Panera Bread — Restaurant in Shawnee

I'm giving a 4-rating based on many years of happy times and good food and service at reasonable prices, and not on my visit yesterday, which would barely rate a 3. Panera has long been a favorite place of mine. It's a comfortable place to eat alone, with friends, family, or for business meetings with colleagues. I've seen people conduct job interviews, people meet for first dates or study for classes, friends play card games, people relax by listening to classical music or reading, and families share a special lunch with small children. It's all good. The menu is generally "all good" too, with a wide variety of tasty choices, and special meal options marked for vegetarians. (Thank you! Do you know how difficult it can be to find restaurants with even one vegetarian offering in Kansas City? Panera provides choices!) Recently though, things have not gone as well for us. Smoothies made with incorrect ingredients, including fruits I'm allergic to. They stopped making whole wheat baguettes, soups that were not tasty, foods that had to be thrown away, and soaring prices. Yesterday, I ordered 2 cups of soup (not larger bowl size), 2 smoothies, and a loaf of bread to go. With $3 tip, that meal came to over $30. Although we very seldom throw away food, a portion of this was tossed out. Also, we are a member of their rewards program and used to get a free drink or dessert at least once a month. We seldom get anything anymore. I hate to sound all negative. We have loved Panera. We just hope it makes a turnaround to that place we so enjoyed. We'll definitely try it again before giving it up. If you've never been, it's certainly...

We are long time customers, including our local store in Shawnee, KS, and have generally been very satisfied. That is why we were so upset when we had a horrible service experience. We ordered through the Panera app and selected delivery (because we were ordering for 3 kids and didn't want to get them out). We received our confirmation email from Panera indicated the food would be delivered in 45-60 minutes and that we would receive and update when our food was on the way. After 60 minutes and no delivery I called the store. The person that answered said our order was ready for pick up. I said we selected delivery and she said they don't deliver at that store. I asked how that was possible if I ordered through the app and received confirmation of delivery. She then had someone else get on the phone who said she was the manager. She said they don't deliver but they use Door Dash. I said I had no idea they used Door Dash as I had not ordered through DD. She said Door Dash apparently had not picked it up but they could start making it over and deliver it. That would have been great, but then she went on to reiterate they don't deliver and made me feel as though I should have known that and I was somehow responsible. This upset me and I challenged why she was putting it on me and Door Dash when I ordered through the Panera app. Her response was she didn't work for Door Dash so it wasn't her problem. Wow. Then when I became upset she acted like my anger at that statement was somehow my fault and she would just cancel the order. Incredibly poor communication from someone that claims to...

My daughter and I went to this Panera store today 09/25/2013 at approx 10:40AM. When we walked in, no one greeted us. We ordered, I went to the coffee station and the Half and Half was empty. we sat talking. Approx 15 minutes later I went for a fill up on Light Roast and found it was empty. I turned to 1 of the male employees who was wearing a baseball cap and asked if there would be more coffee soon to which he just shrugged his shoulders. I asked him again and also asked if he even cared, he then walked away. I went to the main counter where there was another male employee wearing a red polo shirt and asked if there would be more Light Roast coffee. He turned to what appeared to be the coffee making station and said, "we'll put more on in a little bit". On an interesting side note, we visited the local Sprint store to buy a new phone afterwards and while we were talking about our experience, another person over-heard us and asked which store we were referring to. When we told them it was the one down the street on Shawnee Mission Parkway, they added their own personal negative experience recently regarding rudeness and lack of friendliness by the Panera staff. Note to the owners of this store: Hire some new staff or you will lose customers. Just because it says "Panera" on the outside, we won't come in if your staff remains rude and...