Panera Bread — Restaurant in West St. Paul

Panera gives the experience of a nice cafe combined with the efficiency of fast food and the food quality of an upper-middle class restaurant. This last time that I went, I had a summer corn chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl, complimented with potato chips. I had to ask at the counter why the broccoli cheese soup was not listed as vegetarian, and the attendant was knowledgeable and helpful (she informed me that the soup was made with a chicken broth). Panera has a wide variety of foods appropriate for all of the different times of day, some of which is only served at diurnal mealtimes, and some of which is available day-round. Ostensibly this chain is a chain of bakeries, so many of the things one can order are either bread oriented or accompanied, or presented alongside pastries, cookies, doughnuts and the like. The food is in general high quality, and importantly the menu is very well labeled so you know what you are getting and individuals with dietary restrictions such as myself do not need to play any kind of guessing games. In addition to eating in like a restaurant, it is fully acceptable to buy larger bakery items here such as breads of various shapes, sizes and types, and the price is very good in comparison to many non-chain bakeries for similar items (while the breads are higher quality than most types of pre-sliced, grocery store packaged bread).

...The summer corn chowder was good, though I prefer the black bean soup. My favorite thing at Panera is only available in mornings however, they make a limited number of small souffles each morning; the four-cheese...

Staff is wonderful at this store and the food is okay, as it can get frustrating at it's price point where usually if I get just a bowl of soup and my bf gets a sandwich 2 pops and a bakery item it's $25 and it's kind of expensive though for what one gets,as well as it's getIs frustrating for having to get up a lot of soup is cold, utensils are missing etc and there email club is okay but could be better.

HOWEVER, I still love their broccoli cheddar soup, it's amazing, the staff couldn't be any nicer and I live in building that Panera donates left over bread and pastries on a regular basis as i live with older people on a fixed income.

I just wish though as I pay for Panera more than I utilize it's donations that it had more promotions for people who eat their often and who hate coffee.

Also I wish that they had veggie cream cheese as an option to be able to eat their everything bagels at the store or order to bring home.

I've only lived in West St Paul for almost 6 months, living in Eagan and Downtown Minneapolis prior which in those cities had both a Brueggers and a Panera, as well as Einstein.

West St Paul being more of a bagel desert, I hope the store will consider carrying veggie cream cheese as the veggie cream cheese at Target sucks.

Again to reiterate though, staff is super kind and it's super awesome that Panera does it's part to help the community for people who either have issues of being able to get food or are food...

This is by far my favorite Panera Bread. They do a wonderful job of anticipating me, making me feel like a valued regular (even though 90% of the time I’m just grabbing free coffee from my subscription and not spending much) and are always quick and efficient. In fact, my wife will occasionally order coffee for me to pick up, and even when she forgets to, often times the workers here will make sure I have an extra coffee cup. Even if she hasn’t officially ordered and they just notice me grabbing another cup right before I leave, plenty of times they’ll have that cup waiting for me. Also, this Panera in particular does a wonderful job of coming off as politically neutral. Many big companies (Panera included) try to be “woke” and promote LGBT merchandise or any number of other “woke” topics. Whatever you think about those things personally, the fact that this Panera doesn’t try and yell “we’re woke, we need to make a political statement” makes this a place where people of all backgrounds can come in, feel comfortable, and not have to worry about their favorite chain shoving a political statement down their throat.

Between the awesome employees and the way this place is managed, this store needs to be an example to ALL Panera Bread restaurants. This is how you maintain a business, a customer connection, and a...