Last night my husband and I dined at our local Panera Bread for the first time. I decided to blog about our experience because it was just oh so amazing!
First, the deco was warm and inviting. Straw-colored golden walls framed with chocolate hues, lots of reds (my favorite color) and beautiful paintings of wines and breads. Point!
The menu was fabulous, so many selections of different healthy sandwich’s, soups, salads, fruits and hot or iced teas and coffee latte’s. We immediately chose the newest item, the new roasted turkey and cranberry panini, and we chose the “You Pick 2” served with a second item, their “Natural Sonoma Chicken Stew topped with a Dry Jack Cheese Biscuit.” Yum! With this healthy meal we were allowed to choose an apple, chips or more bread. We chose the apple, and iced green tea. Point!
We then chose a cozy booth and waited for our meal. And waited. Then waited. Finally an employee came to our table informing us after 30 minutes or longer that they were out of “panini” bread. This amazed us, seeing panini is one of Panera’s specialty breads and used for this new turkey/cranberry item on their menu. So, we chose sourdough instead. And waited. Then waited. We noticed many other people “waiting” as well. One lady sitting in the booth next to us “waited” for about 45 minutes for her Cobb salad. They forgot her apple, so she was rewarded with a “courtesy cookie.”
Our meal finally arrived. We too were rewarded with “courtesy cookies” for our lengthy wait. My husband is a sweet-aholic, so he was pretty jazzed about this. Point! The first bite of the sandwich was delicious. Point! But, shockingly enough both our bowls of stew were cold. Not luke warm, cold. There was a dry jack cheese biscuit floating in the middle of cold stew. Fail! I returned both bowls, informing the kitchen staff that our stew was cold. They quickly took the bowls and assured me they would provide us with two new steaming servings of stew promptly.
My husband and I ate our apples and waited. And waited. Then waited. We finally ate our now cold sandwich’s (meant to go with the stew) and waited. Then waited. Finally, my husband went to check on our stew. He discovered the bowls still sitting on the counter, untouched, and tried to teach the kitchen staff how to use their microwave. Fail! Enormous fail!
Did I mention the employees at our local Panera Bread appeared to be no older than 22 years of age? During our dining, we witnessed numerous “courtesy cookies” to other customers, apologies, and perplexed looks. One little gal was the only employee attentive to us and apologetic.
Back to the stew. It finally came and was delicious, along with two more “courtesy cookies.” The original cold stew was a result from water not being replaced in their steaming crocks; thus, the soups sat in kettles cooling rather than steaming.
In conclusion, we were presented with a $25 gift card credit for our entire meal, along with multiple apologies to go with our “courtesy cookies.” Point! All in all, we did enjoy our first time at Panera Bread. The food was delicious (especially warm), the cookies are dangerously addicting, and the entertainment watching so many young people scatter about dealing with complaints, malfunctions in the kitchen and delivering “courtesy cookies” was worth it all. However, the best response to all the problems of the night came from the supervisor, who informed us that “they had only been there a year” and to “bear with them.” A year? Fail!
We will go back, though. My only wish is that they served wine!
~Wendy
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