Panera Bread — Restaurant in Niles

This particular Panera is unbelievable. The food is always top notch. The problem is that you never what or where it will be. I’ll often order take out through their app, let’s address the first issue: Order Accuracy 1/10. These guys lol. It’s almost like they just place random orders in your bag. You order via the app a half grilled cheese, a chicken noodle soup and an apple? Well you get a salad, a bag of chips and tikka masala soup. Why do they do it? God only knows. After about 17 or 18 incidents of this I probably should say something or at least check my order before I go, but in all honestly my coworkers and I get a kick out of what we call “Panera Roulette”. At this point it’s more for entertainment value than anything else.

Take Out Procedure: They have a little stand in front of the place for take out orders via the app. Do the Panera people know it’s there? It’s doesn’t seem like it. Invariably, you place an order, head to the store to pick up and then end up standing in line for 300 or 400 years behind a bunch of old people who are complaining to the poor employee about some kind of BS that had nothing to do with the price of rice in China, only to be helped by a kindly employee and you say “Yeah, I had an online to go order” and they invariably go “Oh, let me check yeah it’s back here!” Like you guys have a take out stand area, just put the orders up there. Weird wild stuff. In the end I can’t get too mad because whatever random food they decide to give you is going to be orders of magnitude better than whatever poison slop you might find at a regular fast food place, and I don’t want to give the poor kids too much s*, since they have to deal with deranged elderly people all day. That punishment is more than enough for whatever transgressions they have had in two or three lifetimes. Also they have great...

One day I wanted something different to eat. Panera popped into my little head. It had been years since I'd eaten there...and I wondered why I never eat there anymore.

Then I ate there. And I remembered why. The food isn't that good. The chicken sandwich they've been touting is roasted, and had a weird flavor. I was expecting crispy chicken breast. I threw 1/3 of it away. The broccoli cheddar mac & cheese was kinda watery. The cheese definitely needed to be thicker.

Their bagels are their best product, along with the cream cheese toppings. The baked goods aren't bad. They coffee is pretty good.

But don't go through the drive-thru line thinking your order will be a a quick pick up. You are gonna WAIT in the drive-thru line....a long time. I mean like ... late-for-work-when-you-left-home-early.

Here's another issue I have - when I order on the app, why do I only have a choice of in-store pick up, or curb-side pick up? Why can't I choose to pick my items up at...

If I could give this place a zero rating I could. I kept trying to give this one a chance, but I have had enough of it and I'm never going back. They throw your flat breads in a giant heap in the to go containers, so half your flat bread falls out when you open the container. They toss your bagels toasted in a bag without any wrapping at all, regardless of if they are different bagels or not. The ice coffee and ice tea is always empty. The customer service here is terrible. No greeting whatsoever, employees are even rude, and I have never had one say "Have a nice day" Frequently forget utensils on Rapid Pickup orders. I once used Rapid Pickup for a bagel toasted with cream cheese. I waited 15 minutes and went to pick my bagel up, the order had not even been started yet, and the employees were goofing off behind the counter. I would fire all of them. In the drive Thru I have even been rudely asked " Do you want your change?" Um, yes I do. Why would I tip someone with...