6pm on a Friday night and they were apparently out of every side, including bread. I ordered 2 soups at the drive-through and they didn't tell me that they were out of bread until I drove away. How does Panera bread from out of bread?! During dinner hours no less. read more

Chelsea and I were sitting on the patio right outside Paneras, off Broadway here in Columbia, which is one of the busiest intersections and shopping centers here, having coffee around 3 p.m. I do want to warn everyone about an incident that happened a few days ago. Before I begin, just know that my daughter and I will be ok. my daughter went inside to get refills. A woman came from behind and walked towards the doors to Paneras like she was going there. She passed my table and the next before she whipped around and grabbed my daughter's purse and ran. I caught up and grabbed onto my daughter's purse. I was knocked to the ground and being dragged and being told that she needed money to feed her kids, B&^%$! You're going to feed my kids b&^%$! over and over again. A man came out of no where and she said, help me brother. So now I am being attacked by 2 people. I am on my back the whole time. They said we will kill you. When she told him to pick me up, I started screaming with everything I had. It took a few, but he walked back to his car. She made one last ditch effort to open the side pocket on my daughter's purse to grab her cell phone. She didn't get that either. She walked back to their car cussing me the whole way. They opened their doors and hesitated, I truly feared they were getting a gun or a weapon. At that moment, an off duty fireman, who was a customer, came out and the woman told me they'd be back for me, got in their car and took off. There was not a license plate. The fireman said he'd seen them before he went in driving back and forth through the parking lot and noticed they didn't have a license plate on the front either. Two nurses who were customers came out to help also. The fireman called 911. He and the 2 nurses stayed with my daughter and I until I was taken to the hospital. A firetruck, ambulance and several police cars, emts and police officers were there and not one Paneras employee or management came out to how their concern. I just want to make it clear that I in no way would ever expect another person to put themselves in harms way to save or protect me. Including the Panera Bread employees, but once you have a front row seat to all the emergency vehicles and personnel literally on your doorstep, there's just no excuse for not checking on a customer who was assaulted at your business. The employees had a clear straight view to where I was and where a firetruck, ambulance and police cars were and somehow they missed all that? The fireman and the 2 nurses are my heros. Please share this post so that I may thank them. I suffered a sprained wrist, sprained ankle, bruised ribs, swollen eye, concussion, scrapes and bruises. They did not get the purse that had our home address in it, but I was robbed of my sense of security. I called Paneras corporate office and all I asked them was to add security cameras so their customers could feel safe and and apology from the employees. The woman said someone would get back to me. I got an email survey to rate the phone call experience. I want to stress that if you or anyone you know has someone threatening you to go with them....DON"T!! SCREAM and don't stop screaming because the last thing they want is for you to draw attention to them. Once, they get you into their vehicle, the odds of your safety are zero. Please share this so your loved ones will know what to do. Please share this so these 2 may be caught and there will not be a next victim. I also refuse to go to Paneras until they respond and take action. They have security cameras to protect their money, but not the customers who give them that money. I was contacted by #BesimAcar who actually said that there are always police and ambulances and fire trucks across the street at Breaktime (a convenience store) By the way, I've never seen emergency vehicles there. So #Breaktime on Broadway, #BesimAcar just threw you under the bus, by saying your store is so dangerous and that Panera Bread employees are so used to seeing emergency vehicles at Breaktime, that they didn't even notice the firetruck, ambulance, two police cars and personnel on #PaneraBread's doorstep. He also would not let me get a word in. He was condescending and kept mocking me. Kept asking, what's the problem? Ok #BesimAcar, this is the problem. If there had been an outside security camera and signage saying there was surveillance, this never would have happened. And then you turn around and ask if the police got the surveillance video from Breaktime? Like someone mentioned to me, if you go to a bar, you might expect a bar room brawl, but when you go to #PaneraBread, the last thing you expect is to be assaulted. How's that, #BesimAcar? Oh, and #BesimAcar, you just made a bad situation worse. If I survived 2 thugs, what makes you think you can intimidate me, a victim, and on top of that, your customer? Does that make you feel better? Now I will not be happy until you are gone. read more

I don't know why this place is getting bad reviews. If you want food that's fresh, this is the place to go. Even though it's a franchise, the food is always good. For the price in this particular area, you really can't beat this place. read more

This Panera drive-thru never gets my order quite right. I've gotten a salad with no dressing multiple times and most recently my Chicken Cobb with Avocado Salad came without any avocado. read more

Do not go to this location! They have repeatedly messed up my orders. Twice I have gone thru the drive thru with complete meals missing. The managers don't care.They say they will send you some special coupons in the mail to compensate you. They don't mess up taking your money. I will never go back, ever. Third time they messed up my order, shame on me for supporting your bad management. To many others choices that actually care. read more

Place is a complete rip off. No food. High prices. I ask for no lettuce and some green leaves splashed across my sandwich that's not called lettuce. Chinsy portions plus left hungry for almost 13 bucks = rip off! read more

Let me preface this by saying that in the last 5 years, I have had over 8 friends that I can think of who work at the Southside Providence location, and a couple from the Mall location. So you could say I have heard many of the ins and outs of Panera business. I don't claim to have first hand knowledge, but it sounds like a pretty typical food service job to me. Let me also say that I work in a very fast paced coffee shop, so I understand what it is to work in food service and how overwhelming and frustrating it can be. But when it comes down to it, this specific Panera location is terrible. Since it was put in a few years ago, it has been my go to Panera location, because I live close by and it has a (not-so) convenient drive thru. Since it's opening day to the present, they have not improved one bit on ticket times, customer service, or even serving you the correct/quality food. Every time I come here, I wait 20-30+ minutes in the drive thru even when it's slow, pay for expensive food, and get something I didn't order or see something that's missing. In addition, the sandwiches are ALWAYS sloppy and not well made. The other day I had to go back to Panera after getting all the way home because I was served a piece of bread on my sandwich that was obviously the first slice in the loaf and far too small to cover the top of the sandwich. After I had it remade, with the appropriate sized bread, the meat was all on one half and a pinch of salt and pepper was plopped down in the middle. How is this acceptable? I hate to be that person to ask for my food to be remade, because I *completely understand* how much of a wrench remaking something throws in your plan. I remake drinks sometimes at my job and get irritated, but ultimately if I made a drink poorly or incorrectly, it is my responsibility to replace it and DO BETTER NEXT TIME. Don't serve subpar food and hope the customer won't complain, just serve the proper quality the first time. Brickton Panera needs to take serious notes from their counterparts on Providence, and maybe have employees retrained or something. Also, I know some Paneras with drive thrus (ex: Kansas City, Chicago) have a separate food line in the back specifically for the drive thru. If this location doesn't already do that, they need to be able to accomodate the business the drive thru brings in a more efficient manner. read more

The customer service at this location is mediocre at best, and unfortunately, something about my order is almost always wrong. I'll take the extra 10 minutes to drive to the Panera location on S. Providence from now read more

I visited the Panera at the Brickton Road location last week. What sold me was the drive-thru. The drive-thru experience was pretty good; service was professional and fast. I ordered the turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwich. My reaction on seeing the sandwich: "did I order from the kids menu?" The sandwich was *small*. Now, understand that I am not a big guy, nor do I have a big appetite, but I was expecting something a little more substantial. I ate half the sandwich in no time and felt dissatisfied, both in how the sandwich tasted and how it eased my hunger. I took a peek at the remaining half of the sandwich and understood why. The sandwich had hardly any turkey on it; just a scrap, really. There was a respectable amount of blah tasting avocado, and I think there must have been a little bit of bacon hiding behind the avocado. To add insult to injury, the sandwich was very expensive ($9+ I think). read more