Panera Bread — Restaurant in Lake City

Food never disappointing, good portions great flavor even if it's packaged in a bag pepple!people! Service was terrible our "server" did not great us or answer any of our questions, took our order made us pay and wanted gratuity before we were even served!! We waited for our drinks to findout that we had to fix them ourselves (first time dining in usually drive-thru). We find a table that we had to clean, I guess the person before us didn't tip. Waited for our food. Here comes the se ond star... one human with an apron appeared with 3 muffins I had order to go I forgot to mention I did ask her to pack them to go. We Wait longer when I faintly hear my name being yelled. The entire place is dead you hear the humming of all the equipment and footsteps of the patrons to this 80% self service establishment. Back to my name so I hear my name again, I tell my daughter that must meat they are done heating up our soups and assembling our sandwiches!! We walked toward the direction of where the voice came when alas!!! We found our food!!! Success!! We proceeded to each grab our meals to deliver them to our hungry (customers) selves. Not going to lie, yummy! Whoever came up with the recipe for the squash soup BRAVO it's outstanding!! We were finish and our server whom we had already tipped not once asked if everything was OK or if we needed a refill or to pre bus the table. When in Rome... as we sit in that cold depressed place we notice other people getting up and placing their plates and utensils in bins by the trash can so we did as the Romans.

Our server that took the order was me entering everything into a tablet. I tipped because I worked at a restaurant before and I understand, but come on!! The least you could do when we pay part of your check is clean the tables and smile. We work just as hard as you do sometimes even more and to me at least taking one of my kids out to eat and spend $30 on the 2 of us is not easy. I could've fed my entire family of 7 dinner. So Panera if you want us to tip for service a give us actual service otherwise pay them enough to where they don't depend on tips! Fix the atmosphere the buzzing from all the equipment is terrible. Put a sign or something that states that PANERA IS MOSTLY SELF-SERVICE honestly all you need to do us put the soup like athe grocery store and a microwave.

By the way you still owe me the avocado and egg from my sandwich. I went and asked for it as instructed but was avocado and egg denied,...

We were having a "challenging" family ride north bound from a vacation and stopped by this Panera mid afternoon. We've been to plenty of Paneras before but this one stood out by the way we were greeted by a friendly employee named Daryl.

Usually I bristle when strangers are overly communicative with my young children but they seemed to really respond to Daryl's kindness. I'm not sure what his duties were as an employee but his eagerness to help us with three overtired and overstimulated children was very helpful. He was accommodating to our needs as they arose while dining in; when kids made a mess, he helped us to stem the tide of messes and refill our drinks so that we didn't have to leave our table.

When we were leaving, he bid us a kind goodby and reminded us that we are fortunate to have such wonderful children and a beautiful family. It really helped us to stop amongst the chaos of traveling with children and reframe our hearts and minds around the moment.

Daryl really made an important impact on a hectic but precious vacation. We really appreciate people like him that can drive a positive attitude until it rubs off on others to make their day more positive too. He actually came outside and gave some much needed words of affirmation and support which genuinely felt like he was a messenger from the Universe helping us navigate a tough moment in parenting.

I have tried many times over the past three weeks to connect with the management at this Panera at various times of the day when they shouldn't be busy to communicate our appreciation to Daryl but no one has picked up. Hopefully this makes it to Daryl and he receives the well deserved...

Worst Panera.. I eat at a Panera once a week. (obviously not this one, often.) Since opening, the few times I have decided to enjoy, I have had a less than subpar experience. They are always out of half of the soup on the menu. You don't learn or any outage until after you've ordered. I have never received a smile or a happy interaction. They will be out of baguettes that are supposed to come with your meal (or the option of an apple or chips.) Instead of being honest, they just don't ask you at all to not give you a part of what you're paying for. In tonight's example... When you kindly ask well are we going to get the option of apples, chips, or break. You receive a rude response stating how they're out of bread. "Oh okay, that's fine ma'am. May I get apples then?" "I actually never asked so you can get what we have".. "oh okay, well can I speak to your manager since this is what I'm paying $22 for?" "Lucky for you, you were getting apples." As the window slams in my face. I'm a firm believer only angry people leave reviews or those who are asked for them. As someone in customer service who deals with asking for honest reviews or handling those who are upset, the franchise should be ashamed of such a poorly ran, managed, and unprofessional environment. To learn, the dialogue exchanged above was actually with a manager makes my opinion even more valid. It makes me sad to know of a restaurant I longed for in my little town is such a unpleasant...