Panera Bread — Restaurant in Geneva Township

Awful service, long wait times, and out of stock on BREAD! LOL, what?!? At the request of my wife, I stopped in to pick up a meal for her, then drive straight to the hospital to prepare for our baby girl's arrival, where my wife was waiting. Admittedly, I haven't been to Panera in quite a while. To enter and see the "wall of bread" devoid of delicious concoctions, save two whimpering loaves of forgotten sourdough, was a red flag. I spotted the digital order kiosk and thought to myself, "Self, this will certainly be easier and faster than bothering the cashier." I placed my order with a few taps, then saw the little buzzer-doohickey flash and zizz at me. I picked it up and quietly stepped aside to wait for my plasticky buzzy pal Cecil to faithfully alert me to my order (I name all my buzzers, don't you?). You can probably smell the foreshadowing here, but l’ll go on. I waited…..and waited…..and waited. Tightly clutching my beloved Cecil, I made eye contact and smiled at the cashier, telepathically trying to show him I've been standing there for 84 years - listening to him tell customer after customer they were out of baguettes. All while having horrific thoughts of my wife punching me straight in the mouth as I slo-mo swagger into the delivery room with a smile and a bag of delicious Panera food, only to be told I missed the birth of my daughter. Epic fails, here I come. After patiently waiting for about 20 minutes and seeing my name missing from the digital order lineup, I finally asked the cashier what gives. He asked the line staff behind the pickup counter if they had my order. Being one myself when I was a pup, I appreciate the tiring work of all foodservice employees. All except THIS employee. A diminutive, snarky, female barked out at the cashier, "Yea I been calling the name nobody answered." I honestly did not hear my name called, so I proceeded to show her my buzzy friend Cecil and said, "I was waiting for my buzzer to go off." Cue the sound of a needle being dragged off a record. She looked at me as if I just asked her to wipe my soiled behind. She went on to shame Cecil and I in front of all present. In summary, I failed to follow proper Panera procedure and protocol. "You don't take a buzzer when you order from the kiosk,” she quipped. Eye rolls, groans, and whispers surrounded me. Cecil the buzzer, my only friend left at that point, was promptly confiscated and heartlessly heaved into a pile of overworked, non-union buzzers. I skulked out, head down, 25 minutes later, food finally in hand. No physical injury awaited me in the delivery room, as I arrived in plenty of time for the delivery of our little bundle of joy. Had to wait around for that one, too. Thankfully, the food wasn't all that bad. Their new ham sandwich is tasty, but not worth the price. Two thick slices of rustic sourdough bread, fluffed up with tomatoes, lettuce and a healthy dose of thinly sliced red onions makes for one handsome sammie. But do t judge a book by its cover. I had to lift the hood on this jalopy to confirm there was actually ham on my ham sandwich. One anemic see-thru slice. Cheese was painfully absent which, in my humble opinion, completes a good ham sandwich. C’mon Panera, you’re asking ten bucks for sangwich and you can’t spare a slice of Swiss?? Fuhgettaboutit…. The moral of this ridiculous and long-winded story? Know the proper Panera procedure protocols, and you shouldn't have the same experience I had. Paying high prices for medium food and tolerating indifferent, grumpy, Panera employees? This reviewer can only suggest you find another place to eat, order using a human, and don't...

The menu has changed slightly since covid. Food has always been pretty good but not quite knocked out of the park. Beverages are good with all varieties to choose from. All of this would put my star rating higher but the following decreases that rating to what you see above. The tile floors, although freshly mopped on our most recent visit (based on location of "wet floor" sign), were kind of greasy slick by the beverage dispensers and also in the means washroom. While using the urinal my feet slide outward until my shoes made contact with the wall stopping my continual greasy slick slide. This is a huge safety concern which caused me to lower my star rating. This not an isolated event, it's actually somewhat regular here prior to and after covid interior dining restrictions being lifted. What adds a little to this is the requested pathway to take around to store to ensure they're minimizing exposures per regulations forces everyone to walk down this dangerous pathway at least once per visit. I'm not looking for anything free; I just feel the safety concern should be rectified immediately before someone winds up taking a short trip to Delnor via an ambulance. We will continue to be customers of this location and do recommend it, but offer caution when it comes to the...

Usually the only complaint I have with this one is slow service, which unfortunately just seems to be the norm here. But its not too bad, but today I stopped in the drive thru to get a vanilla latte as I do like 3x a week here. It always comes with just whipped cream on it. Today it came with caramel drizzle and whipped cream. I simply asked if the latte was a caramel and immediately the female employee started being rude and snippy with me. She insisted it was vanilla and the vanilla latte ALWAYS comes with caramel drizzle on it. I told her I just never saw that before and requested to not have the caramel on it cause I honestly hate caramel. I dont wanna spend over $5 on a drink I dont like. She argued with me about it because "i ordered it wrong" when she finally remade the drink for me, she was still rude about it. I checked the menu and it says the only topping is whipped cream. I guess I'll be going to the other...