Panera Bread — Restaurant in Livermore

Update: 02.05.24 Went to get bagels mid-afternoon. Ended up getting bagels & pastries. And two cups of coffee! 😄 Employee assisting me was very pleasant & polite. Went to wash my hands before ordering, surprised that no one was there. I saw several guests coming in for pick-up orders, bags were on the take-out shelf ready - very convenient. We like the light roast coffee the best, although several varieties available. This Panera has a relaxed, chill atmosphere.

Update: 01.06.24 Stopped by for a quick lunch with friends. Ordered the Mediterranean bowl with extra produce. Cucumbers were so incredibly thinly sliced they were limp. We have noted that there's a lot less food in each serving since inflation has hit hard & prices have gone up. These cucumbers looked like they were freezer burned, kept unrefrigerated, or so old they were rotting though, not just much more thinly sliced. None of those scenarios are appetizing, nor potentially safe. I'd wanted extra cucs, but had to throw away most of what I got. See photos.

Update: 11.6.23 Had late lunch yesterday, ordered the usual & was disappointed in the Mediterranean Bowl as it had only the slightest sprinkle of quinoa rather than the scoop I'm used to having. Had no dressing on it, though I ordered lemon vinaigrette. Baguette was too hard to tear off a piece, felt like it would've kept my big dog busy chewing for a while!

Saw the new signs by the beverages, essentially warning people to be careful with the high caffeine, "charged' lemonades. They are now behind the counter probably to prevent kids from getting hold of them. Our family talked about this about a month ago when we saw kids refilling these high caffeine drinks repeatedly. Certainly Panera is now aware of the allegations that these charged lemonades resulted in the death of a young woman who had a pre-existing heart condition. Maybe Panera does not want to discontinue it because it's probably a good seller since some people love to be wired, and pulling the drinks after this allegation would probably be construed as an acknowledgment that these lemonades are not healthy and could potentially cause illness or death. "Better safe than sorry" in this situation, and we hope that Panera pulls these beverages for good and in their place substitutes several decaffeinated drinks that pose little threat. There will always be someone saying, "Look at all the sugar in that - so dangerous for diabetics!" but there's plenty of sugar at Panera over by the sweets counter, and certainly at nearly every restaurant as well. Restaurants shouldn't have to police their guests, nor should they knowingly serve anything that could cause harm, so we'd support a decision to lose these "charged" drinks now, to preclude Panera being potentially 'charged' with knowingly continuing to serve anything to guests that could endanger their health. That just seems like common sense to us. We enjoy our local Panera most of the time, and hope that this matter is resolved soon. We feel badly for the family of the woman who died - what a tragedy.

Really excellent experience at this location today, with slight exception that salad was made with the wrong dressing. That was corrected quickly when we mentioned it to an employee. Portion size was generous, veggies were fresh, salad dressings always awesome. Indoor & outdoor seating available. Takes were very clean, chairs, too. Several people sipping drinks while using WiFi. There's a dedicated meeting room in the back for a small group to convene , which is nice. We felt that having 3 high caffeine content lemonades took away from the healthy aspect of choosing fresh lemonade...saw kids getting these high caffeine drinks, hate to think of how their (& their family's) evening is going to go now! For folks who live on monster drinks & caffeinated coffee, we get it, but 1-2 is sufficient and we'd have appreciated more decaf options, especially since we were there later in the day. Overall, food was delicious & ready very quickly, atmosphere was very comfortable, employees polite...

Panera's food is okay - it's nothing to swoon over or go out of my way for. For a chain, the quality is not as good as the defunct Specialty's, but on par with Corner Bakery. The wares are priced appropriately. This is fine though because it meets my general expectations for retail chain restaurants - consistent, average food, served fast, and moderately priced. I'm part of the "Unlimited Sip Club" - so my standard routine is to order a refill online, walk in, top off, leave, and say nothing. Strictly transactional. Because of how I use Panera, I probably wouldn't have even posted anything; but in light of my recent, spectacularly awful experience with a surly barista at the Starbucks on North Livermore and Portola, I felt I should write something.

I walk in this morning for my refill, and the dark coffee dispenser was being refilled. So I try the Hazelnut instead, but it was on its last dregs. The Panera employee who was working the floor saw that and asked if it was out; I said yes, and he was very apologetic about it and said he'd have it refilled shortly. As I was waiting for the carafe to be refilled, he came back out and asked for my travel mug to top it off directly at the brewing station.

I was just super pleased by this. I wasn't being intrusive - I was just staring at my phone and waiting for my drink - but the Panera employee saw that and just wanted to rectify the situation. Here's someone who cared about the quality of his work and was just providing fantastic...

I placed a catering order well in advance of the scheduled pick-up time. Upon arrival, I gave my name and was told someone would be right with me. Someone came right up and asked for the name again. I was told they would look for the order. About five minutes passed, and I could tell they were frantically looking all over the place. Finally, someone came and grabbed me and wanted my name again. I followed them to their computer as to not have to go through more wasted time. At first, the lady helping said there was no order. I pulled the confirmation up on my phone and showed her. She looked some more in her system and found it. After some discussion with her coworkers, she realized they missed the order. This was a $500 catering order. It should have not have been missed.

A Gentleman came up to me at this point and admitted to missing the order. He said they would make it and deliver it, but it would be an hour. I had scheduled pick-up for 11:30 am to arrive to my clients office at noon.

The miss on their part was an embarrassment for me, but I agreed to their solution. There was no where else for me to go at this point. He also said I would receive a discount on the order which was never fulfilled.

In the last three months, I've spent $5,000 at Panera on Catering. In writing to their customer service, I was offered two $10 certificates for the inconvenience. I now do all my ordering from...