as though they were located in the Alderwood Mall on Black Friday in the middle of the afternoon. We had just gotten back from a relaxing day on the water, so we were immediately jolted back into the rushed reality the team at Panera created for us. We waited a few minutes for a cashier to take our order, as we watched the staff get yelled at by one man in particular. After watching the highly unnecessary hustle and bustle of the team (what in the hell could they possibly be doing?), the same man in the authoritarian position sprints over, stares at the wall directly behind us, making no eye contact whatsoever, and in an intentional, clearly agitated, aggressive, rushed tone the man barks, "HI. HAVE YOU BEEN HELPED YET?". Well, clearly us being one group of the two within the restaurant (the other group already being seated and no one running the front register), we most definitely had not been helped. He then hastily takes my order (a bread bowl of macaroni), and when asked what side I would like, I hesitated because I do not like any of the things listed - except bread - but my macaroni was already coming in a bread bowl. He then leaned to one side, put his hand in his hip and sighed audibly. I impulsively blurted "Uh, BREAD" out of the pure pressure. He then rings me up for my meal, which was over $11. He hands me a beeper that lets you know when your food is ready, to which he made sure to add “This will beep when your food is ready. BE. PATIENT”, at which point I laughed through gritted teeth. My friend then comes up behind me, says hello to the cashier, who doesn't even look up once, then proceeds to walk back into the kitchen. We wait a few more seconds, where we catch the eye of the same man in kitchen - where he visibly rolls his eyes! Our jaws dropped in disbelief. He then drags his feet to the counter where he performs the same actions he had with me. My friend orders, and the man asks him, just as he asked me earlier, if his order was to go. The man then incoherently mumbles something to which my friend responds with “What?” The man snaps his head to one side, flings one arm back behind him while lunging his torso further over the counter and screeches, "FOR HERE OR TO GO?!" The volume of his violent scream sent shivers down both our spines, as well as gave everyone else in the restaurant a visible fright seen through the concurrent, sudden jumps from their seats. I am then filling up my cup with a $2.59 fountain drink, when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn to see a man who had previously been standing directly in front of the drink area, chatting it up with another man, preventing anyone from using the area. He too begins mumbling incoherently and pointing to my beeper and checking a piece of paper. He then brings my order as I am frozen with shock and confusion. This wouldn’t have been as alarming as I’m making it seem if he were wearing a uniform - or even clean, proper attire for someone who will be touching and serving food to people. Perhaps leaving the paint splattered and worn t-shirt and dirt covered jeans at home and opting for a more attractive outfit (in this case, a trash bag would have even been sufficient enough) would bring more appeal to the establishment you’re representing. Speaking coherently also reduces fear and confusion in customers when working in any sort of customer service profession. Our food was delicious, but was the serving size of what you would see off the kids menu at Denny’s. Actually, I take that back. Denny’s would give you more food than what we purchased for a grand total of more or less $30 all together. To make a long story short, the whole experience mimicked a bad hallucinogenic trip, and we will not return to this...

Visited this location on Saturday April 30th approximately 3pm - 4pm and was appalled by the state of the dining area as well as the service we received. The staff looked like they were all under 20 years old hence it started with a front counter young lady providing inattentive service therefore one of our orders was incorrect when we were buzzed to the pick up counter. We had 4 dine in orders and one take out order. We advised the young lady that the mac & cheese was supposed to be take out so she states 'that wasn't on the order' then she begrudgingly took the food and hastily packaged it and rudely threw it on the tray. We were speechless as we have never had such service at any panera location across the US. The oddest eye sore that we and all other customers marveled at was the table nearest to the drink area had 3 large OPEN containers/vats of various pamera drinks all in open air (geez thank goodness we didn't join the limitless drink club). We should of taken a picture but we were just shocked on how this Burlington location was terrible in every way. 3 of us ordered broccoli and cheese soup bowls and found each bowls had varying amount of soup ... one was only 3/4 full while one was overflowing. Upon exiting we noticed a sign stating hiring 16-17 year Olds... now it all makes sense. We are never visiting this...

The food is fine. What I'm extremely not happy about is the staff member who interrupted our meal by offering my 2 year old free cookies. The first of our problems was when he came to our table to "clean" (it was already clean when we sat down). He sprayed cleaner on the table near our open food as we were trying to dine. Because we were seated and trying to eat our meal we weren't masked, and he continuously got too close to my daughter for comfort. To make matters worse, he approached our table four more times during our lunch just to talk to my daughter. It didn't appear he was checking on any other tables except ours. He then asked us if it was okay for him to take her to pick out a cookie but before we responded he proceeded to PICK HER UP and walk away towards the counter, and when my child began to express discomfort he put her down yet grabbed her hand, again without permission. Even without covid being a thing, no one should ever be picking up someone's child without their permission. We tried to be respectful and not cause a scene so we didn't even finish our lunch and left right after that. We won't be going back to this location in fear of this man. Please take into consideration for other families with small children who have felt uncomfortable because of...