Panera Bread — Restaurant in Plano

My first, and almost certainly last, experience with Panera Bread began with dealing with the electronic ordering system. While, I guess you can still order food from a human, Panera Bread obviously is trying to phase them out. But, the touchpad order devices do not give much info on the selections. What comes on a Southwest Chicken sandwich? If there's a way to determine this, I couldn't find it. And I saw no way to modify a sandwich unless you wanted extra meat or cheese. What if I don't want the horseradish sauce on the streak sandwich? Not does the system indicate what comes with a sandwich (chips was the answer a human gave me).

So, after ordering, you find a seat, and someone eventually brings your meal to the table. Point in Panera Bread favor - they don't call you up to a counter yet.

My sandwich did have nicely toasted bread, and it's good that it did, because a quarter of the sandwich was nothing but bread. The part with meat and cheese was tasty, I just would have preferred the whole sandwich to be a sandwich.

Oh, and those chips that the human assured me would accompany my sandwich? They were there. In a bag. A very small bag. A whole 1oz bag that made for great portion control, but not such a great side for a sandwich.

However, to Panera Bread's credit, the dining room was clean, open, and airy, with...

This Panera is the remodeled style and even has a convenient drive thru. (Previously it was a Corner Bakery that was victim to a fire and the new Panera had to be built from ground up).

The food quality is consistent and good, with plenty of variety. I have 3 issues though. They've added like 10 computer screens inside the front door (so they save big bucks on staff costs) and these kiosks don't accept coupons. For that you have to go to 1 of the only 2 registers at the counter. Next, they don't clearly identify the vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options (nor list all the ingredients on the full menu). You have to click on each option to read (kiosk) or ask staff. Lastly, their prices have gone through the roof, plus the portions are smaller!! The pick 2 used to be like $8-9 and now getting pick 2 (smaller size versions) cost $12-15. That's ridiculous for a counter service restaurant where you order your own food (kiosk), pick it up from window, and don't get table service for drink refills, clear your plates, etc.

Panera: great menu variety, quality taste, baked goods are top notch, overpriced, small portions, boring environment

Corner Bakery: bigger portions, better prices, better environment... however, less food options and...

Okay so here's why I gave it one star... On three separate occasions over the past probably 2 or 3 months, we have gone here and been told that they are out of certain ingredients which means that they can't make certain sandwiches or meals or whatever. Now I would understand if this happened once because sometimes it takes a while for shipments to come in but for this to happen on three separate occasions over three month period of time is really not cool. In addition, for three people, our meal cost over $40. To me, for a sandwich shop, charging out much is unreal. Now I understand with inflation the cost of everything has gone up and so they have to raise their costs in order to keep from losing money, but Genghis Grill which is within walking distance of this place, their prices haven't changed. And then I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and my mistake I didn't think to ask what kind of cheese they would use but it was some white cheese and I just didn't like it so that was...