Panera Bread — Restaurant in Toms River

Today I went to Panera in Toms River with my daughter for lunch this is not the first location that I have been to. However, I have to say not only was the food great but the customer service was out of this world. To start, as we walk through the door we were greeted by an employee welcoming us and also acknowledging my daughter and my granddaughter he then asked if we were ready to order or if we had any questions at that time. We were still looking at the menu after about 2 to 3 minutes. We then started to order. It was then that I found out that the gentleman we were speaking to named Nick was an associate. This gentleman not only took our order but assisted other employees and with questions that they have keeping up with drive-thru as they needed the assistance and not to mention after we ordered and we're seated waiting for our food which again came out very quickly. The order was perfect and the food was delicious. I highly recommend the lobster macaroni and cheese and the lobster roll. Going back to the associate. Nick, we were watching the counter as people were coming in and out and he actually greeted people by their name that to me shows pride in their work. I'm a manager of several stores throughout the years and that's the type of employee that I would want working for me. I hope that this gentleman gets taken care of and management should acknowledge him, toward the hard work that he does and how his customer service is incredible. Thank you again Nick for your wonderful service and for taking our order lastly, I also want to mention that no one has ever asked me about rewards and Nick did. So now I am a Panera rewards member. I look forward to coming back and I hope that the customer service continues and other associates should definitely look up to Nick. It will make Panera one of the only companies that take pride in customer service...

I've never been to this panera before. I'm sorry, but it just was not good at all to me.

I ordered one line the 4 cheese souffle and a caramel iced latte. When I picked it up, I had a spinach and bacon souffle. Apparently they didn't have any more when I placed the order and she wrote on the back of the ticket they were out, but I didn't see it because the receipt was stapled to the bag and it wasn't even a thought to turn the receipt over. I took it up to the cashier and she said there were some four cheese souffles in the oven and it would be about 9 minutes, so I said I'd wait.

In the meantime, I got my caramel latte - it didn't taste like caramel at all. The server explained that they only use caramel liquid and not drizzle, so she understands why it doesn't taste like caramel. So I asked her about the vanilla, and she said it was the same liquid stuff, so it may not taste like vanilla either. I asked her if she could switch to the iced Chai Latte since it was the same price, which she gladly did. But honestly when I took a sip, I felt sick - it tasted so processed and not like Chai Latte at all.

Not knowing what to do, I asked if she could exchange it for the blueberry lemonade, which she graciously did. She told me it was very sweet, but when I got it, it seemed a kind of bitter... just a weird flavor to me. I just tossed it.

Finally the four cheese souffle was ready. I went to get it and started eating - and it was overcooked, so much that the crust was dried out.

Look...maybe it was just me, but I just don't remember Panera being this bad. The service was great, but the...

I love Panera’s food but this particular Panera location seems to always get my order wrong or not have my order ready at the selected time when using rapid pick up. My first rapid order experience I ordered my food for 8:40am, and it wasn’t ready when I showed up at 8:45. It took a fair few minutes before anyone would even acknowledge me to question why my order wasn’t ready. Finally someone said “oh our online order system isn’t working”. Fine, it happens, but I’ve had similar experiences since where I was told nothing other than “it’s being prepared”. Also, I’m a mocha latte fan, and I’ve had multiple orders when my drink was made hot when it should have been iced, or frozen when it should have been hot....? And today I ordered an iced mocha and a ham/egg/cheese sandwich. I received a frozen mocha and egg/cheese/roasted tomato sandwich. I have gone to several Panera locations in PA and NJ, and this one is not recommended if you’re ordering via rapid pick up unless you want to be late for work or wasting time reordering because the staff is incompetent. The employees clearly can’t read orders properly, and tend to ignore you when you try to get an incorrect order rectified. Again, incompetent and not properly trained in customer service. I only gave 2 stars because the food is still good (when...