Panera Bread — Restaurant in Minneapolis

They were short staffed necessitating most customers to use the kiosks to order. The staff was NOT very friendly, smiling or welcoming. We received a buzzer to notify us when our order was ready. We waited 10-15 minutes for our food and had to go up to the counter to ask for it. It had been sitting on the counter because our buzzer didn't work, therefore our food was luke warm! The beverage bar was confusing. Ice machine was not working properly and there were no cups available by the machine. When we went to leave, we bussed our own dishes to the entrance. The garbage and dish pans were over flowing, necessitating customers to leave their dirty dishes on 6-8 tables for seating. I notified the staff and the person apologized and was very apologetic. She immediately walked with me backvto the area and started cleaning it up. It appeared that they may have been short staffed.

*As a side note, my husband worked at the Panera restaurant in St. Cloud for several years within the last 5-7 years. Prior to his working there, we ate at the restaurant on a regular basis. Staff was friendly and courteous. There were many repeat customers and the food was excellent! Once the kiosks were installed, customer service dwindled. The young staff seem almost "robotic", not smiling and having limited social skills for how to interact with customers. (But this is partly due to the young age of the employees who have grown up with their nose in a cell phone, therefore not knowing how to or not being trained to provide good customer service.). This is not a problem just at this Panerai but widespread throughout the restaurant, grocery and retail business! I also realize that there is sometimes short staffing due to Covid the past few years and employees finding better paying jobs elsewhere. A side comment to the Panera company. Iam very disappointed that Panerai chose to offer a fillet chicken sandwich to their menu! That can be purchased at any fast food restaurant! 1 of the reasons we chose to eat at Panera was because they offered healthy, good tasting food, NOT FAST FOOD! The quality of the buns you use for your breakfast sandwiches and chicken sandwiches is deplorable! They are as bad as Mc Donald's soggy hamburger buns! I would think your buns could be made with the whole grain or specialty breads, That's the MAIN reason why many people choose to eat at your restaurant for the BREADS. After all, your logo is a LOAF OF BREAD! I have decided to decrease my visits to the Panerai restaurants and prefer to go elsewhere...places that provide whole grain and specialty breads, NOT white processed flour! I would welcome comments from others regarding these issues...

Panera Bread, in my experience, has consistently fallen short of its reputation and price point. Let's talk about the pricing first—it's exorbitant for what you receive. A simple sandwich and soup combo can easily set you back $15 or more, which is considerably higher than what you'd pay at other similar establishments. The quality of the food simply does not justify the price.

Speaking of quality, Panera's offerings have been consistently underwhelming. The menu boasts healthy and fresh options, but more often than not, the ingredients lack the promised freshness. The vegetables in the salads often seem limp and uninspiring, not reflective of the "crisp and vibrant" description on the menu. The sandwiches, while offering a variety of flavors, tend to lack a wow factor, with combinations that feel pedestrian at best.

Moreover, the service at Panera has been lackluster. Orders take longer than expected to be prepared, even during off-peak hours. The staff seems disinterested and sometimes even rude, making the overall dining experience far from pleasant. It's a stark contrast to the impression the chain tries to convey of a welcoming and customer-focused establishment.

The atmosphere within the restaurant often leaves much to be desired. It can be overly noisy and chaotic, making it difficult to enjoy a meal or conduct a conversation in a relaxed manner. The seating arrangements can also be cramped, making it less than ideal for a comfortable dining experience, especially during busy hours.

In conclusion, Panera Bread disappoints on multiple fronts. The prices are steep, the food doesn't live up to expectations, the service is lacking, and the overall ambiance falls short. Considering the abundant options available in the market, Panera Bread should seriously reconsider its approach to providing value for the money its...

I didn’t think a bad Panera was possible, but this really is just awful.

It’s truly rare that they are serving food at all during business hours. Daily they tape paper signs to the door with scrawled messages to the affect of “we will try to start serving breakfast around 8 or 9” or “sorry, bagels only all day because there’s only 2 of us today.” So I completely get the understaffed issue. It happens and it’s not their fault. But I’m sorry, most Panera food is pre-made and just needs to be reheated or toasted/topped. You could at least serve soup. It’s a bag you pour into a bucket. It doesn’t take 3 employees to do this.

Despite the fact that they usually don’t have food to serve, they never turn the items off on the app. They let you order all kinds of food, pay for it, then proceed take your money anyway without providing the product for which they were paid. This is a regular, normal practice here. To get around this, I’ve tried to order at the counter so I’ll know before I pay what they actually have.

When they do have food, oh-my-god is it bad. I’ve been served ice cold soup, hard, burned bread, brown apples, hard cookies, sandwiches with the meat missing, pizza with no sauce, rotten lettuce, soaking wet bread, you name it. It’s almost comical how gross it is.

For beverages, it’s unsweetened black tea ONLY. No lemonades, no flavored teas, nothing. For bakery, they are not serving standard Panera bakery items. They serve weird miniature cookies? Like, the size of coin. Not sure what these are or where they get them, but they charge the full Panera price for them. So….$3.00 for one bite of crunchy cookie like of a style and size similar to store bought chips-ahoy. It’s baffling.

I didn’t think it was possible for Panera to be this bad. I’m sorry but this is...