Panera Bread — Restaurant in Houston

I was gonna give it a one-star review, but im feeling generous today. So, you, the person reading this, are probably wondering why im giving it such a bad review. And you, yes you, are probably gonna skim through the good reviews saying "oh the food is good" or "oh the service was top-of-the-notch." Then you, yes you still, are gonna carefully read the bad reviews, looking for a crack on the wall, the reason someone didn't like this place, and a reason as to why you don't want to go here. Well, dear reader, im about to give you MY reason, and you, if you've made it this far (congratulations), are going to listen to my review very carefully. i mean, why else would i give it a two star review, right? Well, i'll tell you. I'll tell you alrigth. You see, i was just an ordinary girl, hungry for knowledge, and some pasta too. I had read both good and bad reviews, but like a typical milenial, i focused on the bad reviews. I went to this panera, ready to criticise EVERYTHING, from the food to the customer service to even one speck of dust, i had my eyes out for any mishappenings around me. AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW...my mind was totally blown. Good food, no, incredible food was served to me right before my eyes. When i tatsed that pasta it was like heaven had reached down from the skies and carressed my cheek with the touch of an angel. I've never experienced that literally, but you can bet i did figuratively. and the customer service...speechless. A bunch of good samaritans, good people, good citizens of the United State of America, treating me like a queen when i least deserved it. I want to thank you all, every one who works there, the people who built the panera, the ceo of the company, even the founder. i want to thank our lord and savior, JC,my man, for allowing me to live until the day i tasted that delicious spagetti and met those wonderful workers, because my lifef was truly blessed that day. AMEN! the reason i gave thi two stars was because i thought i would have a terrible terrible time here, but no, it was wonderful. Eat at your own risk, don't choke on a sandwich (that's a terrible way to pass), and be nice to people. Have a...

I stop at this Panera Bread at least 3 times a week since they've opened. The lady that works the window Tues-Friday is fabulous. She gets it right every time. On a Monday when she was off in the past, I had a bad experience but nothing I couldn't laugh off. The visit this morning was more of a sanitary issue. I was handed a cup of hot water and then a tea bag of mango tea. I explained that I was surprised because the tea has never been served like that. The lady at the window (around 8:30) said ok. Hold on. I watched her walk to the opposite side, go out of a door and come back a few moments later. As I was observing what was going on, I noticed that another lady that was working on the (I assume) wrap machine had taken her phone from her back pocket with her gloves on, started texting then put the phone in her back pocket and continued making the wrap. Once that lady at the window returned, I watched her input another order without gloves, come to the window, put the tea bag that was laying there in the hot water and gave it back to me. I politely said no thank you, could you please refund me for the tea. Once I got to work, the oatmeal that I ordered obviously didn't have enough water because once I mixed it in, there was more than half still dry form. Unfortunately, I threw the $4.59 I paid away. In my opinion and experience, staff should not use gloves to text, place orders or take payments and then continue prepping food. That is definitely a sanitary issue throughout the entire restaurant. It was so disappointing but needless to say I will not risk getting sick over staff being negligent and lazy. If they are not using Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures while I am looking, I can't help but wonder what happens...

A fast food spin on “healthy” options. Maybe I ordered the wrong things, but then again, there’s gotta be a reason I have tried this place before today. Something told me it wasn’t going to be for me. I placed my order to go. The counter service was good. The girl was a high schooler (she had the area high school sweater shirt on and was of high school age). She was polite and patient. I had a gift card that she had trouble processing, but she handled it well. When my order was ready, the lady calling names may as well have whispered. I had to ask if she called Lauri and she nodded after looking at me like I was bothering her. I ordered a Greek salad, the bistro French onion soup and half a Napa almond chicken salad sandwich. I wanted to try their signature take chicken sandwich, but the original and spicy were both “sold out”. The salad was loaded with the not so good pieces of lettuce and way too much feta. I’ve never had French onion soup without cheese, but that’s how mine was made today. The Napa almond chicken had no celery, no almonds and so much lettuce I could have made a side salad (and that was only a half sandwich). I’m not terribly disappointed. I’m just glad I had a gift card and didn’t spend my own money. $25.41 was my total. That seemed pretty high especially for the 3 stars I’m giving this review. The indoor seating options are plenty and they have an small outdoor patio with umbrella tables. The restaurant was clean and stocked well with condiments. They have a small coffee “bar”, but I’m not into coffee so I can’t say much about that. They also have a tiny bakery section at the order counter. The green tea was tasty. That was probably the highlight of...