Panera Bread — Restaurant in Easley

The only reason I didn't give the food 5 starts is because I've recently had to start a very difficult diet for my health, and there are not a lot of options...anywhere!.... in fact, I maybe I should give them the 5 stars afterall, because at least they do have some options, limited and hard to find as they are. Especially since this is a bakery, full of yummy, fantastic bread, I can't eat. The fact that they have anything at all that I can eat on this ridiculously hard elimination diet is pretty incredible, even though the choices are few and far between.

I've been coming to this location longer than I've been on the diet, but not as long as I was going to the Anderson location. I absolutely loved the Anderson location. The people there were amazing. All the workers there; the cooks, the managers, the cashiers, the table bussers. I used to go there so much that I felt like they were almost family to me. They are just simply wonderful people there, and I've grown to love them.

Unfortunately, I had to switch stores and start coming to this Easley location due to a change of work venue. At first, I was very disappointed.

Had I written a review, then it probably would have been a one or two star. I just felt the people just were not as nice or helpful or friendly. But I annoyed my boyfriend with my tales of woe as I tried to wait it out and give them a fair shot. And my opinion did lighten up on them as time passed.

One thing they can not change, though, is the drink station. I hate the layout of the serve-yourself-drink-station because the cold drink section is far away from the hot drink section. Which isn't so terribly horrible, so what, I have to walk a little further back and forth to make my ice coffee, whatever I can manage. But the fact that the ice-cold drink section is directly right next to the bathroom...... that grosses me out, and I don't find it sanitary. Whoever designed that layout had to have not been thinking that day! Maybe they were tired or hung over, I don't know, but it's not sanitary, and it grosses me out.

But the workers in the store, I'm sure, didn't design the layout themselves, and I can't hold that against them.

But as I have had to keep coming to this location instead of my beloved Anderson location, the Easley store has started to grow on me some. And I will admit, sometimes, I might be a little set in my ways and not want to give new things a try.

But today, I decided to give them a good review because I was just simply blown away by how sweet and kind the cashier was to me. She has checked me out a few times and has always been pleasant. (Even having to deal with my somewhat-annoying-picky-five-billion-questions-self). And boy, did I have questions today about my ridiculously hard to deal with diet. And she handled me with grace and kindness and a sweet smile. She even went out of her way and got this huge notebook with ingredients in it for everything. And I was just in awe of how thoughtful and accommodating she was for me. I wish I would have asked her name so I could praise her. I'm assuming it's Morgan because that's what's on my receipt, but I don't know how their system works and if they sometimes ring things up under another name. But Morgan, or whoever you are, you are the real MVP of the Easley Panera. I don't believe anyone else would have taken the time to go over all of that with me, and I truly appreciate it! If payday wasn't so far away, I would have given you a tip instead of just a kind Google review because you deserve more than this. But thank you. Thank you for going above and beyond and being kind and amazing. I pray good things come to your future. Thank you. Keep being awesome! ( If you see this and I got your name wrong, please correct me) Thank you. I hope your managers realize you deserve a raise! You...

Okay so I have eaten here for a while now and after some trials i thought I should share my experience, I would just like to say all around it’s not that bad, the food is decent, atmosphere is pretty okay, but I have noticed it’s always hit or miss for me. Because I pretty much get the same order every time, it’s either really good one time or really bad the other. So the main issue to me would be the EMPLOYEES, specifically the kitchen ones. The ones upfront haven’t really been a problem, probably because their main job is customer service, but that isn’t an excuse for the kitchen crew to do a half ass job and constantly forget items in orders, I work in food so I understand things happen but it happens to me EVERY single time, I ask for extra of something and I still don’t receive it I have to ask for it again At the kitchen window, even though I already told the person who was taking my order a second ago, which the crew seems annoyed when I ask for my missing items aswell, even though I’ve been nothing but nice every time. You can tell it’s a bunch of highschoolers and I know it’s not everybody’s choice to work in food and a job is a job but I wish they would at least act somewhat decent to their paying customers, which honestly just leads me to think it could just be a management problem, but who knows I’ll still come to eat here because I do like the food just wish we could at least have...

I'm choosing 2 stars over 1 star as this particular Panera hasn't always been disorganized as it is recently. They have definitely cut the portions for the sandwiches, less meat, less toppings, no longer nicely layered. The soups are often cold. Some part of the order is always missing. They don't tell you when they're out of an item, so when you've ordered online and prepaid, you are not told about the missing item when you pick it up, not supplied a replacement, nor are you offered reimbursement. With the cost you are paying, I would at least appreciate reimbursement or a gift card for the amount I overpaid. When brought to their attention after I've checked my order in their parking lot, they've offered alternatives, but I have to complain as there is no forethought. The staff is still nice, and there's hope for the location returning to how it was before as every once in a while, everything is how it should be. Unfortunately, it's more of a disappointment now. Makes it hard to want to go there for the...