Panera Bread — Restaurant in Maryland

Had a very UNsatisfactory visit to this restaurant today. In fact, the ONLY positive about my visit was the girl who took my order. Her name was Casey. I'd give her 5 stars.. but only her. She was welcoming, friendly, and quick. After ordering, we made our way to the pick up counter. Got our drinks and waited. I found the employees behind the counter who were putting food together to be very task oriented, and not so much customer oriented. They didn't really seem aware of anyone else there, nor did they seem to care. One employee in particular, Sarah, I found to be especially rude. I know the restaurant was busy, but she was at times throwing the dishes up on and across the counter, often making the baguettes slide off the plates (and of course she didn't notice -or didn't care). At one time, a supervisor had to tell the employees to replace one of the baguettes that was half off of the plate, and resting on the counter - due to Sarah's aggressive toss of the platter. WASTEFUL. So I get our food and go to our table. I ordered a bowl of soup and 1/2 a panini. Upon beginning to eat, I found my panini to not only be on the cold side, but one side of the bred was SOGGY. Ugh. I walked back up to the counter and had to "excuse me" twice before anyone would look at me. Sarah did. I asked her if she could remake my panini, as it was soggy (and showed her the sandwich). She looked less than thrilled. NO "I'm so sorry, let me remake that for you.. just a minute".. nope.. the response I got was a look as if I was crazy, and "Well could you throw that away mam, because I can't." Ok.... so I throw it away, THINKING she was going to have another one made right away.. one would assume, right? NOPE! I stood there AT LEAST 5 minutes, waiting for a new sandwich to be made. I saw many other orders going out.. fast.. however, not my REPLACEMENT. Finally, after just being totally irritated, I speak up and ask, "Are you remaking my sandwich?" As this question, Sarah looks at me with a totally puzzled look on her face. She has COMPLETELY forgotten. I had to remind her about her telling me to throw it away... Ahh.. the lightbulb goes on.. I make a comment that obviously my satisfaction was not a priority to them.. and at that point another worker apologizes to me (in a rush, not even giving me eye contact) and quickly says they are very busy.. yeah.. I get that. My time is valuable too. So Sarah goes to redo my sandwich. When it finally is done, she plates it and puts it on the counter.. not even acknowledging to me that it's mine and ready.. no apology from her for making me wait even longer.. nope.. nothing. Another worker has to tell me it's mine.

I get that the restaurant is busy, and that the kitchen is loaded with orders, but a simple bit of friendliness would go a long way. I was at another restaurant the night prior and they totally made the wrong pizza for us. Was I mad? NO.. Why? Because they were friendly about it. Acknowledged the mistake and corrected it... in a FRIENDLY manner.. Something that the kitchen staff at this Panera could...

The dirtiest Panera I have EVER been in. The smell will hit you as soon as you hit the door. A large amount of the tables were FILTHY! I walked around the entire restaurant looking. Crumbs and trash on the tables AND the floor. It just looked really hectic in there. I finally found a table that I wiped myself, I used hand sanitizer and napkins (the few napkins they did have available). A gentleman came and half wiped a few of the tables. He was the only one I saw attempting to clean (attempt is a STRONG word cause he barely put any elbow into it).

I don't know the rules on soliciting in the shoppinng center but there was also woman walking around with a baby and a young girl hassling people for money. It was very intrusive (I understand everyone may have different struggles, but they were WALKING UP TO PEOPLE who were eating at their tables). She was even questioning one gentleman as to why he was not giving her the $20 that she saw in his wallet. They were also in the outdoor seating area walking up on people.

The drink station was dirty, there were also items they were out of, like butter and mayo (2 items you would think would be available). The bathroom was even crazy! The outdoor area had a table with plates stacked up and no one went to address it.

I will NEVER go back to this location. A friend of mine said they renovated, WHERE?! I went in a great mood to be productive, but I was honestly so disgusted I barely got any work done. I'm mad I wasted my money...

I witnessed a disturbing conflict between a night manager and a front register worker. The manager was overly aggressive and belittling his teenage worker in front of customers without having a clear understanding of the poor customer service provided by workers who makes the food. The customer who had the issues ended up leaving without buying anything. The front register work had to ask the back workers to make the food for this lady who had been waiting for 15mins. While witnessing the workers in the back goofing off and not starting the process of making her food. The manager comes to the front trying to assist the customer who thoroughly explained her frustration with the people who makes the food. But instead of handling the issues in a better setting, he lashed out in a unprofessional manner on the front register worker. Definitely would not allow my teenaged child to work for a manager who does not know how to communicate effectively to younger children without belittling them. Or someone who does not know how to properly handle conflict within...