Panera Bread — Restaurant in Gadsden

Panera bread is my favorite restaurant chain! The freshness of ingredients and consistent high-quality of the Panera Brand, I’ve seen at numerous other locations, without exception, is utterly trampled upon by this franchise in Gadsden.

I’ll start with the good - the employees are always wearing a smile and competently complete orders.

The bad, the ugly:

I drove 20 minutes to get a bakery style (crunchy, flakey) croissant from Panera - I paid $4 for it - they handed me a croissant (soft, doughy) like they sell at grocery stores. I drove away, knowing I could buy a box of four of these, at the Walmart next door, for less money.

I ordered a smoothie, and the straw I was given was so thin and cheap (cheaper than I’d ever seen) it could not endure the pressure of suction, so it collapsed in on itself like a dying star, and was rendered completely useless. I couldn’t even drive and drink it at the same time. This could’ve been an omen, as the smoothie was very sugary, and after I took off the lid, I threw most of it away.

They are VERY stingy with dressing, filling up dressing cups sometimes LESS than even HALFWAY! I’ve gotten so used to needing to ask for extra dressing at this Panera, that when I went to another one and asked for “double dressing“ I was completely overwhelmed by having way too much dressing.

Avocados in my salad were as hard as an eraser (they were totally ripe, just inedibly hard?), which I really don’t know how that’s even possible, except perhaps being stored in the freezer way too long.

I got the butt end of a piece of lettuce in a salad, is not only pretty inedible, but also is literally a health code violation because it is impossible to clean that piece properly.

I got a sandwich here, and the bread, again, seemed grocery store quality? Definitely not Panera Bread standards (why am I supposed to come to “Panera BREAD” if the bread is bad??? 😭)

In summary, I’ve been here all of six times, and even though the orders were completed perfectly by staff each time, the upper management…

I’ve made this review, hoping that some changes can be made, and I can return here and be a patron...

I gave 4 starts because overall my experience was great. The lacking star represents my experience on sanitation and cross contamination. Team manager Mathew decided it was a good time to clean the drink machine up while I was eating but lacked a few sanitation things. The things he lacked. No cleaner on the rag that went to each and every dispenser on the machine, including the ice machine where the rag was shoved into. (He did go and get cleaner after I loudly said on a phone call "remind me to tell you about a sanitation story) When using your cellphone for light, it would be ok if you had no use for the hand after, but to sit the cellphone on the ground, then pick it up ans cross contaminate everything is a no go.

Thankfully for me I will not be drinking feet drinks because I drink fiji all day but too those who do drink soft drinks there you go. My food was great and the customer service was great, they even verified that there where not any modified corn starch or...

We ordered food at Panera Bread, 508 E Meighan Boulevard, Gadsden, Alabama, and we were not impressed.

At the drivethrough we ordered two breads bowls and was told they had none. As a substitute we accepted two cups of soup and two pieces of sourdough bread.

One of Panera's signature dishes is their bread bowl. So, how could they run out of them? It's a mystery to me.

The server placed a couple pieces of bread, unwrapped, in the bottom of a paper bag then placed two bowls of soup with napkins and spoons on top of the bread.

Of course, one of the soup containers immediately tipped over and leaked some of its contents into the bag.

When we returned home the bread was so hard it was inedible and all of this cost over $17.00.

With all the food choices available in the area, we will choose differently...