Panera Bread — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

Today was my first visit to Panera 204967 in Mt. Pleasant. I've been to the Tanger store many times before and the West Ashley store. I thought it was nice to have a store here. I was wrong. It took about 20 minutes to order 2 bagels and cream cheese. There was only one couple in front of us. Couple in front of us found the kiosk ordering system wasn't working so they went to the counter. No counter staff. A baker tried to help. She finally asked another baker to help take orders and she was fine but I had to keep repeating I wanted a cinnamon swirl raisin bagel because she kept saying cinnamon crunch and I kept saying, no and pointing to the swirls. Our bagels were very obviously burned. I pushed them back on the shelf and said I ordered toasted bagels not burnt ones and returned to my table. I was polite but firm. They redid them but chastised me for not specifying I wanted them LIGHTLY toasted as burnt was the default way they prepare them. I was not asked how I would like my bagels toasted when I ordered and as it was my first time there how would I know I had to be specific? There are other bagel places in town and I've never received my bagels burned. It's not an industry standard as far as I can tell. The restaurant is light and pleasant but the pastries in this store look like they came from Costco as opposed to the Tanger store. While I was at the counter ordering a man from the back came and flipped the menu signs from breakfast to lunch even though he could see I was actively looking up at the menu. I won't go back. The customer before us said not to just order at the kiosk without first asking if they even have the item shown on the menu. This store could use some serious remedial training in customer relations and cross-training. It's unfortunate because I usually choose to eat at the Tanger location when I am in that area. I can't recommend this Mt. Pleasant location and I should have read the reviews before going. Just look at the one star reviews! Is there no management in this store? Only the younger baker smiled and was pleasant with us and the couple before us. Everyone else was mute or ignored customers or in my case told me it was my fault. Spend your money at Ruby's Bagels instead or...

I recently quit my job at this Panera and I could not be more upset at the complete and total lack of professionalism. For starters, I applied to be a part-time cashier online and last minute they swapped me out to be a baker which I personally did not have any issue with. The training went fine at the beginning. My trainer was relatively nice and showed me the basics and told me that the ultimate goal was for me to be a solo baker. I worked from 12:00am to 6:00pm straight 6 days a week. On my fourth day there, I was left BY MYSELF to deal with all of the baking. Did I mention that this was my fourth day. Fortunately, I remembered all of my tasks and finished my shift. The next day I found out that one of the other bakers complained about what I did and lied about me undercooking bread. This same baker also refused to train me on one of the days I was supposed to work, for no reason, which led to management telling me to take that day off. I was never given an official schedule. Fast forward a few days and my trainer is still working with me for some reason even though I had properly demonstrated that I was capable of running the baking by myself. She would stand at our work table all day and basically watch me work for the entire shift, only helping me with small tasks at best or to mention a single mistake I made like not putting enough icing on a cinnamon roll which already had plenty on it. On one particular shift my "trainer" literally SAT DOWN at a table the entire day and told me to ask her if I had questions. This woman, trainer or not, was getting paid for doing next to no work while I did everything by myself. I was not given a 15 minute break either. My trainer also touched dough with an ungloved hand multiple times which is a health code violation. If you have taken the time to read this entire post thank you and if my trainer is reading this, you're supposed to go to work to work, not sit or stand around all day watching other people work....

We walked in and perhaps this is the new norm for Panara… but once we made eye contact with whoever was at the register, they hid and never came back out until we asked one of them to come out.(Quite a while with no one at the register) Once we got the guy to come out, he seemed stressed or I guess just annoyed at our existence like it’s not his job. (this still not being the girl originally at the register who was very obviously still in the back, peeking to see if anyone is around) Which I mean, idk it could just be the new norm and the registers are for show. Asked for a chai, received coffee. My wife went back there to ask for a remake, and the first person she got a hold of said, “sorry I’m just a baker, can you ask someone else”. While I appreciate the apology, I feel it’s still partially her job as the only person not 100% avoiding the window, to get someone who can help us. When we asked for it to be remade, you could hear them in the back say “that’s too much”…. Surprise! When we got the chai, they had messed up the proportions really badly. Super empty but on our way out: 1 car at the drive thru, you could over them discussing how “busy” they are, and they’ll have to come inside to place the order…. At the kiosk…. You know…. Because no one wants to be at the register. As decent as the food is, this customer service is hard to push past, so idk it’ll definitely be a while before I consider coming back. In all honesty, this issue only seems...