Panera Bread — Restaurant in Paramus

My recent experience at Panera was a little underwhelming. In a few words, it lacked in value for the portion sizes and wait time.

As reference, I visited around 2PM Sunday. There was less foot traffic due to Blue Laws. I arrived when no one else was ordering.

I had ordered the Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt, Broccoli Cheddar Mac & Cheese. This combo came with a free bag of chips.

I also ordered the Strawberry Banana Smoothie and an Orange Scone.

The total came out to approximately $20.

We arrived around 2PM and our food arrived about 30 minutes later. The wait was pretty abnormal and the tables weren't clean, with crumbs and salt everywhere. You would overhear the voices of dissatisfied customers and irate delivery drivers. Many of them even pointed out that next time an order isn't ready please let them know, that this is their business and impacts their score. I'd witnessed 5 drivers waiting for 15-20 minutes each.

At this point I was honestly ready to leave and cancel my order. The kiosk ordering said we'd be texted when our food was ready. There was no confirmation. After 30 minutes our food was there amongst the many people standing waiting and demanding their order.

I have a zoomed out image of the tray and wall in the background to properly size the portions.

The cup of Broccoli Cheddar Mac & Cheese was enough for 3 or 4 adult bites. This fact was salvaged only by the tiny spoon it came with. Not a good enough illusion to fool my stomach unfortunately.

The sandwich was as expected in terms of size.

The drink was a little disappointing as the portion was rather small. It was in what you'd consider a kid's cup for more than $5.

The best value was the Orange Scone which I believe was about a $2.50 add on. It was as big as the sandwich.

At first glance I was ready to leave a poor review based on my experience. But after tasting the food, it was all a 4/5 for everything. The smoothie, sandwich, soup was definitely all very tasty and saved the score.

It was hardly a deal. If anyone else tries the select 2 deal, avoid getting the soups. It's not worth $5 for a few spoonful. The smoothie I'd avoid also and opt for a full sized drink for the complimentary refills at half the price for double the size. Stick to the specialty sandwiches for the best value.

Overall, beautiful and delicious food. But it certainly was not worth the promotional "deal" and slow service. The food itself saved the score.

Slow Service. Poor Value. Beautiful food.

Thank you for those that...

To start, this review has nothing to do with the food and everything to do with my experience with the customer service and atmosphere. My friend, my boyfriend, and myself came here to do some homework and studying for midterms (as we have done in the past). We like to come here for the calm and relaxing atmosphere, but we unfortunately did not have that same positive experience this time. We were sitting in the more secluded area in the back of the restaurant. The three of us were sitting at a table together doing our own things. My boyfriend started to feel pain from a migraine so he decided to put his head down for a few minutes before continuing his work. Then, the general manager came into the room and assumed that my boyfriend was sleeping, so he decided to come up to him, and slapped him really hard on his back multiple times, said "no sleeping" and walked away to move some tables around. My friend and I were right in front of him as it happened and he could have easily asked us to get my boyfriend's attention. There is absolutely no need to touch let alone hit someones back when a simple "excuse me, sir" could have gotten his attention in the same way. My friend and I were shocked and didn't know how to react, as we all immediately felt uncomfortable after seeing and hearing how hard he hit my boyfriend's back. Had he said/ done it in a more respectful and professional way, we would have had no issue with complying with his request. My boyfriend felt so violated that he decided to approach the general manager after he had already walked away, to tell him that he did not appreciate being touched and hit on the back. When he did, the manager tried justifying his actions because he thought my boyfriend was sleeping, and proceeded to say "I don't need to talk to you about this", and continued with what seemed like an interview he was having with someone else. We are super disappointed in the way that the manager handled this situation. His actions were very unprofessional and out of line to say the least. Panera customer service did receive a call about this incident. They filed a report and offered my boyfriend a gift card, but we are in no way accepting that as the final solution. More needs to be...

Review for 12/13/2021: This is not my 1st bad experience at this location but it will be the last as I'll never visit it again. (No issues ever w/Woodcliff Lake or Paramus Park locations that I've frequented)

Only 1 person @order counter: seriously lost assisting customer: watching her take the order then trying to make change was painful (not to mention painfully slow - which appears to be a common employee trait). Moved to self-serve kiosk to place my order. The person making all the food for customer orders (in-house & to go) wasn't wearing a mask (hello Board of Health?) - well it was strung around her ears but pulled down under her chin. &where was the store manager? Several customers waiting for their orders asked her why she wasn't wearing her mask. She just ignored them all and then shot nasty/hostile looks. Her very presence was extremely unpleasant. It was clear she didn't want to be there. I should've left right then. The painfully slow lack of service continued. I did finally get my order after finding it myself (she just dumped orders on the counter - no name announced - & the person who does usually call orders was no where to be found - & the buzzer things they give you to notify your order's ready didn't work). BUT it doesn't end. I ck my order when I get to my car&it's wrong. So I have to return to the store. Now there's a staff person at the counter who tells Ms Bad Attitude & asks her to fix it. More waiting. I now ask this staff person why she's not wearing her mask. He apparently was not in any position of authority as he simply repeats my Q:"why aren't you wearing your mask?" (wouldn't a mgr instruct her to wear her mask?) She pulls it up to cover only her mouth (yeah, still wrong & staff guy said nothing). And... it takes yet more time. What should've taken 10 mins to get a sandwich took 30 mins! Oh, end of story: it was lousy! The bread was well on its way to stale & the sandwich...