Panera Bread — Restaurant in Orlando

I went in and it is one of those places with the menu on the wall. But you have to walk around to read everything listed. There is THE ITALIAN ok so half is done. Trying to eat better and keep the weight off I will get there Pick 2 special and go with a Spicy Thai Chicket Salad as the other option. I walk up to the register and tell the person I have not had lunch here before and not sure how to order but I think i want the Italian (she rings it in) "What else?" the spicy Thai chicken does it (she rings it in) "To drink?" How about a large iced coffee with an extra shot of espresso, please. She rings that in. And totals. I handed her what i thought was a gift card turned out to be a points card. I then paid with a cc. She spins around and places a large cup of ice and a regular coffee cup size with the espresso (thought a wasted cup). On the cc machine is the question if i wanted to add a tip (I was not helped, there was no guidance, i was being handed one of those your food is ready-flashing-things so no table service an empty cup of ice? There was no help so no tip. The gall to ask at that point was insulting. My food was ready walked up to the foid pick up place. Is this mine? No answer. Excuse me is this mine? It did not look right. He read the food. Okay so it is mine. I took it to the table. I still have the empty cup of ice. Let me just jump to the food because that is why my review is so bad the food was as well. The spicy Thai chicken. I expected peanut sauce but not cashew pieces. I don't like nuts in my food. Again in the sauce okay they are typically ground to help emulsify the fat and the acid. The sandwich is where they totally lost me. Note to the world - go to the website BEFORE going to the restaurant to select your meal, neither of my choices were as simple as reading the wall!!! The sandwich was oozing something white and green with some chunks of red and green. WT... I opened the sandwich and saw a glob of something white. I looked up at the wall and saw Italian sandwich that is it, well the other day it did not have this stuff. I took a bite, OLIVES?? I HATE OLIVES!! I looked at the wall again for answers: Italian sandwich nothing more. The perfect Italian has fallen to not just the worst Italian but one of the worst sandwiches I have had. I continued to eat this sandwich. Then it hit me and i looked at the wall scanned the sanwiches looking for that sandwich name that is basically an Italian but with olive salad best know in New Orleans but alas the muffuletta was not listed. But that is indeed what this was. Panera you are back to being just a coffee shop. I have had one of my worst lunches thanks to you. I can only gather when you do catering events you do not add the basil mayo or the giardiniera so the bread does not get soggy. You should keep it that way or get a bigger wall so if i order something I am aware that your version of something has been altered to something that is...

I used to love coming to panera. It was fairly decent food, drink and above average service. As I write this from the booth at the Orange avenue location I feel disappointed and underwhelmed. From the second I stepped in the door there was confusion. The kiosk system was almost as slow as the casheir. The kiosk showed multiple bakery items as out stock that me and my family could clearly see through the display menu. The cashier seemed confused after we brought this to their attention and mumbled something about having us order it at the register. Me and my mother ordered at the register our baked goods and an iced mocha, more on that later, for here. My father finished his order on the kiosk and it took about five swipes before it actually read the card. We sat down with our buzzers waiting for our orders. I got back up to grab some water as the cashier came from the behind the counter to give me and mother's pastries. Which I appreciated but she gave me them in a bag when we ordered for dine in. I guess the policy has changed since I last came to Panera but I feel like pastry, especially the croissant I got, should come on tray or a small basket when I eat in house. Then my mother's mocha comes but I feel it'd more apt to call it a chocolate milkshake that sat next to some coffee beans. I just remember the coffee being better last time I came. My father's order came out shortly after, he had an iced coffee and a cookie. He went up to the counter and doesn't see his order at first. He asks the employee behind the counter where his order is. The employee points towards the far side of the counter with no sort of indicator that was his order. No ticket or callout that it was his order. There was also no cookie with his coffee. The two employees had no idea his order had a cookie until my dad asked. They then just told him to walk over to the bakery himself and someone would hand it to him. My problem with that is either the employees should have grabbed it for him to make up for the mistake or the cashier should have gave it to him when he initially ordered. Overall, I am disappointed by the service, quailty of food at Panera and how the kiosk system is so...

I don't write reviews very often, let alone bad reviews, but I had the worst experience at a Panera ever this morning. Firstly, the card reader at the drive thru was down, so it was cash only, or you could go inside to order. Fine, stuff happens. It was about 9:10am so I didn't expect it to be crowded or take very long.

I order from the kiosk and pay at 9:15am. A breakfast sandwich, fancy chocolate cold brew drink and a scone. Nothing crazy. I wait by the pickup window and see my name on the board next to a cheery, "We're prepping your order!" Then I see people that ordered after me get their food and leave. Then I see, "It's ready" on the screen and I get a text at 9:22am saying the same thing. But no one calls my name and I can see that neither my food or drink is ready.

Then my name disappears from the board! But how!? I've received nothing. But I'm patient and give them some grace and wait some more. Then I ask employee #1 if my order is coming, explaining that it's now 9:27 and I've received nothing. It's coming right up she says and then disappears. 9:30am I ask employee #2 if my order is ready, she looks confused and then #3 checks and realizes she hasn't made the drink yet. She goes to do that. #2 then gives me the bag with a scone and no breakfast sandwich and #3 happily gives me the drink. I say, "There's no sandwich" and everyone is confused again. Finally I ask for a manager, who happens to be #1, and she's shocked and says, "We'll make you a new one, hot and fresh!", as if they made it the first time, lol. What is going on? How does this happen? Who took my name off the board without filling the order? Do they get graded on turn-around time and pad the numbers to look better?

Absolutely unacceptable. Got my food at 9:37am, 22 minutes after ordering. Everyone apologized and #3 drops two cookies on the counter as she walks by "for my inconvenience." At least she tried. She seemed to be the only one concerned about my frustrating customer experience. Panera isn't cheap. Really hard to pay a lot for average food and be forgotten about on top of it. Is this just how things are nowadays? Sad. Makes me want to...