Panera Bread — Restaurant in South Carolina

I just moved here to Bluffton, had a difficult day and really missed home. Panera was a familiar and very loved spot I used to frequent with friends. A cozy spot with good food and friendly people. I called my husband to meet me at this location for an early dinner. It was one of those incredibly cold days. From what I've been told, uncharacteristic.

The inside of Panera was cold. I needed a second jacket but didn't have one, cold.

The menu was limited, surely do to economic circumstances.

The server was nonchalent, as most servers seem to be out here.

I ordered a pick 2 and small hot beverage. the chipolte avocado chicken sandwich Turkey chili

The sandwich was fine, though unevenly put together and the food nearly fell out as I took my first bite. I had to arrange it myself to eat it, several times.

It took an emoloyee 3 times to direct my husband to butter for our baguette. He stood behind the counter directing my husband to one wrong spot after another. He never moved to bring us the butter, or apologize for sending him to the wrong places.

The soup spoon was crusted with something nasty. We went up and got a plastic spoon that was clean.

The soup bowl had soup crusted on the sides and had obviously been under a lamp for quite some time or it wouldn't have been stuck on like it was.

The thing that will cause me to never step foot in here again was the hot beverage station. Filth on and around the canisters of tea, the table looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months. The beverage spigots were horrible. The entire area was making me ill looking at it.

I saw person after person go to that station and seem fine. Happy customers in that restaurant.

Maybe this was what is expected.

I was so cold we left. I thought to talk to the manager, but if the customer facing Station was so dirty and unexceptable, what did the kitchen look like. The manager surely knew.

We left and sadly will never return due to things that could be changed with some care and cleaning.

A smile would be nice, a thank you would be pleasant, but cleanliness should be assumed. I don't know how they pass a...

I spent over $50 for an online order placed almost 2 hours before I wanted to pick it up. I received an email at the time it should have been ready that said it was "taking longer than expected." 15 minutes later I picked it up and the bag was taped shut. I got home and discovered that they had not included the soup and bread bowl I was charged for. I called and the manager told me that they were out of bread bowls. She then told me that I could come another day and they would give me a bread bowl for free. After explaining to her again that I had already been charged for it and that she couldn't consider it "free," she hung up on me. I called back and spoke to a different manager who said I would have to speak with the GM the next day. She also said that she would not give me the name of the manager who hung up on me. The GM originally told me that she would give me 2 free bread bowls, but I said I would rather be reimbursed for two bread bowls. She said I would have to come into the store to be reimbursed. After questioning her, she said she would reimburse me over the phone "this one time" but it would only be for one bread bowl. I told her that she should be reimbursing the entire meal. She said only corporate could do that. I told her to go through corporate. She said the meal should be reimbursed in about a week and to call if it has not returned. She also said that her manager would not hang up on me because they are not trained to do that. I asked her if they were trained to charge me for food and not give it to me. Poor management all around. Poor customer service skills. I expected better...

Well, my wife and I will not be going back to this Panera in Bluffton (located in Tanger 1). We were the only couple present at 3:30pm and it took longer than usual to place an order with the older gentleman at the counter. All I could hear is the woman (who seemed to be in charge) talking out loud in the prep, drive through area when it did not seem that anyone was around. We ordered two meals 1. Your pick Two 2. Whole Salad with chicken. When my name was called a young man with long hair who was behind the counter called my name. I explained that they made the whole salad in a small bowl. He immediately said well I can give this for you togo since we cannot take this back. I said no thanks I just want my whole salad with chicken, he insisted that I had to take the wrong salad to go. Strange all he had to do was make a new large bowl of salad with chicken, but he decided to walk away. The woman (assume she was a manager) then walked over after a few minutes as I stood there and looked at the wrong order and I heard her say what is this, clearly the young man with long hair did not communicate to her what had transpired. She looked at me and asked what happened after I explained she said that she would take care of it. Unfortunately, my wife had finished her pick two by the time I received the whole bowl with chicken. Total Fiasco and this Panera is in need of Retraining. I see why they did not receive...