Firstly, Let me clarify that I enjoy Panera Bread everywhere I go (I travel for a living) but Hickory Panera Bread honestly has the worst service & presentation in the history of any place I have ever been to eat. Walking in through the front door, the first thing I've noticed is how there is garbage and bits of scraps of paper everywhere you look, crumbs and food on the floor. Along with that, there is a lingering smell of urine in the air. It does not matter where you walk in that building. It smells like your stereotypical, dirty gas station restroom. As soon as I greet the person taking my order I was presented with a horrible greet. Now keep in mind that I have not visited a Panera in 3 years. I continue to tell her that I haven't been to a panera in a while so she will have to give me a little time to think about what I want. -no answer- I quickly think about how much easier it would be for me to just customize a simple avocado sandwich. Basically throughout the entire order, it seemed like what was suppose to be a simple avocado sandwich became a hassle. "We're out of sourdough bread" "we don't have that cheese" All I wanted was sliced bread, lettuce, avocado & cheese. Lastly when she asks what do I want to drink, out of curiosity I asked if they carry any matcha drinks. She just blankly stared at me and raised her eyebrow and said nothing. As if what i just said was in a total different language. I stared back at her and felt disrespected. I've had enough of her attitude at this point. I basically just asked her to give me a small green tea juice and call it a day. Lastly, as soon as my order was ready she decided it would be a great idea to yell across the room (there was only me and another customer waiting for our food) " hey, your food is ready" I didn't say a word, I got up grabbed my food and went to eat outside. I am truly disappointed in the service and presentation of this place. It blows my mind how they treat their customers. If I could give this a negative number I would!!! read more

HORRIBLE SERVICE!!!! Came in for the first cold weekend of the year with my family because I love Panera's broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl. When I came to order my meal I was told that the bread bowls were sold out. Okay, I compromised and just ordered a bowl of the soup. Paid and given a table tracker. After sitting for a while and waiting for my food, my name was called to the pick up window. What was the point of the table tracker if I had to get up and pick up my food? I can't answer that question. When I got to the window my plate and the rest of my family's food was not finished being put together. I had to stand there and wait again. They then told me that the broccoli cheddar soup was sold out. I was forced to take either squash soup or chicken noodle soup. Both i didn't want. I feel like I was robbed of my money because I already paid and then didn't get anything I ordered. It was also a Sunday and the manager wasn't there. They never gave anything extra as a consolation for my horribly wrong order. These girls just looked at me with a blank stare. NEVER EVER AGAIN will I go back to this store. I can get better service anywhere else. There are so many other restaurants around this Panera Bread store which are more deserving of my hard earned money. read more

usually have a good experience with Panera bread but the last time I visited the one in Charlotte near S. Tryon Rd., my order was not ready despite 15 to 20 minutes prior phone call - Put bacon in it instead of sausage (breakfast sandwich ) and had to ask For a cup for my coffee. Guess it was just one of those days for the employees at that particular spot. Food was good. Coffee also good. Will continue to reach out to others in North Carolina and wherever else I travel. read more

No bread from a restaurant that makes bread. Wait staff was terrible and unfriendly. French onion soup with no cheese or bread. Save yourself the time and money. read more

Just a big disappointment overall. Placed the order online.....for curbside and followed the instructions listed which did not work of course. When my husband went in they didn't have the order. When he brought it home I wondered what in the world happened between what is shown on their menu and what I received. It was the absolute most sad looking thrown together sandwich I've ever seen. There may have been an ounce of turkey on the sandwich, two small pieces of cheese, two small pieces of bacon and a skinny slice of avocado. For 12.00 this was a joke. Needless to say I will not do that again. read more

I work close by and go there for lunch quite often. It's already second time in 3 months when I got Chicken Noodle that have seeing better days. I asked manager - what's going on and got a wounderful response - This is impossible! We serve only good food at the proper temperature. I guess following their logic - if you warm up sour soup - it automatically becomes fresh again. Very dissapointing customer service. Probably will start going to Atlanta Bread that is close by, hope they don't cook soup ahead for the whole week. read more

What an awful example of Panera! Dirty tables, equally dirty stations, and crappy service. There were only two other people in this whole place, and literally every table was filthy. When I asked for whole egg, I was given the choice of overb easy or scrambled. I asked for over medium: met with BLANK stare and the question was repeated. Over easy or scrambled. Weird. No worries about coming back here... read more

Management and the proprietor have accomplished their goal of complete incompetence. Wednesday at noon (you know when you would expect to be busy), there was one cashier with 15 people in line. Yes, I counted. Two weeks ago my wife and I came in for dinner. They were out of bread. You read that correctly. Penera BREAD was out of bread! How could I leave out the fact that it's in the worst location in Hickory. It's literally only convenient for people going one direction on HWY 70. Please go out of business and maybe they'll put something better here. I'll continue to go to Atlanta Bread. read more

Today I decided to dine in and I most likely won't be back, there was one other customer in the restaurant and every single table was dirty. There was no reason for it because they were not busy at all. They need to get this issue fixed. read more

Shalyla was so pleasant!! I was having a pretty bad day and she put an immediate smile on my face. It took a while to get our food out but she made it a good experience. read more

This is the worst service I have ever had with any restaurant. The waiting time is awful. Don't go through the drive through unless you have over 30 min to wait. The food is not good, my order has been wrong a few times. Most of the staff don't seem to care and management for sure doesn't. I will not go back to this Panera ever again. read more

This location refused to serve us in the drive thru because we didn't have a mask to wear in the car. This is ridiculous and this chain has lost a lifetime customer. read more

This is my first time at this location. I usually love panera bread in general, and the food and service here did not disappoint... But... I was really looking forward to the "homey" café style atmosphere that is the standard at every other location I've visited. This place was not cozy at all. It was stark, open, and didn't even have the classic fireplace! The horror!! I never thought I'd see the day I called a place "too open" but here it is. I'm just disappointed I don't get to experience the "warm hug" feeling of slipping into an armchair and getting some work done after my early lunch. I guess I'll have to investigate the other location in town.. read more

Panera Bread - So open and empty... - Salad Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

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I had been going to Panera several times a week for a few months, however I had dined in almost every single time. Of all the times I dined in, my order was wrong only once or twice (but I never received the free dessert that is promised on the bottom of the receipts for the inconvenience of incorrect orders). Also, the employees at this location never informed me about the Panera Bread card and rewards system until I had already been eating there for several months, so I did feel quite a bit cheated in this sense as I had already eaten there so many times and missed out on many rewards. Most of the desserts are quite tasty, however some of them it is quite apparent that they were not fresh and had been sitting there for several days as the bottom of my chocolate brownie was completely hard (I had kept in in my cabinet at home and tasted it a week later, and it was literally still just as hard -- which made me wonder exactly how long ago it had been made). Also, after eating there for so many times, it also became apparent when the baguettes they made were fresh or not. My hubby and I would eat at the location at the same time of day each time we went, but we would notice the baguettes would get a little harder and taste a little less fresh each time we went but after about the third day, the bread would taste fresh again. However after the experience I had the last time at this location, I am refusing to ever eat here again. My hubby and I ordered two of what was called the "Italian Combo" sandwich meal but we ask for one of the sandwiches to come without any condiments & no tomato and no onion (this was one of the few times we ordered our food to go). I glanced in the bag before we left and saw that there were two sandwiches and the soup and bread, so we headed home. Upon unwrapping the sandwiches when we arrive home, we discover that both of our orders are wrong -- the sandwiches are completely wrong and both of them have all of the condiments and veggies. We go back to the store and talk to the manager (who was a shorter asian lady) and she looks at our order and explains that the menu had just changed in the last couple days and that the old "italian combo" sandwich has now been switched to the "Italian" sandwich -- which how am I supposed to know when I go there all the time and always order the same thing (so I don't even look at the menu anymore); why didn't the girl taking my order notify me that the sandwich I ordered had completely changed? Seems like much more training is needed here -- and the manager tells us we can order new sandwiches and tells us we can keep those other sandwiches (that we didn't even want and we did taste and we didn't like the new recipes). We order new sandwiches and they put it in a new bag for us (however they don't give us new soup or baguette so I ended up having to warm those up when I returned home). Thank goodness the guy cashier told us to check our actual sandwich on the way out the second time because otherwise we would have had to make a third trip back here. When we opened the bag, we see that they had prepared my hubbies sandwich but didn't prepare mine at all, so we had to wait another ten minutes for them to make mine. I'm pretty upset at this point, however we're offered no compensation and the manager never told us sorry and never gave us the free pastry item that customers are supposed to get when their order is wrong. The only apology that we received that evening was from the male cashier that had suggested we double check our order again on the way out. All in all, we ended up spending over an hour on what was supposed to be a quick to go order, I don't feel like the employees here care at all about what they're doing or the experiences that their customers have here, especially the managers who should care the most. I went from going to this establishment several times a week to never again due to the last experience I had here being so extremely terrible. It has been very seldom that I feel so frustrated and upset over an experience I have with a professional business and I can say hands down that this was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in trying to grab a bite to eat. :( :( :( read more

Panera Bread - This was their old "italian combo" sandwich, but I had to photograph this due to the piece of steak on this sandwich being such a joke. :( - Salad Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

OK. Just to be sure, this review is for the Panera on Rt. 70 in Hickory, NOT the one on 2nd Street. I must be a glutton for punishment, but the truth is that I've only started going to the Rt. 70 Panera because of the virus and relative safety of the drive thru. But no more, even though today I was offered a free sandwich from the manager, it's not worth it. The last four, perhaps five times I went through this drive thru my meal was wrong. Missed chips or apple, wrong ingredients in the sandwich or salad, wrong dressing, etc. Furthermore, the last salad tasted old, with limp lettuce, and few pieces of chicken. Today there was no dressing (horseradish) and no picked onions on a steak sandwich. This was so dry it was inedible, but I was now over 5 miles down the road before I opened the bag. I called and the manager said they were out of onions. I asked why she didn't tell me this when I ordered? She apologized and told me to come back "whenever" and call her in advance and she'd take care of it. This store was not busy. This was well after lunch rush. There were no others in line. I can't figure out how they can get it so wrong so often. Do they then fire staff and train new ones who never get up to speed. This is a manager/training issue in my opinion, and it is mind boggling that this restaurant is so poorly run. The preceding reviews back me up on this. So they have lost another customer, but I will continue to go to the one on 2nd Street for good service, polite staff, and a well-run, clean, delicious and properly prepared dining experience. And for the record, I've tried the one is Morganton, and it's no better than the Rt. 70 one. read more

This was the worst Panera I've ever been to. Drive through was open but they would not serve us there. Went inside to wait five minutes to be told they were out of bagels (with attitude). Would never recommend wasting your time here. read more

Absolutely the worst Manger ever! I drive 20 mins to get food and my whole order was wrong. $46.00 order from the drive-through and I get home with tomatoes and avocado one my salad after I plainly said none and no bacon on Mac and Cheese with bacon. Worst part is everyone else could settle for not what we paid for but I'm allergic to tomatoes so I couldn't eat. Them when I called the manger to inform him, he argued with me for 10 mins! I wasn't calling for a refund I was just calling to let them know nothing on my order was correct. Rude! Loud! Disrespectful! Manger! read more

Very disappointed. Placed an order through Doordash. When it arrived part of our order was missing. Called the store and was offered nothing to fix the problem. We won't be ordering from this store again. read more

So disappointed My family stopped at this Panera Bread while traveling. We were so excited to get a good healthy lunch after being on the road where every exit was one fast food stop after another. But unfortunately the experience was less than desirable... it left me wishing I had gone toChick-fil-a. The cashier persuaded my 12 year old to add a drink and bakery item to her order... I let it slide. Then my salad had been placed in our to go bag on its side and spilled half out to the bottom of the bag. I took it back in they replaced it but made it incorrectly. They also gave my daughter a cup size of soup and we paid for a bowl. But the worst was halfway through eating the salad that I had just spent 5 minutes picking out the pickled onions (that I did not order) .... I found a long black hair (I'm blonde btw) So disappointed... what a bad way to start our thanksgiving weekend read more

Clean restaurant and bathrooms. Order for five with several modifications was perfect. Friendly staff. Large outdoor patio. Plus, very easy highway access. read more

this place sucks i ordered the turkey avocado but with no avocado (i'm allergic) or tomato. when i get home to eat it it's on regular sandwich bread that you buy from the store and there was avocado and tomato. my whole meal was ruined. read more

Love this location! Always fresh and ready to go! Yes, sometimes it may take a few minutes to get food, but have never been disappointed.

The tables that were available were very dirty. I say that because COVID created limited seating. Coffee area was dirty and the coffee was cold. They heated it in the microwave. Food was good. read more

We normally look for local for breakfast, but it turns out the entire city of Hickory goes out late to eat breakfast on Saturday. By 10:30 we had been to four places, all packed, long waits. So we saw this, we had always liked Panera elsewhere, so we stopped. Thank God. There is something to be said for a quality chain. I would give Panera a four on food, but it gets downgraded to three because it's such a storefront and uncozy. read more

No more Cinnamon Crunch Bagels today! They have dough, but won't make anymore because they won't have any for tomorrow. Nice dining room and atmosphere. Thanks for the 3 free bagels! read more

Panera Bread - Salad Near Me - Hickory, North Carolina

Extremely slow. Stopped by for lunch while traveling. Mistake. Not busy but going on 20 minutes waiting for a salad. Others waiting also. Appears they give priority to drive through. read more

One of their cleanest and friendliest restaurant they have, very nice outside dining area could use a few more trees and bushes. If you like Panera Bread this is the place to go! read more

Absolutely horrendous service!! Do not eat here. We waited a half hour at the drive through. Went right around front to run in and use the restroom as soon as we finally got food and they locked the door in my face!!! And gave us the wrong sandwich or used some pretty ridiculous substitutions! What a horrible place. read more

The food is absolutely Terrible! We have a few panera breads and a Jason's Deli. I will never go back to this location the food was terrible and undercooked.I he salad was awful, lettuce was brown and the apples were brown. read more

Im so beyond dissatisfied, we pulled up to the drive through and saw the lady was not wearing gloves. Then we got our food, my daughter got a lemonade and she told me it tasted a lot vinegary and it was just weird, she also said it was more opaque than the lemonade at the Panera near where we live. Then I start to eat my soufflé it's pretty good it's a little sweet not much eggs. And then me and my daughter shared cookie that cookie is hard as a rock as a rock it is so hard and it's difficult for us to bite into and split apart I am so very dissatisfied. read more

The sheer level of incompetence. Immaturity. Idiocy. Shortsightedness. Disorganization. Of this JOKE of a restaurant is simply astounding. Placed a larger order for pickup, went to pick it up after the hour wait time, they completely ignored the order. Did not call to verify, did not call to cancel, did not make any attempt whatsoever to rectify the situation. Simply shrugged. Great! Love it! Can't wait for the place to close! read more

Had the Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad and I absolutely loved it! Loved it so much, I can eat it everyday! The fresh fruit and tender chicken drizzled with their tasty dressing really hits the spot for me! I washed it down with an Iced Green Tea drink, which happens to be my all time favorite and it has become the only choice of beverage for me at Panera Bread! My sister had the Fuji Apple Salad, and she enjoyed it thoroughly! I like the location, not surrounded by everything, kind of off to the side away from other eateries. Spacious dining area inside, some seating outside. I gave four stars because I am sick and tired of walking into any dining establishment and having to wipe the tables and chairs myself! Come on management.......really?! read more

All I got was some kind of berry smoothie. I think it was pomegranate and blueberry. It was ok. Only one cashier with people behind me so I felt rushed to order. read more

Worst one I have ever been to and register person was rude up sale my kids. A 40 dollar lunch that was poorly prepared!

Terrible service, sloppy sandwich making and really out of character for span era store. Steer clear!!!!!

My husband and I stopped in for a muffin. Flies were on the pastries. The girl working behind the counter saw them and didn't seem to care, even after I commented. We lost our appetite and left. Won't be back. read more

I'm a Panera Bread fan and I've used my Panera card at multiple ones all over the state. This by far is the worst. I only have experience with drive-thru because it's convenient on my way home from work. However every single time (3x) my order is messed up. I either get a cup of soup instead of a bowl, chips instead of baguette and today was chicken sandwich instead of chicken salad. It's ridiculous! I'd rather drive out of my way to have better service. Did I mention I get the same thing each time but get charged differently than the Panera on the other side of town? This Panera needs to step it up or close it down. read more

Very expensive and not much to justify the price. Had a cheddar and prime rib sandwich that was very difficult to chew. Would not recommend it. read more

Nothing special here except it was next door to the Holiday Inn Express where we were staying. Some OK pastries and Danishes. Pretty typical for any similar type of bread chain joint. It's clean and the staff are friendly. Great in a pinch. So so coffee drinks. read more

This is why they call it Panera Bread because you can't mess up bread. My bowl of Mac and cheese was pitiful. It was completely horrid. At this point I can't believe they're still in business. Along with there was a hair in my friends salad. Honesty I hope they go out of business I can make my own salads at the rate of their prices. read more