Panera Bread — Restaurant in San Jose

Had a decent sized catering/delivery order last week - ordered 2 days in advance. Due to some process glitches (the specifics are not my concern) the order, for a special birthday party breakfast, was unexpectedly cancelled mid deliver time window. Things happen. To be expected in life. The magic comes in the solution. And that's where this Cafe shined brightly. The manager, Brisa, handled the mix up beautifully. I'd called the Cafe, spoken with the 1st manager on duty, and I made the decision to be patient and speak with the Cafe manager directly when she came in. That was the right move. She not only got our replacement order out within an hour - she took care of us the next day as well once it was determined that some critically important breakfast items had been mistakenly left out of the replacement order. My recipients recieved the coffee and juice we'd ordered the day before AND some complimentary bagels and pastries to make up for the kerfuffle. THAT'S the very magic of customer service I mentioned above. Things happen - how this was addressed is what gives this order and the management team 5+ stars. Also, we have placed this long distance order every year for about 4 or 5 years - and we will again next year. ...

I was driving home after being awake and out early on a Saturday morning. Very early. Since I had nothing more planned to do and I was hungry. I wanted an egg and cheese sandwich and a hot tea. I thought I would go to Panera Bread, so I entered my request into Google Maps. When I arrived, there were ultimately zero customers inside other than one man with a cell phone charging. The building was well maintained up until the shared parking lot, which was littered and filthy. I guess nobody is assigned, or the property management company is not doing its job. The bathroom was clean, as was the overall restaurant, The service was quick and efficient with me using the self-service kiosk. The young man behind the counter was very nice as he greeted me. The tea was hot. The sandwich was kind of sad because the sausage patty was used well past its shelf life. I felt as if they overcooked, as it was a slow morning for the store. I ate my sandwich inside the restaurant and the sausage patty was old and not too good. Overall, the hunger was suppressed, and I was satisfied to drive away with an...

8/26 I'm struggling with my choice to pick Panera as one of my places to frequent for lunch. Maybe I'll try another location next time. Sadly, employees must not be trained to at least cut the brown part off of the avocado. 😔 It was actually not ripe and I could not cut it with just the fork. Disappointing. It was still a tasty salad though. Next time maybe dine-in so I can address it then vs driving back to the office.

I'm a new Panera convert since they got rid of all the garbage in their food (artificial colors, flavors, etc.). I've been quite pleased my past few times that the food now has flavor, tastes fresh, and their online ordering and pick up system is very easy to use. Today the sandwich missed the mark a little. It had good flavor and was fresh tasting but the presentation is a bit misrepresented from the website to reality. The salad looks very good and they seem to be very consistent with the salad quality, which is nice. Hopefully, it was just an off day and future sammies will look more like...