Panera Bread — Restaurant in Pleasant Prairie

Panera Bread – Kenosha, Wisconsin

Panera has long been one of my favorite restaurant brands, known for its reliable soups, bakery items, and coffee refills. Recently, though, the Kenosha location has fallen from my good graces in several noticeable ways.

What I loved before Consistent menu items I could count on Friendly staff, especially the longer-tenured team A comfortable, welcoming dining environment The coffee program and a reliable rewards system

What changed (recent months)

1. Dining room cleanliness The dining area feels noticeably less inviting: floors, tables, and surfaces can feel uneven or unclean. This detracts from the overall experience when you’re trying to sit, relax, or work while enjoying a meal.

2. Coffee program and availability The coffee buffet or self-serve setup is often missing coffee or left in a state that isn’t appealing. It’s frustrating to expect a particular beverage and find it unavailable, especially for daily guests with a membership or subscription.

3. Staffing and customer service The longest-tenured staff members are still the nicest and most professional. Newer staff are struggling with attitude and professionalism, which significantly impacts customer experience. I recently interacted with a young, pregnant team member who, regrettably, was rude and refused to share her name or engage constructively after I voiced a concern. It’s never acceptable to be dismissed or disrespected, and the lack of a name can feel evasive. The incident escalated when I mentioned the mix-up with coffee I didn’t purchase, and a half cup was discarded out of disappointment. The staff member’s reaction did not reflect the courtesy I expect from a Panera employee.

4. Consistency and respect for customers For patrons who are members and pay monthly for the club, there’s a higher expectation of reliable service and items. Repeated lapses in order accuracy, coffee availability, and respectful interaction undermine that trust. The feeling of being “disrespected” by young staff, especially when you’re a loyal customer, is not what Panera should strive for.

My take and a path forward

Panera has strong potential here: the brand’s food quality and a generally welcoming vibe should attract regulars. The Kenosha location, however, needs attention to both operations and staff culture. Actions that could help: Improve housekeeping and dining area cleanliness to restore a comfortable atmosphere. Ensure coffee program reliability and visible stock checks to minimize outages. Reinforce customer-service training for new staff, with emphasis on respectful communication, name sharing, and handling concerns calmly. Implement a clear protocol for customers who are members, including a straightforward way to address issues and to confirm service recovery. Encourage constructive feedback channels for customers to share concerns without fear of confrontation.

Final thought

As someone who loves Panera, it’s disappointing to see this location slip. I hope management takes the feedback seriously, addresses cleanliness and service gaps, and returns this Panera to its former status as one of the best around. I plan to continue visiting and will reassess after visible improvements, especially given my monthly membership and frequent coffee visits.

If you’ve also visited this Kenosha Panera recently, I’d love to hear your experience. Have you noticed similar issues, or have...

Overall customer service was subpar compared to other locations, including IL, and compared to what Panera used to be. I was ignored for the second time now by the front counter cashier. This time, it was by an older lady, unlike before when it was a younger girl. The first time, the girl waited until I started to walk out to acknowledge me. This time around the old woman decided to go about her business acting like she had zero awareness to her as I stood there in front of the register. It took another lady to come around from the back and actually greet me for the old lady to care about the customer service aspect of her job. To top it off she was curt in her demeanor, when telling me to check for orange juice in the cooler to make sure they have any upon ordering. The whole interaction was in an apparent contempt-like, forced, disingenuous "nice" attitude.

The order was the Cinascramble sausage egg breakfast sandwich. The cinnamon bun was slightly burnt and falling apart, so essentially the sandwich didn't have a top bread piece.

Again, back to the attitudes and mentality of these people, I dealt with literally some twisted mischaracterization attempt of me as I pick up my food when called. I dropped off my pager and grabbed my plate saying thank you to the associates, just to be ignored. With that, the heavy set, white woman asked the other male associate if he knew the order belonged to me in some weird, suspicious manner. She asked him twice as I was walking away purposely to be heard while being underhandedly downtrodden. I was the only order up and it was not busy. I went back up and told her I heard her, it WAS my order, and I don't appreciate the apparently purposeful mischaracterization attempt of me acting as if I'm stealing someone else's meal. How weird is that for someone to do! Of course, she acted like she had no idea what she just said or what I was talking about. That's how it works right?!

It's just more of the same with what goes on with hiring practices now, with identity politics being so prevalent that people are now prejudiced thinking their self-righteous, and straight up entitlement. To top it off I even dealt with some good ole-Kenosha style virtue signaling by an older man calling me a derogatory expletive cause I confronted the heavy set white girl that tried to play essentially emasculating, mischaracterizing, racial identity politics as I'm simply getting my food.

Terrible environment and apparently too much self-absorption without enough true grit. Also some dirty tables too. I've seen the plate return area completely stacked and gross in the previous visit mentioned as well. Guess we need another pandemic to care, right? No thanks to this...

This was the first time I've been to a Panera. I didn't like these touch screen things when you walked in the door. They were hard to use and I didn't like touching something hundreds of other people touched right before I was about to eat a sandwich. I got frustrated with the touch screen thingy and walked away. I just wanted to tell a cashier what I wanted and get my food. The cashier was a dingbat and couldn't seem to understand wild rice soup and four cheese grilled cheese sandwich. It's not like the menu is that expansive to be confusing. I paid... waaaay too much. $16 for a bowl of soup, a sandwich and a bottle of juice. The place was packed. Hard to find a place to sit. I found a place to sit. The food came and the soup was fine. Nothing fantastic, but not complaining either. The sandwich was a joke. Nothing grilled about it. A small "wad" of half melted, cold shredded cheese on each half. The bread wasn't even stuck together with the cheese. I was going to take a pic and post a review, but I started to get kinda angry. So, I picked up the plate, walked over to the manager standing behind the counter and asked him, "Does this look like a $6 sandwich to you?" He immediately replied, "Absolutely not!" and took the plate from me. After I had finished my soup, the manager brought me another sandwich. I admit, it had more cheese on it and it was actually hot, but still not grilled. Not even toasted. I'm guessing it was microwaved. I did appreciate the manager trying to make it right, but the sandwich still sucked. I had a reward for a free pastry because I signed up for their rewards program before I went there to eat. I didnt even bother to use it. When I walked out the door there was a car right outside with a Panera delivery sign on it. The car was unoccupied, running, had the driver side window down and was blasting rap music with subwoofers rattling every car in the parking lot. I gave 2 stars because the soup was ok. I won't...