Panera Bread — Restaurant in Maine Township

I think last night will be the last time I will eat at the Park Ridge location. First the menu is so limited, it looks like they are cutting back on options. I arrived at 4:30 and waited for a booth in back which I found quickly. When my friend arrived we were having a nice conversation until a group of 4 unattended very loud children under the age of 5 sat near us. When the adult arrived about 20 minutes later she moved them over to a larger table even closer to us at which time we moved up to the front so we could hear each other talk. We then found another table up front there was another table with several very noisy children who were also allowed to fun free. We felt like we were in one of the other fast food chains that cater to children's parties. When we went to order there was only one person taking orders with a line. Because of some food allergies I ordered a sandwich made on a bagel with turkey, lettuce and tomato only, I was charged around eight dollars. When my plate arrived I had two bagel sandwiches. The server said he checked to make sure it was correct because he was also baffled by this. I guess they adjusted the order to the price they charged cause it was not their menu. They should have just sent one bagel with the same amount of meat that was on both because I felt like I was just eating a bagel with lettuce and tomato. Not to mention the bagel was very hard, they must only make bagels early in the morn and leave them out all day. I have dined at other locations where the manager stops by to ask how everything is, but have never experienced that at the Park Ridge location. Having been a loyal Panera customer for years it is sad to say it may be time to move on to another...

We went at 7pm. Placed our orders. At pickup were informed they were out of bread. If you eat Panera soup you want the bread. They did offer us a muffin as an alternative of which they had 2 flavors only. But better than chips or an apple. We were not the only customers who were disappointed with the bread alternatives. On our way out I noticed 2 full loaves of chibatta bread that would have been a better solution for them to slice and offer. I do understand that Panera runs low or out of baked goods in the evening but their bread is a staple side order. The dining area was not clean, only one station had napkins stocked, the floors were filthy so we decided to get the order to go. The tomato soup was very spicy and this is a soup we always get. My aunt could not eat it. I ordered the chicken teriyaki bowl and the chicken was so chewy and unnatural that I picked it all out and just ate the grains and broccoli. This has always been a popular location and we were dismayed by the whole experience and disturbed by the uncleanness of the restaurant. I do want to say that while the whole experience was generally awful the employees were friendly and tried to offer a solution to the absence of bread and perhaps didn't yet consider the chibatta loaves. If we had ate there instead of deciding to leave I believe they would have helped rectify the bad quality of both meals. We also bought an Asiago cheese loaf that ended up being stale. We've never gotten stale anything before. I'm going to chalk this up to a bad night and hope the quality and cleanliness goes back to the...

I found hair in my sandwich then complained and asked for a free item for the trouble and after getting a free cookie, there was not only one, but SEVERAL PIECES OF HAIR on the cookie. NONE of the workers (almost all male) wear hairnets and probably not even gloves either. Also, my friend had requested several to go boxes for her food and didn’t use them, so we left them on the table because there was no room in the garbage to toss them. When we tried to leave, the worker said to us word for word: “Hey Ladies! You left a mess back here, how about you come back and clean up for yourselves, because I’m not cleaning this up for you!” This was the same worker that told several middle schoolers to “get out” because they were taking too long to order. As someone who also works in customer service, this is no way to treat customers and not an outlet to channel your anger. After seeing the several other reviews of this Panera location, I think it’s time for a health...