Panera Bread

Update: 11.6.23 Had late lunch yesterday, ordered the usual & was disappointed in the Mediterranean Bowl as it had only the slightest sprinkle of quinoa rather than the scoop I'm used to having. Had no dressing on it, though I ordered lemon vinaigrette. Baguette was too hard to tear off a piece, felt like it would've kept my big dog busy chewing for a while! Saw the new signs by the beverages, essentially warning people to be careful with the high caffeine, "charged' lemonades. They are now behind the counter probably to prevent kids from getting hold of them. Our family talked about this about a month ago when we saw kids refilling these high caffeine drinks repeatedly. Certainly Panera is now aware of the allegations that these charged lemonades resulted in the death of a young woman who had a pre-existing heart condition. Maybe Panera does not want to discontinue it because it's probably a good seller since some people love to be wired, and pulling the drinks after this allegation would probably be construed as an acknowledgment that these lemonades are not healthy and could potentially cause illness or death. "Better safe than sorry" in this situation, and we hope that Panera pulls these beverages for good and in their place substitutes several decaffeinated drinks that pose little threat. There will always be someone saying, "Look at all the sugar in that - so dangerous for diabetics!" but there's plenty of sugar at Panera over by the sweets counter, and certainly at nearly every restaurant as well. Restaurants shouldn't have to police their guests, nor should they knowingly serve anything that could cause harm, so we'd support a decision to lose these "charged" drinks now, to preclude Panera being potentially 'charged' with knowingly continuing to serve anything to guests that could endanger their health. That just seems like common sense to us. We enjoy our local Panera most of the time, and hope that this matter is resolved soon. We feel badly for the family of the woman who died - what a tragedy. Really excellent experience at this location today, with slight exception that salad was made with the wrong dressing. That was corrected quickly when we mentioned it to an employee. Portion size was generous, veggies were fresh, salad dressings always awesome. Indoor & outdoor seating available. Takes were very clean, chairs, too. Several people sipping drinks while using WiFi. There's a dedicated meeting room in the back for a small group to convene , which is nice. We felt that having 3 high caffeine content lemonades took away from the healthy aspect of choosing fresh lemonade...saw kids getting these high caffeine drinks, hate to think of how their (& their family's) evening is going to go now! For folks who live on monster drinks & caffeinated coffee, we get it, but 1-2 is sufficient and we'd have appreciated more decaf options, especially since we were there later in the day. Overall, food was delicious & ready very quickly, atmosphere was very comfortable, employees polite and helpful.

I ordered the half ham sandwich and the Fuji Apple salad. The salad was great but they didn’t put a fork in the bag, of course I didn’t realize that until I was far down the road. I always tip even though I’m just picking up a bag lunch, I always think I will get better service when I tip, maybe it’s time to rethink that.

Carlos was as sweet and kind as could be. He slowed down, made eye contact and talked to my two babies, 2 and 4 years old, and truly helped our little family feel so special and seen. He shared cookies with the boys and they were thrilled! We ordered rapid pick up but stayed and ate it there and our food was hot and delicious and the restaurant was clean and tidy. Everyone else who worked there was also so friendly when we left as my 2 year old waved and said good bye to every person we passed. What a great first experience at this location. We will most definitely be back, thank you for making our day.