Panera Bread — Restaurant in Kelso

UPDATE ON MY REVIEW BELOW: Visited the store in person to try and get a refund for the first purchase they said they never received. Spoke to a manager and he said that they, in fact, DID make the first order and that I could not get refunded because they had to throw away the food. I explained it that was not the story I was told when I came to pick up that order and that it was their mistake and they need to be accountable for that. I had to pay a second time to order the food again. I had proof of both orders on my credit card. The manager still did not budge. I was floored. As far as I’m concerned Panera Kelso has stolen $80 from me. If you enjoy having money stolen from you, this is the place for you. Will be pursuing a chargeback.

INITIAL REVIEW: Love the Panera franchise, and have had generally good experiences with the chain at large, but this particular location has proven they are inept time after time. If it is not outright forgetting ingredients (like chicken on a salad, which is an add-on ), it is absurdly long wait times or questionable quality of food. We have had issues with each of these things. I see other reviews show I am not alone in that experience.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was this weekend. We placed an online order on Saturday night for pickup on Sunday. We were hosting meals for Mother’s Day. I went to pick up the food and, lo and behold, they never received the order and had no record of it. We were actually concerned about this because we never got an order confirmation sent to our email. I straightened my back a little bit and just re-ordered everything in-store. 30-45 minutes of waiting later, I head home with the food (minus fruit cups because they didn’t have the ingredients - LOL).

Today I look at my card’s app and discover that I was charged for BOTH orders. What was supposed to be a quick food run in order to spend some time with my mom on Mother’s Day became a huge outing that I paid twice for the pleasure of participating in. No idea how I’m going to go about fixing this, but they’ll be hearing from me....

My first time at Panera bread. Personally, I am more of a Texas Bar-b-que type, but I thought I'd give it a shot since my wife was along and I thought she might love the mostly carb menu. It was a very charming place upon walking through the door. Kind of a Starbuck's feel. I was kindly surprised to find cherry danish, cinnamon rolls, etc. They even had breakfast sandwiches....unfortunately, I actually had breakfast at home. But...I had to try. I ordered the c. roll and an orange juice in a plastic bottle. It looked a tad dry. The girl at the register asked if I wanted butter on it and toasted. I said yes. She then tells me that the microwave is on the island. it was 6 inches off the floor and all the directions were in French. there was no butter. *I went back and she said the butter is down the hall....which it was.....all the way down the hall. I was wandering around in disbelief when she was gracious enough to take me there. I applied my butter and squatted down to put my plate in the microwave. The plate was too big. I took my roll off the plate with one hand and used my napkin for the roll in the microwave. My napkin was dirty from the last guy to put one in there but I shined it on.....My wife had the coffee and I was halfway finished with my sweet roll by the time she got her bagel from in back. It was toasted with cream cheese spread that came in a plastic container and she had to spread it herself. The tables were not bussed around me even tho some of the employees were talking to each other. For that I paid 13 dollars. I wanted to do a Bill Burr imitation and ask them if they knew me....then I would have replied, "Do you know me? No? That's because I don't work here!" But I let it go....

We really like the food but the only good service is at the front desk. Where you pick up the food…no one acknowledges you! You’re on your own to figure out if that’s your order. The little pager goes off but when you go to pick it up to take to your table, if there’s lots of plates there you have to study the plates to see which is yours. The Atmosphere is Very Noisy! The last time we went there was Thursday 8/22 and the atmosphere was incredibly horrifying as screams came from the Men’s Bathroom for about 15 minutes straight! A mom standing outside the bathroom said her husband was in there with her young son and that the child was having a tantrum! But it didn’t sound like anger but instead fear!! Not one Panera staff person went to check it out! I was the only person that asked her if she was worried!! In retrospect I should have called 911! But now I’m left traumatized by the whole event. Customers were moving away from that area to get away from the screams and crying! Because I didn’t go racing into that bathroom to demand whatever was happening to stop, I will forever feel I didn’t do enough! But the mother ultimately should have done more to try to help her young son! I hope she is being haunted by this experience as I am now! My inaction along with her INACTION to protect her son and the Panera staff ignoring it means we are all guilty of not being the voice of...