Panera Bread — Restaurant in Vancouver

This Panera is really unique and special. I actually feel like it's the heart of the SE Vancouver community. I know -- it feels a little crazy to be saying that about a fast-casual chain restaurant, but this is a locally owned franchise, and the owner is a gem and she runs this place with her whole heart. Her staff is great, too; they know people's orders and names, and always greet you with a big smile.

You can tell the quality of a place, and how loved it is, by the number and consistency of its regulars, and this place has more regulars than any other spot I've ever frequented. The same folks are in here day after day, being treated like royalty and like good friends. It feels homey and old-fashioned, like an old diner that people have been going to for decades and sitting at their same tables and ordering their same meals. The fact that a chain restaurant has managed to cultivate this kind of community is so impressive to me.

On top of that, the Dark Roast coffee here is absolute crack. I cannot live without it. I don't know what they do to it, but it is 10/10 delicious and is so much better than every other Panera's coffee. Maybe they're just following the instructions, not skimping on beans, and keeping the equipment clean, but whatever it is they do, they need to teach all the other Paneras how to do it.

If I could ask for any changes, it would just be more vegan options and bring back the other hot tea flavors. But those are corporate decisions, so I don't blame this location for that.

I love this spot, I'm happy that they now open at 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays, and I appreciate that it's always clean, plenty of employees unlike a lot of places these days, and I get to see friendly faces and drink amazing coffee that make me feel like my morning is off to a...

I went 3/25/18 in the afternoon and ordered two large coffee take out containers, 18 bagels, and cream cheese to pick up the next morning for a business meeting. The next morning I went to pick up my order at 9:00 AM, the manager told me that she just sold her last two large coffee take out containers, is out of cream cheese, and only have the bagels ready for me. I asked her "since I came in person yesterday afternoon and placed the order" she should not have sold her last coffee carriers to someone else, or at least since her store open at 6:00 AM she had 3 hours to remedy the problem by getting what she was short of from a different store, or at least call me. She simply stared blank at me, then said how about you go pick it up from a different store! Now I had to call, place a new order then drive all the way to a different store, at Jantzen beach and pick up my order. SE Vancouver location manager reasoning was "Its the fault of the person who took the order from you". Unfortunately this manager demonstrated absolutely no ownership to the problem, no leadership to her team, and simply threw the kid who took my order the day before under the bus. This is sad, because we hire kids to teach them responsibility, but first we need to train them, and support them. Not just throw the blame at them, to save ourselves from ridiculous and simple challenges like these. I am very disappointed, especially that the food quality is diving nose down, and now this. What a shame. UPDATE: My sandwich in the picture below. The yellow thing is supposed to be...

As we walked in we see that the fountain machine was out of order and only tea (with no ice) was available. After standing in line for 10 minutes, a person finally announces if your paying with a card, you can order on this little machine. Well we were next in line, but the ppl in front of us were in no hurry whatsoever and quite curious about every single thing on the menu. So we went up to the kiosk thing... I was trying to input my membership card for several minutes trying to get the woman's attention for help, who tried Hard to ignore me, then I am trying to order but the machine only gives certain options, no exceptions... again tried for the attention of the now (Finally) 2 employees on registers as 4 FoUR other ppl were helped. I finally just excepted defeat and paid, well it wouldn't take my card for the first 2 times, it Did however make me go through the arduous checkout process all the way through before deciding it couldn't read the card. 🙄 We get our food, and my Sammy and soup was good, my son's mac n cheese ok, but I look at the grilled cheese they charged me $7 for... and it was a One Single slice of bread cut in half to make this sad little (cold) grilled cheese. Needless to say, my son wanted Nothing...