Panera Bread — Restaurant in Paducah

Dear Fellow Google Reviewers;

Panera, Paducah, Kentucky, my order was placed at 5:21pm 11/25/2019. The order I placed consisted of: 1 You Pick 2 1 - 1/2 steak white cheddar panini No horseradish 1 - small bacon Mac and cheese 1 soda No meal upgrade 1 French Baguette 1 You Pick 2 1 - 1/2 Frontega Chicken panini No onions No tomatoes 1 - 1/2 Asian sesame chicken salad 1 soda No meal upgrade French baguette

Sub Total: $27.24 Tax: $1.63 Gratuity: $2.00 Total: $30.87

The order I received precisely 15 minutes later was:

1 You Pick 2 1 - 1/2 steak white cheddar panini No pickled onions Horseradish 1 - small bacon Mac and cheese 1 soda No meal upgrade 1 French Baguette 1 You Pick 2 1 - 1/2 Frontega Chicken panini Tomatoes Onions 1 - 1/2 Asian sesame chicken salad Or should I say 1/2 Asian Sesame Chicken salad 1/2 Spicy Thai Salad as it began as a Thai and appears someone noticed their mistake and decided to finish it as an Asian Sesame. I’m sure Edamame is delicious, but not if someone has a soy allergy. (Referencing the beginning part of my Asian Sesame Chicken salad that began as a spicy Thai.) 1 soda No meal upgrade French baguette

Being a former Panera employee I tend to be lenient with services and accept that these employees are in fact human. However, I requested both Paninis be remade to my satisfaction. I explained how the steak and cheddar was meant to have pickled onions and no horseradish and the chicken Frontega was meant to be without tomatoes and onions.

After a small bout of resilience from the manager on duty- who was insisting my sandwich had pickled onions and no horseradish, when it was in fact the other way around- and him offering to remake both sandwiches without understanding the problem. I had them remove the onions from the Frontega and ate my sandwich as was and removed the tomatoes from my partners Frontega. As for my steak and white cheddar, the horseradish was manageable.

As for the salad, the manager on duty wasn’t even sure of what the Asian Sesame Chicken salad possessed. Thankfully they remade the salad.

All in all, the employees carried the joy of a Panera employee. The smiling faces, the kindness, the willingness. Just simply lacked the understanding of Panera’s Art of making their food. The food wasn’t received in a timely manner, 3/4 of the food items weren’t correct, and the manager on duty wasn’t knowledgeable of the menu.

$30.87 was an insult to my bank account for the $7.84...

I haven't been to a Panera in 18 months (though we have had a My Panera card for years) because they have become pricey with small portions. Their theme seems to be we're going to give you less for higher price because we are serving "healthy" food that will make you live forever -- if that is what you want to do. So being unfamiliar with most of the sandwiches I asked the cashier about the Italian (first step on a slippery slope to a mundane, tasteless lunch). She had to look it up on a reference sheet and I became glassy eyed with my mind beginning to wander as she read the list of ingredients. What I failed to hear was, "This is not a Subway. We are going to charge a lot more for a Pick 2 consisting of a very thick (just try to take a bite of this and if you can your picture will go on our nonexistent wall of fame) roll about 4 inches long with compressed meat felt like a thick slice of mystery meat." But all is not lost, right? Wrong! The sizable bowl with "they call this a cup" of chicken noodle soup to the rescue! NOT. I swear half of my half ladle must have splashed out in their haste to get the tasteless, smidgen of mayo, 4 inch bready sandwich to me. I wanted to yell, "who got the rest of my chicken noodle soup". I tore apart the tiny sandwich to try to salvage anything hidden within and hastily downed what amounted to about 5 spoons of soup and nearly fell out of my seat when I looked at the price.

In summary, there was a time when Panera was good. Panera was know for having a creative menu with very tasty food at a good price. Friends, I believe those days are gone. They have gone the way of the Starbucks ideology of $7.00 specialty drinks that leave you wishing you would have stopped at a C-store and just got a cup of Joe. They have dropped in service, portions and tasty food and risen in price. I predict that Panera is going downhill and will become a "once upon a time" story in the annuals of yesteryear...

The food at Panera Bread my daughter and I ordered was excellent, per usual. I had French onion soup and a tuna salad sandwich and my daughter ordered a turkey and cheese sandwich and French onion soup and for what may sound like your basic sandwich and soup was anything but basic! Everything was incredibly fresh and just delicious. The young lady who took our order was so sweet and wonderful with my 11 year old daughter (also very good at her job) my daughter talked about her the rest of the day while we were shopping in that area. She noticed my daughters shirt was a Hamilton (the Broadway musical) shirt and asked her if she had gotten to see the show and we told we had been to Chicago and was lucky enough to get tickets and from there the young lady goes on to have a conversation with my kiddo about theater and the arts and asked if she was interested in being in plays, etc, which she is and has loved being a part of her school plays and so on... This young lady came to our table before we left and brought my daughter a fancy cookie that she bought for her and told her to stick with the arts and gave us some information on other ways she get involved in a local theater that has programs for kids as well. It was an amazing dinner out, yes the food was spot on but the service was really special and made my daughter feel really special and that was the best part of it and to this day my daughter still talks about that evening and that young lady. When the employees go way above and beyond for you and especially your child it makes the experience memorable and better than just good food,...