Panera Bread — Restaurant in Huntsville

Y'all know I don't review chains much and I probably leave 1 stars even less frequently but this experience was pretty unacceptable so here I am.

We ordered delivery via a 3rd party app from this spot so we didn't have to leave the office to get some lunch. That being said, I can't speak to atmosphere or service because I've never physically visited this Panera location. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere inside/at least very close to Huntsville Hospital.

No problems with the delivery time. Prices were high for the amount of food, but that's Panera and that's delivery for ya. Someone drew a friendly smiley face on our receipt, so that was sweet. I wish the same care had been paid to my food.

Packaging was mostly okay -- they remembered cutlery for everyone so that's good - but the paper bag the baguettes were in tore with 0 warning while I was passing them out, flinging one of our four baguettes on the ground. Bummer :(

My three coworkers all got the same thing: you pick two, with French onion soup and a half ciabatta cheesesteak. I got the you pick two with an Asian sesame chicken salad and the one thing I really like from Panera, their broccoli cheddar soup.

All the baguettes sans the one that fell on the ground were fine, so at least there's that.

My coworkers were disappointed with their food. The cheesesteak, which they'd had at a Panera in Decatur a few months ago and enjoyed, wasn't as they remembered, lacking peppers almost completely and dry from relatively little aioli. Everyone's French onion soup had cheese at the bottom instead of the top, and cheese was solid and not at all melty. Gross.

My order is the real reason for the one star though.

I'd not had the Asian sesame chicken salad before. I did like the almonds and the wonton strips and the dressing was okay. However, the lettuce was often discolored and old looking, there were enormous cilantro stems in there (lots of soapy bites), and the chicken was also an unpleasant color and very rubbery. I mostly ate around the chicken and cilantro and yucky lettuce, but there wasn't much left that didn't fall into one of those three categories.

The real kicker here is the soup though. It tasted good, maybe a little more congealed than I expected but it was delivered. But I was enjoying it with my baguette. Except about 60% of the way through, I got a weird bite that initially felt like a very large piece of onion. I covertly spit it out because 1) I don't like large pieces of onion and 2) something in the back of my head said it wasn't actually an onion. I'm glad I did, because it wound up being a large, exceedingly soggy scrap of....paper? Plastic?

I can only assume it's from the bag the soup arrives in at the restaurant (as I know they don't make it in-house). That's what I hope it's from, at least -- anything else sounds much worse.

It was absolutely disgusting, and upsetting. I didn't finish my soup (obviously) and I didn't want to keep eating anything else, either. My stomach was uneasy for a while after.

I understand mistakes happen, but this one is pretty unacceptable to me. I won't be ordering again, and this has very strongly diminished my already dwindling positive (more like neutral) feelings...

Panera Bread typically has good choices and good service. This location did not disappoint. I was in town on Bob Wallace Ave. and chose this location because it was just as close as the Airport Thru-way location and I had not been here before. I quickly found out why; it's actually located inside the Huntsville Hospital, Spine and Neuro center, 1st floor (east / right-side) lobby area (past the restrooms). I actually thought Google maps had taken me to the wrong destination.

Luckily, there is an empty (no-charge) parking lot across the street to park. Upon dawning my mask and walking past the restrooms, I was able to see it. Might be much more helpful for first time visitors (and non-hospital enployees) if they put up a perpendicular sign in the hallway...to make it more noticeable. I ordered and paid for my food on the app., which was promptly waiting for me in the pickup area, shelf. Quick and easy and the Asian chicken salad was very good! Take a note if you're ever in the hospital area and don't want burgers...

I had a delivery order that I purchased through the app, The DoorDash dasher didn’t not have my complete order I was missing items & also didn’t have my bag and food sealed.. so I called the store and explained to the manager that was on shift at the time and she was very concerned about her customer experience not only that she took the time to refund me my money back as well as in get my order sent back out fresh and made sure I had everything I needed! Everything was amazing especially the chicken chipotle pizza! I most definitely will be ordering again soon thanks to Ms. Chloe & her kindness and making sure her customer was happy & satisfied I most definitely encourage more restaurants or fast food chains to get more employees like Ms. Chloe. & also the GM Mr. Taylor

I most definitely recommend this...