Panera Bread — Restaurant in Durham

I've only used this Panera twice and it's been an utter disaster both times. To the credit of the employees, they were VERY nice and apologetic, even as everything went wrong. My kid was sick and wanted Panera so I ordered soup (which came with a baguette), sandwich, a drink, and a cookie for pickup. When I picked it up the staff said said all 4 items were in the bad, so I didn't check, which was my mistake. I got home and the soup baguette were missing and the drink was wrong. I called the shop to let them know, and they sent a driver with the missing items. Well the poor driver showed up with just 1 missing item and a new drink. We told the driver to forget about the second item it was just too much hassle but she was adamant she'd handle it and be back in a few minutes. She came back the second time and finally the order is correct and the store gave us free drink coupons for up to $6 specialty drinks, which was nice, along with a new cookie. I gave them to my kid. When my daughter went to the shop to get a drink with the coupons they gave her the wrong one...both times she went. I, a glutton for punishment apparently, ordered from them once more for pickup online and got a confirmation email with an expected time for my order to be ready. When I got there I was told the store did not have my order, not under any name, and no history I ordered online, even when I showed them the email from Panera with the order number. They asked if I ordered from another store, and I showed them the email that confirmed I ordered from their store. I felt very bad for the young man trying to help me, as he looked nervous as though he expected to be yelled at (given how the place was run, it had probably happened). I politely asked to speak to a manager who came out to tell me they didn't have my order...at that very moment the pickup window called out my name. Shockingly they did have my order, somehow, but they were out of 2 of the things I ordered. I asked the manger to simply refund me the price of the two missing items, and he said they cannot do a partial refund. I simply stared at him, unblinking and silent, as I was completely done with this place . He then refunded my entire order.

The staff have all been very nice, which is why I didn't give it 1 star, but either I ordered on the worst possible days or the whole store needs re-training. Either way I won't ever be eating at Panera, just horribly disorganized and...

I love Panera's food, and when this store gets things right the food is on par with the quality of food you'd expect from any Panera restaurant. However, this particular Panera location (Roxboro St. in Durham, NC) consistently screws up orders. Our experience is mostly for their delivery orders, but we've had issues with in-store to-go orders as well. We've ordered from this store pretty frequently over the past few years, and the vast majority of our orders are missing something (like the beverages, pastries, or sides) or missing ingredients in the food items that were received (like some of the salad toppings or sandwich ingredients). We even had one instance where we received a completely incorrect order that was meant for someone else (the delivery driver insisted that Panera told him it belonged to our address). For those of you wondering why we don't stop purchasing from this location, we live in an area where the food delivery options are limited to pizza or Panera. I love pizza, but sometimes you just need something a bit healthier and, when the fridge is bare, we resort to Panera. So, while the food can be good, beware that your order will likely get messed up at this...

I love Panera Bread was quite happy when this one opened with a drive-thru. I usually had gone to the one on 9th Street or inside southpoint mall. The food and prices are pretty good. The problem has always been that compared to other places there's no drive-thru at either of those locations.

So when this Panera opened I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, the drive-thru experience hasn't been as good as I had hoped. Often when I go into the drive-thru I am made to park and wait for my food. This happens even when there is no one in line ahead of me and the place is pretty dead in terms of customers. There can be no one in there and no one in the Drive-Thru and I'm still made to wait.

I suppose I could have figured that would happen because when you go into any Panera location you have to wait for your food inside as well. But being that the drive-thru is associated with fast food this is sort of a turnoff. But of course the food is still the same as at any other Panera and it's good that they do have one with the drive-thru. Unfortunately you just have to be as patient in your car as you are when...