Panera Bread — Restaurant in Redding

I hate to sound like a Karen, but when you have such a negative experience at a business you have to share it. This location just opened about 2 weeks ago and I wanted to wait a bit before going. But even two weeks after opening, the place was still packed.

This location was formerly a large Hometown Buffet, yet this Panera location was disappointingly small. I wanted to dine in, but after seeing the lack of available tables I had to order my food to go. Upon entering, I noticed two out of three self-order tablets were not functional. Since I was using a gift card for my payment method, I had to abandon the self-order station and join the front-line queue as it never displayed the option for me to use a gift card.

The cashier "Annalea" as it says on my receipt, displayed unprofessional behavior. She consistently interrupted me, and at one point while taking my order, she ignored me to turn around and loudly discuss how she was feeling ill and about to vomit with a co-worker. I backed up when I heard her say this. To add to the frustration, when I presented my Panera gift card on my phone, she snatched it from my hand without asking, making the entire ordering process unpleasant.

After placing my order, Annalea ran off to the back and another cashier took her place. I was waiting for my order and watching the cashier informing customers of a 40-minute wait for food. I was extremely irritated that Annalea did not mention the 40 minute wait when taking my order; had she told me this I would have came back later.

Nearly an hour later, I received my order, which was THANKFULLY correct. However I was disappointed to find the bread carelessly tossed into the to-go bag, rather than being placed in a box or separate bag for freshness. I ordered the Green Goddess salad and the Fuji Apple chicken salad. The two salads I ordered were VERY sloppy and low quality. None of the veggies were fresh, the lettuce was drying out and had numerous brown spots.

This was by far the worst experience I've had at any fast food or restaurant business. The lack of communication about the wait time and the unprofessional behavior among the staff made this all an extremely unpleasant visit. I hope this review makes it to general manager, there are tons of issues at this location that need attention. There are several 1-star reviews for the Redding location showing several other negative experiences. There is TONS of room for improvement here.

UPDATE 12/26/2023:

After my review was forwarded to the district leader of Panera Bread I was rewarded with a $20 voucher as an ‘apology’ for the disappointing experience I had with the Redding Panera Bread.

I decided to give Panera Bread one final chance to redeem themselves when I went in yesterday to use the voucher they gave me.

To my surprise.. Panera Bread disappointed me yet again. I went with a mobile order this time to avoid a long wait like I did last time. I placed my order in advance to be picked up at 4:00 PM. At 3:58 PM I received a text and email both notifying me that my order was ready and placed on the rapid pick up shelf. I went inside the restaurant and….. nothing.

There was absolutely nothing on the shelf. I joined the front line queue again just to ask why my app was showing my food as “READY” though it wasn’t on the shelf. I didn’t get the cashiers name but she told me that sometimes the app will mark the order as ready even though it isn’t actually ready. Makes sense.

I waited about a total of 10 minutes for a mobile pickup that was placed IN ADVANCE an hour before. Which is ridiculous because the point of placing an order in advance is to not deal with a wait. Yet I still had a wait.

Overall, Redding Panera has still yet to improve after sending my initial review through to their HR Cares Support and making it to the district leader. So Redding Panera will not be getting my business again. Gave you one final chance to redeem yourselves and they blew it again. Thanks for the free food though,...

It honestly breaks my heart to write this review. I was so incredibly excited to have a Panera in our town. Unfortunately, ever since it opened, it has slowly been going downhill. Today was the worst. The food was edible, the staff was kind but the respect the staff has for food quality and professionalism was non-existent. I ordered the Southwest chicken caesar and the Southwest chicken melt, both items had ingredients missing, cilantro and Chipotle aioli. The employee that helped get my missing items was team lead and I'm incredibly disappointed that someone in a lead position would allow for a customer to take cilantro that is old, brown and slimy! The Chipotle aioli was watery and under flavor. The baguette side was incredibly hard, stale, and difficult to even chew! For the first time since they opened that we have visited, which has been diminishing because of past poor experiences, it was not busy due to being super bowl day. So, for the first time, we got our food in a timely manner. You would expect, with being the only customers in the restaurant, that your food would be perfect. I am posting the Panera mission card that was given to us on opening day. Their mission was not respected by their employees today. Two employees, including the team lead, were discussing work issues in front of us. You do not talk about work problems, like staffing, next to your customers! I have been holding off writing a review for a while hoping that Panera was going to turn around but I lost all hope tonight. It will take a lot for me to come back, I may try breakfast again, maybe that won't be so...

Long time Loyalty card was not accepted- had to have manager intervene- gift card was also not accepted- had to also have manager intervene- new staff training was obviously suspect ! Asked for an Asiago Bread loaf - not available! Very disappointed in this new concept size of restaurant was the very smallest I have ever been in as a loyalty member for over 23 years… . Why ?

The bread was like a rock, the French baguettes were less than 1/2 inch thickness…

So dissatisfied- I understand the first 3 days to be open and all but there is no quality control - broccoli/cheddar soup was like water !

I returned 8 days later and this restaurant was worse than the opening couple days - the quality of the food is pathetic- certainly not up to Panera standards

Whoever is in charge and making decisions needs to be replaced immediately- 75 minute wait at 4:30 in the afternoon is ridiculous and sorry I will say it again - their bread, bagels, muffins etc are way below the expectations of Panera quality

So - very very sad

Went back now 55+ days after it opened

What a fiasco-

Given wrong order, terribly dirty inside as well

Cannot begin to describe the disappointment this “type” of...