Panera Bread — Restaurant in Mifflin Township

I almost didn't write this review; but as someone who has only been to Panera twice before this event, I felt like I should speak up. If only I had done more.

My sister and I, with our children decided to stop at this Gahanna location while in the area. As it turns out this was a terrible choice.

I don't make it a habit to eat at Panera. As such I decided to ask the cashier, a young lady, what she would recommend.As someone who works at a restaurant, I know you would generally at the very least know one item to recommend. (A customer favorite usually) She told me she didn't even eat there so she had nothing to recommend. My sister told me what she was going to get, so I ended up ordering the same thing. The turkey, BLT sandwich. I wasn't given an option of what might come with this, but I decided to go with it and ordered a coffee, and a kids meal (mac and cheese) with an apple juice. She offered $0.99 pastries so I ordered 2. My total was a shocking $26.00. Twenty six dollars! I've ordered a meal for myself, my friend and my kid for that amount As I said, I don't normally order here but my sister said it was good.

My sister ordered after me and they proceeded to give her order before me. Which was interesting, considering we ordered almost the exact meal. No big deal though, I can be patient. Until 10 or so minutes passed after she got her order! I have a toddler so I became upset after this. I saw my order sitting on their counter, but I wasn't sure (As I said, I don't have any experience ordering here so I didn't want to just grab it) so I asked to speak to a manager.

This store absolutely needs a new manager. He obviously has no idea how to handle these types of situations. I wasn't looking into receiving anything other than an apology. Which I obviously didn't get. The manager made excuses like this location has a new GM, that they have high school kids who work there, etc. Never once offered an apology or that they would do their best to work on it. I left feeling disappointed and now I wish I had demanded a refund.

I didn't make a habit of going to Panera and I most certainly won't be returning and I definitely will be advising people against it. And I will be pursuing talking to corporate about this location. As a Mom, it was so frustrating to see my nephew eating while my three year old is saying, "Momma eat?" I ordered before my sister, there wasn't any reason for at the VERY LEAST my toddler's meal to come out quickly.

Very disappointing. You would think for a chain style place to eat, to expect a customer to pay $26.00 (honestly a rip off. ), the customer service should at least be passable. And anyone employed there should at least know how to do their job?

As I said, I will NOT...

This review has been a long time in coming. I've honestly never written a bad review in my life so this is kind of weird for me but for the sake of posterity it needs to be done. This Panera needs help. Like, big help. I've worked in customer service most of my adult life and I've had too many sketchy experiences here to be able to just write it off as a fluke. I don't know if training is an issue or what, but the checkout process is almost always weird. No one seems terribly excited to take my order. And then I'm either not asked for my My Panera card, treated like I'm annoying, or an extreme cases part of my order is forgotten. Granted, this isn't every time. But it's far too frequent to simply be a problem with just one employee; my guess is that it's a store culture thing.

Probably the weirdest thing I witnessed here was the Panera closing down in the middle of the day...for no apparent reason. It was confusing people because customers were still trying to come in but they were told the Panera was closed. People, including myself, who were still inside and were allowed to stay...but yeah, weird. I never was able to figure out what was going on, and the reason for the closing wasn't listed on the doors. So strange.

Also, I'm not sure why but when I order a pastry item to-go, it's not unusual for them to simply throw the item in a take-out bag without putting it first in a take-out box or even wrapping it in a wax paper sheet. It's not like it ruins the item, it just seems kind of unsanitary. My online orders are also always wrong; whether it's forgetting the dressing for a salad, the baguette, or ignoring the special instructions. Admittedly, every time I've brought something to their attention they've fixed it; it's just not very convenient to have to double check and follow up on every order I place to make sure it isn't messed up and that I get everything I paid for. It's also not unusual to order an item to-go and not receive any napkins or utensils in the bag. They also run out of things a lot...but who knows? This could just be an issue up the supply chain.

But yeah, corporate, if there is any way for you to intervene and just help the folks here step it up a notch, that would be awesome. Not all the workers here are doing a bad job (for instance, I've had some absolutely AMAZING Frozen Caramels here - they were delicious and extremely well made) but I think everyone would be happier if this place just got better. I'm giving 2 stars instead of 1 simply for the employee(s) who are responsible for the wonderful frozen caramels. They don't deserve 1 star and I feel bad even having to give this restaurant a 2. It just really needs help.

Thanks for reading to the end of this...

i had placed a rapid pick up order at my local panera (mind you that i've personally worked at in the past and know the proper customer service and help process) and had an absolutely terrible experience with the man I assume is the manager, James. I received the email that my order was ready but didnt find it on any shelves so i stood by the counter where orders are being made and James then gives me an extremely annoyed look and says Name? in a very bad tone. I told him my name and immediately without skipping a beat he goes there is no order by that name which immediately confused me since i had gotten the verification on email that it was ready. He offers absolutely no assistance or help in figuring out the issue and just cuts me off multiple times and gaslights me about my order ever existing?! I tried everything to show him proof i had ordered, had my order number, confirmation it was that location and he wouldnt even look at me let alone listen just kept saying if its not in his system he cannot fulfill which put me in an extremely awkward position as I had literally spent money for my dinner and was basically being pushed out! Turns out they gave it away in another order, only reason we found out is because another younger employee looked at orders they closed out and saw it there and mentioned that he had in fact made it and put it in a pile next to james insinuating james most likely packed it with a different order and younger employee immediately offers to remake it for me whist james is basically yelling at this kid trying to put the blame on him and saying the sandwich was never next to him. at the end of it all james didnt even apologize, and just had an incredibly dirty look on his face towards me. Got the sandwich remake and james didnt have a single word to say to me, walking out the two ladies behind me stopped me and exclaimed how rude they noticed he was to me!! Absolutely unacceptable behavior from a manager. Do better james your attitude was so...