Panera Bread

Many of the people who take your order are damn rude, look disinterested, bored, and robotic. Says something about the management when they hire person after person like this. Not all, but so many like this. I’m done going to the location.
One worker who took our order was Samantha in December 2015. She was, like I mentioned above, robotic, unfriendly. She looked like she hated working there. Then leave!
And another worker, Samantha, was on her phone. Really?!! This is work!
In addition, the amount of meat Panera staff give you is a joke.
However, they are receptive to when you go back and ask for extra.
Do better, Panera in Glenmont!

Never gonna give you up Pannera Bread!!! Awesome and consistent as usual! Together Forever!

Nice location and good service.

I generally like to frequent a place more than once before I leave a review for it. But I’m not from the Albany area and had just stopped in here while visiting my mother in the hospital.
With that being said. I’ve been to a few Panera Breads all in the name of bringing my mom something for lunch. I’ve never been much of a fan. I find the food makes me sick and usually takes forever to get. It doesn’t ever help that they are always overcrowded.
However, this was the best Panera I’ve been to. The staff was very friendly, it wasn’t overcrowded when we went, and they got our order right. It was also super fast. We had a rather large order for 4 people and not a thing was amiss.
I still am not the biggest fan of their food, but this place isn’t half bad for what it is.

I couldn’t give this place more than 3 stars because it’s a chain, but that being said, this is the best Panera in the Albany area in terms of service. They bring your order to the table. It is always quick. You can order online or call and pick up your order, which is convenient. The food is as good as can be expected for Panera. My favorite seasonal item is the turkey cranberry flatbread sandwich, delicious! For breakfast I like the turkey sausage, egg white and spinach.

The food here is fine for what it is, but ⁸⁄₁₀ times they mess something up on our order, and it usually isn’t a complicated one. They also got rid of the salad bowls and serve the salad on a small plate, which makes eating some of them ridiculous. Also, the apples that they give out almost constantly are the ones that you wouldn’t buy at the supermarket (holes, dents, spots, etc).
Fine for a quick bite but could definitely improve.

Had the Tai chicken flatbread today. Too many bitter veggies sauce was overwhelming very little chicken.

Worst sandwiches in the world: ordered the Chicken Salad sandwich and received bread and lettuce hardly a piece of chicken all for the over-​priced sum of $ 8.00.
The soup was cold – had we ordered gazpacho, this would have been ok. The bowl o’ soup (not cup) was barely filled.
I’m going to have to blame management here: very bad management because other Panera’s are a million times better than this one.
If you love getting ripped off, this is your type of place.

Wow, best Panera we’ve been to in this area, small though it be. It’s tucked inside the new medical office building at the ever-​expanding U Albany Medical complex, and you can get to it from the street or from the lobby of 50 New Scotland. The service was particularly good, with the order clerk patiently taking orders from our junior members and then bringing everything out to where we sat, which I’ve never had done at a Panera before. Recommended.

Panera is a nice place to sit and chat over a bagel, sandwich, and/​or coffee. This location is spacious, quiet, and clean. The workers are always friendly. Much cheaper than Brueggers, too.

What can I say, I’m a fan of Panera. I know it’s not haute cuisine, but it’s hearty, tasty and reasonably priced. I’ve been waiting years for this location to open, and couldn’t be happier that it’s finally arrived.
We got there around 1pm and it was packed. We didn’t have a long wait in line and there were still tables available. The staff is a mix of folks from other locations and newbies. The newbies don’t really know the menu and had to call a manager to answer an ingredient question, but the girl who took my order (and question) apologized for not knowing and got an answer quickly.
One of the nice things about this location is that (for now), instead of a pager to let you know when you can pick up your food, they give you a numbered card to put on your table and bring your food to you. It means that the counter area is a holding area only for people taking their food to go and you can have multiple orders without losing one or another member of your party as they go to retrieve their order.
One of the employees, Kizzy, knows my mom and she was happy to see people she knew coming to her new location. She introduced us to the manager, who was very friendly and concerned with making sure everyone in the restaurant was having a good experience. When he saw that my party’s food had come, but mine had not (we ordered separately and I was having a hot sandwich — they both had cold sandwiches), he went to the prep area, expedited my sandwich and brought it to me personally. I’m always impressed with that level of service, especially when it’s neither requested nor expected.
Parking is a major issue, which is unsurprising in that area. Because of the combination of hospital employees, construction and residences, there’s never enough parking. If you go to this location, expect that you’ll have to park several blocks away. That said, it’s a very walkable area, so the few blocks isn’t obnoxious at all.
I have a good feeling about this location. It seems like the biggest problem they’ll face will be the scorn of other nearby food joints as they lose customers to the new kid on the block.