Panera Bread — Restaurant in Georgia

This is a bit of a sad review for me. When Panera first opened it’s very likely I was first line! Organic options, real food, hot and filling, and MOST IMPORTANTLY the food was Good!!! Me and my family are probably responsible for the most consumed salads anywhere at anytime because we were there so much! There was a long time when I ONLY went to Panera.🥺

Now, after the pandemic, you can really see how greedy the big companies have gotten, what with shrinking portion sizes and raising prices; taking out cost, and in most cases flavor and quality.

Additionally at this particular location, you never know what you’re gonna get in therms of service. On this day, the person at the front counter appeared to irked.. at life it seemed.

I’ve noted changes in the tastes of foods that I’ve been consuming for decades. The cheese soufflé is and has been a go to since they first introduced them. However, more and more I go there less and less, here’s why.

I went to Panera about a week ago and ordered my favorite 4 cheese soufflé. It was a pick up order. The first thing I noticed was how light the bag was, but I was so hungry my brain glossed over it. When I back to flat (literally 2 minutes away) I opened the bag. The box seemed about the same size, but the contents were not. The soufflé was shrunk (eyeballing it, about 20%., maybe a little more). It used to be rightly sized and filling. Now, it’s the size for 9 year old, but the price is the same. It lacked any real flavor and the historically flakey outer ring didn’t taste like anything, nor was it flaky.

I am loyal until I’m given reasons not to be. Panera food used to be a solid 10 in my humble opinion, today the new menu struggles to get to 6.

Looking at the pics I took, I should have taken one with the soufflé in the palm of my hand to show how small it really is.

I will say the restaurant was clean with the exception of a spill I had to step over. It appeared that someone was going to...

The first time I went to this Panera we attempted to order bread bowls with mac and cheese. The cashier informed us that they were out of bread bowls, at which point we ordered the mac and cheese without a bread bowl. When asked what sides we would like we asked for baguettes to which the cashier began to get annoyed at us and said "I said we were out of bread.." I was unaware we were supposed to translate "we are out of bread bowls" as "we are out of bread entirely". I thought maybe this was just a bad night for them, but the second visit got even worse. My roommate and I had ordered rapid pick up which said it would be ready by 6:40PM. My order was not out until 7PM and my roommate's was no where to be seen, which we informed the cashiers. We then proceeded to the end of the counter to watch for her order which was sitting on the counter next to the manager. We watched for 5 minutes as it remained untouched until we asked him if it was ready. He snapped at us that he had been waiting for us to let the cashiers know it wasn't there (despite the fact we had). He then told us that the mac and cheese was out and my roommate needed to choose a different soup. She chose broccoli cheddar and we left. It wasn't until we got home that we realized the mac and cheese was $2 more expensive than the broccoli cheddar, so now she didn't get mac and cheese and she had essentially been over charged by $2 to get something she didn't really want. On top of it all, my panini was lacking the spinach and the chicken hardly covered half of the entire sandwich. Definitely never going back to...

Arrived at 8 (they close at 9) the entire store had already begun cleaning and getting ready to close (which is fine). The person that was on register saw us come in, and after about 5mins of us standing at the register, my husband asked who was supposed to take our order. Husband walked over and told cashier we were ready to order. She took it, then walked away as soon as we were rung up. Husband had to walk back over to her to have her print a receipt. Printed, then immediately walked away. We stood at the register for a minute then walked over to the drink station, and had to ask where the cups were for our drinks. The cashier was supposed to hand us cups. So, we flag her down for a third time and get cups from her. Food came out mostly fine. I would like to recommend more than one avocado slice per sandwich half, or a more prevalent orientation in the sandwich. Sandwich was tasty, but for avocado being in the name, it was not obviously present. Employees, while closing, were not speaking professionally while customers were in the building. I understand having fun while working, but remembering that there are customers in the store and within earshot is important for setting or maintaining an environment that the customers would want...