Is it just me or do most chain restaurants in Columbia, SC suck? This Panera Bread location is no exception... out of items requested (avocado, apples) and dirty... it's getting hard for me to justify the cost of convenience when it comes to grabbing a quick bite to eat. I will not be coming back. Step your game up Panera! read more

Visited this Panera this morning and the service was not what I would have expected from a Panera Bread. First of all the service was sub standard. So we ordered $37 dollars worth of food. The young lady working the register wasn't very friendly and professional. When we finished paying I asked her did we have any loyalty points. She then proceeded to inform us that if we spend $40 or more we would could save $10 dollars. So I asked her why didn't she tell me prior to ringing us out and she really didn't say anything and she acted very non caring. I was very disappointed and I really expected more from Panera. I never receive this type of service in Tampa FL. read more

This place is insufferably, annoyingly, ridiculously HOT inside. USE YOUR AIR CONDITIONING! The temperature at this location is not acceptable for workers, food safety, or customers. My kid wants to eat here all the time but I'm not really into paying to sweat all over my dinner. I've decided my family is not going to come back until the owner/manager does something to either fix their faulty AC or stop being so cheap and cruel and turn it up. We live in SC. The only reason to leave my home in the summer is to find a different source of powerful air conditioning. Be that source, Panera on Garner's Ferry! read more

Someone please tell me why I paid $7 for half of a cup of mac and cheese. Panera is so disappointing. read more

Panera Bread - Sandwiches Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

This is the dirtiest Panera I have ever seen. Almost every table was dirty, and garbage all over the floor. Absolutely filthy. The staff was standing around chatting and on their phones. read more

Great food ruined by poor service. I come to Panera often and get the same thing every time but this was my first time at this location. It was not busy but it still took a longer than the normal time to receive the wrong order. I told the cashier this wasn't my order and she tried to tell me that it was what I ordered. The manager was not helpful or apologetic. Finally once my order came out the second time, it was wrong again. read more

This establishment was very dirty and run down! The service was not good, they weren't welcoming, and messed up the orders. The vegetables were not fresh at all. I would not come back, there are others in the area that are newer and cleaner. read more

I am very disappointed with this food establishment to say the least because it used to be one of my favorite spots. My friend and I stopped in for lunch a few days ago. After ordering my food, I went to wash my hands and was immediately disgusted at the sight of the bathroom. It was filthy! The toilets, floor and sink had not been cleaned for days. Trash was everywhere and most shockingly an empty soap dispenser. So how are the employees cleaning their hands let alone the customers? After informing my friend of what I saw, we became more aware of the surroundings and noticed that the whole place was grimy and unsanitary. The drink fountains and counters were disgusting too! We quickly found the manager, expressed our concerns and requested a refund because by now we were afraid to eat the food. He nonchalantly walked to the register without addressing anything and gave us a refund. I guess this is the norm for him. Can't understand how they are still operating in this condition especially since the health reviews on this sight bear out what I'm saying. I know I won't be going back to this location. Something needs to be done before someone gets sick. I would give them a zero if possible. read more

Thank you for consistently excellent delivery. Food is always good and gets to me quickly!

Good place for a meeting. Gets a little noisy and crowded during 11-2 time, but overall a great place for a quick lunch and to get some work done. Good coffee too, but a little pricey overall on the food. read more

We are done. Out of every ingredient we needed for each entree--happens every time and we are done. Kitchen area filthy! We either get the wrong or incomplete order or they are out of key ingredients like the strawberries for the strawberry poppy salad!! Done! read more

The prices seem to keep increasing and the portion sizes decreasing at Panera. It used to be one of my favorite places to eat, but it's just not worth it anymore. My food was tasty this last (and possibly final) time i visited, but not worth the price. My mom's order, however, was not good. She had the thai chicken salad and they made a modification of some of the ingredients without telling her first and quite a bit of the lettuce was brown. I would recommend going somewhere else. read more

Salad was all full of rotten lettuce. So gross. Woman at the pickup was really rude. Salad dressing was rock solid and the apple was going bad and pick marked on the outside. With little effort this could have been 100% better. Lazy workers I guess. Register person was nice. read more

Panera Bread - Couldn't be bothered to check the lettuce. Everything was covered in rotten goo. 1 star. Thanks panera... - Sandwiches Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I have always had a bad experience at this location. Out of 4 employees only one working the register as the others were chatting not working. As the line is getting almost out the fort one of the other employees that was charging finally opened a register and took orders. My soup is cold and I didn't even get my side. This is just embarrassing for being a Panera. Won't go back to this location at all. read more

First time at PB since moving to SC. My cashier (Wallace) a early 20 something female needed me to repeat and specify my.order as if I were speaking another language. I have a PB rewards card to.which I.should of had points but nothing appeared on my receipt... I didnt bother asking, my breakfast sandwhich and caramel latte were great. Location has free wifi, and a large seating area with some leather loungers in case you rather sit and sip a tea or latte. Probably will revisit since this is close to my house. Love the hours. Peace read more

I always enjoy coming here for, soups, salad and sandwiches. Their food is great. Never had anything I didn't like

Terrible service and disgusting bathrooms here. 27 minutes to get a Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt with black avocados and tomatoes that appeared to be more like salsa on my sandwich. No apology or explanation. No one in charge. read more

This place is expensive for what you get, but someone has to pay for the WIFI. Love the Asiago bagels. I usually get it and go. Gosh. Now I'm craving bagels! Only a couple more hours before they open. read more

Prices a bit high but the food is good. They have a rewards card, but you get little more than a monthly coupon that may or may not apply to you. Service is kind of hit or miss. I got to sit there for a few minutes while the one cashier broke down her til (she acknowledged me though and assured me the manager would be right with me). The manager however passed through several times, flat out ignored me and helped one of the people behind me when he finally deigned to grace us with his presence. I just left. The staff getting together the actual food, or bringing it to us when needed... always quick and accurate. read more

We love the Panera Bread on Garners Ferry, which has phenomenal customer service and friendliness (quite the opposite from the Panera downtown, whose staff seems perpetually annoyed & unaware of their own menu). It's a bit on the pricy side, for what you get, so we go less often. But it's consistently fresh food. read more

maybe 3.5 better describes it --- a chain, but a good one, nice food, fresh, and nice atmosphere in dining room, bakery food top notch. Free Wi Fi, excellent seating, good specials and salads. I eat here often and think it is a bit expensive, but, if you can afford it, you can hardly do better, especially for lunch. read more

Asiago cheese bagel w no fat cream cheese is my usual morning digs but also have goodbly lunches coffee isn't bad as well only 4 stars cuz sometimes their customer service is whack read more

Can't give a totally bad review because I do like the baked goods, but... If you're watching customers obviously deciding what they want, you'd think your customer training would have you let them know that you're about to stop serving breakfast. Or you might suggest that something can be done since you the customer order not even 10 seconds after breakfast stopped. Or you'd think you might have a slightly apologetic attitude from the cashier or even the manager who was also right there. Nope, didn't happen. Attitude fail. Money best spent at Bojangles where breakfast is available, even at 11:01. read more

I've been to this location twice and both times I have left frustrated and lacking something from my order. The first time me and my boyfriend used the online ordering to order something about an hour before their posted closing time. We placed the order and about 5 minutes later drove to this location to pick up the food (we live about 5 minutes from the store). We proceed to try and open the front door which is locked. There are other people sitting and our food being ordered online was already paid for. The cashier could see us in the window but refused to even tell us that they were closing early. We then had to go through Panera's corporate office in order to get out money returned. For some reason tonight we thought we'd give it another go. Working in food and bed as a college student I figured that mistakes happen and we shouldn't write them off for the previous incident. I haven't been feeling great and was craving chicken soup. We go inside, order 2 salads and the soup, and wait to get our takeout order. Come home to 3 half salads and no soup in sight. Super disappointing. Other Panera's are great but this one just doesn't seem to get it right. read more

Not your typical panera. Went there at 12 for lunch. They were out of tomato already! Can't order tomato flatbread, sandwiches can't have tomato... restrooms did not have napkins. read more

Overpriced for small portions. They don't even have sour cream for their black bean soup!

I usually love panera bread but this location is awful. My husband and I went there on Thursday night and all the employees were so rude. We were finishing up when it was 9 o'clock, time for their closing. They kept saying rude things like "don't you love it when it's close time and there is no one here" to each other looking at us or singing out loud "closing time". I would understand if it was like 20 minutes after but 5 minutes after? I just didn't appreciate the sarcasm and rude attitude that the employees had. They could've come up to us and said sorry but we are actually closing pretty soon like an adult. Poor customer service. Will never return. read more

Dreadful they seemed to have no clue what was going on, service not great, quite slow for what I got- a grilled cheese. Also seemingly out of everything! read more

Do not order the pasta...pay 15 dollars for food and to have my main meal not even heated in the microwave. Also out of a lot of things.

Worst service I've ever had. The food isn't all that bad, but they somehow manage to skip over my order and forget to make it every time, so I have to go to the counter repeatedly to remind them... read more

Food was good but the dining area and women's bathroom were in dire need of cleaning. Trash and food crumbs all over the dining area floor and tables. I had to clear and wipe off the table myself (every empty table was dirty) the bathroom didn't appear to have been cleaned since they opened the doors for the day (we ate at 7:30pm) won't stop here again even though I love Panera read more

Placed an online order for rapid pick up and it was "lost". After I waited about 15-20 minutes, I went to the counter to ask about it and the guy behind the counter was convinced I had placed it at the wrong location. I tried to show him the email confirmation was this location, but he was disinterested. I called customer service from the parking lot and they made two attempts to call the facility manager, to no avail. The telephone customer service line was helpful, verified my order was processed in their system with no issues, and said they would refund me in 24-48 hours. I have placed maybe 25-50 rapid pick up orders at this location over the last few months, with no complaints. I give this a 3/5 for the poor customer service at the counter. Update: I gave this place another try for breakfast today. Placed a rapid pick up order for a sandwich and soufflé and drove over. Arrived and waited approximately 15-20 minutes and still no bag on the shelf. I asked a gentleman for my order and gave him my name. He handed me my bag from behind the counter but it only contained the breakfast sandwich, the soufflé was missing. I asked about the soufflé and they said they tossed them already. I had already paid for both the sandwich and soufflé online before I left my apartment. They offered to substitute a pastry for my $4.95 soufflé. I asked for a second breakfast sandwich instead. After waiting another 20 minutes, no one had approached with the second sandwich as a replacement so I approached the counter and asked for a refund. They acted like I was the asshole for bothering them. They wasted 45 minutes of my morning for a prepaid rapid pick up and tried to charge me $9.50 for one breakfast sandwich to boot. I will not be giving them another chance. read more

The food is great and the atmosphere is awesome, however god forbid you get the cashier Sarah who refuses to give the customer what they're asking for. Apparently I can't use my rewards time twice in 2 hours. which I've done several times when I've forgotten something or bought something on my way out. I can't pay for a pastry and pick it up on the way out like I've done several times. Not to mention her attitude, she has and way of telling you no and smiling about it that just rubs you the wrong way. Next time I come here I will avoid her. I will make sure she knows why too, while I smile about it. read more

Yesterday was my first time going thru drive thru and it was a pretty good experience. The young lady (Yadira) was very friendly and helped me decide on what I wanted to get. Just know that I'll be coming back! read more

Great food, poppy chicken salad was delicious and served fast.

Awful. 15 minutes to order and only two people in front of us???? Out of salads? No white bread???? Probably the worst Panera I have been to. read more

Worst Panera I've been to. Didn't have the soba noodles, didn't give me a receipt, gave me a regular drink when I asked for and probably paid for a large, gave me a Mediterranean sandwich instead of the salad and almost left out my kids order until I said something. Also it didn't help the place was filled with immature, rude college students. read more

Now I really love Panera, but I just visited the Garners Ferry location and had the worst Panera Bread experience of my life. I've ordered the grilled "cheese" sandwich before, but last time I checked it wasn't called "grilled bread sandwich." There was literally one half slice of cheese on the sandwich, so basically I just got 2 pieces of grilled bread. I literally paid over $7.00 for 2 slices of bread. I was so excited for this grilled cheese sandwich, and nothing could've prepared me for the absolute failure I received. I'm just upset that I ordered a take-out and didn't see this monstrosity until I got home and reached into that brown Panera Bread paper bag of disappointment. I hope you can speak to this location so that this doesn't happen again in the future. read more

Longtime Panera customer. Good, reliable food and a great environment to get work done. Until today. They used to play nice kind of new age background music. Today, it's all Panera advertising, all the time. A woman speaking, over and over, about how they cater, about working there, about online ordering, about eating there (c'mon, I'm already here!!!). Hours of it. Repeats about every two minutes. Every two minutes, the same words. Over and over again. After an hour, it started bothering me. Am I weird? So I said something to someone working the counter, just like "I think your music system is broken." Her reply: "Yeah, it does that." It never did that before. So that's it now? Hours of being advertised to? Are all the Paneras doing this from now on? Is subscribing to a decent music service that expensive? Seriously, I can't work under these conditions. After today, I'm done. There are other food choices in Columbia, SC. I'll miss you, Panera, but you can't make a change like this and expect people to just take it. read more

Staff was friendly and I was not sure if I wanted the vegetable soup with pesto. The employee offered me a sample I went ahead and got the soup with the best as always ham and Swiss cheese sandwich. It was fantastic!!! Everyone needs to try the veggie soup with pesto. Oh my goodness!! Just like Mom would make. read more