Panera Bread — Restaurant in Fairfield Township

I was completely frustrated with my experience at this Panera Bread. I was actually using gift cards I had been given due to a previous bad experience I had at this very same store. Twice now I have ordered items that were not available but I was not told until I had already paid. The first time this happened my husband ordered a Frontega Chicken Panini and specifically asked for EXTRA BASIL. When we got our food the sandwich had NO BASIL on it, we asked what happened and we were then told they were out of basil due to a recall. The manager on duty refused to help. She said she could take back the sandwich that was missing an ingredient, throw it away, and make my husband something else. This is not a very good solution as we are not the type of people who would like to waste perfectly edible food. I offered up the idea of her refunding my money so that no food would be wasted, but I would be compensated for the item being not as ordered, she refused. I asked for the district managers name and when he would be in.

A few days later I returned to the store to see the district manager. He apologized for the incompetence and rudeness of his manager but did not seem surprised when I told him who it was. He gave me three $5 gift cards for my inconvenience and disappointment.

After a few weeks we decided we would at least use our gift cards, although we were not thrilled about the idea of going back to Panera Bread. And the incident we experienced in our previous trip just replayed itself.

I ordered my daughter a cup of chicken noodle soup. I paid for said soup and went to wait for my order. It was then I was told they did not have any chicken noodle soup. When I spoke to the manager regarding this she told me they had been out for THREE HOURS, SHRUGGED HER SHOULDERS and told me "Our truck doesn't come in until tomorrow." I could not believe how I was being treated. She offered up another menu item, which I took but my daughter did not like and could not eat so I actually had to go somewhere else to get my daughter dinner after my husband and I finished our meal.

I will not be coming back to this or any Panera Bread ever again. I cannot believe the rudeness of the managers on duty, the lack of knowledge of items being unavailable, and the lack of decent options when I approached team members about my...

So I am one of those people who come in right when they open around 6am. I currently carpool with my husband, so he drops me off here until I have to go to work nearby. We wouldn't be able to carpool if this establishment wasn't open so early. I'm a student in college, so I utilize the time to study until I have to go in.

I am generally an "at-home coffee maker", but I am a firm believer that if you are going to sit in an establishment you should buy something. So I come in every morning I have to go to work and get a coffee and a bagel.

The staff has come to recognize my face and ALWAYS ensures i am comfortable. It is the winter time now so I sit by the fireplace. The building gets very cold quickly so fire is essential for me to keep warm. The staff checks to see if the fireplace is on, and if it isn't they promptly go over and turn it on for me. I greatly appreciate this!

I started coming in with my own mug for my coffee because I don't want to waste paper cups. The staff here, asks me now if I have my mug or if I need the paper cup. I actually didn't have my mug today, so she was thoughtful enough to give me one of their mugs because she knows I prefer it. I LOVE this.

I keep saying "Staff", but I would have to say that it's Joey who works at the front who is so very thoughtful and adaptive in her client service. She sees my patterns and before I even have to ask she is already asking ME what my needs are and what I would I like today. I appreciate her so much. She is a consistent worker, who cares about people and I genuinely see that. There is of course other members here who have helped me, but I don't remember their names or they don't wear a name tag (SORRY). The other woman who stood out me was mature in age (NOT SAYING OLD, I would never) and wears glasses. She is always kind and makes sure I am well taken care of.

Overall my experience here has been great! Such a lovely team. I love the morning crew. They really care.

Thanks for reading if you did. Also Thank you Joey for being so thoughtful! You make this place...

Service was absolutely horrendous. Food was fine, mostly anyway, but service was just so bad. Panera has always been a place I thought I could rely on for a good experience, as I have experienced with other locations, but this one just did not do well. Timeliness was fine, we ordered curbside pickup and made sure to leave a tip through the app since we had curbside. After waiting for about 8 minutes a girl came out and couldn't find our car (right in front of the building, only honda accord there, which we included in curbside instructions), but whatever. I walked over and directed her towards our car where she told us that they didn't have the muffins we ordered, so she would get something to replace it. Wasn't the kindest, but I was sure she was just a little upset since she had to go back in to get something else. She brought out one item that was worth less than the price of a muffin, and we even ordered two muffins, so we lost about $5 there. No big deal. But what really stuck was this: as she hands the food to us, she refuses to make eye contact and says "here's your bread or some s*". Leaves without another word. The bread inside is as stale and hard as rock, and the baguette that was in a different bag was just thrown in without a wrapper or anything. Sandwich still tasted alright, but upset that I lost quite a few dollars and some precious time we could've spent elsewhere as my friends and I were on a road trip. I still like other locations but this was one of my friend's first experience, and he says he will not be going back, even if all of the rest of us are. I will certainly not return to this location, very unfortunate that the poor service ruined the...