Panera Bread

I was traveling, for business, over Mother's Day Weekend. Every place in town was packed to I fell back to my old standby. I had the oriental chicken salad with baguette and a chocolate frosted brownie for dessert. Quick. Convenient. I loved the fact that I could sit outside and my food was even delivered to me.

First time dining at this location. I don't plan to return. I arrived about 7 pm and the parking lot was nearly empty. This is usually telling but I gave it a shot anyway.

They had no salad options. I went with the Autumn Squash soup and a water. The water wasn't available at the fountain drink station but had to be passed to the employee over the counter to get water from the back. There was a huge puddle of water in front of the fountain station and while there was a sign, it didn't appear there was much effort put into cleaning it up.
The food came with small, plastic spoons with no apologies for not having proper spoons. The employees are not very pleasant and seem unmotivated.

The bathroom and dining area could've used some attention as well as they weren't the cleanest. I can understand if they were busy and the place was dirty, but it was empty and there was no effort to clean the place. I saw at least 3 employees there during my visit.

The ONLY highlight was the delicious soup and baguette. I happen to LOVE Autumn specialties hence the 2 stars. Although, they are probably more deserving of one.

Got a side of Mac and cheese for my fiancé today. Came with a small piece of baguette. The mac and cheese was $7.95, and they filled the cup a quarter of the way full. It was ridiculous. Overpriced garbage food. Recommend eating at a real restaurant instead of this overpriced garbage chain. No wonder they don't get business anymore.

Online order 95% incorrect. We are staying across the street and wanted breakfast. Panera is always a good choice with kids- not this time.

I picked up my order and my husband's chicken Caesar did not have chicken. My hot sandwich was cold and missing a baguette. My son's order was also missing a baguette.

Restaurant was empty on a Sunday morning. Hmmm, wonder why. Won't be back.

Worst Panera I've been to and it sucks it's the only one in Salisbury. They're constantly messing up orders or putting in the wrong thing you asked for. I've asked so many times for a full baguette or a larger cup for a smoothie and they give me half a baguette or the small or regular size smoothie. They have forgotten to put steak on one half of my girlfriends sandwich before. A steak panini, with literally half of the sandwich missing the main ingredient. The cashier makes food at the same time as working the cash register and it makes zero sense. How are you supposed to be fast food with how inefficient this is with saving time. The cashier has to have gloves on, take them off to make food, and put the back on to work the cash register again. With how expensive this food is for fast food, I'd at least expect the order to be right and it to not take 15 min to get my order, almost every single time. Another pet peeve of mine: how do you run out of bread bowls so fast and often? You're a bread store.

*Update* Went again and they forgot chips again and used a weird sauce instead of mayonnaise on the turkey and avocado BLT, guess I'm gonna have to start checking the bags*

I don't normally eat at Panera because I can make my own bread and slice my own bagel, but this place is exactly halfway between my and my Lake Norman family house and they really like Panera.

First, I really didn't like the layout of this location. It's not open and inviting. I think they have more outdoor seating than they do inside, but when it's 40°F outside, it's not a viable option. But there is a drive-thru and I guess that's a draw.



The young ladies taking orders were very nice and smiley, but it was painfully obvious they were inexperienced teenagers and didn't really know what they were doing. They have me recommendations about what to order, Wren I asked and I'm glad they did because...

Next, I learned something new about Panera food: it's pre-packaged. They open up a package, microwave it and serve it to you. They pre-make the sandwiches and if you're getting a panini, it's put in a warmer.

Our food: when we order, we share everything because we're a family and that's what families do. I got the butternut squash ravioli and turkey cranberry flatbread thing. The ravioli was drydrydrydrydrydry. And so was the pittance of a ripped piece of baguette I was given. It wasn't even a whole piece! And it's not like they needed to ration it because I saw no less than 4 big donation bags of bread go out the door while I was eating. My turkey flatbread was okay. I added whole grain mustard to make it taste better. The autumn squash soup was good and I liked the pepitas on top, but it was a little too sweet (and probably squeezed out of a bag and into the bowl).

The last thing that pissed me off about this place: they mopped the front entryway before closing and NO CAUTION WET FLOOR SIGN WAS TO BE HAD. I almost busted my ass trying to get outside. When I mentioned there was no sign, one of the teenaged girls simply shrugged her shoulders.

I will say this: other than the cold shoulder I got, the customer service was excellent. I'm just not sure about going back.