Panera Bread — Restaurant in Delaware

Order food took a long time. The rep was new because he said it 3 x as he apologized... that was fine .. But when he actually asked for help to add a coupon, the worker who was came over was of NO HELP. Her name was Domique, and she was rude .. I tried to explain to get what the app read for BOGO for $5.00, and she kept saying this is what my paper says.... I said ok but this it what Panera Bread app states she still I added another Bowl of soup to my order.. she just walked away... the a different person came up to start taking orders .. and I asked him to help the new Guy .. and he did with no problem .. looked at my app, saw what I was talking about, and fixed the bill sadly it be your own race with horrible customer service. All she had to do was take one second to look at what I was saying, not argue with me on $5 that wasn't even coming out her her pocket or check! Also, the coffee station was down and not hot water ... had to ask about the hot water, why wait until out of coffee to replace the containers,especially since you have a membership Sips for that customers pay for monthly! We want to drop in, get our free drink and roll, not wait for the coffee to be made, and we want options, not one warm Hazel nut coffee... Guess who was on the coffee.. yup, Dominique, she was slow and acted as if she was irritated LASTYLY seats need to be cleaned. You can see in the pictures how dirty they are. I didn't notice it until I posted a Pic of my son and I on face book and some one said I don't know where you at but I hope you didn't eat in those dirty seats .. and I did with my new...

We stopped off to pick up a quick lunch. The parking lot is an absolute mess, crowded and extremely dangerous with a very steep hill. We arrived about 11:50am before the lunch time rush, but the parking lot was still overcrowded, with cars blocking people in, even though they were in legitimate parking spaces.

We ordered Mac & Cheese, a cheese flat bread pizza and orange scones to go. The food was prepared quickly and the staff were attentive and polite. One kind staff member brought us ketchup packets as there were none on the condiment bar. A quick trip to the bathroom indicated less cleanliness that at other Panera’s we have visited in the past. A dirty restroom is often a poor harbinger of how clean the kitchen is maintained.

We chose to eat in the car as we did not want to eat in the busy restaurant and although there were some chairs and tables outside, the combination of the 90f temperature, the busy parking lot and the highway close by was not appealing.

The flatbread pizza was tasty, although not crisp enough. It has lots of cheese and a curious tomato sauce that we surmised was, in fact, Panera tomato soup doing double duty!! My teen gobbled it up and finished the leftovers later in the day! The Mac & Cheese was the standard stuff, hot with a tasty savory flavor. The orange scones are the real winner, with loads of orange peel in the scone and covered with orange icing loaded with candied orange peel.

We would return, but have been to better...

We went to this Panera Bread location after a fun morning at the Mt. Cuba Center. Upon arriving, there were printed pieces of paper on the doors saying that the dining room is closed due to a staff shortage. Okay, no big deal, we'll order through the Panera app. Almost an hour later, our food is ready. We retrieve our bag from amongst a dozen other people waiting to retrieve their food, go back to our car, and discover that we have no spoons or napkins - our order included 3 soups. So, I walk back up to the doors, wait for a few minutes until a staff member brings another patron her food, and I ask about spoons. The staff member groans, goes back into the store, and returns with 3 spoons for me, and some spoons for the other patron who also happened to order soup. This other patron then asks if she can have drink cups. The staff member replies "Um. I don't think we give those out." The patron holds up her half gallon of lemonade or whatever, and asks the staff member "Then how am I supposed to drink this?" At this point I returned to my car. It's no wonder the Panera Bread on Main Street in Newark closed, and same for the one in Christiana Mall. If you are terrible at customer service, you will eventually...