Panera Bread

This place is dirty and disorganized. It had a yucky feeling to it. Not a big fan of this particular Panera.

Would have given this place 3 stars, but I have to lower it 2 because of the service. The lady working the front was not very polite and came off as very unfriendly and unprofessional. Might have just been having a bad morning, but I didn’t feel welcome at all. Didn’t have a problem with the food, but it’s just a typical Panera. In the future I’ll go to the Reston location instead.

The nicest people ever! Very social employees, very positive atmosphere, and even if you don’t buy anything they’re very welcoming! They will tell you everything you need to know about anything, asking questions isn’t awkward, and it doesn’t feel fake the love is all real! You must come to this panera if you’re in the area!

This place is good. I come here during lunch break a lot. Might seem expensive but actually reasonable considering I get full before the meal is finished. The only thing I wouldn’t order again is any of their sandwiches with chicken. Felt like it was bland and tasteless. Their mac and cheese is to die for.

Let’s just say I love Panera Bread. And I went here during a busy lunch rush and was in an out in 10 minutes these people did their thing! Wonderful will be back only reason it isn’t 5 b/​c the bathroom was a mess!

BEST place to study around here! The staff is so friendly, and they don’t hassle you if you stay for hours working. When the nights get cold, they have the fireplace going. Very nice atmosphere for groups big and small, single people, and families!

Panera is a good go to place if you can’t decide what to get. They lean on the healthier side. The Panera at Reston Town Center down the street was way too busy during lunch time so we decided to go to the Herndon location. There is a new Kale Caesar Salad but it is 97% romaine lettuce and 3% kale… just FYI. They have a cool option called «you pick two» where you can get half a salad, half sandwich, or soup. I always get the broccoli cheddar soup — it’s so delicious.
Oh, you also get a free pastry on your birthday!

As Paneras go, there’s probably not much variation. I went in for a quick lunch and I know the basics of the menu. But this location didn’t have the new self service kiosks and the layout is extremely awkward.
During lunch, the line of people gathered by the counter to turn in their pager and pick up their food orders backs up. Coincidently, this is also in the direct walkway of where patrons have to walk to get their drinks. I’m no architect but I know this is cramped. Then when I got my tray and tried to walk to the nearest table, I bumped my leg against the person sitting in a chair at another table. There’s little aisle space in the back of the restaurant. Everything is very tight. They didn’t think about the flow of foot traffic when making this place.

Much improved experience today. Seems to be a new manager. They were not out anything, the place was clean and the general manger was visible and working. Glad to see positive change!

I think they served a sour-​dough bagel and called it a plain bagel. Please call it a sour-​dough bagel.
please serve breakfast longer, at least until noon.
i like the egg sandwich. it has good bread.
the last time i was there, you played some motown. no thanks. please play classical, jazz or nothing.
the french toast bagel tastes like a raisin bagel.

Let me start by saying that I am a loyal Panera customer and I understand with all the chaos during lunch things can get crazy and orders can get messed up. It happened a couple times at other locations where there was bacon on my salad despite me asking for no bacon– every time the manager fixes the problem and gives (or at least offers) some kind of free item for my trouble.
I went in today and ordered my food, the panini was missing. This time I checked in the car (as last time there was bacon on my salad here as well but it was too late I was already at work and i did not make an issue about it). I went back and informed the manager on duty that packed my food, Glenn CoCo, he looked surprised. I even told him i do not want to cause an issue but it was just that last time my order wasn’t right as well. He replied with a «well then you must be part of my 2% because I have a 98% success rate». Then made my panini and gave it to me without offering anything for my inconvenience.
By far the worst Panera experience I have ever had.

I hate leaving negative reviews. I try every avenue not to, but paneras catering gave me no choice. I ordered in advance online about three days before the delivery day, paid and left a tip in advance. I called the day of and no one knew what order I was talking about. It was a corporate order and we had vendors to feed. The food was delivered after everyone had already left hungry. I was thinking, at least they tried. But then I called to rectify the situation since this was a corporate card and I had to justify paying for this to my bosses, and since we fed no vendors I needed some sort of discount to explain to them. They said there was nothing they could do. They said they would check and call me back… guess who didn’t call back? Do not order catering from this location!!!

I like Panera. This particular location has always provided me with good food.
But it’s sad how ONE employee can ruin your experience here. I won’t say names, but there is one gentleman who works here who is an extreme extrovert. He thinks he’s funny but he comes across as rude, belittling, and insanely obnoxious. All other employees have been super nice to me though.
Not trying to be mean, but once he’s gone this Panera will be five stars. Until then, I’d really rather not go there. For shame.

I really like the new Panera on line order. I do everything on my phone then when I get to the Panera Store my order is ready for pick up. No waiting in line and everything was good. I recommend it highly. Panera got this one right. But, as soon as I get to order in line and talk to an employee, they got my order wrong. I didn’t ask for cream cheese on my bagel but she insist that I did. I got charged no refund and it’s just really ruin my morning. I go there in the morning for the breast cancer pink ribbon bagel during the month of October even though I live next door to Einstein bagel., Back to ordering on line and get your order right always.

Negative stars! This Panera Bread hurts, bad! We waited, with nobody in line ahead of us, only to have the staff look at us. At no point did anybody say, «I’ll be with you in a second.» Blank stares. There was nobody even manning the registers. Just one guy making a smoothie, and staring, and a woman cleaning the coffee counter behind us, and staring. We left without being helped.
We won’t be back. Do yourself a favor and go to the one in Reston Town Center. They will actually serve you there.

Well. We come here a lot. Today is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2014, as I write this review
I guess the staff is tired today because several wrong things happened
I asked for a «for here, not a disposable» cup for my latte. It came in a paper cup.
My soup came in a bowl, as it should. My husband’s came in a paper cup.
My apple arrived and it looked like someone sunk their teeth into it yesterday and then they served it to me today.
And my son asked for an apple and got bread. Well, they made that one right.
I took a photo but don’t seem to be able to post with this review so I will post a photo also.
Hope they shape up again. Thankfully, it is rare to experience a bad Panera.
If we come here 2 more times (which we will), then I will update this review and raise the stars if they improve their performance.

Positives about Panera: always clean, service is fast, staff is courteous and helpful. Menu item worth braving a snow storm: cheddar broccoli soup in a bread bowl.
Negatives: most food tastes like plastic. Panera’s idea of healthy food confirms my prejudice: healthy food tastes awful. Latest menu additions are flatbread sandwiches. The Thai chicken is unpalatable. Southwest chicken is edible. Taste comparable school cafeteria specialities. The paninis taste better but there is always some «off» about the flavor. Pastries are supposed to be prepared in-​house. Why are they always so dry?
Anyway, at Panera you might luck into something good.

This may be the worst Panera I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to many.
1. Inattentive and unfriendly staff
2. Questionable quality of food
3. No paper towels in men’s room (see #1 above)
4. Old coffee in the canisters.
5. Empty half & half
6. One bite of my bagel was rather gross as there was a piece of char stuck to the sticky underside which went undetected until in my mouth. Bleh. I associate this with a toaster that probably hasn’t been cleaned in a while.
I realize any of the things listed above could and probably do occur just about everywhere at one point or another. But when all of these things are happening simultaneously and consistently, this is the sign of a restaurant with very poor management. It really is a stain on the Panera brand, which is usually associated with freshness in my opinion.
Here was my experience…
So I ordered a toasted bagel with Hazlenut cream cheese spread and a coffee. When I turn around to fill my coffee with the brew that’s been sitting there for two hours (according to their time written in chalk), I turn back and see the cashier pulling my bagel back out of a bag and muttering «you said for here right». I nod yes and watch her hastily grab a cream cheese and put on my plate. Once I took a bite back at my table I realized this was plain cream cheese. I walk back to the front to alert them I was given the wrong cream cheese spread and she tells me she needs me to bring the other back. Umm, really? So I did and was then given the one I asked for in the first place.
After today I will not be going to this particular Panera again.

Well! During lunch hour it is crowded, but the service is fast and the lady taking my order was friendly, even though I didn’t understand her and she didn’t understand me. Haha!
At last, I ended up with what I believe was a small pasta penne with side salad. At least that was what I ordered according to the menu. Where I come from (no not Italy) a bowl of pasta for lunch is usually genereously sized. I must have done something wrong, because what I got was à salad with pasta on the side… Haha! I have never seen such a small amount of pasta being server before! It’s more like a cup of pasta. Or a deciliter. Well, at least the salad was genereously sized! But having to pay $ 8.49 for a bowl of lettuce is ridiculous!
Next time I guess it’s worth paying the 1.50 extra for the large bowl of pasta. Because it was good and the service was goodt But you will not leave with a full stomach.
Wifi is free, but during rush hour it is limited to 30 minutes which is ok by me, I don’t stay here longer than that anyway.

We hadn’t been to Panera in a couple of years. I had become to be reluctant to go again because the only sandwich on their menu I liked was the Chicken Frontega. Plus, with their paninis, you can’t asked for an ingredient to be taken out or added, as they are all apparently pre-​made.
Today, my husband wanted to go to Panera, so we went to this one as it is close to where we live. Before going, I looked on line at their sandwich menu and was pleasantly surprised that they changed it up for the better. In fact, I found myself debating over which of 3 sandwiches to order.
We got there on a Friday before 5 p.m. and the place wasn’t too busy. I decided to try the Cuban Chicken Panini. This, apparently, is Panera’s take on the classic Cuban sandwich and only faintly resembles the real thing. It consists of (straight from the menu) «All natural, antibiotic-​free chicken, smoked lean ham, sweet and spicy pickle chips, Swiss [cheese], chipotle mayo and sun-​dried tomato ale mustard on our focaccia». It was okay. The predominant flavor that came through was the mustard. Occaisionally, a taste of the sweet and spicy pickle chip popped up. Let’s put it this way — while I didn’t hate it, I certainly am not going to dream about having it again.
My husband got what he always gets at Panera – the Smoked Ham and Swiss sandwich. It consists of (also, straight from the menu) «96% fat free smoked ham, Swiss [cheese], leaf lettuce, tomatoes and red onion with salt and pepper, all served on your favorite bread». He forgot that it doesn’t have any mustard or mayo on it. Still, he liked it and said that the red onion adds some good zesty flavor.
This Panera has a large seating area. I was surprised that there was no piped-​in music, as I’ve been accustomed to hearing some soft jazz when at a Panera.
I’m sure we’ll go to a Panera again sometime. In fact, every time we’re on the road traveling and it’s dinner time, if my husband spots a Panera, he wants to go there. Never mind that there may be more interesting restaurants around…