Panera Bread — Restaurant in Rancho Cordova

Livin' the drive thru life. This Panera in Rancho Cordova, is one of the few that have a drive thru. And it's not too far or cumbersome to get to from Highway 50. Easy enough to get to. But the drive thr ordering/pickup window is physically immediate after the right turn. So if you don't angle your car close enough, you'll be stretch armstronging. And it doesn't help if you have TRex arms.

I've been stopping by here occasionally throughout the years. Customer service has been great. But the food quality is a hit or miss. On my last visit, the BLT was a dismal representation of a sandwich. It had two thin, short, see thru, microwave type bacon. But they served the bacon ice cold. Interesting Panera choice. The lettuce was an arugula salad mix. Another interesting Panera choice. The tomato slice was super thin. The bread was delicious, but doesn't make up for the lackluster sandwich. We also ordered a half order of Greek salad and half chicken Napa salad sandwich. The salad was chock full of the hard core of inner romaine lettuce. Odd the romaine had the core without the leafy green part as it seemed to be sliced off. Another interesting Panera choice. The chicken Napa is my favorite all time sandwich at Panera. But like the BLT, it was a sad sandwich. It was loaded with arugula salad mix but where's the chicken ?!? It had hardly any chicken salad on...

Husband and I decided to come & have dinner after a long trip, so we had no food at home so had no choice but to eat out, he had $17.00 a small bowl of soup and a sandwich, I had a $9.19 large bowl of soup, soups were not completely full they served halfway! Sandwich had a one slice of deli chicken slice and 2-3 tiny pieces of brown avocado, came up to the front and asked assistant manager if this is the right amount for bowls served half way. She told me very rude yes that’s the right amount and told me the spoons amounts that are served for each size. I said $33.00 for this meal that it can filled a child not an adult. we been regular customers since they opened that location here in Rancho Cordova, had given them several chances for them to improve their serving sizes and how to treat customers but no , they just became like Chipotle, cheating customers and charging an arm in a leg for a meal. So we had it no more Panera for us, hope they see that they are loosing customers and that they improve their bad service and quality right amount...

Updated to 1 star. I used my "reward" to get an iced coffee with half and half and 3 pumps of liquid cane. The app tells me it's ready but it's not on the shelf. I ask about my drink and they give me an empty cup. So what's the point of ordering ahead if I have to make my own drink when I get there? Let alone the liquid cane isn't even accessible, as it's in the back of house. When I asked for it, the staff asked if I knew that liquid cane SUGAR is not sugar free.... No really? Crazy. Almost like I just was to sweeten my coffee with something that will mix well with a cold drink... Bad execution for the unlimited sip club. This location does not have it together.

Old review 3 stars: I like this location. I do not go to Panera often but it's always clean and well managed. I use it to do homework every once in a while, so my lack of stars is due to the lack of outlets, the wifi is ridiculously slow and barely works, and then the food is expensive for how...