Panera Bread — Restaurant in Memphis

Food is good but inconsistent & sparse for the price. I loved the chicken noodle soup once but 2nd time it was just liquid w/ almost no chicken or veggies. Sandwiches I have tried are excellent, but have only tried a limited few because of very high price--and then I order HALF sandwich only. I only order them when I have a discount coupon on my phone app. They have reduced $2 discount coupon to $1, so I don't order as often. I would love to try their chicken sandwich or baguette sandwiches, but they generally run over $13 before tax, so I have yet to try them. Tax in Memphis is 9.75%, so $15 is more than I can spend for a lunch sandwich. I love their MONTHLY SIP CLUB, which allows me to come in daily, sign in at the kiosk or at the front register with Mr Craig, & get my coffee from coffee station or cold soda at the fountain. That said, on the days Mr Craig is off, or after he leaves for the day, the coffee & creamers are not well monitored. You will find 1 or 2 of their 4 coffee urns totally out, or the coffee has been there so long it has turned cold or bitter. I'm not a picky coffee drinker. If dark coffee is out, I'll try light coffee. Or even hazelnut. But I sometimes find them very weak or watered down. I think the newer employees are not trained in making the coffee, so one variety or more will be either too weak or too strong, but generally too weak. If it's too weak, I have to pour it out & try another variety of the 4. (Dark, light, hazelnut, or decaf.) Creamer pitchers are not well monitored either, so they're frequently out. I prefer a little cream in my coffee; don't care for black coffee. If there's no cream, I'd rather just drink a cold soda from the soda fountain. I only tried their SUPER-CHARGED LEMONADE drink once. There are 3 flavors. I tried the mango-whatever. It was WAY too sweet for me. I didn't have a problem with all the caffeine because it was so sweet, I couldn't drink it. If I try again, I'll get the large cup & fill with ice & 2 inches of water before they put the drink in. (My particular restaurant has kept those drinks behind the register from early on. It was more an issue with people stealing drinks than it was trying to limit customers' caffeine intake.) That would dilute it to a tolerable sweetness for me, while at the same time lessening the caffeine I'm getting from the "supercharged lemonade" drink. BAGELS are good but I have a problem with them calling it an Asiago bagel or cinnamon crunch bagel because those are NOT actually bagels. Call it a "roll" or some other name. THOSE ARE NOT BAGELS. Some days they are sold out of bagels by 10am. I don't know if they make fewer bagels on some days, but that seems awfully early to be out for the day. They do run half-off a dozen bagels on TUESDAY ONLY, so it makes sense if they sell out early on Tuesdays but not on other days. They are across street from a large church, so the church crowd will cause them to run low or out of bagels & pastries on Sundays. They are around the corner from public high school & private girls schools, so for a couple of weeks at exam time, you won't find a seat in the place because it's packed with high school students. RESTROOMS: ladies room needs attention on stall doors. Small stall needs door REVERSED so it opens OUT. Otherwise you can barely open door to get in or out of the stall. Larger stall needs lock hardware adjusted or replaced because it doesn't stay in closed position so someone will open door on you. START TOILET PAPER before placing in dispenser. SCENT things need to be removed. Covering up bathroom odors with worse odors is not helpful. A couple of the scents aren't bad but most are so overpowering they almost make you nauseous. PHONE APP: They are running a promo for entire month of January. $1 for cup of soup if ordered on the app with another entree item. I got it to work ONCE & then it took me hours to figure it out. Since then it always says invalid promo code. Code is the word soup, so it's simple, but it's no longer working. REACHED...

This particular Panera Bread in Laurelwood Shopping Center off Poplar Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee has gone down hill quite a bit during the past 13months or so, in my opinion. I have had both the pick-up/carry out and dine-in experiences at every single Panera Bread in and near Memphis (as well as many other Panera Bread locations around the USA). I appreciate the concept of Panera Bread and many of their menu options are tasty to me. Having put in my time, money, and taste buds into this resturant chain for many, many years now, I have been most frequently disappointed with the product/output, service, and indoor lack of cleanliness at this location. There were several months in which I did not show up at this Laurelwood location because the service and meal prep quality was so poor (examples: receiving something totally different than what I ordered, having half of what I ordered not having been prepared correctly, having pieces of plastic in the food I ordered, a variety of salads I ordered on completely different days- only receiving half the salad or the produce in the salad was not edible, knowing that I spoke up clearly about the specific side item I wanted in front of the cashier and I did not even receive what it was that I requested, etc). Much of the time there is a mess inside this location (the bathroom is a disaster, silverware given by the restaurant was not washed & rinsed accurately aka dried on food or soap spots, a few placed have had splits not quite attended to around the resturant, the coffee bar machines are covered with fingerprints and creamer, there are wrappers and napkins on many tables and floor locations, etc). Regardless of the day of the week or the time of day or night I show up to this specific Panera Bread location I'm almost always leaving upset. The past 2 times I have eaten at this location my experience has barely been okay... I feel it's my best decision not to return to this location for myself. However, I do recommend eating at other Panera Bread locations in or near...

My experience with the Panera Bread store within the Laurelwood Shopping center on this past Sunday was egregious. I made an order via my Panera Bread app for an order pick-up. I arrived at the store twelve minutes after ordering, and since I was on the phone, I waited to finish my call prior to walking into the store. After finishing my call around five minutes after 4, I walked to one of the entrances to find that it was locked. A sign on the door noted that the store would be closing early for Super Bowl Sunday. A staff member cleaning the beverage station saw me and continued to clean. A family located two feet away from the door stared at me and made no movement as I looked into the store, hoping someone would open the door for me. After about five minutes, a woman seated with the family near the door got up and opened the door, telling me that the store was closing for the night. I expressed that I had already ordered and paid for my food, and I had come to pick it up. Once at the pick-up shelf, I heard an employee say to another, "Didn't you lock the doors?" Hearing this infuriated me because it seemed that such a stream of dialogue was spurred because I had the audacity to come pick up my food, despite being unaware of the early closing (because it was not noted on the app). If I didn't know any better, I would think that the employees had already settled amongst themselves who would be taking home my food. Otherwise, I don't understand why anyone would be surprised that I would manage to get into the restaurant to pick-up my...