Overrated
Overpriced
Underwhelming
Inefficient
So many words to describe my first and last experience with the new Panera bread..at least the one that just opened. People might say oh give them a break, they just opened up...why? This is a large commercial chain with systems in place already. Would you give a newly opened McDonald's a break if they gave you a bad quality Big Mac after a 1 HOUR wait? Of course not ...
So I went during a busy lunch hour....the place was slammed. The parking is terrible to begin with. You can order at the line, drive thru, on their app, or a kiosk at the entrance. I ordered at the kiosk. I received my order 1 hour later. Seriously...1 hour for a soup and a sandwich?
Let's get this clear...where is the inefficiency coming from? Would you be upset waiting an hour for a salad? Definitely...all the ingredients are already prepared. It's only matter of assembly. They serve cold sandwiches...they only need assembly. They serve soups, which are already cooked/heated. They serve pastries...which are already baked. I could only imagine the items that take the longest are the paninis since they require toasting...but that's it. So someone explain to me the 1 hour wait..
That was first. Their slogan of "waiting is the hardest part" is a joke. I can live with the 1 hour wait IF...the sandwich and soup were worth it. Well check the pic of my sandwich. It was almost falling apart inside the bag. Do they not know how to wrap a sandwich? Subway does better wraps. The bread was hard....the cuts were semi bland. The dressing on the sandwich was barely distinguishable and didn't add any pop or flavor. It only made the bread a little wet...that was it. The bread was so hard that as you bit down into the sandwich, the fillings would just slide out. Such a waste of a sandwich...and more so of my time. 1 hour for this?
On to the soup...I love tomato basil soup, with bread bowls. They charge $9 for this bread bowl... I recommend going to BJs and eating theirs for $11, or at least Panera should go there to see what it should be. One, the soup didn't taste freshly made...maybe just heated? Subway gives you about the same amount for about half the price. The bread was incredibly dense. BJs gives you the top nicely toasted with garlic butter, and it's a delight to dip it into the soup when poured in. This one...I pulled out a ball of bread which had no appeal. I know it's a bread bowl...but it felt like I was just eating soup out of a bowl, made from bread. Other bread bowls I've, you can scoop around inside and dig out morsels or bread drenched in the soup...and it's delicious. Not this one....barely anything to scoop out and the bread itself was incredibly hard to break apart and eat. It felt like it had a shell around the bread...I didn't eat any of the bread bowl itself.
Honestly, even if I had received my order, the food itself was not worth the price, much less the time that I spent waiting for it.
On the bright side...Jersey Mike's is opening right next to it if you want to get a worthwhile sandwich worth your time and money. read more
