Panera Bread — Restaurant in Ohio

Store Review: Panera Bread in Austintown 🍞🥗

I have visited this Panera Bread location 6-8 times within the last two weeks, and overall, I really enjoy eating here. The food is consistently delicious, and it's always the same quality every time I order. The cleanliness of the establishment is also commendable. 🌟🍽️

However, I would like to point out an area that could use some improvement, which is the attitude of the at the drive-in window employees. While some staff members are friendly and engaging, there are others who seem distant and unresponsive. Which I understand why It should be two people at the window because when the line become busy the newer employee seems very overwhelmed. There have been instances when I had to double-check to ensure they heard me when I requested my sandwich to be toasted and once, I got it, the sandwich still was not toasted after the rep kept saying okay, okay and okay he got 1 thing right in that order. Sometimes, this instruction didn't seem to be inputted during the ordering process. As a result, once I reached the window for payment, it became challenging to get their attention. This delay in communication led to an extended wait time, which I personally find inconvenient. On three occasions, my sandwich was properly toasted, but there was one instance when my order was completely wrong. Despite my overall liking for Panera Bread, I went along with it. 🤷‍♀️😔

Moreover, it is not efficient when the staff only goes over the order at the window, right before taking the payment, and then remains silent/unseen until they hand over the bag of food. This process becomes even more inconvenient when fresh food needs to be prepared, as it causes a delay for the car behind us, which can take an additional 5-10 minutes to fix an order error. The friendliness seems to fade after the initial greeting on the intercom, and it feels like a transaction rather than an engaging experience.

Additionally, there is a lack of initiative to offer items like extra napkins or ask if anything else is needed. It would be great if the employees could maintain a check in since the wait is over 5 mins most times it would help ensure that customer satisfaction is prioritized. Perhaps an employee meeting addressing attitude at the drive thru window and the overall mission of the company would be beneficial to keep everyone focused on the same goal. 🤝😊

On a positive note, the quality of the food is fresh, with most the time generous portions depends on who's working. However, there have been a couple of instances when the tomatoes were overly ripe and I had very little turkey this last order on 2/6/24 this is this the first time, be still 12.99 is an eye turner when you are missing most of the meat on a Turkey BLT lol... Moving on! Apart from that, the food has always been served fresh and in great portions. Taking all these factors into consideration, I would give this location a rating of four stars. The curb appeal is consistently well-maintained and visually appealing.

I believe that if the new employees are hired with the right attitude and some check-ins (lol) , it will encourage more repeat visits from customers and attract new ones. Please note that this review is based on my personal opinion and observations during my visits over the past two weeks 10 visit in 11 days. 🌟🔍No Tukey, on my Tukey sandwich on day 10th it's time to move on for a while.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. I hope this feedback can contribute to the continual improvement of Panera Bread. 🙏😊

Best...

I never go to Panera. My experience today, has now solidified that for the forseeable future, I will not be coming back. I ordered an med iced coffee with an espresso shot, vanilla flavoring and almond milk. The service lady got too busy talking to her friend that walked in to really pay attention to what she was doing. She, handed me(rudely, I might add) a plastic cup with about an inch of liquid. Dumbfounded I just kinda looked at her. She said, "that's the espresso and vanilla, the coffee is over there" (no almond milk I might add) and pointed to the beverage station. What reputable company charges someone almost $6 for a coffee that's been sitting out all day in a carafe?! In addition, I literally had to make my coffee myself! Gtfo. Panera should be paying me to buy their coffee! Is it standard practice at Panera for the barista to do that? I did notice, when paying, the register asked me if I wanted to tip. WHY WOULD I TIP FOR SOMETHING THAT HASN'T BEEN MADE YET?! Is this why she treated me this way? I didn't tip her? Well, 2 problems with that. 1, based on her service I'm glad I didn't, and 2, if this employee is so distraught over the fact I didn't tip her PRIOR TO HER SERVICE, seems you're not paying your employees enough. It's not my job to pay your employees. WHAT A JOKE. I'll come back when the robots are...

I am a nurse at a very busy ER department nearby. My co-workers & I ordered from austintown panera today, combined we spent $130.00 only to recieve multiple orders that were WRONG. We called back twice & spoke to Abbey. She told us to bring back the food that was wrong- we didn't pick it up in the first place. We didn't have the time to LEAVE WORK to go get food in thw first place, hence why we ordered off doordash! One of my co-workers was getting off her shift, so luckily, she offered to take the wrong food back. I called for the second time & spoke with Abbey again because we did not recieve the bread with our orders. There were 2 soup & salad combos & a bread bowl salad ordered- these ideas COME WITH A COMPLIMENTARY BAGuETTE. I eat at panera ALL THE TIME- I know this!!!!! There was not an option at the time of ordering for the baguette & an option MUST be selected- chips was selected assuming the orders would still come with the complimentary baguette. Abbey argued with me that chips was selected & that she would not put in the bread we requested. Panera is too expensive to be dealing with their petty workers like this & paying for food THAT WE DO NOT EVEN GET. I will never be ordering from this panera bread again- this is unacceptable & even after multiple calls to try to fix our food, NOTHING...