Panera Bread
reviews and complaints

I work directly across the street from your Fort Lauderdale location Imperial Square. I can't even tell you how many times I have walked across the street BEFORE 9 am and 95% of bagels are sold out.
I have walked out at least 25-30 times and gone somewhere else to buy. There's no reason to have your shelves empty by that time. You are literally turning away customers and reducing your own sales. The staff couldn't look MORE miserable. You need a proper manager to oversee this location.

Date 1.21.18, Time 12.52 Ck# 475909.
Food was ordered at the counter and we were given a pager.

The restaurant was very busy and almost every table was occupied by people working on laptops or tablets, not all of these people had food or beverages with them.

We found a table and waited, other pagers went off and food was collected, we only ordered chili, a half sandwich and a bowl of soup. After 10 minutes I went to the counter and our food was sitting there. The staff were distracted and very reluctantly agreed to re make my order. The apology was insincere and no 'treat' was offered as recompense. In addition the chili was watery and overall the experience was disappointing.

I would appreciate a refund of the $19.93 spent. I am a reward member [protected]

I ordered a whole Asian Sesame Salad with Chicken and added Avacado & pecans and specified NO cilantro. As you can see with the picture below I pulled all the big pieces I could find, but couldn't eat anymore due to the fact it had a lot of little pieces left, and I'm one of the rare people that taste soap when eating cilantro, and could not take it anymore.

The best part of my lunch was the free baguette.

I order online and stop at your stores often and found this to be upsetting. I'm glad I'm not allergic to cilantro otherwise I would be suing, but having the taste of soap stuck in my mouth was very dissatisfying.

If the option to remove cilantro from this salad is not an option, it should be mentioned.

Below is a copy of my online order info.

Jacqueline Neymeiyer
_

Thanks for your order!

Order number:
[protected]

Please contact us at [protected] if you need any assistance with your order.

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Order Type Delivery Address

Delivery (MedData) 5253 36th Street Southeast (one level)
Date: 01/24/2018 Grand Rapids, MI 49512
[protected]
Time Ready: 12:15 PM - 12:30 PM
_

Delivery Instructions: Front Desk

Whole Asian Sesame Salad with Chicken $ 10.09

with Red Onions
with Avocado
with Pecans
with No Cilantro
with French Baguette
_

Subtotal $ 10.09
Tax $ 0.61
Delivery Fee $ 3.00
Driver Tip $ 2.00
_

Total $ 15.70

Our delivery fee is not a tip or gratuity provided to the driver. Please consider tipping your driver and cafe staff in appreciation of great service.

Type Amnt. Balance
DISC 5190 $ 15.70

I'd like to make a complaint about an experience I had at your west oc location on Sunday 1/21/18. I was waiting in line to order my food and I noticed a young girl who I assume was an employee off the clock but she may have also been a customer was being very disrespected by a middle aged man who's name tag said Mike. He was being very disrespectful the way he spoke to her and barked at her in front of customers like that. He seemed very childish. Continuing to scold her as he walked away. The girl did not have a name tag. She may have been a customer. Either way I felt disgusted by wat I saw. I don't no the situation that led to the disagreement but I feel it should have been handled much better. It makes me sad, as I always come to the west oc location, however it may be a while before my next visit due to a very aggressive atmosphere caused by the gentleman.

The delivery driver was bringing food and drinks to my work place. He got into an auto accident as he was coming into the building. As he walked in we noticed he forgot the drinks. We asked about the drinks and he mentioned that they spilled in his car. We asked if we could just get the drinks refunded so they don't have to worry about bringing them back and he snipped back at us saying " I don't have access to do refunds. I have to come back later anyways so I will just bring them." I asked him to not be rude and told him I understand it's not an ideal situation, but he doesn't have to be rude. He said he wasn't meaning to be rude, and walked out. I then called the store to see if someone else could deliver the drinks since he was preoccupied talking with the cops about the accident. I was put on hold, and then hung up on three times while waiting for the manager. Then I finally called the line meant for phone in orders and got a hold of a receptionist. I asked to be transferred to the manager and she asked me to state my name and the issue. I again told her I just needed to speak to the manager and she remarked back saying "well, their going to ask you the same things that I am so..." I replied that I would wait to speak to the manager directly, then I was hung up on. I called the store again and someone much more pleasant answered. They said another delivery driver would be back in about 10 minutes and would take care of delivering the drinks. I thanked her and went on my way. I am an assistant Manager of a company, so I understand how awful it is working day in and day out with the public, but customer service is all about putting the customer first and that is not what I experienced with this interaction.

Panera- I generally don't complain.. ever. Your my first.

After endouring a very long drive through line because I'm a single mom with three children- I make it to place my order,

Among my my order I select a green goddess salad (no meat) to which I was asked.. "do you still want egg on that?" I replied, yes I do. Thank you for checking.

I return home (45 minutes from your location) to find my green goddess salad, is lettuce, two small sections of tomato and the thinnest avacado slice I've ever received. No egg! (I work in the commercial photo industry and we use you a lot to cater to a large vast group of dietary needs)

I'm bummed as most of your locations I've ordered this exact salad in the past have added extra tomato, onion and avacado tonmake up for the loss of the bacon and chicken. Because lord knows you still charge $9.95 even with all the meat removed. But I accept it because most employees have upped my veggies in place of the meat. (Which I'm grateful for as its not easy being vegetarian and eating on the go)

I figure, I'll just place a quick call to the location and politely express that the level of care they provided to make my meal was poor especially given the patience of the slow moving drive through. In this case, since I only received lettuce and dressing, I felt a credit would be justified.

I waited on hold 10 minutes before disconnecting my call. No one picked up after I made selects through the automated prompts. How disheartening.

I've attached a photo of my call and the receipt for my meal. How disheartening to spend over $30 on lunch to get home with a pile of leaves you were charged $9.95 for. Truly disheartening since I don't "treat" the children to eating out often and this was mommas "break" from the kitchen.

Please encourage your staff to step up their game and choose to be a leader in the industry. You never know how poor service effects a customer. It's so much more than "just food".

On Saturday, Jan. 20th, I ordered a lentil quinoa egg bowl through the App and was extremely disappointed! It was soup more than anything else...there's was zero lentil and quinoa in clusters! Definitely not enough food to compensate the $10. Why pay $10 for watery soup?! It's extremely important for food to look like the picture! Needless, to say this was an extremely disappointed experience with Panera in Orlando, FL.

I received a message that my food was waiting outside and my drivers phone was off so we couldn't contact him so I waited at the door for about 15 minutes until he finally showed up. So my food came cold I had to microwave everything. Then my French baguette loaf that I paid $3 for was entirely burnt and hard as a rock, inedible. Literally black on the bottom of the bread and they still served it. Then I called and talked to the manager to have another loaf delivered which the manager assured me he would hand pick and send out right away. I waited another 40 minutes to eat my soup because I don't enjoy it without the bread and no one ever showed up. I typically spend $30 each trip to Panera and this type of treatment is just ridiculous. It's called Panera Bread, how are your employees okay with serving bread that is burnt as ever. To top it off the manager had lied about sending out another loaf and had me waiting around almost another hour...

My son and I have been going to Panera for years. I hated it when you cheaped down the French Onion recipe to croutons and a bit of cheese, but still I came in to your store. Today we went to the Panera Bread Cafe 3382 Medina, Oh at 3:22 PM. I just broke both of my feet and am on crutches. Your bathroom leaves something to be desired when entering and exiting those heavy door. But that's not my biggest complaint. You now have large bowls which really makes your reduced portion sizes stand out, congratulations on that. I took a picture. So after eating what was there I was left with croutons and onions but no broth (isn't broth included in the soup, hence the term soup?) so I asked my son to take it up and just ask for another spoonful of broth. The girl (I'm sorry, if I had gone up there I would have her name, my son is much nicer than I am) was snotty and said that they were only allowed to give a certain amount. But she begrudgingly added some more broth and told my son that basically she gave him another bowl of soup. REALLY? BROTH? All I wanted was some broth to finish the rest of the crap in the bowl. I just wanted to let you know. I'll be sure to let others know as well on Face Book, Instagram and word of mouth. You now have a need to be competitive. There's other soup places out there and I guess now I will be taking my business to Zoup! as well as other places. Too bad since I have been a long term customer. Karen

1/17/18
Panera Card Number: [protected]
Menu item: Half Roasted Turkey, Apple & Cheddar Sandwich
We ordered as a group at work and had everything delivered to our office (for an extra fee).
I could not eat the sandwich at all, it was soaked clear thru the bread, it fell apart when I went to pick it up. Everything on the sandwich was wet; apples, turkey, cheese, slaw, etc. The turkey was good, but there was to big clumps of turkey on the sandwich, not all over.
I would like a refund or store credit. We order from Panera's about 2/times a month and have never been this disappointed. All they would of had to do is soak everything until it was dry.

I am a 19-year-old college student that has been eating at Panera bread at least once a week for over five years. Recently, I had to start a gluten free, dairy free diet, and when I went to my favorite restaurant, I was distraught with the options available for dietary restrictions. At the Panera at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey there were only two soup options and two salad options available that were gluten-free. If Panera offered gluten-free bread options, I would still be able to eat my favorite sandwiches that I have been eating for years. I feel I can no longer eat at Panera because there are no meals available with proper substance. Also, the only side possible that I could eat was the apple. Why hasn't Panera at least provided a gluten-free chip option? In this current society, more and more people have dietary restrictions, and the gluten-free diet is more common. As a company that cares so much about customer service and satisfaction, why hasn't Panera Bread done anything to accommodate those customers with dietary restrictions? Even my local Bagel store in Old Bridge, New Jersey offers gluten-free bagels and bread. If at least one type of gluten free bread was available me and many others with dietary restrictions would be able to eat the meals on the menu that make Panera Bread such a great company. If a local bagel store could spend the money to have gluten-free options, then why can't a corporate giant like Panera Bread do the same?

They served us chicken and said it was tofu. We confirmed multiple times but the employee(iriana) kept saying it is tofu and that the order is 100% vegan. Upon tasting the dish, we realized that it is not tofu. We are a hindu family, we have never had any meat inside our stomachs and now they say they are very sorry.
How dare you? do you think food is a joke? food is personal. And you disrespected our food choices and fed us chicken and kept passing it as tofu? this is very sad and i am very disappointed in you panera bread. Your food is not very great to begin with and when we do come in you feed us lies. My father is a hindu priest at the hindu temple ventura county. You fed him chicken. This is a serious issue. This is not a joke. His whole life he has been a priest and you basically ruined what he has lived for. You really need to do something about this .

I submitted an online order for Panera Bread located at 147 West Port Plaza Dr., Maryland Heights, MO 63146 at 10am on 01/12/2018. It was scheduled for pick up at 12:05pm during my lunch break as I work right up the street. The order number is #[protected]. The order was for a bowl of black bean soup with French baguette and a regular chai tea latte. I ordered the tea as I am only supposed to have limited amounts of coffee each day. The drink is absolutely awful. It is not a tea, it is most definitely coffee. It is very sweet. It is possible that someone mixed up the order and it was made incorrectly but it is very disappointing when you can't drink something that you paid $3.59 for.

I ordered a arugula chicken salad at panera today with a passion green tea. I picked up my rapid pick up through the drive through and got straight to work. Open it up first I notice I don't even have a fork to eat this with. Then I open the salad and more than half of the lettuce is bad and sour tasting. Then The arugula CHICKEN salad did not have and chicken. I don't have time to go back on my lunch so I call the restaurant and ask them to put the money back on my panera account since that is how I paid. They insist all they can do is send a voucher... So now it will be a few business days before I receive it in the mail. They said I could go online and fix this and they could put it on my account. I went online and looked all over there was no were to send my information. I called panera customer service and told the lady my problem. She said this is a franchise so she will have to direct me to the store. I told her I called her for assistance to help me put the money back on my account. She just repeated herself.
Summary: I spoke with store manager and she said to go online and I would be able to get the money back on my panera account. I call customer service for help and they refer me back to the store? What good is that? Now I am back at work hungry, tired, and now very upset with how Panera treats their customers.

I would like to bring this to the attention of Panera Bread Co for consumer safety and personal resolve. I Purchased soup the week of Christmas, roughly 12/22/17 from Meijer in Rochester Mi. broke seal and Heated for 3 minutes on 1/9/18. The expiration is 01/24/18. The soup smelled sour and odd before I even tasted it. It had bubbles rising to the top and looked foamy. I took a small taste and it tasted like something was fermenting. I got a second opinion and we both agreed it was not good.

I took my son and I to Panera bread on 1/6/18 café # 4755 (at 4:26:43 pm) with check # 376733. I ordered a hot chocolate, Carmel latte and a chocolate chip bagel (the order # was 333). The cashier that took my money used the same hands to get my bagel which seems extremely against code due to money being dirty. The receipt said Rachel but it was a male that waited on me. When I went to get my coffees and hot chocolate the brista handed me the hot chocolate and it had spilled over, and was dripping out. When I requested a new lid as it was for my 6 year old son, she said she tried to clean it off and didn't want to take off the lid. when I asked for a new one then (I paid $3 for it) she grabbed it wiped the lid off again then slammed it on the counter with the stopper. I thought that was extremely rude and the combination of the issue with the bagel and this was very disappointing.

I am a regular customer of the Panera store in Camp Hill, PA. This weekend I was ill and decided to use the online delivery service for dinner for my family. My order would not process but was deducted immediately from my bank account . I called the store and a manager told me they had no record of my order and that I would have to bring in a bank statement or some other proof of payment . I was not able to do that at the time .

I called back a second time and the same manager, very irritated with my call, gave me an email address to send my information. I copied the transaction from my bank account and sent it. She told me I would be credited immediately.

I realized it would be a busy time of the day during the dinner hours so I waited several hours and didn't received a refund. I called a third time to check . The manager responded by say " well we didn't read your email yet . We were busy ! Let me check ." After being on hold several minutes, she came back on and got my card information. The she said " you should get it back in a day or so, depending on your bank " and hung up . No apologies or even a goodbye .
I was very disappointed by her rudeness because I have never had a problem in any of your stores . I realize that certain times of the day are very busy, but, a polite " I will return your call " would have sufficed . Thank you.

January 7, 2018

Frustrated! Husband went out for me to pick up bagels for our company.

Ordered 7 bagels. She asked if he wanted them cut, which he said yes. Really? Obviously, there is a problem cutting a bagel in half! I had skinny tops and fat bottoms that were too thick to put in toaster and crunchy thin tops. Not to mention, was to get a free bagel for the month, and of course she charged. Come on, pay Attention to detail. We pay good money for your products and staff should be on top of little things such as this.

St. Louis bread company in Westport center (MO) at 7:30 pm on 01/05/2018 stated they had no bread left when picking up our order that had 2 sourdough rolls. We observed them to have other rolls, loaves of bread, and bagels. Instead of offering them they insisted we have a different side.

I am shocked that a company that calls them self a bread company would not offer another bread and state they are out of bread.

Karen Balk
Panerna bread member # [protected]
Reg code: 4027

At the Issaquah Panera Bread (cafe 2252) on 1/5/18 I ordered and paid for a bowl of french onion soup with a You Pick Two, but only received a cup when the food was brought out to me. It was lunch rush, so I did not want to bother the staff at that time. My receipt number is 459301. I believe that I should receive a refund given that I did not get what I paid for. Thank you for your time.