Panera Bread — Restaurant in Virginia

BEWARE!! BEWARE!! 😖Let me start by saying I have been to this particular Panera on several occasions and never had any issues. This was true when I went into the store yesterday to purchase the bakers dozen bagels that are half price on Tuesday. They were packaged in 1 of their Panera cardboard boxes as always. I drove straight home with them to enjoy my breakfast.

Here's where things changed. I get home from work a few hours later and go to grab a bagel and there was an ANT on my bagel! So I go tearing through my kitchen and no ants in sight. I disregard and head to bed. I go to get a bagel this morning- more ants! I took all the bagels out and found ants in the bottom of the box in between the folds! Again not an ant in site anywhere in my kitchen and ants always leave a trail.

I proceed to call Panera and speak with an associate to make them aware of the issue. I was immediately met with confrontation and told that this employee opened the store yesterday and didn't see any ants. She said that in her 6 years she's never heard of this happening and that ants easily get into a house or car to find food. Never once an apology, just attitude! I said I just wanted to warn them just in case they did come from the store. She then covers the phone with her hand (I assume since I could hear her) and says to the manager that this lady is on the phone saying she had ants in her bagels so you can talk to her.

The manager gets on the phone and I repeat my story. Again I'm told she hasn't seen any ants and they've never seen them at the store so it couldn't be from there. I repeat that I'm just making them aware just in case so they can double check and be sure it's not an issue since they serve food. She then says I'm sorry (finally) and says well do you want a free replacement or something. I said no but you should be aware that the most likely case is that they came from Panera. I also proceeded to let her know I didn't appreciate the original employee's tone and placing blame instead of mitigating the situation. She said she would talk to her and have pest control come spray an extra time.

IN SHORT, IF YOU WANT PANERA GO ELSEWHERE! Contacting the health department later today for a follow up since Panera didn't seem concerned about possible food...

I like fresh bagels. Can't seem to get them from Panera anymore. I've visited the store at various times of the day and different days of the week and can NEVER get what I want. Went last Thursday (10/19) and they had none. I don't mean none of a certain type, none at all, empty. So I decided to pre-order them, a day in advance. Still can't get what I want. Out of 2 dozen 8 had to be substituted. That is ⅓ of my order, ordered the day before, was unavailable. That is a 33% failure rate. Now to be fair to Panera on the website when ordering it does have a disclaimer specifically geared toward items not being available. This should not be such a normal occurrence that a permanent disclaimer is needed. I have given Panera many many chances to do better and it's just not happening. I have been in the food service business for 35 years as either a manager or owner/operator. I have a fairly good grasp of the business and the challenges. As I see it, many layers of oversight, supervision and planning are failing miserably. The one star I did give is for the product, which is good, if and when you can get it. I will not patronize your business again. Update: Tried Panera again on 12/20. Went in to get some bagels again at 10 in the morning figuring they works surely have some. Nope, none. All out and was told that was it for the day! So it's 10 on the morning and the place is open for another 10-11 hours and in all that time no one is going to bake more bagels? Really? Panera Bread Co. Doesn't sell bread anymore!

Ps. Lose the "tip your cashier" option at the cash register! Learn how to stick your product and I might...

My rating isn't necessarily an accurate reflection of the product since the last two times I've went in I haven't been able to order anything. You're probably asking why I wasn't able to order anything? Well, b/c both times I went in I wanted Bread Bowls for me and my wife, and we were told, Panera Bread was out of bread! I find it hard to believe this is a rare occurrence and that I just happened to come in the 2 times they ran out of bread, even though the worker there tried to make it seem this wasn't something that happens a lot. But, 15 seconds later, she suggested we come in earlier, lunchtime, in order to have a better chance of getting a bread bowl. The problem is I live over an hour away and I can't get over there at a whim. We went to Teriyaki Madness right after another disappointment at Panera (No) Bread and it was very good. I still want the bread bowl but not sure I'm willing to give this place another chance since they don't seem to value their customers.

I have YET to hear from Panera Bread about this, and I guess this shows once again they do not care about the customer. Completely unacceptable and...