Panera Bread

So, being bored with my regular lunch routine I decided to try Panera again. I have always loved their broccoli cheddar soup and from what I could remember they had pretty good sandwiches too. I ordered the turkey, cheddar and apple sandwich and upon asking the cashier what else came on it instead of answering she just pointed to the computer screen in front of me. I saw that «sauce combo» was a listed item, I then asked her what exactly the sauce combo was since I don’t eat mayo. She said she didn’t know but it was «kinda their signature sauce» Ummm, okay then shouldn’t you know what it is? When she asked another cashier she said it was «some kind of mayo/​mustard mix». Probably good to know that, I know a lot of people who can’t eat mayo. Then I saw an «apple coleslaw» on the list, when I asked what exactly that was the cashiers annoyance was visible (even though they were not busy and there was no one else in line behind me). She said that it was an «apple coleslaw» I said yes it says that but what else is in it besides apples? She said «oh you know like regular coleslaw» I said you mean with cabbage? She said «yeah I guess». Now I am annoyed that she seemed not only to not know what was in the sandwiches they sell but not willing to find out either. I said I didn’t want it had to ask for an apple instead of chips when I’m pretty sure they always offered you a choice and paid. I was shocked that the sandwich came out to over $ 10!!! When I got back to my office starving and ready to enjoy my (in my opinion overly priced) sandwich I unwrap it to find cold VERY soggy bread that looked and felt like it had just been taken out of the fridge after days! It was so soggy that it stuck to the paper it was wrapped in and mostly fell apart. What little arugula there was, was limp and didn’t look very fresh and there was NO apple in the «turkey, cheddar, apple» sandwich. I wish I would have known that what ever the «apple coleslaw» was was the only apple on the sandwich. I reluctantly ate it now being too hungry to get something else, too far away to take it back and too mad at myself for spending close to $ 11 for the soggy sad sandwich in front of me. Needless to say they need to better train their staff with product knowledge and get some better product. I will NOT be making the mistake of going there again. So much for trying something different.

I have gone to this Panera for years and the quality of the meals has steadily decreased. Today was the last straw. My boyfriend ordered a steak and cheese panini and I order the turkey avocado BLT. We’re not the type of people to complain ordinarily but the meals were just so poorly made we couldn’t justify having paid for them.
The steak was practically raw. Obviously there should be some pink but not ALL PINK. My turkey avocado BLT was thrown together and not cut the whole way through so I had to disassemble the sandwich, tear the bread and put the ingredients back together on each half. There was also some sort of nasty orange splotches on my bread that were probably just sauce from another sandwich but were definitely not supposed to be there. We both took a bite or two and decided it just wasn’t worth it.
A note about the staff: The cashier that we placed our order with was very pleasant. The waitress (who was texting near the food serving area) that we approached about seeing about a refund looked at us like we couldn’t be more annoying. She got the manager. Upon explaining our disappointment with our meals and asking kindly for a refund, she retorted with a snarky remark about how the steak is fully cooked and something about the way it’s vacuum sealed. «The customer is always right» didn’t apply here apparently. We were certainly very cordial and pleasant enough just simply and quietly requesting a refund for the sandwiches. She gave it to us fairly quickly but the interaction was extremely negative.
I have worked in food service for chains before and I know it’s not the most fun job. I also know that these businesses have enough money to offer refunds for bad quality and the staff should not behave as though we’re taking money out of their pockets.
Needless to say we will not return here for table service but hopefully they maintain the quality of the pastries.

I’m not one for posting one star reviews normally, but the level of failure attained in this order went beyond horrible, to just plain impressive. Looking back it’s just hilariously bad.
Ordered a oatmeal quinoa power bowl, which is a new menu item consisting of oatmeal, topped with a little quinoa, almonds and honey. I ask if it’s possible to also have strawberries on that, which comes on their normal oatmeal. It’s a dollar extra. I decide, hey, let’s go crazy today, I’ll do the extra dollar for the strawberries.
The manager is training what looks like every employee in the place on how to do everything. They have this neat computer screen at the pick up area showing everyone’s orders and how long the person who has been waiting, and the order they ordered in. Time passes, everyone before me gets served, everyone after me gets served, employees keep asking me what I’ve been waiting on, it’s oatmeal. After 15 minutes, it’s still oatmeal. They must be slow cooking this stuff in a cauldron out back. Or maybe doing some raw-​soaked overnight oatmeal. Anyways eventually everything is figured out and I leave with a bag of food.
Upon arriving to work I open the oatmeal container, which is filled half way with: quinoa, almonds, a drizzle of honey, and NO OATMEAL and NO STRAWBERRIES that they charged an extra dollar for. After the staff discussing a million times if the oatmeal was ready and where was the oatmeal, someone looked in this bowl containing NO oatmeal, and said «well, we did all we could here, send it out! Good effort everyone!» Or maybe a more sly, «We really wish we could have made oatmeal happen in 15 minutes, but we’re going to have to send out a decoy oatmeal and hope no one notices. God help us if she’s smart enough to open everything in her order before leaving»
In addition the 20 min I spent in there after validating my parking at Blick sent me over the time limit in the parking lot and I was charged an extra $ 6 for parking to have this bowl of failure prepared for me. All and all the best $ 12 half-​bowl of dry quinoa I’ve ever had.

For all those who eat at Panera Bread. warning. If You have ever witnessed pre-​making (which not on premises) and preparation before serving no human will touch this.

Staff is really helpful – on my most recent visit, our party ordered several things, had one salad come out wrong, and they apologized profusely and quickly made us another one.
I come here all the time to get work done, and overall it’s a great experience – so much friendlier/​cleaner than a lot of other Paneras.

Worst panera, I’ve visited.
Bad service, negative attitude.
They don’t refill milk jars for coffee. Never respond to a request.

if there was less than one star I would give it. I order the chicken tortellini Alfredo and my chicken was pure PINK. I returned it and asked for my money back. instead the mouthy manager said he canceled the order and my money would be returned to my card. STILL WAITING.

If I was in the mood to wait 7 minutes for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, only to have it with avocado both on the outside of the wrapper and randomly flecked inside as well, all while listening to the employees and manager complain loudly about the company they work for, I would come back here. The location is convenient, and the space big enough to find seating, hence the not second star.

Good location, nice staff, Panera always nails it.

I find myself in this area a few times a month, and always seem to end up here since there aren’t that many eating options for a quick meal. I like their bagels, breakfast sandwiches, squash soup and salads. Two stars, though, for the stupid buzzers (sorry, ‘trackers’) they always try to make me hold on to.
Really, Panera? You want me to touch one of those dirty buzzers which are passed from hand to hand without sterilization, and then touch my food? Every time I refuse the buzzer (which is every time I go in), I get an incredulous look from the cashier.
Once I had the manager pull me aside to patronizingly explain how the system works. Yeah, I know how the system works. But it’s unnecessary and it’s a good way to spread germs. Every other restaurant I go to, fast food or sit down, manages without the buzzers.

pretty big panera around fenway. lots of college kids at this location.
they have some self ordering machines so you can skip the lines. pretty cool concept. they bring the food to your table, which is a nice touch but not really necessary. they have all their drink cups sitting out so i’m sure some people take their own without paying.

A pretty good location. I like to come here with my parents for a sit-​down lunch when we check out a movie next door when they come to visit a few times a year.
I did get a cupcake from there tonight that was «off»… it had turned or something… something very not right about it. One bite and threw it away.
Otherwise, good.

This is probably my favorite Panera Bread of all the ones I’ve tried.
The staff here are all super friendly. They have table service which I didn’t know was only exclusive to some locations (or maybe even just this one.) They also deliver (not sure if other places do.)
The seating area is very spacious, and gives a very home-​like feeling unlike the other cramped, loud, and bustling locations.
The food here is also slightly better than other places. Same portions I’m assuming.
Free wifi but can get pretty laggy and stuck sometimes especially during the peak hours where you are limited on your usage.
Love that the green iced tea is self serve because I usually mix in ¹⁄₃ of Sprite into it.
I’ve also come here occasionally for meetings and the giant table up the stairs was great for that. It’s a great place to come and study on your own as well.
Pastries that I’ve wanted to get here were also sold out a lot of the times.
All in all, still a great location also because in the middle of Fenway near everything else.

I come here a lot and am always pretty satisfied.
They have a lot to choose from so this is always a good choice for lunch for everyone.
There salads and soups are always yummy and it is great that you can combine them so that you can get soup and salad for lunch.
Tip: Come on off hours so its not so crowded if you want to sit for a while to study

This place have amazing good, healthy tasty food. The only bad is that the sandwiches are too small, is like half a sandwich for $ 4.99 average price. The Breakfast Power Sandwich specially, it’s like half of a complete sandwich, my family was in shock at the size of it for $ 4.09 …lol The Cuban Panini was $ 7.99 and this one was a complete one. I had the NE Lobster roll sandwich and it was the best, lots of lobster on lettuce on a sandwich, bear in mind this is a cold sandwich delicious for a once in a blue moon meal, it comes at a steep price of $ 14.49. The pastries and cookies are a wide variety and also very delicious.
So prices are high, but it is all worthy to eat quality food and in the downtown area of Boston very close to the Rex Socks Stadium. Customer service is excellent, really nice people at the register and in the lobby area extremely polite.

Wow — tableside service? The last time I was here I still had to use one of those buzzers. What a great improvement for a casual/​borderline fast food place!
Otherwise, the food is the same as other Panera locations. My Greek salad was slightly wilted, but the orzo chicken soup was quite good.
One thing they gotta improve? The Wifi connection — I sat in a spot near the entrance to the garage and had spotty Internet access at best. Next time I’ll set my phone up as a hotspot.

This location is where I get lunch more often than I would care to admit. Like all Paneras, its a tad overpriced for lunch — but much healthier than most of the options in the area (unless you opt for the baked-​potato soup). They sport a surprisingly friendly staff, and as long as you don’t go at noon, they’re quick as well. One nice part about this location is the additional seating in the back of the restaurant. Even on the busiest days I’ve always managed to find a seat.

Why yes, I do come here often! I like Panera’s in general, and this one is certainly no exception. The staff is friendly, which can be lacking in the northeast. Occasionally they sell me whatever I order only to discover that its either sold out or won’t be ready for some long-​ish amount of time, and the managers are always quick to rectify this (and usually I get something else for, free — who doesn’t like free?) When I eat in, I do occasionally find the service to be a little slow. However, I do like their new table service — no more worrying about my purse/​kindle/​whatever I left to claim my table.
Ideally I’d love to see more of the small booths, but in general I’m a fan of the seating. I’d also love it if the baked potato soup was everyday (I think its only Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday). I’d also LOVE it if Paneras brought back the old chicken salad sandwich and did away with the napa almond chicken salad. But at least there are lots of other choices I love!
If you’re new here, the rope line thing that’s set up in front of the bakery case IS, in fact, for everyone, not just the bakery — this Panera doesn’t have a separate register for the bakery. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had to point out the giant line that people walk right by. (And to the dude who took offense to «Excuse me, there’s a line»… get over yourself.)

Hm… The service here is reallly reallly slow. I feel like it’s gotten even slower in the past few months.
I’m not trying to spew haterade, but I’d rather skip the chit chat at the registers and get my food in a timely manner.

I feel in love with panera a few years ago. I love their breakfast souffles, especially the one with artichokes.
I often get the you choose two combo. The salads are solid, and the soups are great. I like the broccoli cheddar or the chicken wild rice. Their breads are great, especially the baguette, the sesame bread and challah!!! Yep, they have challah! Holla!!!
The service is great, everyone was very friendly and welcoming
The place itself is nice, nice comfy chairs and booth, cute matching bowls, free wifi. The bathrooms are clean, and last time they were playing Regina Spektor. Really cant go wrong here.
I once spend almost six hours there, and noone came to kick me out.
A solid place for lunch, dinner or a prolonged study session.