Panera Bread — Restaurant in Lakewood

Normally I love panera. It is one of my favorite restaurants. I order from this one all the time because it's the closest location to me but I have decided to start going to the Tacoma mall location instead. As far as the food goes this location is never consistent . I almost always get a green goddess salad. They never make the dressing the same, it's like sometimes they forget to add ingredients and it's so thick, has no flavor and won't run out of the little containers..its more of a plop. Kind of gross. They also aren't consistent with their measurements. A part of the reason a lot of us eat at panera is because we are counting calories. I always ask for extra dressing because sometimes those little cups are full and other times they are barely a quarter full. This location is also consistently out of ingredients. It tends to be the same things almost every day. When you notice that you go through a certain amount daily, perhaps you should keep more on hand. The worst thing that deterred me from this location, and this is about a year ago, was the way I witnessed them treating an employee. I brought my family who was visiting from out of town to dine in. I visit this location almost daily so I've started to recognize some of the staff and their roles in the resturant. The resturant manager and another woman appearing to be from corporate were reprimanding an employee in the middle of the dining room where us and surrounding guests could hear. From what I gathered the employee is one of the lower people on the totem pole. Every time I'm in the resturant he is working. I've never seen him standing around. He is constantly asking people if they need help, cleaning, etc. He was being accused of coming to work too early. It appears as if the kitchen staff find him annoying, so in turn they had told management that he said obscene things to them. I've had conversations with this employee before. He is one of the nicest employees in this establishment and I don't believe he said a word of what they were accusing him of. He begged and pleaded that they believe him when he said he would never say anything like that to anyone. I believe him. When he was accused of saying these things he all but burst into tears. They continuously bashed him and talked down to him like a child. The severity of what they were accusing him of was very minimal yet they continued to scold him until he looked as if he was ready to cry. I don't care what he did or didn't do. Management had no right to treat him that way, especially not in front of the entire resturant. It was unprofessional and unfair. They actually said that other than coming to work early (which used to be a good thing) the only proof they had of any other wrong doing was some of the kitchen staffs word against his. I've heard the kitchen staff swearing, and goofing off on multiple occasions, yet I've never seen this employee act unprofessional in any way. What really got me was after they yelled at him for 20 straight minutes, told him they were taking two days work away from him, and sent him home, the managers who did this proceeded to sit in the dining room and make fun of him after he left. It was disgraceful and I think this employee needs to be compensated for being verbally harassed at work and in front of customers. This was at 3:00pm on Wednesday Sept. 13th 2017 at the location in Lakewood, Washington on Lakewood Towne Center Blvd. It's hard to support a place that treats their employees this way. Everyone is just trying to make a living. How many zeros that are in corporates bank account should not be what matters, the employees and their quality of life is what should matter. I hope for his sake he finds employment elsewhere where he isn't treated like a piece of trash. I sent these concerns to multiple different emails and forms from Paneras website over the last year and have yet to get a response so I decided it was time to...

I did not dine-in at this restaraunt. As a side job, I participated in Doordash, and have picked up orders from here. The staff are excellent and very considerate. The outlay of the dining section is honestly obnoxious in the sense of footpath and tight spaces. The wall designed to divide between the customers and the staff feels very unintuitive and confusing, and leads to the possibility of having to wait or speak loud enough for an employee to hear. Thoughthis has only happened once, it is clear it can be a common issue, as I witnessed a customer before me do the same thing. The atmosphere overall feels very home-made, but lacks any perceived human-touch or soul. It feels like a stereotypical grandmother's home, without the grandmother.

I ordered my food through Doordash, and as someone who has delivered for the service before, I can guarantee on this particular order, time was not a factor in the quality of my food, as it was delivered with speed. Doordash prices are inflated simply because the establishment owner can do this, but that's not at the fault of the store itself, as prices inside are slightly cheaper.

I had a pepperoni mozzarella melt. The pepperoni and the cheese tasted average, which is what you would expect of basic ingredients, but the bread in which seems to have garnered fame over the years, failed to impress me. The sandwich was construction cannot be a fault, as it was an inherently simple sandwich to begin with. However the bread became a chore to consume. Upon examining the bread, I noticed the crust was hard. Which is exactly what you expect when you get fresh bread! I was delighted by this first impression. The inside was soft. But what I cannot seem to understand about this bread, is it became incredibly difficult to rip apart with each bite. Though one could explain this with the customer's ability to eat a sandwich, but you the reader will have to trust my abilities to bite bread. This bread, I'm telling you, would have been easier to bite through if I sharpened my teeth with 800 grit sandpaper. But, this aside, the sandwich itself was average all around. I would have a better time eating at a convenience store and saving the extra money. This is not a dig at staff, or the owner, but is a comment on the quality of bread I received as a customer. I wish you all a wonderful holiday.

I also had a chocolate chip cookie, which was good. And a blended mocha, which honestly lacked any edge in comparison to other places that serve coffee.

Overall, this place isn't bad, but does not reach my favorites in...

Food was not ready on time and not properly placed on the pick up shelf. They left it sitting, not even properly bagged and ready for me to pick up. While I was waiting, the appears to be “manager” acknowledged me and said he would be right with me while he was completing an order for himself at the register, behind the counter.

I had to get a scone from the bakery and as I was paying, I asked the clerk if she could also bring me my pick up order and showed her the details. She seemed to not know anything about pick up procedures and didn’t have a clue on what to say until I asked if I should check the shelf again.

I checked again and it still wasn’t there. I had to ask one of the staff from the kitchen about my order. There it was, not ready for me to leave with and he apologized for my wait. I got to the point, I decided to dine outside and try to enjoy my food for a better experience.

The universe strikes again, their non- handicap delivery tech for inventory orders pulls forward and parks in a handicap spot and started unloading Panera’s inventory order. He then started wheeling it around and going in between his large van and an authorized handicap vehicle, scratching it!!! He ended up going back around going around the opposite direction and was able to get around to the entrance, then he almost completely tips everything over on the dolly. He caught it in time though.

On his way out, he’s about to pull off before he sees a woman in a crop top and he honks inappropriately at her and starts grinning. This is when I went back inside to let a manager know about what I had witnessed, hoping it would help prevent any future similar situations.

As I made my way back out to the parking lot, I witnessed a potential domestic violence situation between a possible Father and his daughter, who appear to be around ages 13-16. He was aggressively forcing her into his vehicle as she was screaming “get off of me” several times. Today was not a good day to come to Panera bread, or even leave my...