Panera Bread — Restaurant in El Cajon

I went to panera yesterday @4:41pm and have never been made to feel more like a horrible dishonest person than I did at that time. I decided to pick up a quick dinner for my family. I chose to go through the drive thru because I had a very long day and did not have the energy to take my young kids into the facility. We ordered over 60 worth of food which included 3 Pick 2 orders two of which were with tomato soup. It took the staff a good 10 minutes to pack our back after we paid, and I handed the bag to my husband told him to check and make sure everything was included since the bag felt light for the amount of food we had ordered. I also said make sure they remembered our soups. The last time my friend went to Panera they forgot the soup. My husband looked through the bag and pulled everything out no soup. So I pulled around parked and went inside. I told the manager that they forgot the two soups to my drive thru order. To which the manager responded "are you the full sized grill cheese? I saw him put the soup in the bag." I said yes I just came from the drive thru and my soups are not in the bag. As she walked to the back she said again "I know I saw him put it in the bag, maybe it was another bag." As I stood there I thought wow I've never experience the questioning of a customer like this before. When she came back out she had a small brown bag in her hands but instead of handing it over she said may I look in your bag to check first? My response was I've got to say this is absolutely insulting that you have the nerve to question my integrity in this manner and I up-packed the bag in front of her turned it side ways and said see no soup. She said well I just wanted to make sure some people don't know what to look for. I said I am beyond insulted and this is horrible that you would make a customer you wronged feel like they are in the wrong. She said well here are your soups and I hope you have a better day. I said I was having a great day until my integrity was insulted by you. She then said by have a wonderful day hopefully you have a better day tomorrow.

I have worked in customer service for almost 20 years at one level or another and would have been written up or fired if I spoke to a customer in that fashion. This was a horrible experience over two tomato soups! If my daughter did love the tomato soup so much and wasn't feeling under the weather I would have left and told her keep your 5 dollar soups. You might want to do a better evaluation of the people you put in a management position and how they treat their customers. They are a representation of your facility and due to this experience I will NEVER go back to the El Cajon (fletcher) Panera. I will drive an additional 5 minutes and go to the Santee location where when they forgot my friends soup they responded with "I'm so sorry that happened here are...

I used to eat Panera a couple times a week or more for lunch when I was working. The Vermont white cheddar cheese macaroni was to die for. However now it is really not a great experience eating here. First of all I pulled up guidance of the line there was only two cars ahead of us yet we waited at least a total amount of time of 30 minutes in the Drive-Thru at least and to top it off they were out of macaroni and cheese which is absolutely absurd me since it's one of their main dishes they sell. But we literally waited for our food for quite an extended amount of time sitting in the Drive-Thru as staff learn how to make a drink or I'm not sure what they were doing exactly but it appeared that they were all watching the Smoothie be made. We only ordered two things macaroni and cheese and two drinks. That's August 15 minutes from the time we got to the window until we got our food previous to that we already waited for the one one car in front of us to get their food and we waited approximately 15 to 20 minutes for that. The people working in there we're not an apologetic the food was actually cold when we got home and it's just a really disappointing experience. Not only that but when they said they were out of the regular macaroni and cheese they said that they have the cheddar and brought the macaroni and cheese so he agreed to go ahead and get that instead which by the way it was awful. I will never ever order that again ever. But some accommodation should have made for the long wait time which was absolutely atrocious in my opinion. But realistically I mean I'm going to be calling to get my money back on the food because not only was it not good at all but it was cold. So I'm not quite sure what the staff was doing the entire time we were waiting for this extended period of time in the Drive-Thru. Not to mention for two macaronis and two drinks it was $42 which is absolutely ridiculous too. This place is really gone backwards with their customer service and their food quality again I used to love eating here I would hear two or more times a week if I was able to and now I don't even want to eat here at all it's not good staff is slow and non-apologetic about things that should not occur like 30 minute plus wait times in the Drive-Thru with only two vehicles are there and the inside of the store is empty. That's just my suggestion I'm going to call when I have a chance and try to get a refund on my food or at least get a replaced another day cuz it was definitely not good and not hot. I suggest you try to eat at a different place around here because this one is...

It's really sad, I hope that all Panera Breads aren't falling to the level this one has. It's been years since I've been to a Panera Bread. I I just haven't had the opportunity much. We decided to go to satisfy my wife's latest pregnancy craving macaroni and cheese to be fair her macaroni and cheese was excellent I had the broccoli whatever macaroni and cheese and it was horrible it was almost like there was some kind of a chemical sauce not even a cheese sauce on it I didn't finish it and I was sick the rest of the night wishing I hadn't eaten any of it the pastries I got and had later in the evening were wonderful the biggest disappointment wasn't the homeless person doing makeup, who had her Bicycle with her in the restroom and shoes in the sink when my pregnant wife was trying to use the restroom and then had to ask the lady to please remove her shoes so my wife could wash her hands. Or when an employee went into the bathroom (and obviously didn't wash your hands because you couldn't even get to the sink with the bicyclein there), and when she came out, we made a comment to her about the woman with the bicycle and shoes she said "do you want me to tell the manager?" Duh came to mind. The biggest disappointment was the irritated eye rolling "manager" that went to go talk to the lady and when the manager came out seemingly bothered by annoying complaining customers and didn't look at us, say hi, or anything. (like we were in her path of travel she had to workhard not to look at any customers) needless to say, 15 minutes later when we left, the homeless lady was still in the bathroom, or should I say house? One star for the awesome macaroni and cheese that my wife had and one star for the awesome pecan pastries I had for dessert that night.

Oh, one more thing, the guy at the register with the great customer service really seem to go out of his way to make it sound like each of our orders came with a beverage and a side be it bread chips or Apple so I thought it was weird when I saw the additional charges for the beverages that we weren't going to order, but since they came with it we went ahead and got. It's not a big deal, but our total order was over $50, and the overall experience was horrible. we have no intention of ever going to a Panera Bread again, but to be honest with you, I sure do miss those steak and egg bagels. Maybe I will be...