Panera Bread — Restaurant in El Paso

We had been waiting in the drive through from 8 PM - 8:45PM while the remaining vehicles behind us had only recently arrived because people kept leaving because of how long the wait was. Right at 8:45 two workers approached our vehicle to say the car in front of us was the last that would be served. It was really dissapointing & would have been less frustrating if at any point a worker had arrived at least 20 minutes earlier to notify that it was unlikely we would even have an opportunity to order food. We drove 30 minutes across town for this & it was going to be both our first times . (UPDATED 12/12) We came on a different evening to give it a second chance on Friday December 8th and it was such a cluster in there because we obviously are never going to try that drive-thru again. The lobby was jam packed with people in all directions and truly no clear indication of where you are supposed to go. We just went to the self check out kiosk where there was basically no one and ordered two bread bowls. It took about 20 minutes which was admittedly fast compared to those literally waiting upwards of an hour BUT they ran out of bread bowls and instead gave us three incredibly small pieces of bread and no refund for the amount we paid for our bread bowls. I heard other people complaining about this as well and they said a worker told them "it's just a couple bucks anyway". Why even sell items that are not available and then not offer refunds. Two bad experiences and definitely not...

Overall, even with being new, this place has major management concerns. It is almost always out of a major food item that impacts a huge portion of the menu. The waits are astronomical, both inside and in drive thru. For example, pre ordering a drink online is a 30-45min wait both inside or out, and thats with waiting to go. The service is unfortunately awful which is probably due to the staff always feeling like they are behind and out of items, so they are just as frustrated as the customer. I really think management needs to come in and reevaluate stock levels- yall have been open long enough to get it together at this point, retrain staff on how to handle waits/out of stocks. I should NOT pull up to the drive thru (with no one in front of me) and the staff immediately says "its a 45 minute wait". No hi, how can i help you, nothing. I appreciate the transparency, but let's start with a greeting first and maybe an explanation of why its a 45 min wait when no one is in line and very few inside. Im not sure this location will ever be successful without a complete overhaul. I have yet to be able to get what I want to order due to out of stocks (in 10+ visits due to sips trial) and the food I have settled for has been awful especially for the price. The only reason I am giving 2 stars is the free sips trial. After that, we won't be back. I am sure a disappointment for many who highly anticipated...

Disaster at every level!

Bakers, after a month, still cannot make bagels. The bagels are too thin, hard, and lack the appeal of what they should look like. See the cinnamon crunch bagel pics.

Ordering online is a nightmare. I ordered bagels online and got the email my order was ready. I went to the store for pickup and was told they ran out. The manager said to avoid this in the future to call ahead and have someone put them aside for me. Seems insane to get an email stating they are ready and then not be but, OK. Next day I called to have them put aside. I was told to come in to the store and tell them they were placed aside over the phone. I asked if they wanted my name and was told they didn't need it. My wife went in later and there were no bagels put aside. I spoke on the phone to an out of town manager (Jade?) and she assured me this would be fixed, that she was going to retrain the managers that night. She also promised me that if I came the next day, she would have bagels and cream cheese put aside for me.

I went the next day and the manager from day 1 was there. Jade apparently didn't retrain anyone or keep her promise as there were no bagels put aside. Luckily they had a minimal amount remaining so I was able to get some.

3 days to get bagels... And lackluster ones at that.

Place needs a demo...