Panera Bread
reviews and complaints

I went to Panera today for lunch at the location on Chippewa and the employees were very rude to an elderly woman in front of me. They did not ask how they could help her, they approached her by saying, "what are you waiting for?" She proceeded to tell them she would like to order and they rudely pointed her to another register and yelled to another employee that there was a customer. When the elderly customer asked if she could just order at that register the employee was unprofessional and unkind.

As a customer this is very disheartening and I can only imagine how the elderly customer must have felt.

I want to bring this matter to your attention because it needs to be addressed as soon as possible as customer should be treated with respect when they enter your establishment.

My email address is [protected]@yahoo.com and my callback # is [protected]

Thank you!

A couple of friends and I always go to Panera to study. And a couple of us smoke cigarettes. My boyfriend and I stepped out for a cigarette on the patio, which I didn't know you couldn't smoke on having just moved here from the MidWest, and an employee came out and said very rudely and loud that smoking was not aloud on the property. After this, she and other employees went on to give my friends and I dirty looks, and even tried to say we were smoking pot because we were picking up cigarette butts. When leaving at followed us around and acted as if she were escorting us out the restaurant. I found this very disrespectful and offensive, and would like something done before lawsuit actions take place.

Hello, let me start by saying I'm always impressed with both the food and service I received from Panera bread. However, I recently ran into a problem concerning something as simple as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! It seems that every time I try to order one, I'm told the price is a whopping seven dollars . Why so much? The exclamation I'm often given is that it is part of a kids meal and cannot be offered any other way. This is simply confusing to me, because I can still purchase a bagel with either cream cheese or butter and pay a fraction of that price. Why is so difficult than to just get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a piece of one of your delicious bread's! Anyway, thank you for your time and listening.
Sincerely Mike L, NYC

The general manager Cat is very unprofessional. I have over heard her talking about customers and mumbling stuff under her breath. She has put expired products into different containers to use them anyway, and sells bagels/breads from the day before. She discriminates by making fellow employees do more work then others for no reason at all, she cuts hours when she's mad at them, and takes attitude and negativity out on employees when she is stressed out. She has rolled over hours to next pay roll to not have to pay overtime and she refuses to give an employee clock in numbers so she can enter in her time.

The meat on the sandwich has been changed; it is now lunchmeat. If I wanted lunchmeat, I would purchase the ingredients and fix it at home. The one thing about Panera that was attractive was their originality and fresh ingredients. Although if they are going to switch to lunch meat in their sandwiches, they will become like everyone else that sells sandwiches. I am not sure if this is an experiment or permanent, although if it's permanent, I will no longer order their sandwiches.

My name is rita, I am a panera rewards member and i always go there! Every visit has been great and i also use my rewards for free items. However today was not great at all! I ordered the usual which is a chicken avocado melt with broccoli cheese soup and a pastry. First the sandwich had little avocado which usually is a good sized avocado in there. Then came the soup which tasted so old and clumpy even subways soup looked better and tasted better! I did not eat the soup after the first bite it was so disappointing. Next came the pastry which was a lemon cookie that was burnt! It was a horrible meal that was not worth the money. Even though I ordered to go I should have been given a meal that they would serve to a dine in customer not just the bad stuff which is what I felt I got. this was my 30 min lunch so I had no time to go back and deal with it therefore I wanted to write a letter instead so that it whomever can become aware of what's being served to dine out customers.

Bacon too hard, sandwich was too bulky, I added chicken and got the wrong chicken with it! This was my first day off and I wanted to enjoy my dinner with my son, and when I was walking over to the counter, I seen a lady with a stripe shirt on (manager) she didn't say anything to me, she seen me with the plate then another one with a dark pink shirt on and she also proceeded to overlook me, and I walked over told the man working behind the counter what was wrong and then I looked back and seen both women chit chatting when they clearly seen me walking over there. I felt like I was ignored and I didn't even do anything wrong, every time I come I'm spending at least 20-25$ I can't believe the customer service I got today from managers that didn't care !

Order #: [protected].

I went out with some of my colleague to "celebrate" another team member that was leaving the company. We ordered ahead of time considering that we have an hour break and we wanted to make the best of it.
because of size of the order, the instruction on your website was to push the order time back to ensure completion, we did that, begged on our hands and knees to have our lunch hour changed!
We got to Panera, nobody seems to know anything about the order! The only way they believed that we actually had food ordered was to pull the receipt up on my phone. Another associate took a picture with her phone and promised to try her best.
Almost Thirty minutes of waiting food started coming out of the "kitchen" almost everyone got the same sandwich and soup was mixed up. Most of us did not get apple or chips as ordered.
This is not the first time I had an horrible experience at this same location! ( I have been given a sandwich in the past that was very very different from what I ordered) - ordered Mediterranean egg white and got something with bacon. I don't eat pork so it ended up in my garbage can and still no breakfast)

Back to the issue at hand. It was a double whammy, I am so disappointed I decided I will take my time and report this. I am not happy that i have to spend money, just for us to have to rush through the lunch that mostly ended up in your garbage can. All we had to show for lunch was the cup of beverage that we all had in our hands - which happened to be correct just because we got to fill it ourselves.

Food was fine but every element of service was terrible. Manager was handling drive through and twice interrupted our inside service by asking our server a question and using her register. Totally ignored us. Pepsi dispenser was broken and covered my wrist with soda. 6 empty tables and everyone dirty. No soup spoon with my meal; when I asked I was pointed to plastic utensils. Totally unlike Panera.

I am very dissatisfied with the way my transactionwas handled. I placed an order on line and attempted to pay with a gift card passing the remaining balance with my credit card. When I looked at my receipt and saw they charged my credit card the whole amount, I called the location and explained the situation they said there was nothing they could do for me. I called the corporateoffice today explaining the situation and they also said there is nothing they can do for me. What kind of customer service is really going on here. I'm not asking for free product, I'm simply asking for my credit card to be refunded and the amount of the transaction be charged to the gift card that it was originally supposed to be charged to. I go to Panera at least once a week for my office of 15people. Panera will absolutely lose our weekly business if this is not handled properly.

I don't know where to begin with this complaint. I ordered food from the dublin, oh establishment off of parkcenter cir on 6/2. The food was delivered, and I paid with my debit card. On 6/3, I noticed a pending transaction on my account from panera, but the amount had also been drafted from my account, too. I called the dublin location and spoke with a manager by the name of "amanda". Amanda advised I should see the pending charge drop off by monday, 6/5, and if it hadn't, to give her a call to get the problem rectified.

I called on 6/6, thinking i'd give the store extra time because I realize the bank needed to intervene as well. I was told by amanda that she was going to get in touch with panera's resolution team to have the matter looked into, and she would give me a call back by 5pm est. I waited until 7pm that same day to call the store back, again, because amanda failed to contact me. I have a life like everyone else, so while I was put on hold, I disconnected the call.

I called panera again on 6/7 (This morning around 8am) and requested to speak to amanda. I asked her why I had never received a phone call, and she advised she knew I had called the evening before but I hung up... So that warrants no response from you after I was promised one?

Anyway, I had it. I demanded a refund for the food I ordered, or that I was going to file a formal complaint against the company. Amanda complied. Here's where it gets weird. She openly told me she was taking my credit card information, and writing down on a piece of paper (Card number, exp date and security code) in order to refund my money back to my card because she was "not near a register". Highly unprofessional and dangerous. That is sensitive information that I still don't feel like was honestly destroyed. Amanda told me she refunded my money, so we end the call. I check my bank account 30 mins later to find she didn't refund my money, she debited my account for a 3rd freaking time, which put my balance at a negative, and I was facing a 30 nsf fee. I called my bank to verify this had happened, and they advised I was correct. I then had to jump through hoops. I had to get fax info from my bank, call amanda at panera back, only to have her tell me she wanted my card information a second time, and that she was still writing it down on a piece of paper. She admitted to the error, but shrugged it off like this was normal. None of this is normal. She didn't bother calling me to tell me she made this mistake, so if I would have gone to a store to use my card, it would have declined. Not only is this mortifying, its a huge pain in my [censor].

Finally, after literal minutes and no help from panera or amanda, but my bank, this was taken care of. I have ordered from panera on several occasions. Just like any other patron, I spend a buttload of money at this restaurant. How dare you let someone treat a paying customer this way. This is not acceptable, and I don't receive any kind of response, I am willing to take this as high as I can.

Thanks for nothing but the huge drawn out headache, panera.

I frequently visit Panera like it was my religion. So it was unfortunate when I found that the dishes I was given with my Mediterranean veggie sandwich was dirty. Residue was left behind from a previous meal and the spoon I had for my French onion soup was covered with a red sauce almost like tomato soup. I am very dissatisfied with this because I have never had problems with Panera before. Unfortunately, I will have to limit my time spent here in fear that I may become ill, or worse, my child does because of poorly washed dishware.

We go to the Panera in Stoughton Ma twice a week.Today we received our coffee in inferior paper cups .Someone decided to save a few cents and endanger the customers with burns.We will still be Panera customers just not as happy as we were.These cups are not worth whatever you are saving, if a customer gets burned.This took place today in Panera in Stoughton Ma

Today I place a delivery order at 10:30 am to be delivered at 12:15-12:30. My order was a large order for my employees and was delivered 45 mins late. We received our lunch 30 min pass our lunch time and with multi pal missing orders. The manager on duty (Julia) was able to give us our order for free and said that the driver would bring us our missing order free of charge. We appreciated the kind gesture but the driver went back to pick-up our missing items and still forgot part of our order. When I called the manager (Julia) to make her aware of the issue. she was very rude and began to tell me how her driver has been out to our office three-time to fix our order as if it was our fault that they did not get our order right. I'm only upset because I am the customer and I do not work for Panera bread and I shouldn't be giving excuses about why her team wasn't able to do their job correctly. I understand the manager waived our order but that does not mean she giving us poor customer service in return as if she gave us a favor. We are all capable of paying our bill but Panera's staff did not meet great customer service expectation. I don't need anything free from Panera bread or anyone in trouble I just would like them to train them on handling situations like this better in the future, especially since I was dealing with a manager.

Thank you,

Store information:
Manager:Julia
Located in: RK Diplomat Center
Address: 1729 E Hallandale Beach Blvd, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Hours: Open today · 6AM–11PM
Phone: [protected]

Date/Time order placed 6/2/2017, 10:18AM
Scheduled Date /Time: 6/2/2017, 12:00pm
Customer: Jane Wooden
Comment: Part of our order came 45 mins late and the missing items order took almost an hour to arrive and still had food missing. The manager was unapologetic and told us that she would not send her driver out again.

Panera employee for now but paycheck was done incorrectly payed at less than minimum wage. Have addressed issue with gm and 4 other managers at clarksville, in location and on 5/31/17 spent 45 on phone with corperate to be discriminated against transfered 4 times to leave a voice for Elizabeth whom allegedly in cher gr of some thing for state of Indiana and no response- so now we will have federal labor board and my lawyers address it with full media coverage. Next have a Manger at that store who will click a driver on out setting while they are in store again a labor law violation addressed again with management. Next I am a professional chef with 33 years of experience, a degree in baking and pastry arts, a member of the bread bakers guild of America and have been teared like a second class citizen by catlyn whom is alleged in charge of all the bakers while tryin to obtain a baking position -keep in mind we all talk and I Know A Day Baker Is NEEDED, but catLyn wants me to stay a delivery driver so I ask what the hell kinda talent aquisition is that? Your right it is not ! So since nobody seems to care about employees and doing things by the law seems some big time lessons are coming. Will get military veterans associations evolved and have protesters standing outside store with media coverage. Will have bread bakers guild, ACF and other professionals notified and informing about panera discrimination and lack of care.

05/27/2017 I stopped there for my Daughter who had a credit on her card from an order that was wrong from before. Asked for extra pickles on both orders mine and hers. With my Daughters order also asked them to make sure there was enough chicken on her sandwich because last time there was hardly any.
Get to my Daughters house and we sit down to have lunch, first off she had no pickle at all. Second we counted she literally only had 3 and maybe 1/2 pieces of chicken. No acceptable at all. She was very upset and I was mad to have this happen twice.
A call was made to the Blaine Mn location where the purchase was made the Supervisor was not friendly or very helpful. She did say she would send out a coupon. Well my Daughter got the coupon yesterday and it was for a pick two. Really they can't even replace her whole sandwich after messing her order now twice. Very poor Customer Service. We both in the past have loved Panera but the prices keep going up and the Value keeps going down and the Customer Service well there isn't any. Replacement should be made to her and by the way good thing there are honest people because they sent the coupon to the wrong Address and the Lady brought it to my Daughter's house. Good thing and she even had then repeat her address. Thank you for you time.

On May 31, 2017 at 2:39 pm, I ordered a pick 2 for lunch at the O Fallon, Missouri, Highway K location, through the drive through before I had to go work a 6 hour shift. Steak and Arugula with no tomatoes, and a seasonal greens salad with no tomatoes. It was a total of $10.23. I pulled into the parking lot at work to eat my sandwich before going inside and clocking in. I opened it to reveal some chunks of chicken and avocado. In the time it would have taken me to drive back, go in and get the correct sandwich, I would have been late clocking in at work. I tried within my last 5 minutes before clocking in, eating the half salad. It was full of brown, dried pieces of lettuce, the onions were dried out, and there were a total of 4 tiny squares of cucumber. After clocking in and getting a few things done, I decided to call the store, asking to speak directly to the manager, to see if I could have the correct sandwich delivered. She immediately rudely stated that they could not deliver anything if we were not in their delivery area. After explaining to her that as an office, we have things delivered there all the time, and giving her the address, she took the order again, a half steak and arugula sandwich, with no tomatoes. After waiting almost 40 minutes, a coworker brought the sandwich back to me. Upon opening it, it was revealed that not only were there tomatoes on it, it looked like someone had stuck their thumb into both sides of the bread, which was saturated, and had cream cheese squirting through the holes. It didn't even resemble a sandwich, it looked more like a blob. At that point, I was totally disgusted, starving and more than a little angry that I had spent $10.23 on a meal that I couldn't even eat. At that point, I told my daughter, who works at the same place that I do, and who was getting ready to go home at 4pm, to just take all of the food back to St Louis Bread Co, and get all of my money back. She went back to the O Fallon location, asked to speak to the manager. She explained the problem again, adding in the fact that the sandwich that had been delivered, not only had tomatoes on it, and she knew that it was requested without tomatoes because the manager is the one that I had spoken to, but that the sandwich was a soggy, wet ball, with holes in the bread on both sides, like someone had put a finger through the bread and the cream cheese was squirting out, like someone had sat on it. The manager's response (not even addressing the fact that the order was still wrong) was that "Once the food is out of our hands and with the driver's, there is nothing we can do about it." Really? Are the delivery drivers not employed by St Louis Bread Co/Panera Bread? Even if they were subcontracted out, they are still representing your company! This is the way you want your company represented? That was her excuse for this entire debacle. I did receive my $10.23 back, but I also ended up working a 6 hour shift on an empty stomach, went through a couple hours of extreme frustration, having to deal with a rude manager, waiting for replacement food, then having to drive to the restaurant again, using our gas after the order was wrong again, and dealing with the rude manager again. According to the words printed at the top of your company's receipt, which states that "Your order should be accurate and if it is not, it will be immediately fixed and for your troubles, will receive a special treat." The only "treat" I got was a headache, frustration, and hunger. The worst part is that as an office, we have had St Louis Bread Co cater many of our company meetings, we purchase bagel packs all the time for company breakfasts, birthdays, etc., and as individual employees, get Bread Co for personal lunches and dinners all the time. Needless to say, we have spent a LOT (sorry, had to use all caps on that one) of money at your place of business. It sounds like a lot of re-training of management and employees (or replacement of the same) needs to be done at this particular location, especially into order accuracy, presentation of food, and customer service.

I ordered a side of a baguette as well as an additional baguette (2 total). I did not receive any, but I still paid for them. Also, on the same trip my food wasn't given to me in a back but it was wrapped up in just the plastic wrap for my sandwich. So really, I paid more money for food I didn't get.. I was pretty unhappy with my experience today and I believe that I should be given some sort of subsidy in order to fix it.

On 5/29/17 in Topsham, ME order # 4112231, I ordered two Frontega Chicken Panini with apples to go. While waiting I watched the boy making the sandwich lift the grill cover and pull the melted cheese off the top section of the machine and throw it away. Then he slid the sandwich into the box. When I asked about the cheese, he said, Do you want more? Said yes. Do you want it grilled again? Said yes. But no he just threw the cheese on top. He put two pieces of bread in a bag and started to hand it over. I said, Where are the apples? His response, It doesn't say apples. I said, Well it should. He threw apples into the bag (and took out the baguettes). He was right, when Thomas took the order he didn't mark apples.
For $18.55 for two sandwiches and two mistakes and the rude service, plus the wait, it wasn't worth it. The receipt says, Accuracy Matters. When I spoke to the apparent manager, she said Well, if you aren't happy contact the email. (No email address on the receipt, had to search for it on Google). And it says a treat for your troubles. No offer of that either. With several other sandwich stores in the area, and several restaurants as well, I will not be returning to Panera in Topsham, ME. Recommend that you don't bother either.

Four adults placed a counter lunch order ($46.86) eat-in at Panera Bread in Carlisle, PA 17013 Cafe #0794 on 5.28.2017. We inquired about the Fuli Apple Salad and the cashier stated "fresh apple slices, a tomato fresh greens, red onion, and gorgonzola cheese." However, the salad had dried apple chips, not a fresh apple (four thin pieces), one quarter-sized wedge of tomato, an overabundance of red onions and rice-sized pieces of gorgonzola cheese. It seems they put the least amount of food in there and charged $8.99 . I have had very similar salads in NJ (deli) that are far superior in taste, portion and more healthy (fresh, not processed dressing loaded with sodium and sugars like you get at Panera Bread).
We experienced skimpy (very thin piece of cheese) portion sizes (quarter cup of tuna salad), flatbread sandwiches, one paper-thin slice of tomato, old lettuce, and uneven thinly sliced bread. At the Pick-Up area, the worker made us wait until all of the orders were done before we could take any resulting in two of the hot sandwiches being cold when the order was finally completed. Furthermore, this person was hovering over the food (almost like breathing on top of the food), orders and made us stand back away from her. Since, we were pressed for time, we did not take the time to speak to the manager. From what we gathered, it would not have made a difference---they don't care. We will never eat at a Panera Bread again!