Panera Bread — Restaurant in Carmel

I was with my friend at Panera at 1:30 pm last week. We ordered our food and were told there was a 30 minute wait, we were fine with that and sat down at one of the booths. When we had waited for 45 minutes, we went up and checked to see if our order was being prepared, they said it would be another 35 minutes. At that point, we did have to leave and asked a women for a refund that worked there. She literally sighed and walked away from us. We were stunned and waited there for 10 minutes, she never came back. After about 15 minutes again we saw her and asked her for a refund as we urgently had to leave. She yelled at us saying we were impatient and she would get to it if she had time. For context a mom asked for a refund and was given it immediately by this same lady in the same time frame. 10 minutes later we were running very late and she finally came back, she finally asked what our order was and we told her it, and said we do NOT want our food we want a refund and want to leave. She again disapearing and 10 minutes later, when we were sitting down and waiting, mind we were very late, she came over and slammed our food on the table in front of the whole restaurant. Then she yelled "how's that for customer service" and started yelling at us that as teenage girls we were impatient and we should expect to wait the time. No one should be waiting an hour and a half at a semi fast food place. It was completely uncalled for and disrespectful. The fact other people were immediately able to get a refund and we were shunned away, made me very upset, and it felt like she treated...

You hear about all the bad stuff and what a company does wrong, but I wanted to share about a Panera App mess up and the great customer service Jasmine provided to me yesterday.

I had ordered off the app and received the message that my food was ready for pickup, but something went wrong. The food wasn't ready.

I came into the cafe and talked to the manager, Jasmine, and you could tell that the crew working behind the counter was really busy, but that didn't stop Jasmine from taking time to check in with me. I shared my issue, and she apologized and told me that the food I ordered wasn't available for another half hour.

Apparently, the app had made a mistake, but that didn't stop Jasmine from taking steps to make it right. She immediately went to work to help me get that order fulfilled. She did it with a great attitude and displayed a great sense of purpose and humor as we worked to take care of that order.

I walked away impressed and very grateful. Restaurant work is HARD, my wife and I have both done this work, and it's not easy. I'm extra grateful to Jasmine for looking past the obstacle and finding a solution with a great attitude. I'm not a VIP at Panera, but Jasmine made me feel like one.

I will be back to support and patronize this restaurant. To any management or leadership who reads this review, please thank Jasmine for me! She represented your...

"Panera? More like Pain-era!"

I’m pretty sure Panera’s customer service is a top-secret experiment to see how long a human can survive on pure frustration. You walk in, and the line stretches for miles, with exactly one cashier manning the fort. I assume the rest of the staff is off on a quest for the Holy Grail.

After placing my order (a monumental achievement, by the way), I settle in and watch the show as irate customers interrogate the staff about their missing meals like it’s an episode of CSI: Panera. After a solid 30 minutes of waiting, I finally decided to take a hint from my grumbling stomach and throw in the towel. Time to ask for a refund, right? Oh, but wait – there’s no manager on duty! Of course not. Why have a person in charge when chaos is such a great business model?

So they start taking down my contact info, promising some magical future refund that will apparently arrive on a wing and a prayer. Spoiler: It didn’t. Now I get to call back and enjoy wasting more time – it’s like Panera really wants to keep the relationship alive.

Honestly, I’ve had more personalized attention at the DMV. And if I wanted an experience this torturous, I’d have just stayed home and taught my dog calculus.

So, here it is: my official breakup letter, Panera. Don’t worry, it’s not me, it’s...