If I could give this location of Panera Bread a rating of no stars, I would. Before I start, I would like to mention that the only person who was helpful in all of this was the man working the cashier named Michael. He did everything in his power to make things right while his manager Blair sat at the kitchen window, very much aware of the problem, but not even doing as much as making a visit out to talk to us until Michael had already handled the situation.
I ordered after a couple, but right before my mother and sister who were on a separate ticket. All of us ordered around 8:15 pm, 45 minutes before the location was supposed to close. In the time of the following events, I did not observe anyone else entering the establishment. I will follow the order of events individually based on the customer, in the order in which orders were placed.
To start with the couple who ordered before me, they had been waiting for about twenty minutes before noticing that we had not received our food yet either and mentioning the wait to us. They waited about ten more minutes after this before bringing it to the attention of Michael who promptly rushed into the kitchen to ask about the order. He was told that "they were working on it" and passed on the message. Fifteen more minutes passed, and Michael had noticed that they still had not gotten their food, rushing again back into the kitchen to figure out the problem and being told to pass on the same message, apologizing to the couple that it was taking so long. After an hour of the couple waiting (fifteen minutes after the location was supposed to have closed), Michael essentially asked the kitchen to see the order, to which he was told that they had lost the order. Michael came back out to pass on the bad news, asking if they had the receipt so that he could ensure that it was corrected. At the same time, he offered the couple each a free pastry as the only way he could help accommodate the wait. At 9:30 pm, the kitchen still had not gotten them their food or even made progress on it, even after Michael bringing them the receipt to the order. I would like to mention that during this hour and fifteen minutes, I observed the shift manager Blair on her phone, and walking around the store. However, she was apparently too busy to talk to this couple. The only time that she talked to the couple was when they asked for a refund of their ticket at 9:30 pm, to which she apologized claiming that she was trying to coordinate in the kitchen and gave them their refund. Everything aside from the refund itself was in the helpful hands of Michael who did absolutely everything that he could to make things right but couldn't because the kitchen never made their food.
Now for the chain of events relating to my own order. I ordered a specialty coffee and a bowl of soup. About ten minutes after the couple addressed us, which is around thirty minutes after I ordered, the kitchen finally get my drink out to me. I would like to note that at this point, my food was still nowhere to be found. It was then that I approached Michael about my own meal. I too received the same response from the kitchen as the couple had, and an apology from Michael. Fifteen minutes later my food had still not arrived, prompting me to bring it back to Michaels attention. He then asked me what my order was exactly and went to the kitchen asking them to make it then and there. The kitchen had claimed to have lost my order after already getting my drink out to me a full fifteen minutes before this. Regardless, I have Michael to thank for getting me my food. He also offered me a free pastry as the only way that his shift manager Blair would allow him to accommodate for the wait. I would like to note that Blair did not approach me until as I was finishing my food around 9:20 pm. By this time, Michael had handled the situation. Her excuse to me was that she was coordinating in the kitchen because they did not expect to be that busy. As I mentioned earlier, I did not see anyone else enter the establishment after I had ordered, and when I arrived there were only two vehicles waiting in the drive-through.
Finally, for my mother and sisters order. My mother and sister, who placed their order last out of the three orders, waited a full forty minutes before they got their food, still getting their food before both the couple and myself. When their order arrived, my sister's salad had no dressing on it, though it was ordered with dressing, and she did not receive her drink. She also brought this to the attention of Michael who promptly brought her a container of dressing and told the kitchen about the missing drink. He then apologized to my sister for the mistakes. After twenty more minutes had passed, sometime around 9:15 pm, My sister had still not received her drink from the kitchen and informed Michael, who handled the situation. In this time my mother and sister were never approached by the shift manager Blair. read more