This Panera is a very conveniently located off Rockside Road in Independence. It's within 3-5 minutes drive of the local hotel cluster. It's located in a plaza that former Melt used to call home. There are plenty of parking spots. It provides an average Panera experience. Location appears dated. The interior is not very clean. Efforts were underway (during morning coffee rush hour) to wash the front doors. Not very good timing, but at least there is ongoing cleaning. There were just a few guests dining in. Seating is available inside and outside (plenty of patio tables). Service wasn't too friendly. Employees uncomfortably stare at all guests as they select pastries or bagels. Two people in front of me had questions about pastries and weren't getting answers. Ordering is available at the counter or through fast lane kiosks. They are located to the left of the counter. They provide order and checkout via a tablet. Guests can watch their orders via "track your orders" tablet. Orders were up pretty quickly. My order: -Asiago Bagel Sausage Scrambled Egg - Not very good. Not flavorful. Sausage tastes like something out of frozen foods package. -Toasted Bagel and Cream Cheese - My bagel was over toasted and too dry. I generally like Asiago bagels at Panera but this one was worse than their usual It wasn't the worst experience but I wouldn't return to this Panera. My decision is based on their food quality and service. read more

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I ordered a pick two (salad and sandwich) and added a bowl of soup. The sandwich was very messy and the soup was totally watered down. Terrible to say the least. Never again. read more

This is an excellent Panera location, far superior to their Medina establishment where I refuse to visit anymore. My family found this establishment to be clean and the staff to be friendly. We had a large order, but they got everything correct, including our adjustments to a couple of the sandwiches. Orders were being taken exclusively by the customers using the digital menu. Personally, I don't find this to be an issue at all, it's the 21st Century! Plus, this allows additional staff to be in the back, preparing the food. Finally, their coffee was hot and delicious. We will definitely be back to this Panera when we are in the area. Thank you for a good lunch! read more

Tried to eat here at 5:00 (when they were open until 8). No counter ordering, you had to order at the kiosk. I tried to order mac and cheese for my daughter, it was sold out. Tried to order her a sandwich, it was sold out. Tried to order myself two different soups. Sold out. So I tracked down an employee to ask what they might have available. St first they said "I don't know, just go to the kiosk". When I said everything we tried to get was sold out they replied "yeah, we can basically only make three things because we are out of bread and most other things". I asked what they did here and he said "you have to order at the kiosk" How does a place with bread in their name run out of bread? And if that wasn't bad enough, the employee was rude and so unhelpful. Obviously we didn't eat here, but we won't be back to try again. read more

What ever happened to greeting with a smile. Can't happen if I now have to be my own cashier. I'm not happy that I can't walk into Panera and see a happy smiling face. Panera has now turned into Walmart. You have to self checkout at Walmart too. The service with a smile. It's gone. I pay so much money for the products at Panera bread. And now. I have to do half the work for them. Next thing you know. I'll be cooking my own food. For the record. I ordered a bagel. And they didn't even slice it. That's because the machine wasn't user friendly. And I didn't know I had to check the Alice and toasted box. Now that's something Panera should be embarrassed about. If you are going to use a machine. At least have a prompt pop up that I need to make an additional choice. I'm ashamed of the way Panera is now going to treat their customers. I for one am very unhappy. read more

Panera Bread - Soup Near Me - Independence, Ohio

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ALWAYS A HASSLE ORDERING ON LINE OR USING THE APP. OVERPRICED FOR SURE. When I am able to order the delivery is always early or on time. Food is ok. Like the fresh bread with my salad. I order the pecan braid which is good. Usually get a salad with extras. Noticed they have been getting skimpier on the greens no matter what type of salad I order. Today...I could not order on the website or the app...so going elsewhere. This happens at least twice a week. read more

As always the salads are very delicious and filling. I ordered a fruit cup this time also. The fruit had some skin still on it and was not ripe yet. It was still hard. read more

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This Panera is amazing! Great service, my order was correct! The dining room was clean! I will definitely be back to this location

I'll like to start off by saying my service was nice and quick and I got my food really fast. So this was my first time trying the broccoli and cheddar Bread Bowl, and this was probably my last time having it. The soup was good a 6/10. But the bread is what turned me off. The bread was weirdly hard. I say "weirdly" cuz it wasn't just hard like a rock. Some parts weren't hard but like idk it's really hard to explain. I like the soup by itself but some parts of the BB(bread bowl) made it taste slightly different, in a bad way. I just would have liked some softer bread that's all. If I was only judging off the food I would give the place a 2/5 starts, but because the person taking my order was nice and the food came quickly I gave it an extra start. read more

Deeply disappointed in Cost versus quality. 2 of us got the steak and cheese sandwich full and literally had no idea what we were eating other than bread and cheese. read more

I've eaten at many Panera Breads but not sure if I will again. I tried the breakfast wrap and it was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. A tiny bit of egg and bacon, lettuce(???) and a tiny slice of tomato on a weird crispy wrap. Never again. They have good coffee although I was only able to get a partial cup because it was empty. The other coffees were empty too. 8 am and they don't stay on top of this? read more

Took 30 minutes to get a little bit of food and then when I get home they are forgetting something so I had to go all the way back there and get the thing they were missing. read more

I was looking for a quick bite but wish I would have read the reviews before ordering. The workers are SUPER trashy. Two employees got into a screaming match cursing at each other right in front of me while I waited. Im not sure if they were serious or joking but with a dining room full of customers it's a pretty bad look. There were 3+ employees in the kitchen area. I'm still waiting for my food while writing this review and it's going in 20 minutes. On the plus side the place looks decently clean. Even if my food is decent, I'll never come to this location again. Worst restaurant experience I've had in a while. read more

Our order of a soup, 1/2 a sandwich and mac 'n cheese took nearly 20 minutes. When we ordered, there was one other order. Perhaps our order would've been served more quickly if each of the four employees working in food prep weren't scrolling through Tik Tok and texting. Why do non-management employees have cell phones in their pockets? read more

I always enjoy Panera but especially this one! I had great service and great food! I loved the salad I got at this location! It had so many toppings and was just perfect! Panera is always a great place to study as well! read more

Lunchtime was busy, but there were still plenty of tables to choose from. The line was long, but I ordered at the kiosks off to the left side of the registers and avoided the queue all together.The process was quick and self explanatory and was actually nicer, as you can see images of all the items as you review the menu. I ordered the Spicy Thai salad. I got the whole size and it was very large. Lots of chicken and just the right amount of vinaigrette dressing and peanut sauce on top. I personally didn't find the salad spicy, just well seasoned. I would order it again, but perhaps the half size and get something else along with it. The baguette I was served with it was soft and still warm. The restaurant overall could have used a walk through from a cleaning point of view. There was debris on the floor, tables, chairs - a staff member just needed to walk through and tidy things up from the lunch rush. read more

Panera Bread - Spicy Thai with Chicken - Whole size - Soup Near Me - Independence, Ohio

Ordered a full chicken frontaga sandwich last weekend. Paid for a full with extra chicken. Received a half with hardly any chicken. They offer a free sandwich but would not deliver. No dinner for me that night. Today we redeemed our replacement. Got a full sandwich BUT carbon copy of last all bread, tomato and onion. Paid for extra chicken but only got a thin spread of it in thick bread. So sad that we can't get our moneys worth anymore. Customer service doesn't care about paying customers anymore. Stopped going to chipotle in Independence for same reason. We will no longer go to Panera in Independence Ohio as well. No one wants to work anymore and it shows! read more

We are Panera coffee club members. On a recent trip to the Independence area, we stopped by this Panera to use our coffee club privileges while out of town. We ordered on the app, and in addition to coffees I also ordered a sandwich for our daughter, and a bagel and cream cheese for myself. In my order, I marked for the bagel to be sliced and toasted, with double cream cheese. We ordered at 12:30pm on the app, yes during the busy lunch rush, but the app indicate the order wouldn't be ready until 1:10pm. A 40-minute wait for a fast-casual restaurant is excessive. We waited outside, where there are several tables, and luckily many in the shade since it was a very hot day. When my order was ready, my bagel was not toasted, nor was the cream cheese put on the bagel, nor was there double. :-( Our daughter's Mediterranean veggie sandwich was totally soggy, which made me think the sandwich was sitting behind the counter much longer than it needed to be. My husband's app order was just his iced coffee. I waited for his cup to come out to the pick-up area, and it never did. When I asked a busy staffer, she said to just grab a cup and make it myself. Making it myself was fine, but no indication that I was supposed to just grab a cup and help myself was not good customer service. Compared to our excellent Panera at home in Williamsville NY, this particular Panera was subpar. The wait time was excessive, my simple order was wrong and shortchanged me, and the process for coffee club members was unclear. read more

Panera Bread - Panera coffee club stop in Ohio!! - Soup Near Me - Independence, Ohio

Check your mobile order! I was with a friend when she ordered two bowls of French onion soup, some pastry, and a piece of ciabatta bread to split. The food was good but we got no bread and no croutons for the soup.. the place didn't seem particularly crowded or busy, they just didn't fill the order properly, read more

If I could give a negative star I would. I was there around 4:00 on July 31st. I ordered the Bacon Turkey Bravo Sandwich and asked if I could have it on ciabatta. When I ordered the sandwich, the girl was flanked with 2 guys on each side. They were teasing here..flirting....nothing too bad I thought. They were HS kids just flirting. As I was waiting for my sandwich a bunch of 5 employees started laughing and I saw them drop my sandwich on the ground by accident. It was wrapped up. Not gonna make a big scene I thought. They were laughing and I laughed as I got it. I went back to my car and opened the sandwich and the sandwich was turkey on the Panera baguette with some mayo. That was it. I haven't been to Panera to a while so I thought nothing of it. I went to the Seven Hills Panera a week later and ordered the same thing and I got bacon, turkey, some tomato mayo paste, lettuce, and tomato. A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SANDWICH! It was the correct sandwich! I paid $11 for a baguette with turkey and a little bit of mayo. It wasn't even the right sandwich or ingredients! Plus it was dropped on the floor and everyone was laughing about it!! This was the last time I ordered at the Independence Panera. I've been going to the Seven Hills locations since. And let me just say...I get HS kids goofing off..trying to flirt...but between dropping the sandwich on the ground and not even getting the ingredients right?! Truth be told...if they even got the ingredients right on the sandwich when they dropped it I wouldn't have wrote this review. The people working there didn't care less about doing a good job. There was a manager there, but she looked their age and she witnessed this as she was sitting in her chair in the back of the ordering area. It didn't seem like she cared at all, so I didn't bother to call and complain. I don't want anyone to lose their jobs, especially HS kids who are just flirting and goofing off, but I would like the manager to address this with their workers for future customers. I will not be coming back so if they don't address it, it's fine by me, but I hope for future customers at this store that they have a good experience. read more

Gosh, this Panera had some pretty big issues when I came here recently with another individual. For whatever reason, the register display told us to use the kiosks, and then after ordering, the customer service rep took orders at the register -- very confusing. 30 minutes later, our food was cold and not ready. We didn't even hear our name called, hence, the reason why Paneras have the alert devices. Not sure why they don't enforce using them here. I had a simple bagel that was supposed to be sliced and toasted -- never was. I told them to explicitly do so, which they thankfully did. The person I was with had an egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich, and it came out cold and they wouldn't heat it up for some reason. It was such a disappointment. While I've had bad experiences before with Panera, this one is up there. I think unfortunately staffing and lack of training is what's killing service these days. read more

Ordered to go and my sandwich was completely burnt. Got home and was quite upset. read more

Panera Bread - Burnt chicken frontega sandwich - Soup Near Me - Independence, Ohio

Asked for two sauce with my order and instead of getting one they said "tell him we out" then as i was leaving they called me a lil racist slur. Panera also poorly made my food. read more

This was one of the worst Panera Breads I've had. I ordered a Greek salad with chicken. All of the lettuce was practically white and the tomatoes seemed like they had been frozen or at least stored already cut up over night. The soup was fine, but really how hard is it to reheat pre-made soup. At least they got my order correct. The only great part of this Panera Bread was the lovely lady who took my order. My receipt said her name was Susan and she was lovely with me and all the customers I saw her wait on ahead of me. read more

Got a carry out yesterday of the tomato basil bread. For $5.79 it was a bargain. There were 6 of us for dinner and everyone loved it and the loaf was so big guests took some home. We got it sliced thick. That was a wise choice. I also got a blueberry muffin for my granddaughters first day of school treat, but she couldn't even eat the whole muffin. Good food. The two employees that waited on me Ramir and another young man were so helpful and so so polite thank you for everything. I hope you had a good day. read more

I guess good help is hard to find because when given my change back it was a penny short and the lady didn't even blink and I knowing that she was short I'm giving them my change. Stealing the stealing. read more

It would seem that every Panera lately is terrible. There is zero urgency to help or provide an order. Waiting more than 45 minutes for a salad is something I could have done at a full fledged restaurant. I think I'm done with Panera after today. read more

Very disappointed with this Panera! Ordered a Bacon Turkey Bravo whole sandwich. No Bacon, 1 slice of Turkey. ugh Also ordered a Chicken Chipotle Whole sandwich - a little piece of chicken scrap. Onion soup was awful. Chicken noodle soup was ok. The desserts were good thank goodness. I do not recommend this Panera. read more

The place is filthy. Been here for an hour, no one has clean any of the tables, I cleaned my table. There are no napkins in the dispensers. This is a COVID breeding ground. Go to the Panera in Seven Hills, it is much cleaner!!! read more

One of the worst locations I've been to, service is slow, workers don't care took 20 minutes for a you pick two when no one else was there

After I ordered at the kiosk I waited 20 minutes on the bench finally I hear a young lady say to a young man did you put the broccoli Mac in? He had not guess it was a miscommunication ok no problem. I finally got my food albeit near 30 minutes after the order was placed. Grabbed the bag and asked the young man behind the counter do I have Ceasar dressing on or with my chicken Ceasar salad he said yes would you like extra. To which I replied no if it's in the bag I am good. Guess what when I got to my hotel room I had dry lettuce and chicken and croutons not a drop of dressing. I called they said if it's convenient I could stop by and they could give me a Ceasar dressing. Guess what I just worked a 12 hour shift what would be convenient is if you would pay attention to your job and provide dressing with the salad 16 dollars for a salad and a broccoli Mac and I get no dressing? I really should have went to outback and got a steak won't make that mistake again. read more

Terrible- Went in on a Saturday afternoon around 1. Line was out the door. Staff was too busy talking and laughing to care. Manager didn't care either- she walked past the growing line many of times instead of jumping on the register herself or assigning one more staff member. What's worse is I decided to give this place another shot the next week- when on a Tuesday morning. My order was messed up. Salad was soggy and almost spoiled. Won't be back! read more

hello yelp reviewers! i'm a fellow worker at panera. i've read most of all the reviews and i have a couple of things to say. one this is that you will be treated the way you treat others. as someone who has to deal with people at the counter please be respectful and be patient. if we don't come right away or don't see you just say hello loud enough so we can hear. the independence location is great over all. the cleanness also depends on you guys too! that means please put your dishes in the 3 designated areas by the big trash cans in the dish bin; also please don't leave trash everywhere like napkins and food we aren't a restaurant so servers aren't there to clean up after you. another thing is we can be short staffed so yes you might have to use the kiosk if you don't feel like waiting but that doesn't mean you guys get to complain to us that you put your own food in wrong and you don't know how to use it, i believe it's fairly simple and easy to navigate if you can read. even so it has pictures so anyone can use it. speaking of experience i wish there was a rating for customers lol i love my regulars and anyone who is kind and in a great mood definitely makes work way better! abut back to explaining I seen some comments saying about wait time! one great example is a couple of weeks ago when power went out and our power was still on we got so many people and lots of orders to the point the screens were backed up for an hour. it was horrible and stressful but what make it worse were the grown adults acting out and throwing a fit. we did as best as we could to help everyone as best as we could at that moment but everyone yelling and complaining at us was so exhausting. it's hard to keep a smile and be polite when people keep coming at you like it's your fault. we are humans with emotions too. we aren't robots so instead taking anger out on us ask politely for help and you are 100% are going to have a better experience because you will be treating a human with respect and kindness. i do recommend coming to my panera in independence on rockside road but come in with a good attitude and you will get great service. remember you receive what you put out. have a great day everyone! read more

Perfectly fine one of these Paneras, but it provides a contrast between the ordering system prevalent where I live and the one here. This is basically wait at the counter (the buzzer system seems superfluous) while at my "home" Panera, you get a beeper that you put on your table and they bring your order out to you when it's ready. The latter makes for a far more relaxing experience, even if they still expect you to bus yourselves (that's a one-S bus, as in clear your dishes away). And, I think that's worth a difference of a star. read more

Awesome Panera. They have the updated self ordering stations to allow you to skip the line if you want to order on your own. Since I am a regular at Panera it can be annoying to wait behind those who have to ponder their options forever. These side stations have their full menu of Food and drinks so you can quickly pick what you want and grab your own pager too! read more

it's a panera... very busy and somewhat loud but again, it's Panera... green smoothie is definitely something i'd recommend anyday! it's not so thick i can't drink it, but it is thicker than juice (perfect smoothie texture!) any other food, it's a Panera lol, you get the quality and speed that you come to expect from the chain! read more

Moody af staff. Always have an attitude, never get the food right. Oh, and they like to argue when you ask for the correct order. Keep checking the receipt guys, you still made it wrong. read more

I love Panera. Being in town for work I decided to order with mobile pick up to have a familiar and reliable meal. This didn't work out quite as planned. When I entered the restaurant I noticed a weird sort of urine like smell. It didn't smell like a Panera at all! I had ordered the new tomato grilled cheese sandwich. When I opened the box I saw they forgot to put the Tomato on the sandwich and they also did not grill the cheese long enough so it remained in its original shredded condition not melted. It was actually quite gross and I could barely eat it. No time to return or have it made again, but I certainly would not recommend this location based on my experience. read more

Hmm. Very interesting Panera. A brand-spankin' new, clean, and spacious Panera with a large parking lot. This location has the nicest people working here! I seriously feel like they might be robots. They open the door for you, smile when you walk in, feed you free samples, clear your tray, ask you how everything is, and ask if they can bring you anything. Strange. Very kind, but almost annoying. Sometimes I just wanna enjoy my soup in a bread bowl in peace, you know? Another "are they robots?" moment was when the woman taking my order didn't know what wi-fi was when I asked about it. And she was, like, 35, not 85. Wi-fi has become a term so ingrained in our lives that I actually had to think for a minute and decide how to rephrase it (which I should admittedly be embarrassed about). After saying wi-fi twice, i was like, "Uhh...you know...computers? Free internet?" and then she got it. Anyway, great soups, breads, and the like, but you knew that. It's a good new space on Rockside that I'll probably frequent a few times until DiBella's opens up in the same plaza. (Sorry, but you know how I feel about my DiBella's!) read more

Good food. Nice selection of sandwiches, salad, drinks and bakery. Fast lunchtime service. But who doesn't already know what Panera's is like!? read more