Panera Bread — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

I rarely do reviews this low, but this Panera Bread deserves low marks. I put in an order on the Panera app for in-cafe eating - for 2 “you-pick-two” lunches. The app worked fine. Then when the order came up, it was bagged to go….. then we opened the bag and found this “partial baguette”! Why anyone would serve this was beyond me. Well, ok, that was the tip of the iceberg. We didn’t get the soup on the second order and neither of the sandwiches were marked for us to figure out which belonged to each of us. Up to the counter….. let them know first that we had asked for in-cafe pick up and not in bags to go, then asking which sandwich is which? Since they weren’t marked. Staff in the kitchen was defensive and argumentative when telling me “this one is hot” and “that one is not”. So, we asked “so what are these sandwiches”. I had the receipt in front of him this entire time. He figured it out looking at the receipt and told us. Then, we showed him the baguette and he said “well it just got pulled apart badly” (as if that made it ok?!). Then we asked for the missing soup. He said “there is no soup in that order”! I looked at him and said “this is a you-pick-two as shown on this receipt - and it shows the chicken and wild rice soup “! He then grudgingly put soup in a to-go cup and also in another bag! We already didn’t want all those disposable cups and bags….. also of note is that the portion sizes were not the same as the last time we went to a Panera Bread, but have no idea if that was a mistake or a Panera Bread cost...

While the associates at this Panera are always lovely, an encounter with some tougher than usual Mac and cheese resulted in me asking for a remake, and then a refund when the remake was equally chewy. My girlfriend and I eat here often, and this is the first time I've had such tough noodles. I also used to work at a Panera in California, so I know what the expectations are for the Mac. The manager was brash with me when asking for a refund, a tall, balding, skinny man in glasses who's name I didn't catch. When I informed him the noodles were chewy the first time around (politely I might add) he told me they were the same as always. I then asked for a remake, and was given a dismissive "sure". When the remake proved the same, I returned for a refund, again politely. The manager shrugged at me and said things were the same as they always are. I mentioned that I worked at a Panera in the past and pointed out that maybe it was just early in the day, and they hadn't defrosted quite yet. He said " if I knew what needed to be changed I'd change it" and processed my refund. Never was I given an apology. My girlfriend was upset, she's never had such a low level of service. She too has worked in food service, and has higher expectations for customer service than she received. This location needs to rethink its...

When we asked for our drinks at the pick up counter they told us we had to wait until our food was ready. Not even two minutes later a different family had asked for there drink cups and they were given to them before they had got their food. When we got the bagels half of them were not hot from the toaster. When we got our cups they didn’t give me the coffee cup for hot coffee I ordered. They gave me two plastic cups for pop. The lady at the pick up counter was extremely rude for picking and choosing who gets special treatment and who doesn’t. As a manager elsewhere I expect a lot better in customer service if my employee did that to a customer in front of me they would be getting a write up and would be leaving work for the rest of the day due to their attitude. I will not be returning to this location again maybe never return to another...