I will preface the negatives by saying that the food was pretty much on par and what was expected…read more Tasty and fresh.
Staff - bad! Panera corporate...please send some trainers to this location and get better management. Who is running this place? Apparently no one. Horribly trained staff, maybe understaffed, no managers in sight, nobody keeping up with cleanup, no toilet paper.
Please understand, the toilet paper dispensers in this Panera hold 2 gigantic rolls of toilet paper. The kind that last a long long long time. The opening manager should always be checking the bathrooms before opening. If this is not being done, please get new managers. Clearly if you see that one side of your giant toilet paper roll dispenser is empty, you need to put a new one in the empty side so that when the side in use runs out, the guest has access to the brand new roll. If you have toilet paper dispensers like this in your store there is absolutely no reason a guest should ever be left without toilet paper. Don't respond to this post with the excuse that your delivery didn't come in. Send someone to the grocery store or convenience store and buy a pack of toilet paper and put some in each stall. Second bathroom issue - trash can overflowing! Not full....overflowing!
Back to the beginning. Only one cashier, long line. Finally, second cashier jumped on. I am very familiar with Panera and its menu and the way it operates. I know there always is a white binder that lists all ingredients and all allergens. We approached the cashier with a couple questions about ingredients in a salad we had never had before and we asked to see the binder. She acted like she didn't even hear us and just went on to read us the ingredients from the POS screen. One of the ingredients is Sofrito. We did not know what that was. We asked her what Sofrito is. She did not know. I asked her if I could see the binder again and she went over and got a paper menu and again read the ingredients, exactly what she had already read us from the POS. I said but what is Sofrito?? Again she said she did not know. I said, can you ask a manager because its an allergy issue. She said NO! She could not ask a manager because they were too busy. I said, you need to go ask a manager because this is an allergy issue and if you are not going to let me see the binder, which I had never encountered before, you better ask the manager. I am quite sure the manager does not want an allergy issue on their hands. So she went into the back - during a very busy time! Why wasn't the manager in the front of the house during such a busy time with trash cans overflowing, toilet paper empty and employees who have not passed their menu test?
She returned and still did not have an answer. What??!! The manager didn't know, or this cashier/employee is clueless. So we did what we should have done in the first place. We asked Google! FYI, simply put, its salsa!
After all this craziness, and ps not being charged for our drinks, because....you know...incompetence, our food came up and we realize she had never asked if we wanted chips, apple, or bread and both of our lunches came with bread. I had a sandwich and the last thing I wanted was another piece of bread!
We sat outside on the delightful patio. Plenty choices of shade or sun. There is a door out to the patio on the side of the restaurant where you pick up your food and get your drinks. And oh, by the way, that's the side of the restaurant where the bathroom is. But guess what? You can't come back in through that door. So if you would like a refill on your drink, or would like to use the bathroom, you are SOL! You have to walk all the way back around to the front door and then go all the way back to where you just were to use the bathroom and refill your drink.
So lunch was an adventure and we're ready to cleanup and leave. The area where you can leave your dishes and silverware was stacked high. Dishes were precariously perched. Clearly understaffed or management not making the rounds, touching tables, looking in the bathrooms, checking the outside trash cans, etc.
So will we return? Probably. It's convenient. It's predictable food. Do I recommend? If you are familiar with Panera and you don't have any questions or expect too much cleanliness then its a good stopping point between OC, MD and Baltimore or DC. In conclusion, Panera corporate, get some people out here right away to look at this location and please send some trainers out. Local Managers at this location, Training, training, training!!! Your cashiers need to know about the binder and absolutely need to know their menu items. If you are not giving a menu test to all of your employees, you need to rethink your training process. Also, you need to teach your team how to interact with guests and if they are unhappy at their jobs, at least put on a happy face for the guests. Good Luck!