Panera Bread

For a chain restaurant, they're good, the food is fresh, I had a chicken and nut sandwich the tomatoes were still crisp. It was over all a great place to get something to eat and good for you.

Customer service has definitely deteriorated since I was last in here. Self service stations have replaced humans. There is self serve ordering next to full service. Very confusing. Sometimes you can get served at the bakery counter and sometimes you can't. I was instructed to join the single line being served by a human. Not 5 minutes later people were getting their bakery orders processed by a person at the bakery counter. This needs to get straightened out. I enjoy going here, but today was not a pleasant experience.

Service is excellent, as is selection. Tried the 1/2 strawberry caprese salad, and was very disappointed. Greens very bitter, chicken nearly invisible, as were the strawberries. Go to 99 for this salad, and you will be more than satisfied.

We have been coming here for years, always on our way to and from Canada through Boston, way prior to Panera ever expanding into New Mexico where we live.

It used to always be bustling with patrons, clean, and with friendly staff. This time was definitely a stark contrast to that. Hopefully it's not like this everyday, but even though there was hardly anyone there, it was hard to find a clean table, and the staff was too busy to pay any attention to the customers. Granted, the help-yourself tablets encourage the staff to be hands-off, but at other Panera establishments that have adopted that, it's across the way from the cash registers and they are happy to let you choose whether to use the tablet or take your order for you. It seems like they are understaffed, overworked, and were just plain tired.

The food was still exactly what Panera always offers, even if they did make one mistake on one of our sides, that's typical and they are happy to fix it once you get their attention. I like to get the lobster roll on our drive up this time of year since they are generous with it and it's not finely chopped nor covered in too much dressing. Their bread bowls, sandwich bread, and baguette on the side is always on point.