Panera Bread — Restaurant in Florida

I'm not rating service or atmosphere bc this was a rapid pickup order.

I struggled whether to give a solid 3 star or weak 4 star, to which neither option exists.

I ordered the "enhanced" whole green goddess chicken cobb, salad.

The positives: the salad container was full, and it wasn't a stingy serving of lettuce as experienced in years past. I was also surprised to see an entire avocado & whole hard-boiled egg on my salad, as well as real bacon pieces. I was also given an ample supply of dressing (3 containers), which this salad needs bc it's a lot of lettuce & toppings.

The only negative, but it's significant: the "chicken." It's not the quality "Boar's Head" type chicken (without a bunch of injected sodium solution and other ingredients to make it cheaper), which used to be good. The fake grill marks don't help any, either.

It's no wonder they're "enhancing" some of their items and offering more "chicken." It's easy to add more of a subpar ingredient that rivals mediocre products like "Buddig" or "Hillshire Farms" lunch "meat."

The salad was decent, but... even with all those ingredients, it was very one "note."

Honestly, if I'd known, I would've ordered my favorite salad (the strawberry poppyseed chicken salad). However, I still would've been disappointed with the "chicken" part of it (though I would've tasted the rest of the ingredients, as opposed to the green goddess Cobb salad I had).

Tbh, I'm not sure I'll be back, bc I can't imagine paying over $12 for a salad (I had a coupon).

However, this particular salad, with a whole egg, whole avocado, and real bacon bits, on top of the leafy greens & other ingredients, would be a fair price, IF the chicken was the same quality before...

I visited this location this morning to get breakfast for myself & co-workers. I did not notice the time when I opened the door & walked inside. I was welcomed with "we're not open yet". I asked what time it was & was told it was 6:22am (they didn't open until 6:30). I asked if I was going to honestly be made to wait for 8 minutes to be helped & the girl was told by a co-worker to go ask the manager because sometimes they can help people before open & other times not. She asked the manager (Rachel) and was told she could not help me. Finally, it was 6:30 & I was helped (I asked at 6:28 if it was time yet & was told no, it wasn't 6:30). I legitimately sat at the high top table near the pastry counter & waited until 6:30. Before I left I asked the manager for her name (she refused to offer her last name & I assume she's the only manager named Rachel). She assured me that it is Panera's "policy" not to help patrons before the actual hours of operation. If that is the case, the front door should not have been unlocked. I don't believe this is how the corporation in general treats their patrons. I know this isn't a corporate location, however, Panera's name is on the sign. Someone needs to address customer service with Rachel the manager. I'm sure there's training that could be offered to her because she does not have enough experience. As a side note, I could've been offered a cup to get my coffee ready while I waited but was not even offered that. The time stamps on the coffee receptacles was 6:30 which is not correct because they were there already when I was told I could not be helped at 6:22am. Someone please train Rachel so this doesn't happen again because of 8 minutes and the door...

5/11/24–okay, placed an order for 4 bagel packs today to pick up for a function on Sunday. Had to cancel order and called NADA who apparently is the Mgr at the Viera location. Instead of crediting back my credit card over $70, she double charged my card so now I’m charged $140. I told her we were going to contact our card company and let them know that charge is fraudulent. She said ok, do that. So, that’s customer service?

I placed a rapid pick up this morning at 7:40 listing all the bagels I wanted. I said a pick up at 9:15. There was no order in the rapid pick up section and when I asked Chris (could have been MGR) he said they just received the request. Well, by that time, all the 7 sesame bagels I wanted were almost gone and that was the reason I ordered early in the morning. Then Chris, instead of actually filling the order, waited on three people in line before I walked over to the counter and told him how ludicrous it was for a rapid pick up order not to be filled. He said that’s how it is done. The request comes just a few minutes before pickup. I cancelled and walked out. I did the same thing in Virginia Beach a couple weeks ago and had no issues getting the rapid pick up order. This location doesn’t run as efficiently as other locations. It’s time to go to Bagel 13. Their bagels are better...