Panera Bread — Restaurant in San Antonio

My grandson and I were out for a fun day the 6th of January. I can not tell you how disappointed I was with the lunch we received here at the Hwy 281 North location.

I have eaten at Panera many times before, here in many different locations in Texas and also visting family in Michigan. This was my 1st visit to this location and I will never return.

We both ordered a bread bowl with soup. Mine was the acorn squash, it literally had four small spoons of soup in the bread bowl and to add insult to injury, it was not served hot. I've ordered this item for years past and it has never been like this. My grandson had the chicken noodle soup in his bread bowl, and it came out looking like it had sat in the bread bowl for an hour. I should have sent them both back. I didn't want to upset my young grandson who had begun to eat his meal.

When I saw another chunk of bread sitting next to our bread bowls it dawned on me that we were never asked what side we would like with our soup. Do you no longer offer an apple instead of the extra bread?

I'm hard of hearing and was having an issue with one of my hearing aids. I had to ask the person taking our order to please speak up several times, and she just simply would not raise her voice or look at me while taking our order. Very poor customer service!

While getting water and coffee I noticed that the area just looked messy and quite frankly not really clean. Also, there were many dirty tables, and the floor was not clean.

I used the ladies room before I left, and found that in the same unkept state. The floor in the ladies room was just terrible and the trash container was overflowing. I've never seen a Panera Bread in this sad sad state before.

With drinks and a side dish my grandson ordered along with our soup bread bowls, I spent close to $40. After such a bad bad experience, I also questioned why we are asked to tip the staff when we - #1 Stand in line to order, or use the computer ourselves to order our meals. #2 Our names are called to come up and retrieve our meals when they are ready. And lastly.. #3 After we are done eating, we clear and tity our table ourselves? And "Yes", I tipped while I checked out. Today I certainly questioned that and actually wished I had spent my money elsewhere.

I'm truly saddened to have written this negative review, but this one visit has diminished all the nice visits I've had to Panera. I'll not be quick to return to Panera, and if and when I do, I will indeed never return to...

Order Date: 10/18/24 Order Time: 7:58:44 AM Cashier: Mi’Lan Order Number: 184412

Very Disappointed!!!

Based on the menu board/picture, I ordered the new Bacon Double Take Sandwich along with a drink.

I presented the cashier with a Panera Gift Card. He entered the numbers (though he would have scanned) and told me that there was no money left on the gift card. I told him I’m sure there was to which he replied that he had just checked and there was a zero balance. I paid with cash.

While waiting for my food to be ready, I called the number on the card to get a balance; there remained a balance of $19.83. This is the same amount I had written on the back of the card as is my habit, so I know how much remains after each use. I approached the cashier and let him know that whatever he did on his side must not be correct as I had checked and there remained a balance of $19.83. He had an attitude of indifference and basically said okay – no apology, no let me correct the transaction, etc.

My next disappointment came when my food was ready. My order was placed on the counter window and the employee just walked away. She never called my name. I know this as I was sitting standing close to the window and observing her actions. I walked over to the window and saw my name on the ticket so took that sandwich. The employee was too busy having personal conversations/laughing with the other employees to have time for positive customer interactions.

My third disappointment came when I got to my table and looked at my sandwich. It did not appear even close to the sandwich pictured on the menu board. That sandwich looked appetizing with several pieces of bacon and worthy of the name ‘Bacon Double….’ However, my sandwich had NO visible bacon. I took it apart to discover there were only two, small, paper thin pieces of bacon. In essence, I paid $6.99 for a piece of bread, an egg and bacon flavoring. Felt like I was ‘robbed’ or a victim of ‘bait and switch’ type advertising.

The only thing positive about this experience was meeting my friend, which we could have done anywhere. The service and food experience were a failure.

Note: The cashier was a young, African-American male wearing glasses – not sure if his name was Mi’Lan. No one I saw was wearing nametags, all were wearing their personal ‘street clothes’ (a hodge podge of colors, prints, etc.) and one girl was...

UPDATE (8 SEP 2024): Ate here yesterday after church for a relatively quick lunch. Both of us ordered the Balsamic Greens With Grains bowl. Taste was excellent, and serving size was good. Greens could have been a bit fresher, as they seemed somewhat wilted, but the overall flavor was good. The iced tea was good, though it tasted like they may have changed their tea leaf type, as there was a different flavor. Still decent.

This location definitely needs a complete remodeling to freshen the look, though we prefer the warmer feel of a place with carpet and wood vice how the newer ones are with the hard floors and impersonal modern decor. Not appealing to us. Still, a lot needs to be done with this one, as the facility itself continues to decline.

ORIGINAL POST A YEAR AGO: My wife and I stopped in this evening for a light dinner after a weekend out of town. Restaurant was clean throughout. Our order was taken by an extremely friendly young lady and the food was prepared quickly, both of us getting salads. Mine was the in-season strawberry poppyseed with chicken. It was very fresh and the vinaigrette was very tasty.

Only issue was I had very little green lettuce as part of the mix, with almost all of it the whitest parts of iceberg lettuce. Recommend that be something looked at by management, as there really is no nutritional value with that, and it's not overly appetizing. All the other ingredients were very fresh and good.

A little on the pricey side, though. Two salads and two medium drinks cost $30. Wow, prices just...