Panera Bread — Restaurant in Vestavia Hills

A very disappointing experience with a sandwich! My wife and I went there after the Noon lunch rush and I ordered the Turkey BLT with "bread" as my side (I wonder who came up with that as a pairing option), upon the arrival of our food, I tried the "bread" first. OMG! You expect most of the breads here to have a thick, crunchy crust, right? No, what I had, was the equivalent to "boot leather"! Couldn't bite through it, couldn't cut through it with a fork, I couldn't even stab my way through it with a fork!!! I wound up having to just scrape the softer, edible "inside" bread from the crust in order to eat it. If I'd had the time, I would have liked to have cut my "loaf" into 3" "rounds" and pulled all the bread from the inside leaving a very nice, trendy, "leather" wrist cuff for my teenaged Granddaughter!

On to the "Sammich"! Totally different bread, so I think this is going to be quite enjoyable. Beautifully prepared, sliced Turkey, tomato, bacon, avocado, lettuce, mayo. It was pilled so thick that I couldn't even get the whole sandwich in my mouth for a bite. So I went with a bite of the bottom piece of bread and whatever else I got lucky enough to get a bite of. Crisp crunch of the lettuce, the coolness of the avocado, smoky Turkey, and... a rope, I've got what feels like a piece of 1/2" hemp rope in my mouth along with all of the other, more tasty, goodies. Yeah, it was the crust of the bread. No problem I'll just power my way through it. NOPE! Another "unchewable" crust! I chew and chew, grind and gnaw at it like a bear trying to chew through a piece sinew from the hind leg of a moose... I finally get it to yield to my teeth as I literally yank the sandwich out of my mouth. Yeah, the rest of the crust just "unpeels" from all around the piece of bottom bread, leaving me with about 6" of "rope" dangling out of my mouth.

At this point, I decide to forgo the "bread" and just deconstruct my sandwich and use my fork, and what I could eat was very tasty, just don't waste your time expecting a completely edible sandwich from Panera "Bread".

One thing I did notice that might contribute to this issue, is their use of "motorized slicers" to slice their bread. It completely removes the "feedback" you would feel altering you that your crust would give boot leather a run for its money had you been forced to hack though it on the first attempted slice with a handheld knife.

Sorry Panera "Bread", I'm over you, despite your yummy...

The temperature in the restaurant is never set properly. It's not very welcoming when first walking in. The employees taking the orders are nice, but nothing special. This location seems to be behind on the revolving Panera services. For example: The Panera I go to in Florida has food runners, rather than buzzers that cause you to get up from your table to find your food. The portions are always a little less than normal, for example, my bowl of soup was half full when it was served to me! The food preparers always forget something, which is very frustrating. The other day, my roommates and I decided to try out the delivery service. The delivery man was so nice, but he forgot our baguettes! I tried to get his attention as he was pulling away, but he didn't see. I tried to call him, call the store, but was on hold and had to call the store back 3 times before talking to someone. The phone number for the driver on the Panera app didn't even work! It was just very stressful and very frustrating communicating with the driver and the store. Once I did get ahold of the store, he offered to send the driver back out, but it wasn't even worth it at that point. The manager did not offer any compensation, a waved delivery fee, a free pastry, nothing. I am a loyal member to Panera, so this was disappointing. The Vestavia Panera needs to step it up!

Attached is a photo of a bread bowl I was served while dining in. It’s already broken! This Panera is a terrible representation for the great service and great food at all other Panera...

I am still a little confused by their name. Panera Deli instead of Bread would probably be a more fitting name. I have rarely eaten at this Panera but used to come here for the Miche and Baguettes. I do like hearty sourdough bread and usually buy a whole loaf of Miche. The bread is good, not outstanding, missing a higher percentage of whole wheat or rye. Still compared to the pseudo artisanal bread that the big grocery stores offer a much better choice. Why not more stars? The employees are completely focused on the deli side of the business. It should take about 60 s to buy a loaf of bread but the lines for bread/bagels/danishes and deli are lumped together and I have to wait in line with sandwich shoppers. Living in the South has its perks but ordering a sandwich will at least take a few minutes. Catching up on the weather, exchanging dietary tips, and substituting ingredients. Don't get me wrong. I am as guilty as anybody and enjoy the polite and superficial exchange of opinions and trivialities but buying bread is in a different category. I don't need to build a trust basis, don't need the extra service, I simply exchange money for goods. Waiting 5-15 min in line for bread seems silly. Worse, when I am going after 3:00 PM chances are they are out of to-go...