Panera Bread — Restaurant in Watertown

Health Alert

Not sure if all their locations are run the same but Watertown Panera is heading towards a Chipotle like meltdown. During the Labor Day weekend there were gnats crawling all over their pastries. Almost looked like they were coming out of the inside of some of them. (I'll never buy another pastry there. Probably wont visit this store again.)

On another occasion, a worker was standing at the food prep counter and stuffing a lemon rind into her water bottle. She didnt have gloves on and must have reached into the food trays to get the rind. She was pulling and pushing on it and who knows what splashed where as she was really struggling with it.

Workers from the back come to the food prep area without gloves to make their own sandwiches which means they are reaching for food without gloves and who knows if they washed their hands.

Lots of talking over food prep area. Have you ever been to H-mart when the girls are handing out food samples? They wear clear masks over their mouth as they talk and you can see how much spit builds up on those masks. If they didnt wear them, that spit would land on the samples.

Their pastries are tasty. Their egg sandwiches are tasty. Their coffee is sub par and over-brewed. Their means of coffee delivery is old fashioned and ineffective-my coffee was very warm as compared to hot.

Unorganized order taking lines with constant interruption of order takers by people from the back. Order takers walking away from registers for unknown reasons. Slow order taking. Order lines constantly blocking coffee area.

Of the 4 times I've visited over the past two weeks they only had sesame...

This review is based off of one experience I had today. Up until this point, I was a frequent flyer ordering from this location for myself and the business I work for. Today, I called ahead 6 individual orders for myself and some coworkers to be delivered around noon. After waiting until 12:45 I called to see if the order was on its way. It wasn't in fact on its way...the person who put in the order shouldn't have taken a delivery order over the phone and because of this it was assumed to be a pickup order (even though it clearly reads as a delivery on the order slip I received). Luckily they had 2 managers on site and one of them delivered our food. Unfortunately we got cold soups, soggy sandwiches and my chipotle chicken avocado sandwich was missing entirely. On top of that, when I called to let them know a sandwich was missing, they didn't offer to deliver another one- only offered a refund. I'm 5 months pregnant, without lunch...

Normally, this Panera Bread is a mixed bag. Good food. Indifferent Service. Today, though, was next level poor customer care. Yes, we are dealing with a pandemic. Yes, we're all a little on edge. Telling a customer, though, that you're busy, that your people haven't even gotten a break and that's why our food would be almost 90 minutes late for delivery, was just rude... especially when you weren't answering your phone and we had to drive to your location to find out what was going on. No apology. Just excuses. Then, the food was delivered anyway, after we cancelled, and purchased our lunch elsewhere. Our account is still showing a charge! With so many businesses struggling to stay afloat at this time, we were doing our part to support you. That was NOT the way to show your appreciation. Shame. On. You. I'll be taking this to your...