Panera Bread — Restaurant in Ocala

See this visit for a late lunch was surprising. It was a Sunday and the store did not seem prepared for business. The line was extremely long almost out the door and blocking every which way other people were trying to walk. There were no kiosks to help expedite orders and two out of the 3 registers were manned. I imagine they were short staffed, unfortunately. The cashier's were nice and the supervisor seemed diligent and kind to guests. So they had run out of flatbread and were not serving any of the pizzas, our son's favorite and the reason we come here and there was no warning until after the 20 minute wait in line, now you gotta hold up the line even more while you figure out a new plan. Then the food pickup experience......my husband and two boys sat while I looked out for our food. I notice the kid Mac and cheese's side item, the bread, was small, broken in two, and over cooked. It looked a little too crisp for a kid to try to eat. So I mentioned this to the server. She turned away with no response grabbed a bag with the one slice of bread in it pulls it out folds it and places is on the dish and with an attitude answers "that's the best I can do, we are all out". That was rude, she could have offered a change of the side item and she could have been polite, as I was. For this reason I score this place lower. Customer service is everything and being prepared to bounce out of a hurdle during peak business hours will have your customers wanting to come back rather than leaving regretting that they passed on so many other restaurant choices at this plaza for...

Very rarely do I ever leave reviews, but I've had enough of this place. I've been coming to Panera for several years, and I've never been as disappointed at an establishment as this one. This used to be my favorite coffee spot in the city, but it has deteriorated progressively, and my family and I will no longer be coming here. There has been a ridiculous managerial decision made where they do not brew light roast after 2:30?? This is a coffee shop! That makes absolutely ZERO sense. Stop being CHEAP! It's a bad look, and people notice it. When you ask for it to be brewed because the manager says that YOU, as the patron, have to ask for it if you want it, the staff is rude about it, telling me "No, we do not make Light Roast after 2:30". Like, GOD FORBID YOU HAVE TO BREW COFFEE! That must be so labor-intensive to press a button. For some reason, it took 20 minutes to make 2 cups of light roast coffee...Not to mention the four bagels we ordered were all to be split and toasted, and not a single bagel was toasted and served with frozen butter, that shocker, doesn't spread on a room-temperature bagel very well. I ordered a self-service hot tea, and wouldn't you know it, the "Hot Water" was barely lukewarm, resulting in me having to heat my tea in the microwave. I do not know what is going on with this specific location, but the rude staff, poor management of food and beverage, and the dumb decision to not brew the most consumed coffee selection after 2:30 led me to give this place a 1-star. I'd give it a negative rating if I could, but...

I visited this location this morning and they were a complete disappointment. I waited in line to order and finally did. While waiting for my order I observed other customers that had issues with their service and/or food. After waiting some more I noticed the guy making my egg and cheese sandwiches on everything bagels literally peeling bacon off of them. When I said those weren't supposed to have bacon he said yea I'm taking it off...I was livid, but unfortunately this is not the first time I've seen this done. Someone is going to become VERY sick one day from this kind of laziness. He said well I can remake them if you want. Then I was informed that there were no more everything bagels, of course,(they never have enough or none). I proceeded to the counter and the manager refunded me and offered me a cookie. I said no thank, no point in a cookie for breakfast. So after being in there nearly 20 minutes I left disappointed. Poor service and they really need to stop allowing workers to pull meat off sandwiches that were not ordered with it....