Panera Bread — Restaurant in Novato

My experience at the recently opened Panera Bread in the Vintage Oaks Shopping Center was marred by (1) lack of product at 8:30 a.m. and (2) annoyed customer service. My first choice for breakfast was a quiche. I was told in a dismissive tone that they were out of all quiches. My second choice was a bagel with roasted vegetable cream cheese--a choice that was listed on the overhead menu. The Panera Bread employee looked at me with disgust and said, "We don't HAVE vegetable cream cheese." When I pointed to the menu board and read "roasted vegetable cream cheese" as a listed choice, she then rejoined, "Well, we don't have any." A cafe latte completed my order. I was given the bagel immediately, and the server then looked to the next customer without any indication of where I should go to retrieve the latte. I wandered around the counter, finally getting the attention of another server. She indicated that she would get someone to make the latte--and motioned for my "original friend" to make the coffee drink. She fulfilled the order without a word or a glance in my direction. When I got to the table and took off the cup lid to add sweetener, I found that the cup was filled only 2/3 full--that including the frothy milk. Truly I was shocked by this lack of customer satisfaction. Every other Panera experience has included personable interaction, servers circulating in the dining room to ensure that customers had everything they needed, and even offers of samples of featured goodies. As a result of how I was treated at the Vintage Oaks store, I will think twice before visiting any Panera. For sure I will not be back to this location. And I urge you to stay clear of this kind...

The worst run Panera yet. We went to get take out. Ordered 3 flatbreads. We had to wait for way too long considering there was nobody ahead of us & the place was 1/2 empty. Folks behind us left.. The kitchen staff (all male Latinos) were busy but they couldn't help us. I saw the manager/owner walk through the back. She saw us waiting there. She didn't realize that I saw her see us. She ignored us. She either runs this Panera & the one in Northgate or she's upgraded to Rowland because the 1st time I had the misfortune of ordering from her was at Northgate; super unpleasant. Anyway, when we got the attention of the young man that was working, yes, just one kid straight out of high school, we know him, he apologized: "I'm a one man show." Eventually he came to us. Good kid, good worker. He even helped us save some $$. At all this the owner woman sits down at a table. She sees us. Nothing, not even a smile. And the other thing about Panera, what's with the sides? Chips, baguette or apple? If you order flatbreads you don't want chips or bread. Most of us can buy our own apples. The flatbreads are consistently good but this time they were slightly undercooked. They forgot to call our name when they were ready. The young man apologized. At all this the owner just sat there, doing...

I'm a huge Panera fan and I typically get bread bowls about once every 1-2 weeks (if not more, I'm a fiend) during cooler weather. After a move from Central Louisiana to Novato a week ago, the change in climate has led me to attempt to get bread bowls twice and both times they have been out of stock. It's a big disappointment that the major reason I go to Panera is never reliable enough to actually make the trip worth it. I hate leaving negative reviews but I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth the attempt to go there anymore. I will say that the one time I went for breakfast, their service was nice and the four cheese egg souffle was good. But if their inventory management doesn't adapt to demand, I'll stop trying to...