Panera Bread — Restaurant in Mobile

Update here 021423: some months ago I had a very unpleasant experience here. Very rude young ladies, one of which may be a manager and she threatened to throw my food away that happened to be sitting a moment on table waiting for me to get my coffee to drink. She blatantly told me that she was just about to throw my mess away!, my food which I had paid for, but with a very unpleasant manner in her voice. I then heard some of the other ladies there laughing about it saying my items looked like a "train wreck". Nonsense. I've not gone back there since and don't really plan to. This may be the only location here with this type problem. It's also possible it has been corrected by now but Panera will have to let me know. I'm not checking in with them. I found the experience to be disgusting. Who would hire people like this? Before this they had such nice acting people here. I don't know that I ever had done anything wrong here. (BTW, the food was overpriced in many cases, IMO.) I think I took an extra cup of coffee with me once because it tasted good that day. Didn't know that was an offense, just a refill. Another time I took a cup of ice? If someone here wanted me to not be here they certainly succeeded.

This Panera has moved to Legacy Village. I'm not sure if the old place on Airport boulevard is still there or not. Probably not. I like this new location much better myself. It also has some kiosk type computers you can make your order on if you wish. Someone will always help you if you need it. To me the print on the screen should be larger since I have some vision problems. Or some way to enlarge the screen temporarily. Not quite as easy to get good photo shots here as it was in the old place. New place has a large structure in the center, coffee on one side and soft drinks and water on the other. I include a few photos I tried to take recently. The staff here is extremely nice and alert and helpful. I still love the food and especially the coffee. The souffle seem a little different here than the former place, but still good. Of the soups, the broccoli cheese is my favorite also. You can buy this at a grocery store but it is not as fresh tasting to me as at the restaurant proper.

My older review: Good food good coffee. For the month of August I got a free Bagel every day! They were already good and now seem to be improving.

An update. Panera has a different owner. Emphasis more on catering. See photo. I cannot get their Android app to work. Bagels good but a...

The food was good as usual. I always get the ceaser salad or the Greek salad both with grilled chicken. It has no sugar and with the side it stays in my carb limits. The interior was new and a new style for Panera, I liked it, it was trendier and brighter. This store was clean all though most stores aren't. The only thing to subtract from the rating is the unsweetened black tea was off: it tasted like mildew. I told the staff and the manager brewed fresh tea. She gave me some extra too and it tasted fine. I was a barista for years so maybe my palate is sensitive to the taste but I notice most Panera's have had this problem. In the future I plan to get the the pink plum hibiscus (not sure of the name but it unsweetened with no juice of any kind). As for the unsweetened black tea it may just be the type of black tea that turns quickly because I originally thought it was that the container that needed to be cleaned properly. Often times the spout just gets a rinse and really it needs to be scrubbed. Despite it being fresh it still had after notes of bitter earth. In St. Louis were I am from and were St. Louis Bread Co. now known as Panera originated the tea had top notes of bitter with an end note of citrus. Sorry to see the change, I am not a fan of...

Late, 15 minutes to close, but the girl at the counter was pleasant. Received my pastries, even let me pick which ones I wanted. All was well and good until I put cream in my coffee. Little white floaters surfaced which is usually a sign of cream going sour. She got me more, and it happened again. Instead of just apologizing, the young lady asked if I put sugar in my coffee because, "...sometimes that happens when you add sugar...".

I have been adding sugar to my coffee for decades. Not once has it caused the cream I add to it to curdle. Not here, my house, Starbucks, or even Waffle House. Instead of just apologizing and getting me a fresh cup, she felt the need to try to explain off the fact that the cream might be bad with an ill fated attempt to offer a chemistry lesson on how adding sugar to coffee can curdle cream.

Am I a curmudgeon for letting this simple moment bother me so? Probably, but as a customer, I expect one thing when I exchange my money for your goods or services; to get in return exactly that for which I paid for. All I wanted was a cup of coffee with some sugar and cream. Instead, I get treated as if I am to simple to understand the science behind cream going south. Bad show all...