Panera Bread — Restaurant in Davenport

This Panera Bread has been an established part of Davenport for decades. I remember when it came to this space in the early 90s as the St. Louis Bread Company, then quickly changed to Panera Bread and stayed that way. I'm pretty introverted, and Panera Bread has helped provide a space over the years to sit, sip on a hot tea, and snack on a pastry or sandwich while reading a book or studying. It truly is one of my favorite chain restaurants.

This last particular visit to the Davenport location was motivated out of a similar need - I'd just had dinner, yet needed to relax with a tea and pastry while reading work emails for a bit before returning home. The space is very much the same as it has been for years - warm brick red, beige, and golden yellow walls, simple chairs and booths throughout the dining room, two comfy chairs in one corner, and a big counter with breads and pastries centered on one side of the space. There's some accent lighting along the periphery that helps to brighten the space without adding any harsh lighting, which is also fantastic.

I got a hot green tea and an M&M cookie. The associate helped me quickly and I was soon on my way to the corner with the two comfy chairs to relax. Soon enough, I had my emails read and some texts answered, and even sooner I'd finished the tea and cookie. All was pretty much as remembered. In fact, the chairs might be original to the space. No complaints there - they were definitely still plush and appeared sufficiently clean.

I'll have to come back on the weekend for some black bean soup and a baguette slice as I'd always enjoyed. Thanks Panera, you're still one of...

My last order was subpar, but with all the industry problems, I did not complain. Tonight we ordered again, and was very disappointed. I ordered a barbecued chicken sandwich. I picked it up and was home to eat in less than ten minutes. It was stone cold. Perhaps understandable as it wasn’t packed in an insulated container. But there was barely any product inside the two pieces of bread, it was very dry, and my side of chips was missing. I decided to be polite, but to register my experience. Calling the number on my order page, I got the usual telephone tree. Finding my way to ‘push 5 for a manager’, I pushed ‘5’. Nothing happened until the voice asked why I wasn’t pushing a button. So I hung up and tried again. This time ‘5’ got me multiple rings, then returned me to ‘push 5 for a manager’. Three times this happened. So you win. I give up. I do not lightly complain publicly, but this was over the top poor management, and poor product. I will not return to this store, and I’ve been a regular for several years. Very...

Rude and unprofessional management — very disappointing experience.

I came in today as a DoorDash driver and was shocked by how the manager in the red shirt treated people. A customer accidentally spilled something and asked for a rag — instead of helping, the manager snapped at a new employee, saying “NOPE, you do it,” in a rude, dismissive way.

When I went to pick up an order, the same manager said they were refusing to make it because they were working on a large $100+ order first. When I calmly asked how long it might take, she threw up her hands and said she didn’t know. When I said I’d unassign it, she replied, “Do what you have to do,” and threw her hands up again.

Everyone can have a bad day, but this kind of behavior was uncalled for and made the whole store feel tense and unpleasant. Definitely not the kind of attitude you expect from a manager representing...