Panera Bread — Restaurant in Newton

Absolutely disappointing. The first experience my boyfriend and I had here tonight was despicable. The sandwiches we ordered? It was only HALF!! HALF for 12$?! What inflation? I also don't know why they didn't tell us that we were getting half of a sandwich. That would have been helpful, and kept me from spending all the money I did. Not to mention that the sandwiches were extremely bland, the cook must be allergic to salt and pepper. We also ordered a side of soup, which was two "bowls" of chicken noodle. The first picture below shows what was left of the broth in my boyfriends bowl after he ate all the chicken and noodles and veggies. The second bowl is mine, and I had only a couple scoops of it. And what's so sad is that the soup was the best part of what we ordered, it's the only thing that had seasonings. Their small bags of chips are okay, but only if you like kettle chips.

As for the atmosphere, it was sub-par. The floors were unbelievably sticky, and the tables I had passed were poorly wiped. Other than it being filthy, the decor was homey. They had a faux fireplace in the seating area, it was its own little wall/divider.

The girl that took our order, while visibly nervous, did a great job. My only gripe is with the cooks who didn't bother to season...

I go to lots of places to eat and when I go to Panera in Newton I get the same salad each time and it’s always perfect. I have been to lots of Panera’s that I would never go back to. But Newton is amazing. I want to call out a few people who are always there at the counter and cooking/prepping Haaken and Jazmin are there and so friendly and so helpful and asking if they can get us anything else. Just super nice and accommodating. And always smiling! There was also a woman manager who has been there from the beginning when they first opened I am not sure of her name but she seems to run a tight ship and walks around the restaurant asking everyone if they are ok, that is never seen at a fast food restaurant and it’s really great. The crew in the back is obviously great too because our food is also made perfectly. I did not want to leave anyone out so I asked them all of their names … Lily, Justin, Daniel, Skyler , Edgar. Thanks guys for having a friendly clean place to eat locally with fresh food !!!! We love...

I know this Panera opened recently, but perhaps they should train staff prior to opening a location. I gave a generous 40 minutes lead time before going in to pickup my online order of soup, half a sandwich, and a mac & cheese, but when I headed to the pickup counter, my order was not up. In fact, my name was still 3 down on the 'Preparing ' list...I would let this all slide if I didn't observe the 5 people working behind the counter looking utterly lost. The worst was observing a young woman carrying a bucket of some drink out to the floor-- it was obviously too heavy for her-- she almost dropped it, then proceeded to ask customer to help her lift it to pour it into the drink machine. The customer obliged, in fact, he poured the drink into the machine (and he had a hard time). Guessing this is probably a no-no in the employee handbook. Perhaps a manager should be on the floor, because it's obvious this Panera lacks...