Panera Bread — Restaurant in Springfield

Update 1-16-24... you know how sometimes you like a place and you just keep going back like a bad relationship because you hope it can get better even though they prove you wrong EVERY TIME... welcome to my relationship with Panera on S Dirksen. I truly don't know how this store can figure out new and exciting ways to screw things up or to look completely incompetent every time we go there but man they do a phenomenal job of being creative and inventive. On today's episode it's -3° out and there's no one in line at the drive-thru and there's basically no one in the parking lot and we pull up to pick our order up in the Drive-Thru as it was marked as drive-thru pickup and the guy on the speaker tells me we only have one order even though we clearly know we have two. Then he says one of them is marked for delivery ( I didn't know the store offered delivery) but he'll be nice enough to hand it through the window "this time" and I said cool I appreciate that and pull up to the window and the nice lady hands me one bag of food and closes the window and then stares at me through the glass as I'm looking back at her like hey maybe I have more business to conduct with you... she opens the window again and says did you have a second order and I said I sure did and I gave her the name and she walks away. Meanwhile three dudes continue to just aimlessly walk around inside the store within sight pointing and not doing anything and 3 minutes later she comes back and says we're still working on that order and I said cool thank you and we sat there and then 3 minutes later another random guy walks to the window opens it and said can I help you and I said we had an order and I gave the last name again and he looks at me dead in the eye and says okay what's the name on it and I said I just said the last name? I repeated it and without saying a word he just closes the window and walks away. 2 minutes later he returns with the order and all he says is sorry. Perfect.

UPDATE 02-19-23: I've been back and forth with this place. Good review, then bad review... It's to the point that if the food wasn't as good as it is I'd never go here. I truly don't understand how an online order can take over 40 minutes to make and when you get there to pick it up people who ordered at the register when you are standing there waiting for your order are getting their food served up to them? The best answer they had is "we lost your order a while ago but it's back in there." Can I ask why it's not "back in there at the top?" It's simple customer service that is constantly overlooked here. I'll keep trying, maybe one day they'll realize it can be so much better. . Also, how long are you going to let an order sit on your to go shelf? I get people may not pick up their orders in a timely fashion but if something is coming up on 12 hours old sitting on there you would think it would be a public health issue to leave that food up there.... Check photo... pic taken at 6:32pm! . The food is always good. I would say the prices are probably high for what you actually receive but you kind of know that going in. I would probably give it 5 stars but I never feel like the employees are ever really aware of what is going on. Today I went there to pick up a mobile order. Ordered on the app, got an acknowledgement that the order was received, and went to the store. Walked in a few minutes early and waited seeing no orders were on the shelf as indicated by the app as being the pickup location. The app then notified me that the order was ready. I waited a few more minutes and no orders came out. There was only myself and one other customer in the store. I finally walked up and asked an employee if my order was there and she looked around, then walked out to the shelf I had been standing next to for 5 mins and looked at the empty shelf with me. Then she walked down to the far end and grabbed several orders that were still back behind the counter, a place I would have never seen or been able to access, and then brought me mine..... Sometimes it's the little...

After I had ordered the breakfast online for curbside pick up, and followed all their instructions and let them know I was there via the phone app (around 9.40am, and very less cars and people there), the staff didn’t respond for over 10 minutes. So I went in and I see my food just sitting there on the counter, and the staff not bothered about it. When I asked them what the deal was, they just said ‘we are working on other orders - sorry’. On top of that, when I got home and started taking the food out for my family at the table, we saw 2 orders were missing. I had to go back and had them make that order for us. What bugged me most was the staff laughing and chatting, and texting on their phone while all this was happening, with no care for customer. There was no sign of a manager there either. Our family birthday breakfast got so upset and irritating, I doubt I’ll make online orders with Panera again. Nor will I add tip for them again. Better to wait at drive through....

Very rude customer service. The girl taking the order was clearly frustrated. (I think her name was Katie.) She was very sharp and was clearly irritated. She very rudely corrected my pronunciation of Quinoa. I ordered the chicken broth bowl with Quinoa, when I got the order they had put egg in the broth bowl instead. I brought the broth bowl and receipt back within minutes of walking out the door. Again the girl was very sharp and told the kitchen staff to remake it. A kitchen employee came out with a horrible attitude and even glared me down. I asked Katie if she needed the receipt and they both gave me a disgusted look. Even the manager was at the front witnessing the whole ordeal but he too had a horrible attitude. The ONLY two employee's with a decent attitude about serving their customers was Jessica who asked me more than once if she could do anything to help and even offered me a pastry. Then a guy handing out the food who actually thanked me. Very...