Panera Bread
reviews and complaints

I had the worst service ever recently at the Panera on Westown Parkway in West Des Moines, Iowa 50266 café 3205. I have worked near this Panera for 9 years with no issues, but on Saturday I took my family in for a late lunch and had to wait over 30 minutes for our food.

There were only 5 other tables with people at them, and the family before us and the family after us also waited a very long time. My kids were not happy, and I certainly was not happy. When we asked where our food was at we were ignored. Then we asked again, and we were told that it was all done and just needed to be plated. When we said that we would like our young boys mac and cheese so that we could calm them down we still had to wait as she went and pulled the bags of mac and cheese out and then had to still cut it open, put it in the bowl, and heat it up. I would say that is not done and just waiting to be plated.

When I asked to speak with the manager I was told she was in the back. Then the cook turned around and said, oh... she's right here. So, we discovered that it was the manager who was also ignoring us. When I did finally get her attention she was very pissy, and she never once said sorry for the wait.

Then to top it all off I had to go back up two times to request utensils for my family and was treated as a total pain in the [censor] for asking. And lastly... whey do we all of the sudden get plastic spoons with soup when we are eating in?

Our order number was 136844

I have been going in Panera for over 2 years now.. we have a group that goes every Friday.. Between me, my mom, and my sister we spend 48.00 at least.. I have been noticing things changing lately.. but come on I got a salad the other day 3 bites it was done.. the size was for a toddler.. really mad cause ur prices are not cheap but the food is good

My family loves panera bread. We have moved to middletown in louisville, kentucky and have experienced terrible food service on multiple occasions. They seem to get the order wrong every time we get carry. Today was the last time this location will see my family again. I am certain this is a problem within this particular location. My husband and son stopped at panera saturday july 22. 2017 at 2:30pm after my sons ball game ordered a to go order gets home and nothing is right and food we received was not up to panera standards. I feel this was pretty sad for $40.27

Thanks concerned loyal costomer

Hello,
The last two times I went to Panera I had terrible service. Once was on Mothers day when I tried taking my mother out to a nice meal and had an absurd wait with only one customer in front of me and MANY people standing around refusing to take our order and then "forgot" half the order and gave us 2 cold soups. Now that we have moved to Florida, we decided to order Panera. After waiting for an hour and a half and chatting with customer support I have finally gotten my order. I am vey upset with the service I have gotten through Panera my last 3 experiences.

While Traveling across turnpike in Ohio and Illinois on 7/20/2017 I stopped for breakfast in Broadview Heights, Ohio. I ordered a asiago bacon egg & cheese bagel (delicious!) and also a cinnamon crunch bagel to go for later. I got on down the turnpike and then sitting in Chicago traffic and thought it was good time to eat it... It was awful hard and BURNT! Lesson learned to check all food before leaving facility (sad that has to be done). Bagel was inedible.

As time goes by the amount of chicken salad on the sandwich has gotten to be less and less. Today was the worst, there was only about a tablespoon of chicken salad on the half sandwich, but a couple of giant lettuce leaves and tomatoes as if this was going to make up for the lack of chicken salad! Needless to say I won't be going back for a high priced sandwich with little to nothing on it.

Where do I begin? My first horrible experience was the day of my interview. I showed up a half an hour early. The manager by name of Julie. Forgot I was there until I walked up to the cashier counter. Which was an hour passed by interview time. She told me she had forgotten about me. Anyhow I had the interview and she hired me on the spot. Sent me home with a list of things I needed to bring to orientation. Also that a manager by the name Arleen will be calling me to set up a date for orientation. I was having technical issues with my computer and it was not letting me make a payment online to take the food handlers card. I called Julie to let her know and she said I needed that don't by 5:00pm on Monday. I completed it two days before. Still no call from Arleen for orientation. So I call her and she tells me to call her back a couple of days later to set an orientation date because it's been really busy etc. So I wait for two days then instead of calling Arleen I go up to Panera n I show her my certificate n food handlers card. She then tells me to hold on to it and bring it to orientation on the 9th at 9:00. Come the 9th at around 6 or 7:00am I had an urgent family emergency I needed to tend to asap. I call Panera right away to let managent know my situation. I asked for Arleen and she was not there. So I spoke to a manager by the name of Lisa. I told her I have orientation at 9:00 with Arleen. But I have an emergency I need to tend to ASAP. I explained my situation and told her that I wanted to let Arleen know because this job is important to me and I don't wanna lose it or jeopardize it in any way. I kept telling her I didn't wanna lose my job. I even told her I will call Arleen later on to let her know my situation. Lisa specifically said that I don't need to call Arleen. That shed explain everything to her and she reassured me that it will not jeporidize my job. Also to take the time I need. I call panera the very next day to make sure everything was explained to Arleen and she tells me that they gave the position to someone else. I explained to Arleen that I told Lisa I would still come in if needed because I didn't wanna lose this job I desperately need. Arleen tells me yes I know but we gave the position to someone else because we needed to fill that spot. Then she tells me not to give up hope. That I can check in to see if they have any openings. But when I call she says there are no openings. But I look on job seeking sites and Panera on Delpaso rd is hiring. It makes no sense to hire someone then tell them you hired someone else for their spot. I am humiliated and embarrassed. I shared the awesome news with my family. Then ended up unemployed only a couple of days later. I am stressed because I am on the verge of being evicted and losing my car. All because Panera was suppose to be my source of income. I am unemployed and I feels so upset by this matter. I want justice because I feel I was cheated out of a job I rightfully earned. It was given to me and taken away before I even got to experience it. I am hurt, upset, and humiliated on all levels.

I order Rapid Pick-up one day for my lunch break last Thursday I believe 7/13/2017, all I ordered was a salad and a smoothie to be ready at 12:05pm. When I got to the store at 12:05pm nothing was there for me. I waited for 10 minutes and nothing showed up and no one asked me if I was waiting for something. Finally I found someone to ask about my order, they checked in the back and said they forgot the smoothie, so I guess they just decided not to make it at all? Anyway, about 5 minutes later around 12:20 I finally got my order, and they ended up still messing up my smoothie after all that time and giving me the wrong one. I was just a little upset that after all that time of waiting and no one even asking me if anything was wrong that they still messed up my order. Still good food, just wasn't good service that time.

I am a concerned parent with a very serious matter. My child comes home and tells me the things that happen when they are working and I can not believe these issues are not being taken care of by the GM of this cafe. First of all there is a boy named Jeremy that has taken pictures of his penis and is sending it to several girls at the cafe, and the GM is fully aware of this and has not done anything about it. Also it has been my concern that selling pot has been going on at this cafe and one of the managers ( Stacy) has been buying it from a boy named Zac in the cafe and the GM again is aware of this. This has been going on for quite a while and nothing is being done. If these matters are not taken care of I will be contacting the police to look into these situations and my child will no longer be working there as I feel this is a unsafe inviroment. I thought when the cafe open it would be a nice place for my child to work but I am reconsidering that. Someone needs to get down to this cafe and really start digging into the things that are going on there.

I ordered my to-go salad at 11:30 am, July 11, at the Panera on G St and 13th, NW D.C. It was horrid. The lettuce was partly Frozen, the dressing bland, the egg I had added to it tasted a week old, the chicken was rubbery. Additionly, I requested added tomates, but they were not put in my order. It was unedible and I threw it away after a few bites and had to go without lunch.

I went in to Panera Bread in Terre Haute Indiana. I cannot have dressings on salad of any kind. that includes vinegar.
I received my salad and set down and tasted vinegar. I returned salad and told them that I cannot have dressing. they made me another. Again I set down and tasted vinegar. It was the onions they were soaked heavily in the vinegar. as I walked away from counter the person had made some sort of comment to one of the girls. I gave up and didn't finish my salad.

It was my first time coming here and I ordered mac n cheese, when they delivered the food to my table it was cold. I told an associate and the simply told me to heat it up in there microwave. I thought that was unprofessional of them, why would I have to be the heating it up when they are the ones who gave me cold food in the first place. Really bad first experience.

I ordered the new Watermelon Feta salad for the first time tonight from a Panera Bread Drive-through. Upon arriving home after about a 15 minute drive, and setting the bag on my bed, I noticed the salad soaked though the to-go box it was in and through the bag. I don't know where all the water came from, but it was excessive. And has gotten all over my bed.
While the salad is very delicious (after I transferred it into a bowl) the water all over my car was very inconvenient.
I don't know where it came from. And I'd like to order it again but I'm concerned about it happening again.
Thank you very much.

I bought 50 dollars worth of gift cards last month and received a free 10 dollar card. I went to use it today and it had expired on June 30th. I wasn't told that when I got it. The girl at the window did show me it was at the bottom, but I thought it was like the gift cards and could be used any time. I am upset I didn't know. Couldn't they make them for a longer period of time?
Lori Adams

hello. let me start out by saying I have been a frequent Panera visitor for most of my life. I absolutely love everything from the Tuna to the autumn squash soup.

I am writing this as a concern for the store that is the closest to me and I typically frequent. I have in the past few months seen and tasted it go completely down hill.

my first opion is about thw staff. when you approach th2 counter and look at the enormous fantastic menu I personally like to take a few minutes to make sure I know exactly what I want. on 3 separate occasions I was rushed and not helped the way I think a customer should be. it was almost like me and my dinner or lunch companion were bothering them by not researching before we got there. I was also approached by 2 employees who were "competing " to get me to join my panera. after I said I had one already they ignored me and talked loudly over everything and were rude.
another example of the staff was from my dinner tonight. my salad lettuce did not look fresh and the dressing smelt a little weird. when I asked for something different I was questioned about how this is how their salads are and he smelt the bowl and seemed annoyed that I was not satisfied.

my second complaint is that after receiving the buzzer pager looking for a clean table is hard to find. if the table looks clean the garbage under or on the seats is piled up. I have asked to get something cleaned and then did it myself. the garbage of plates and forks is almost always over flowing and hard to clean up myself.

my third complaint is based on traveling to another store in montvale nj. the food there is almost always superb and the manager walks around checking. the food at the northvale location does not seem cared for or that the workers are proud.

that being said I would like to say I do love Panera and I'm sending this because I don't want it to close or continue down this path.

please let me know if i can help with anything else.

Gina Scampone
Gina.[protected]@gmail.com

A worker at Panera bread gave us the wrong order and charged us 35 dollars for the wrong order and wouldn't fix it. If you hate your job so much and don't care about the people who come to your restaurant to get the food they wanted then you should quit. I ordered a bacon turkey bravo and got some other sandwich I never ordered before. Then charged us for a dessert we never got. Wouldn't recommend you to anyone.

Poor service and quality of food at a Panera at the corner of camper and Montgomery Road in Cincinnati Ohio. Order the salad and sandwich and the roast beef on the sandwich consisted of a piece of meat the size of a Silverdollar and was full of gristle. Call the corporate office customer service and was told that this was a franchise owner and they were going to do a darn thing about it It's nice to know that Panera Bread let them put their name on the restaurant and yet not back up any of the quality of food nor the bad rude service that is always present at this particular Panera. I know that this is not the normal Panera because I've visited other Pinero's and they have been most pleasant. It makes you question why Panera and ever ties is it's high-quality food and friendly service when it is totally nonexistent at this location. I am most disappointed that corporate will do nothing and totally ignored my complaint

Riley, the register forgot about me when she saw her two frinds behind me. She ignored me and started talking to them without finalizing my order. There was another person who was willing to help, but Riley, said, do not take out my friends, I will help them. As a result I did not get my French Baguette and Chips as a side. They did not put them in my bag. I checked my bag at home and could not find them. If you do not believe, please check your cameras. I think it is not my job to check if everything is there? Employees should forget about their lives, when at work. I would request a refund for the missing items. They may be included in my order for free, and it is shown on my receipt, but I could not see them. I have stopped coming at this property a year ago, because of constant dirty tables and customer areas, I thought this time it would improve. I was mistaken. Sorry to see this in our local community. I will be waiting for a response and refund on my account.

Thank you,

Beck

I am less than a mile away and I can not get food delivered. Every time I call I get a different reason. I am told this time it may be due to living in a bad area. I ask how do we know and they said they don't know. I have tried to get food delivered to a hotel. The owners was right across the street and could not get it. I feel like this is false advertising. There should be some list or something posted. I can get pizza and Chinese delivered but not a salad.

Every single time I come here every employee except a few on cashier and servers are completely unable to offer good customer service.
They're rude and give attitude all the time.
I usually come here every morning around 10am and whenever a kind cashier is serving me they'll check to see if any soups are open for me even though they start serving soup around 10:30am.
Most of the time there are soups already ready and they give me it anyway. But today they just responded with
"We don't serve soups at this time"
When a few employees on cashier have served me soup happily anyway because they were already ready.
I've also come here getting the chicken ceaser sandwich that has been discontinued, and they usually go into the roasted turkey and avocalo blt and modify it for me. I came here a few weeks ago and one of the cashiers that is 99% of the time rude, lied to me and said they stopped the employees from modifying the sandwich. I came there a few times after and every cashier except for the one that lied, modified the sandwich for me. Some of them were a little rude because they didn't even want to do it for me. They've also messed up on it every single time even though I ask for what I want on it. It's just a huge inconvenience to come here and every time there is a problem or employees will be rude. I work as a waitress and I understand customer service, I do things for people happily no matter what, but these people are ridiculous.