Panera Bread — Restaurant in Florida

"Bread with Toppings" - not sandwiches!

Ah Panera ... your halo is slipping. Once the destination for artisanal triple-s (soups, salads, and sandwiches), it now seems to be descending into the "almost as good as the deli counter at [name the supermarket]... but not quite."

I went there for lunch yesterday with my in-laws. My mother in law had a salad. No complaints, but how badly can you screw up a bowl of lettuce? I had the Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt. It was good. Not great, but good. I would order it again, although despite not being a 'big lunch' guy, I was still hungry when I finished.

My father-in-law, who treated us and joined the MyPanera points club on this visit, didn't fare so well. He ordered the Steak & Arugula Sandwich. Oh there was bread, lots of bread. There was arugula - I saw it. The steak? [insert game show loser buzzer] OK, I realize Panera markets itself as a bakery, so the bread is the star. Great, but, if one advertises "sandwiches" the word connotes a certain center filled with goodies. Nope. Not at this Panera, not this "sandwich." A hearty sourdough bread was dotted with a small amount of "ingredients," or it wasn't. In fact, with a third of the sandwich still uneaten, my father-in-law parted the bread to show there was... a small piece of lettuce and a 1/4" sliver of onion.

Now dear readers, I'm a realist. I wasn't expecting a Carnegie Deli sandwich with a two-inch stack of meat. I will point out, however, that even McDonalds, the love-it-or-hate-it granddaddy of fast food franchises has figured out how to apportion meats and toppings so they actually fill the bun and therefore each bite. Not so at this Panera. Even if the initial content of the sandwich met Panera's serving guidance, it was assembled so as to have most of what little filling there was on only one side of the sandwich, yielding nothing but sourdough bread for a full third of the meal. Sloppy, miserly work, Panera.

So Panera, maybe you can take a cue or two from the deli at the local Publix supermarket. As I recall a sandwich I bought from there several weeks ago had fresh-baked bread too(!), and a bunch of meat/fillings double-to-triple the volume of your sandwiches(!), and cost less than a half of what you charged us for an almost-empty bun. If you can't increase portions, at least apportion the fillings to maximize the yeasty real estate. Otherwise, you're selling "bread with toppings," not sandwiches.

As the Drill Sergeant says, "I am cruel but I am fair."

You charged us for a sandwich but delivered almost-empty bread. ...

I usually never post any negative reviews espiacally about a place I usually enjoy coming to. There online system is one of the worst I have ever used. In the 5 times I have ordered online I had issues 3 times. Today my order gets sent to another store 19 miles from my home. The online store ask many times when you set up a account if you would like to select a home store. I selected the store 3 miles away from my home and have never ordered online from another location. The part of this whole ordeal that is aggravating is how they toss this mistake on me. I explained to them and also demonstrated that there was no way I could have done this. The location that they sent my order to is the third closes location to me. I was told the ordered would be transferred to the correct location but I was never informed the would cancel my order and redo it at the correct store. So now I have payed for the same order twice. That makes no sense why that have already charged me once why would they do it again to redo the order. I know this may sound like I am just being picky but truly think about this. Both locations turn in there accounting paper work to the same main headquarters why woukd a huge franchise like this toss this on the consumer. At the end of day they received there money not from the right location but the money is still being given to the same...

Run from this place Alan the supervisor attitude is as worse as the kids that he has working the counters they're not courteous they don't have any manners whatsoever and neither does he the leader has to be removed with a more so a more courteous representative needs to be behind that counter. I don't know how many times I have to go to this one to always have an issue however this is my last time and I advise anyone to stay far away from this place especially when you're paying $30 for a salad and a smoothie. It should come with the most utmost customer service and that's not what I've been experiencing at this panera. No courtons is what I ordered I have courtons on my salad. The nerves and I tipped the cashier. Covid can't be the only reason why businesses are reluctant to follow instructions. WORD OF ADVICE slow down and repeat orders. Pay attention to customers request, this is the third time this has happened at this location. If it wasn't the only one on this side of town I would give it up in all its entirety. They failed to pay attention to directions. Its annoying I won't be supporting this business during this pandemic anymore. And don't think about getting anything toasted it will be burnt ridiculous such a...