Panera Bread — Restaurant in East Peoria

I've been to East Peoria Panera about 8 times since they moved to their new location near Target and since the pandemic began. When it was on Camp street, we loved it. We knew the manager, the service was fantastic, the food really good. But I can only wonder if management has changed because the newer store is simply dreadful and incompetent.

With COVID-19 in full swing, we were so grateful and hugely appreciative of the employees doing their jobs and serving us. Indeed, we forgave the terrible service, the nasty, unfriendly attitudes when bringing food out to our car (sorry!), and the occasional mistakes with our order. We get it. It's hard and not fun.

But tonight. Tonight was beyond the pale. There were a lot of cars in the drive thru so I went inside hoping it would be a little quicker. It wasn't. There were many customers waiting in line and only one till open. Who is managing this store? If you have over ten people in line, you need a second till. Worse, there were two people behind the counter not really doing much at all. Maybe they can't work the front, but it can't be that you only have one person who can take orders at busy dinner time hours!!

So let's talk about that person. I figure she owes me about 7 dollars or so. Why on earth would she add chicken to my salads when I didn't ask for chicken? She's didn't ask me if I wanted it either. If she had, I would have said no, because while we love a lot the food at Panera, the chicken is tasteless, soggy and limp. After waiting I don't even know how long to just order my food, I just wanted to get out of there and I didn't pay attention to the cost of my order. It seemed as bit steep but honestly, the young woman wasn't a good listener anyway (which is another reason things took forever) and I just wanted to get away from her. She needs more training, clearly, because clearly she is not ready to take anyone's order.

So we get home, and there's chicken on ourb salads that we didn't want, didnt order, and found incredibly annoying just picking out the bits that were througout what should have been a vegetarian meal. Absolutely shameful! Attached is a photo of the chicken we didn't eat.

This store needs to do better. Now! You've lost my patronage for good. Don't know who is in charge now, but you are failing your formerly best customers. Your staff are untrained, and clearly don't care about providing an acceptable level of service. I don't like giving bad reviews. But what choice do I have when every time I have been there, I've been disappointed and now, ripped off.

Fix...

We have been using the Unlimited Sip Club for the past few weeks while we wait for our espresso machine to be repaired and sent back to us. At least 60% of the time, there is no coffee brewed. They “only have one brewer” but they have been out even right after the store opens. We also order the family feast with 4 sandwiches occasionally on busier mornings and it’s the same with food. They will mark orders as complete in order to have better numbers for their store, which is dishonest. Otherwise known as lying. They have marked food as done and we get there and they tell us they are still waiting on eggs and we wait an additional 5-10 minutes. When nicely telling an employee the coffee is out, we have been rudely told “you’re gonna have to wait” with no apology or any semblance of customer service. The assistant manager, Julie, spoke with my husband yesterday (I was on the phone the entire time listening) as he let her know what we had been seeing. She thanked him, told him “feedback is a blessing”, and was very kind. We were happy to know she would be addressing these issues. Today, my husband went in to get our pick-up order that had been marked as complete only to find, again, it was not ready. Julie then told him that he “attacked her employee” (the one who rudely told him he would have to wait with a scowl on her face as if he forced her to get a job at Panera) and was not allowed in their store again. After requesting a refund, she refused and told him “you can report this”. She also refused to give the manager’s contact information in order to speak with them before going to corporate. I’m posting this review because I can understand honest mistakes, but they are simply lying and not taking accountability. My husband even told Julie she could look at the cameras to see that he was never aggressive or “attacking” her employee. Some people just don’t know how to handle constructive criticism and expect us to “get what you get and don’t throw a fit”. Unacceptable and...

My family and I have enjoyed Panera in East Peoria Illinois for sometime. And we’ve ordered many times during this COVID-19 time period with good results. But today, Sunday, September 27; I placed an order online through the app at about 1:30 PM for pick up at 2:10 PM in the café. I arrived on time for the pick up and waited well over 20 minutes for my order to be prepared. It was an average size order with one full sandwich, a salad bowl, four bowls of soup and one cup of soup. While I was waiting for my order it was apparent the confusion and disorganization in the kitchen was overwhelming. Customers that were placing orders from the kiosk we’re getting angry because no one was calling out their orders when they were completed. Orders were not being placed on the board and customers weren’t sure if they had placed their order correctly. Mistakes were being made on orders from the kitchen and managers were so rattled that they weren’t even apologizing for the mistakes. When my order was finally complete sometime after 2:30 PM, as it was being placed on the completed shelf, I told the lady that it was my order and she handed it to me. At that point, I sat the large sack on the table and started checking my order to make sure everything was there. I heard one of the managers asked if I wanted some one to check it and I said yes. By the time the manager came out I had already determined that I was missing one cup of soup and that they had given me apples instead of bread. At that point the manager for hurriedly put together one cup of soup and ripped apart one loaf of bread to complete my order. No apology was given and I was on my way☹️I hope this situation was a one off situation and it was just a new inexperienced team working today… But it definitely creates concerns in my mind about placing another order at the East Peoria Panera's, at least in the...