This is honestly one of the best franchise locations I have visited. The dining area is well kept, and most of the staff is friendly. I have also used their drive thru, and received even better service there. I am a huge fan of their original tomato and mozzerela panini, and was pleased when I was told I can still have it on the ciabata bread. Some employees complain at this request, insist it's not an option, but someone else gladly met the request, as they were familiar with the recipe and bread it was originally on. The dining area is pretty well kept and managed, though seats fill up quickly. Food is usually served pretty quickly as well, drive thru and inside. read more

Horrible place to go!! Absolutely the worse customer service Do yourself a favor don't go there. They did not cover the top of the hot coffee and she handled it to me on the Drive through the coffee fell on my hand. When I asked them to apologize for it they said they will call the police!! Don't go to that place!! I had to go go the hospital and get treatment! Panera Bread sucks. Stay away! read more

Panera Bread - Hospital treatment - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

Panera is so overpriced for the portion size they are giving! If they are not careful they too will be going out of business! Not wants to pay lots of money for smaller portions! When you buy salads there is hardly any lettuce or fruit in the salad. When you buy a salad they hardly put any meat on them! Count your days Panera ! McAllister is the new Panera!! read more

forgot my side baguette even thought it says on the ticket that it is in there and that the order was double checked

Clean and spacious. Friendly service. Free refills. Great for chilling and maybe getting some work done. Strongly recommend. read more

Panera Bread - Passion Papaya Iced Green Tea - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

Nasty place, Manager Jordan is disgusting. lady hung up on me and didn't even let me inform them that the order was messed up and a lot of the ingredients wasn't even available. read more

What the heck happened to this location? I absolutely adore Panera as a chain and I usually am at this specific location at least once a month, but they have gotten much slower and more rude lately. Tonight was the final straw when I ordered the caprese melt and got a tomato sandwich. No Bueno! read more

Panera Bread - Where's the rest of my sandwich? - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

I love Panera Bread but I was recently informed that they no longer make/carry bear claws. Now they only carry an almond pastry, which doesn't hit the same spot for me. Sorry Panera. read more

My daughter and I ordered 2 Pick Two orders for pick up. When she got home she found her chicken almond sandwich was replaced with a Tuna sandwich. We are both allergic to tuna. When I got ready to eat I bit into my BLT avocado sandwich (as it was labeled) was her almond/chicken sandwich. I am allergic to almonds. At least the sides were correct and I'm glad we had leftovers in the fridge. Just wasted another $30 at Panera and ensured my Benedryl is refilled. read more

I will gave to try this business at a time when Michelle isn't there. I have never witnessed a manager be so rude to their customers. I will wait until I go into Geneva to get bagels. read more

Not the friendliest of staff members and the girl who waited on me in the drive thru filled my cup of soup with no gloves then took my money and continued to finish getting my order put together. Not sure if she put a glove or used anything but her hand to grab my bread for my soup. I asked and paid for an extra piece of bread but did not receive it plus my cup of soup was about an inch from full. read more

Panera Bread - Cup of Chicken noodle soup and bread. - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

Panera used to be good but not anymore. And that's coming from someone who spent 5 years with the company. I don't know if it's just this location but it's a joke now. I went through the drive thru today and got 2 you pick two orders. Not only did they not come with the sides or silverware, the salad was literally all lettuce. $24 for what??? Nah Panera is a joke. The only good thing they have is the charged lemonade and for the same price I can get any other energy drink elsewhere. read more

I ordered food from this location for a business meeting. The client I was providing lunch for ordered a "chicken frontega panini with spinach" and an "Asian sesame chicken salad, with corn bean salsa - which I paid extra for ". When I arrived to the meeting and gave the client her order, this is what she opened. There is nothing on the sandwich, and no spinach (as requested). It is also made incorrectly. There are maybe ten lettuce leaves in the salad, no chicken, and no corn salsa (which I had paid extra for). The client who I was providing lunch for was so turned off by this pathetic excuse of a meal, that I had to order a new lunch from another restaurant. When I called the restaurant later in the day, I kindly asked to speak to a manager. The employee then proceeded to just hang up the phone. Terrible service and food. It was EMBARRASSING to order food from this Panera location for a business event. (I understand that sometimes things go wrong, or maybe you have a new employee. I always provide an opportunity for restaurants to redeem themselves....but being hung up on by employees was just inappropriate and unprofessional.) read more

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3 times in a row now order is wrong. I ask for a "MAC AND CHEESE grilled cheese" and get a regular boring (not even properly grilled) grilled cheese every single time. Yes I know if this is the 3rd time I should be checking my food literally in the restaurant but I also shouldn't have to do that....employees are too busy messing around talking and following each other around to even get an order right. It's quite annoying. I love the food here but I guess I'll have to go without. read more

Found an avocado peel in sandwich. Not bashing o them cause I know they were short staffed but just thought I'd let them know. Gave me the wrong sandwhich as well, still ate it and it was good probably gonna get it next time too read more

Panera Bread - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

I wish this were a good Panera, but I have not had many good experiences. There is always something that goes wrong. Whether it's that they're out of things, I get the wrong order, or rude customer service. It's very unfortunate because I love Panera's food, but I guess I can only get it when I go out of town to a different Panera. read more

The Drive up at Panera on Sycamore Rd/DeKalb Ave. is a GREAT place to catch Covid-19. Same guy takes money then touches your food while he prepares it. When you point out that's unsanitary and dangerous during a pandemic he doesn't get it because he's a) poorly trained b) dumb c) all the above. When you go to the Panera Facebook page you can't write a bad review. Gee . . . wonder why not????? read more

Panera is one of few fast food (can we call it fast food?) places in town that is somewhat healthy. Oh yeah, you know Sycamore/DeKalb loves their fast food...which is fine but not good to max out on every day. You don't feel like a slug after eating here with most dishes you can order and nothing that will contribute to a future triple bypass surgery later in life. I usually hit up this Panera for something quick and it's usually a salad. They do have kick ass salads, for what it is, and only about $10. My favorite so far was the one I just ordered. Chicken Caesar salad with kale. Everything is pretty fresh here and you don't have to worry much about anything tasting bad. This location in particular gets super busy around lunch and parking kinda sucks. The spots are tight with not many to begin with. This isn't Panera's fault, but it is an inconvenience at times. 3 stars is still good and for the type of food it is, you get a healthy option in a area that is otherwise limited to Fatty McTacobells. read more

Panera Bread - Chicken Caesar salad. It was good and filling and a healthy option compared to most places around here. - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

I don't want to sound like a d*ck, but I feel like it's important to preface this review by saying that I don't ever eat at chains but this was an exception as this food was provided for me (as well as a large 100+ group of others) during a 12+ hour day (with 5am start time - ugh) of volunteering with a local organization. I didn't choose the catered breakfast/lunch business, and though I wouldn't normally ever eat at Panera (or any chain) in my regular life, they did a great job of providing hundreds of us with a variety of (all labeled) boxed lunches on that day. In general, I feel about a 2-star level of satisfaction for the Panera brand in general, and while my general disdain for chain restaurants makes me want to give a 3-star here, I think it'd be unfair as my experience was a positive one and I did really enjoy the sandwich, chips, pickle and cookie that they made and delivered (with my name on the box so no one else stole my veggie meal), but it's also worth noting that I did not have to pay for said meal. There was a time in my life when I would enjoy an cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese on the regular, but then I grew up and realized that coming to Panera and paying what is most certainly an absolutely outrageous amount of money for an only adequate tasting meal that didn't fill me up was something that I would no longer take part in... until the volunteer organization-provided-meal this weekend. So it's been about a decade since I had a sandwich from Panera, but the veggie I had with a soft tomato-y bread, hummus, feta, cucumber, spinach and all the Mediterranean fixins' was pretty darn good. In fact, this might have been the only time I've ever gotten a sandwich from Panera that didn't taste like it was on the hardest, stale-est bread ever. In the end, I know I didn't get the full-on dine-in Panera experience, but the reality is that if I had the choice of going somewhere to dine in, a chain would never be on my list of options, but for the size + accuracy of the order, they really delivered and I can't punish them for being a chain when they came through when a non-chain business may not have been able to handle such a huge order + delivery at lunch time on a Saturday. read more

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They changed the sourdough bread to a terrible country style. It's not very sour but makes up for that by being extremely dry and crumbly. Yuck. read more

Like they say, "we have everything in DeKalb". They do have a Panera. It was not much different than any other Panera. Service was good and so was the food. There was plenty of seating and I believe it attracted a good amount of college students from NIU on a Saturday afternoon. The one thing that may happen at this Panera that wouldn't at all locations is that we saw a herd of deer prancing across the intersection into a nearby field. read more

Panera Bread - Created my own bread bowl sandwich combo - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

Wife had surgery recently, so for last couple months I have run out occasionally to get her a breakfast sandwich. She is a creature of habit. Plain bagell with egg and double bacon The first time they told me they could not do the egg over hard, only scrambled or over easy (messy). We adjusted and got scrambled. I would also order something. In six visits, they have yet to get a order completely correct Today, I am told the us a bread and do not have a bagel sandwich like that. They can only make steak and egg bagel breakfast sandwich. When I get to the window, I mention all of the above and the girl takes attitude. When I am handed my bag (by someone slse) I am told, and I quote "All you needed to do was tell us what type of bagel. Have a nice rest if your day" and the window closes and they walk away. We won't be back and I did not order the two additioonal sandwiches. read more

Whatever you do, do NOT get the Mac and cheese grilled cheese!!! The toast was burnt and the noodles were cold. When I bit in, I hit something crunchy. Upon inspection, I found 4 more unknown crunchy objects inside. I took it to a worker to get a new sandwich and she didn't even apologize. Instead, she made me another one with the same lukewarm noodles. My four year old could've made a better sandwich than that. Safe to say, I will NOT be returning!!! read more

Extremely unprofessional manager. No apology after a take out order screw up. Was an order for 5 people. She was going to give me one free lunch. Come on. After driving back and causing a physician office to eat a late lunch and be off schedule for the remainder of the day...one free lunch. She proceeded to be extremely ignorant and even got short with me. WOW! I believe her name was Maria? She was a manager. How about a little more training for this ignorant manager? read more

I personally like this establishment, When I came here to grab food for my woman and I the service wasn't bad and the food came out at a decent time. The soup as well as the Turkey sandwich was great I now go here as often as I can. read more

Waiting more than 30minutes so far for ONE meal of soup& salad. There are folks here that have been waiting 45 minutes or more for a meal. This is just not good. Been coming here forever & it's never been this bad. The place is filthy & there are no napkins anywhere to wipe off the tables. If you don't have the staff, I understand, but then stop taking orders you can't fill. You are just making people never want to come here if they take your money so fastly & can get a meal in the same amount of time or sometime within reason. This is seriously horrible service read more

What was once my favorite place for a salad, is now the worst place for a salad. The manager displayed poor customer service and biases towards her customer base. On a busy Saturday, lines were moving slowly but she could not be bothered. In fact when a cashier, who was pleasant and displayed good customer care practice, went to ask for customer assistance, Melissa blew up at the customer. There was no argument that took place, but Melissa seemed extremely stressed and disheveled and lashed out at the customer. This customer was an African American woman who seemed stunned at Melissa's response to her. There were other customers needing her attention and she seemed to care for them differently. Looking through the busy crowd of folks revealed no other AA customers and Melissa seemed annoyed with this woman's presence. Why? She was a paying customer. In fact, Melissa's actions were so disgusting that the cashier apologized to the AA woman and offered her dessert while she waited for her to-go salad. The cashier said to her, "I have never seen that from my manager and I am so sorry that happened to you, I can get you the customer care number". The cashier continued to apologize for her Manager's behavior. I am an administrator at our local university. We try to send a message of diversity, equity, and inclusion to our students and staff and this event was extremely hard to watch. I won't be back and will share my experience with my colleagues and external constituents. Not good Panera. read more

I won't ever order from here again. First we called with a large order and they put me on hold for 5 minutes trying to find an employee that " knew how" to take an order over the phone. I hung up and used the app. Ordered over $100 for several people. Received a confirmation email. 10 minutes later received a text that it would be an hour before order was ready. Waited our hour. Went to pick up and they could not find the order. Manager came out and found the order and Sid it didn't go through!! WHY THE DAMNED EMAIL THEN? If you can't manage a website then you shouldn't have a franchise! No apologies either. I am fuming! read more

This location is a disgrace! I've never been treated so poorly by this management! Because they didn't have the ingredients to make a sandwich that was ordered, they neglected to mention it when picking the order up. When trying to either obtain a credit or simply another sandwich in place of the missing one, my family was treated with attitude, and like we were trying to rob them of something. Needless to say, I will not be returning to this store until they can obtain competent management! read more

I really like Panera, but depending on the location I get really annoyed. This is one of those locations. It is near the university so it gets business whether it wants it or not. They always run out of soup but never remember to take the name down. I am not even referencing busy times. I like to buy a brownie when I am there. I do not like to purchase the ones in the box. They tend to have been sitting there for at least a day. Yet, if I want a new brownie wrapped up, they always turn me down. I received some bad service and received a card for a free meal. When I went in there for my free meal, my service was worse. The register person was having a personal conversation in between taking each part of my pick 2 order. I do not care what funny thing so and so did. I just want to put my order in. They tend to lack professionalism and this exists because the managers do not set the tone well. They tend to be the people who are joking around. I also get annoyed when people at the register are not properly trained. The food is ok, but for the price, the service needs to get better. read more

For the month of May, Panera rewards members get one free coffee a day. Needless to say, this month I have been to about 12 different Paneras this month since I go every day now. Tonight I went here and discovered I had 3 different rewards to redeem as well. When I come to Panera, I get the same thing most every time. Iced coffee with almond milk and vanilla. Bacon turkey bravo with no cheese, lettuce or tomato and extra sauce. Broccoli cheddar soup cup with chips as my side for both. So, I am super picky and I have an annoying order, but tonight a sweet girl named Liz took my order and was nothing but a peach. Made excellent conversation, repeated my order with 100% accuracy, even how I had ordered it. Having worked in food service for years, I can appreciate that and the efforts put forth for that. Liz has excellent customer service skills and is a great asset to this store. She was so incredibly friendly, quick, and great at her job. Of all the Panera Breads I have been to, especially in the month of May, this has been the best experience and I hope it continues! Also, they got both bags of chips in my order. Nine times out of ten, they only put one in and I have to go back to get my second one. They got them both tonight and I didn't have to ask. Hallelujah! read more

This place has really gone downhill in recent years--both corporate-wide and locally. This was probably my favorite little restaurant from 2001 to 2008. It used to be that Panera was a place to get coffee and a quality sandwich, and enjoy a nice peaceful lunch for under $10. Nowadays, the prices are far too expensive for the type of food they are serving. In addition, the quality and portion sizes seem to have been downgraded. A sandwich lunch for two should not cost $25, especially at a place that does so much volume and is so crowded. In particular, the DeKalb location has let its standards slip. Every time that I order soup, only about 50% of it ends up in the bowl, while the rest ends up on the tray commingling with whatever other food I've purchased. The only theory that I have to explain the lack of accuracy is that the employees are doing a hook-shot with the ladle from ten feet away. In addition, if you go to the DeKalb location after 7PM and order a sandwich, you will get something that was prepped hours before. I ordered a Frontega Chicken sandwich and the bread was so stale and dried out that it actually cut the roof of my mouth. At the same meal, I had ordered a side of mac and cheese. Again, the mac and cheese was so dry, it might as well not have been cooked. I insisted that the manager taste the food that had just been served to me and asked how they could charge so much for something that they don't even care enough about to do well. I was given my money back, and that was the last time that I have gone there for food. Nowadays if I go to Panera (which only happens if somebody else wants to go), I stick to coffee. read more

Nate has amazing customer service. He helped make my crappy day a lot better by helping me with my order. The food is always on point therefore I don't mind driving 15 min from home! read more

This is a large Panera Bread store...the one I am used to going to when I lived In WI was much smaller so this was nice. I get the same thing usually which is the half soup half sandwich...tuna sandwich and broccoli and cheese soup....amazing!! Possibly a last meal on earth type of amazing for me lol. Anyway, this trip though was not a great customer service experience simply because my mother used her Panera points to redeem her FREE bakery items and they simple forgot to put them in our bag...and since we got our meal to go, didn't notice it was missing until we were home again. Other than that little frustration things were good. read more

Panera Bread - Green tea best ever!!! - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

I went in the store as the drive thru had many cars. One kid who was new by herself at the register. She asked my name for the order 3 times. She even repeated the correct name back. Went to get sandwich and two more kids working. The first girl said were really busy, what did you order. I told her. A very simple sanwich. Nearly 20 minutes later still mo sandwich. I asked someone could they help, a man who was a manager he just walked away from me. Then Amy another manager comes makes an order and keeps calling a name. Not my name. She does this three times. Finally she says what did you order. I tell her and she says why aren't you responding when I call your name. I told her she never called my name abd she starts yelling at me that it was in fact my order and thats my name. It wasn't. I told her learn your job. I don't know how someone screwed up and changed my name. Never again. This place use to be delightful and warm. Not since Amy the crab is on the scene. Forget it. read more

I'm somewhat of a semi-regular to various Paneras. The one in DeKalb being the closest is the one I've decided to review. I started hanging at Panera Bread mostly for the free WiFi and coffee but they do have some fairly decent eats in the way of pastries and bagels the Cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut spread being my weak spot on being able to resist. As for the main reason to venturing to Panera coffee and WiFi, I find the coffee to be an average cup of coffee but it doesn't market it self as a coffee place so I'm not expecting anything superb. The WiFi has always had a strong signal which is a big plus for me. I probably have one gripe and that is the lack of outlets to plug into. The one here in DeKalb as best I can tell has only two that are near a table. This is fairly common in most Panera's though there are some exception like the one in St Charles, but the bottom line is quite often in going to a Panera I can't find a table near an outlet, which results in me not staying or in anticipation of not finding a table with an outlet just forgo going to a Panera Bread. I truly wish Panera look at how they could look into improving this situation. Perhaps they have and because of fire or electrical codes can't. The out the door on Panera is a good spot for a bagel and a cup of coffee but if I'm looking to do one of my favorite things 'hanging out drinking coffee while doin my computin' it sadly has a short circuit. read more

The help needs help. Ask for Panera card showed her card ask me to put in phone number wrong phone number no smile like I really was putting her out I'm done read more

Order asiago bacon egg and cheese this morning looks like they put bacon bits on my sandwich not even one full slice of bacon very horrible service and lazy service. read more

How hard is it? It's soup and sandwich! I ordered a bowl of chicken noodle soup and tuscan grilled chicken sandwich. Does this picture look like chicken noodle soup? No, it's broccoli soup. I called and spoke to John. He apolagizes and said he could send me a 15% off voucher in the mail. Really? So for your mistake I have to come back and spend more money to try and make this right??? The soup was $6.19. That means I have to spend $41 and change to make up for this? I dont think so. I tell John do you think that's fair? He asks if I was close by. No, I'm home and I'm not driving back to exchange it for what I ordered but, you guys deliver so you can do that right? John says Oh, I thnk the driver left already. That's when I ask for the Manager. I was put on hold, 15 min later no one picks up. I hang up, call back and call fails. I use another phone to call back. Call fails. So basically, they turn the phones off. Nice. I just read of 67 Restaurants that are closing or down sizing. Panera Bread was on that list. They can start with this place. read more

Panera Bread - Sandwiches Near Me - Dekalb, Illinois

I went there for the first time I really liked this place . It was really fun having an apple after my salad. And you should also try the tuna sandwich and lemonade.:)) read more