Panera Bread — Restaurant in Portage

My favorite lady and I met at Panera Bread the other night for dinner and it was a wonderful experience. The food was great, it was prepared in a timely manner and we were fortunate enough to secure the table by the fireplace (bonus!). I got there first so went ahead and did the ordering for both of us thru one of their little kiosk ordering stations. It was super intuitive and easy to use and I provided my cell number so they could text me when everything was ready. We always go the "Pick Two" route where you get half a sandwich and a cup of soup. I think one of your two can also be a salad. Anyway, I got my wife a turkey sandwich that also included bacon, cheese (swiss I think), lettuce, tomato and avocado. I'm very happy to say she loved it! She also loved the autumn squash soup (one of her Panera favs). I had my usual Napa almond chicken salad sandwich and the chicken noodle soup (I'm a horrible creature of habit but both of them are SO good). Again, everything was wonderful... and the soup was HOT! I get so pumped when my soup is actually hot! Nothing worse than cold food! I could complain a bit about the cost ($30 for both of us and we got water to drink) but everything is WAY expensive right now so I don't think complaining is going to change anything. I will say that the one thing that has always bothered me about Panera is when I upgrade to a BOWL of soup (vs. a cup) and they only fill the bowl half way. I paid extra b/c I wanted a FULL bowl of soup! C'mon guys! Sheesh. Anyway, aside from my full bowl obsession our meal was wonderful and I can guarantee you we'll go back. They've discovered how to warm your insides with wonderful menu choices and a decent atmosphere... especially if you get seats next to the fireplace. 😁 ...

I occasionally visit this particular Panera location and usually, the restaurant is very clean and the food is excellent... However, this experience was NOT good! I am highly disappointed. The entire restaurant had food on the floor, everywhere... The bathroom was disgusting... And the food was just missing flavor! I have NEVER been served french onion soup with parmesan sprinkled on top! Who does that!? (lol) It has ALWAYS been provolone....and I actually remember the last time I was at this location, I ordered the same soup and it had provolone! It was just disappointing -- it just would have been nice to have been told BEFORE paying for the soup and waiting for it that it would not have been made that way, so that I could have had the option to look at the menu for something else. On top of THAT, I ordered a half of a sandwich and it was so so bad.... I ended up scraping off the food that was on it so that I wouldn't break my teeth from how hard the bread was! I know that most of their bread is already pretty hard bread as it is, but, this was just ridiculous... Wasn't even worth going back up to wait for... I was on a "time crunch" and just wanted to grab lunch and go... Other than that, the cashiers were very friendly... sooo, that's why I gave THEM 3 stars.... however, I have definitely had better service at this location before, including food, sooo... I just had to leave my review.... Hopefully something will change here! I REALLY wanted french onion soup...

After figuring out the app I finally was able to place the order with my cellular phone. My grandkids usually help me with these tech things but I didn’t want to bother them since they were probably in school and wouldn’t be able to help me, that’s usually their excuse. My daughter is also going through a divorce and couldn’t drive them over. They might be at their dad’s house right now anyway. He currently lives in Grand Rapids or Big Rapids or some other rapids 🙄. I think I used that little picture right. My grandkids taught me that, I acted like I couldn’t do it but I really just wanted them to visit more often. Anyway, once I placed the order I parked in the spot where they deliver your food. I waited there for 10 minutes and I would have been a little miffed if it wasn’t for the very interesting radio program on NPR, today Ira Glass was talking about Amazon Reviews. I used Amazon one time, this nice young man brought my package to the door. His mask was under his nose so I didn’t give him a cookie like I would my grandkids.

After waiting for 10 minutes I realized I was supposed to do something on my phone to let them know I was there. Once they got the message it only took 25 more minutes of listening to the that handsome Ira Glass for the equally handsome young man to bring me my order. If you order at this location ask...