Panera Bread — Restaurant in Riverdale

This was a bittersweet experience. The short version: amazing, flavorful food let down by what appears to be truly awful management.

Let me preface this: I was delighted to find a Panera bread here, as I have fond memories of the food and cozy atmosphere from when my dad managed a Panera/Au Bon Pain back in the late 90s, and I always thought a Panera would do well here when I moved to UT. Panera's Menu is a slam dunk. The steak and Mozz might be a new favorite sandwich of mine. It's probably the most flavorful sandwich I've had in UT. I just wish I could justify returning for one.

I showed up around 2:45pm, not rush hour. There was a party of 3 ahead of me when I got here, not "quiet" but not busy. from the time printed on the receipt to the time I got my food was 32 minutes. you can see back into the kitchen, they generally seem to be happy, and apear fully staffed, but I get the strong impression that no one in management takes charge or responsibility when food isn't coming out. My Dad would be appalled.

I got a lemonade with "light ice" the ice alone was 3/4ths of the cup. Your beverages should be high return margin items. If your margins are tight enough that you're filling cups with ice, that is a very worrying sign for the future of this place.

I don't wanna hate on people having a laid back job, I'm just disappointed that I can't spend my lunch breaks here or take my co-workers here because we'd have to leave before getting our food. Be good to your workers but remember you're running a business here. If management can't inspire urgency, and if reviews stay this way, this place is going to go under as soon as the novelty of a new place wears off.

I'm worried my feedback will be used by management to play the blame game and shift the blame to individual employees. I can see back into the kitchen. This isn't them. This is a management problem. They need to either step up and start taking responsibility or step down.

I want this place to succeed. For nostalgia's sake if nothing else. The food itself is fantastic, But in it's current state, I predict that our first big snowfall is going to...

The low rating makes sense now, which is disappointing. We opted to come after the first day of school drop off, in hopes it'd be less "family" busy. We didn't wait long for food but there was a miscommunication. I ordered the Bacon Double Take which comes on FOCACCIA. The cashier wasn't sure if they had anymore focaccia but said they got some in this morning and she will check. I confirmed the bread we were speaking about because she pronounced it as FOCATTA. Then mentioned they have CIABATTA. I declined and reiterated that if they did have Focaccia I'd keep my order the same. Otherwise I gave her a an alternative option for my order which was a BAGEL sandwich. She confirmed, they had FOCATTA. When my order was ready, I picked up my sandwich and it's on Ciabatta. I was told they were out of FOCACCIA by the girl who prepared it. It was still good, my kid liked it, and exactly how I remember Panera to be. The service is just not up to all other Panera I've been to over the years. More training on swift order taking and food pronunciation is needed. Tables were fairly clean bur floors for 10 am were pretty bad. Visited on a...

My first time trying Panera Bread and it was…eh at best. It was expensive for a small amount of food. I ordered 2 of the You Pick Two combos with the Mac and cheese, Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad (2 of these) and a Ciabatta Cheesesteak with the free sides of baguette and chips. We ordered an agave lemonade and chocolate chip cookies.

The Mac and cheese was good. Creamy and warm. The salads had strawberries, blueberries and mandarin oranges with a poppyseed dressing. It needed more dressing, a lot more and it needed more flavor. The oranges needed to be fresher. All of the fruit needed to be fresher in general. The cheesesteak was okay. My wife said it was alright. The lemonade was different, but it was agave based, and still decided to try it. My wife didn’t like the chips. The baguette was great at getting the sauce from the Mac and cheese cup. The cookies were good.

Also, each of the foods were only a half portion and it cost nearly $40.

Overall, overpriced, overhyped,...