Panoteca San Miguel — Restaurant in San Juan

Dear Panoteca,

I have always been a loyal and enthusiastic customer of your bakery, frequently visiting multiple times a week and making substantial purchases each time. Your bakery holds a special place in my heart as one of my favorite and most recommended spots in Puerto Rico.

However, my recent experience during "Pizza Night" left me feeling disrespected and disappointed as a customer. I ordered two pizzas along with pastries, and the wait time was a substantial one hour and 20 minutes for the pizza to be served. My patience was not an issue, but I was surprised to discover that, after 30 minutes of ordering, only one pizza was listed on my receipt.

With courtesy, I approached the cashier to verify the order, and she confirmed that only one pizza had been placed. I kindly asked her to add the second pizza to my order and was willing to pay for it. To my surprise, she informed me that it would take an additional 30 minutes beyond the initial order's time to have the second pizza ready. I inquired why it couldn't be included with my original order, as I had assumed it was part of it. Her response, unfortunately, left me taken aback. She claimed she "didn't hear me say it” and insisted if she didn’t hear it she couldn't included at the same time with my original order, and that if I wanted she could place the pizza but to be placed on the next round (30-40mins after my first order). To clarify her intent, she said, “Como yo no te escuché y no está en la orden, no puedo colocartelo a la misma hora, ya que hay otras ordenes antes de la tuya.” This comment, repeated multiple times during our conversation with a noticeable attitude evident in her actions and facial expressions, made me feel extremely uncomfortable. This conversation insinuated that I was being untruthful about placing the order in the first place.

The problem is not that the pizza was forgotten; it's that it wasn't my fault, and I was not being untruthful, yet I was being treated as if I were. I didn't need to wait an additional 30-40 minutes for a second pizza after already waiting for an hour and 20 minutes for my order, specially if I did mention it. The appropriate course of action should have been to offer a sincere apology and make the necessary arrangements to ensure both pizzas were served at the same time. I understand that some customers may attempt to deceive for personal advantage, but assuming and treating everyone as if they are lying is a significant mistake. A more considerate approach to handling these situations would not only retain loyal customers but also enhance your reputation in the community.

Feeling disrespected as a loyal customer and, more importantly, as a human being, I couldn't help but think that this situation could have been handled differently. If it was indeed the employee's oversight, there should be a more customer-centric approach to rectify such issues without making the customer bear the brunt of the mistake.

Regardless of how exceptional your food is, the ultimate determinant of your long-term success lies in how you treat your customers and the kindness you extend to them. To be labeled as a liar and not have accountability taken for a mistake is deeply unsettling.

I have never made a negative review in my life, but I felt this is the appropriate time to offer constructive criticism and urge you to take action in how your personnel treats customers. (Which, I must clarify, is not everyone, but a significant portion of them).

I genuinely wish you the very best in your career, but until a change is implemented to ensure a more welcoming, humble and comfortable environment for customers, I am unsure about my future visits.

With...

Disclaimer this post is only base on 1 experience on December 31, 2020. With that said, their baked products are good. The only negative point would be their poor engagement with their public/clients. Understandably they are starting as a business. They only serve 2 days in a limited schedule and order are through social media. The downside has been their lack of communication. You can place an order and from f they don’t confirm you are not sure how f the order was received or not. If you are a first time buyer once you made the 30 minute line then they tell you if you didn’t receive a confirmation then your order was not complete. I got lucky since they had some baked good still available that were not part of a confirmed order. To our dear friends of Panoteca San Miguel I encourage your social media manager to be a bit more engaging and transparent with your public. A simple post or comment in your profile indicating that if your a client doesn’t receive a confirmation to their order means their order was not fulfilled goes a long way. My wife and I are the type that like to support local business. On the other hand, I’m the kind of client that usually goes by their first experience with a business. However, I do understand the limitations or challenges that their may be due to COVID and the time of the year. We will give it another try hoping it...

I saw a Panoteca ad and saved the location in my Google page since it looked interesting, we are fans of bread, coffee and pizza, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately the experience was disappointing. First, the layout inside the store is confusing since they have three order stations. You have to order the coffee/bread first, then move to a second counter to order pastries and the third counter is to order the food and pay. At the time to pay, my three orders were all over the place (no wonder why they had a waiting line outside with a sign allowing three people max inside). Second, there are not enough tables to sit, we had to wait too long for the pizza while standing outside. Second, the two pizzas (squared slice not a whole pizza) were below average, the Margherita pizza was greasy and the cheese was chewy; the second pizza was a folded slice of mortadella placed on top of the bread with pistachios and cream cheese sprinkled on it 😳. The cortadito coffee was ok but the cold coffee drink was terrible, my son had to place it in the garbage after two painful sips. Third, the service was bad, very disorganized and slow. I gave two stars on food because the almond croissant was the only thing we liked. Not going back for sure!! We paid $53 total for a...