Panera Bread

I have been going to this panera since long. I always came across poor customer service. My experience yesterday, I am vegetarian and specifically asked for mediterranean veggie sandwich to go. I went home and ate a bite there was loads of chicken in it. I had ordered another mediterranean veggie sandwich with no cheese as my daughter is allergic to cheese. Her sandwich had cheese in it. Is it so difficult to make veggie sandwich without adding meat or cheese in it? I was so annoyed, I am never going again there.

This place gave me awful food poisoning. Can’t be sure exactly which item caused it, but the meal (a salad and an apple) cost me a day of work and two shows I was slated to do. Never again, Panera. You’ve lost a loyal customer and evangelist. It’s Au Bön Pain from now on.

I am a frequent customer at this location. I can’t say enough good things about it. The service has been great, the food is exactly how I like it, and the atmosphere is perfect for getting work done during lunch or meeting up with someone.

Plenty of space, which is great. Internet, which is great. But, waited over 20 minutes for a tasteless café latte…
I probably should have known better.

If you want to get some work done, then this is the panera to hit up. Depending on which time of the day you come here, it might be hard to find a space with an outlet, but you usually won’t have a big trouble finding the right table. Wi-​fi service is great and you can pretty much stay here all day long if you want to. I usually just order a cup of coffee and refill is free so you can drink whatever you want all day long for free. It could get pretty hectic during lunch/​dinner time on weekends so do try to come here early if you want to grab a good table!

A chain restaurant.
Good food, no frills.
I like to get the half and half with the turkey bacon avocado and fuji apple salad with an order of their mac ‘n’ cheese.

Short lines but food took forever. The soup had cooled off so much we asked for fresh bowls. (They were very accommodating.)
Sandwiches were all bread and no protein, and the flatbread was burnt and tasteless.
Am I the only one experiencing a steady decline of this chain?

I’ve got a love/​hate relationship with Panera Bread in Coolidge Corner, Brookline. Or maybe it’s more of a love/​meh/​hate relationship.
The love: Sunny, roomy, free wifi. I can usually find a table with an outlet for my laptop. Good iced tea, good coffee. Good A/​C on scorcher summer days (no A/​C in my home so it’s a welcome relief) and best, it’s not TOO cold, know what I mean?
The meh: Food prep, quality and ingredients is spotty. If you find something you like, stick to that. I like the Napa Chicken Salad sandwich and the Asian Chicken Salad. Other choices I have tried include the Fuji Apple Salad, Grilled Cheese, and Turkey Avocado sandwich. The Fuji Apple Salad is so weird — the apples are dried apple chips, and I think the walnuts are candied. The grilled cheese — a rare indulgence one looks forward to as being a warm, buttery, gooey, crispy-​crusty comfort food — was dry, on cool, dry, barely-​toasted bread, and bland gelatinous cheese. Disappointing and a waste of the calories. The Turkey Sandwich was also dry and boring, and I usually love turkey & avocado together. They seem to have good bagels and baked goods but haven’t tried those.
The hate:
— Those outlets? Not all of them work — some of them are loosey-​goosey when you stick your power plug into them.
— The staff? Okay, this is a risk since my face is pictured right on this review, but a note to the young dark-​skinned manager lady who wears the blue manager-​looking shirt — BE QUIET and tell your staff to BE QUIET. YOU ARE ALL TOO LOUD. I have had to move my table from the back (near the kitchen) several times because there is a great social ruckus always going on, caroling, strident oblivious voices yakking incessantly about everything from boyfriends to school to what-​have-​you, cackling and hooting with laughter. You can’t even hear yourself think. it’s too bad because «the back» would otherwise be the quieter place to work, situated as it is in a sort of separate alcove.
– Bathroom code? Ditch the bathroom code, it is entirely unnecessary. Go up and down the whole entire block, no one has a bathroom code. What’s the point?
All told, it’s convenient for a cool place to work or write with a so-​so sandwich and iced tea, it’s never too crowded so they let you stay all day (despite signs suggesting a 2-​hour limit) and I’ll keep coming back. But sitting up front away from the ruckus, and sticking to that Asian Chicken salad.

I have to say that this is the worst Panera Bread I’ve been to. Overall I’m a fan of Panera, but today they have disappointed me. I ordered a $ 5 iced caramel latte and it was terrible. I couldn’t taste any caramel at all it tasted like I was drinking milk, I still can’t get the taste of it out of my mouth! When I asked the employee who made it if this is the correct drink she said she had put 6 squirts of Carmel in it but would add more, if I wanted. This drink already has 380 calories as it is I did not want her to add more I should have gone to Starbucks. I gave the drink to her and walked out but Its aggravating me so much that I had to write this review!

I love Panera! This one at Coolidge Corner in Brookline is not my favorite.
It tends to be dirty. Often crowded because of location. Found a piece of chicken in my salad. I’m a vegetarian. And there was a dead mouse on the floor.

+ large seating area
+ wifi
+ plugs scattered throughout
+ menu is diverse, there’s something for everyone
Came here a week before a big exam because I knew a regular coffee shop would have me starving through the hours. Although I stayed here roughly 4−5hrs, I never once felt rushed to leave in any way and in fact, was able to get refills on my tea and coffee! Got the peach tea, but got to try the hibiscus tea on my 2^nd refill while there and both were delicious. Their iced coffee is also quite tasty, none of that bitter or burning taste here!
I ordered the lunch combo of chicken sesame salad with the french onion soup and it came with a side of bread. The salad was delicious! Not sure what’s in the dressing, but it’s probably one of my favorite sesame dressings… not too oily or salty or «sesame-​y», just a perfect light and refreshing taste! The onion soup on the other hand was «MEH.» A lot of soup with not a lot of onion or cheese in it, there were quite a few pieces of soft bread mixed in which made it better. The taste was average and I probably would not get it again. Also ordered the wildrice chowder soup and that was actually very good. Tasted like a mix of corn chowder with some wild rice mixed in… filling and warm!
Although the prices can be a bit steep for salad and sandwiches, it’s a good place to study if you nab a table next to a plug. Plenty of seating for all so there’s no one really to shoo you away. The bathroom has a bathroom code on it that comes with your receipt to keep out hobos I assume? There’s food from dessert, meals, to snacks and drinks galore, highly Recommend for a place to hit besides those coffee houses!

I am going to go out and say that this is my favorite Panera in Boston so far. I know there really isn’t a difference because if you shut your eyes and opened them up without looking to the windows you could really be in any Panera on Earth.
I think I like the «sunroom» seating the best so I don’t feel like I am eating in a dimly lit cave. Salads are average, soups are just as average so I have nothing more to add. I’m sure if you are going here you already know what’s up!

Ordered clam chowder in a bread bowl, the clam chowder was so bland and watered down. So disappointed.

I just stopped here to grab take out. The manager and another girl were making my order. The girl making my order was coughing loudly the entire time. Ok. The kicker was that she and the manager were joking loudly about how she couldn’t stop coughing. Germs all over the food. So disgusting and unprofessional. Last visit here. Gross.

Solid Panera in Coolidge corner. Way better than the other Panera in Copley I previously reviewed that’s for sure. This is a good sized location with lots of seating. My friend and I came here around late lunchtime after our barre class. There was a bit of a line but it moved fast enough. Wait time for our food also wasn’t bad, less than 5 mins. My soup was not as hot as I would’ve liked but I still ate it. My flatbread was good. The most important thing to me is coffee and I am happy to say that it was fresh and delicious. Probably our new spot to go to after class to grab a bite to eat

In general, I am a fan of Panera and I will be back. HOWEVER, today I got my usual mediterranean veggie sandwich with chips. When I got my food, there was a fatty piece of what looked like chicken (maybe turkey?) on the plate, touching my sandwich. I’m a vegetarian, so this was not OK with me. I just think workers in food service really need to be aware of what they’re doing. It now makes me think if the person making my sandwich ever changes their gloves or wipes down the cutting board all the sandwiches are made on. This experience will definitely make me vocalize how important it is to me that no meat products touch my food.
To their credit, they fixed their mistake and apologized, which I definitely appreciate. I will be back, but please pay more attention.

I have to agree with the negative posts here. Coolidge Corner location has no sense of customer service or experience. The Founder and CEO of Panera even lives in Brookline with his family. (Come on people show some respect to the man and represent!)
Today I had angry man cashier get upset and try to stare me down over a question on an order for my 5 year old who also pondered why is angry man so angry?
I had sandwich maker scold me for picking up my order cause he had mistakenly put the wrong order receipt on the wrong plate. He thought I was taking someone else’s order?! Call the sandwich police next time!
Either Panera at this location has a demoralized workforce which doesn’t care about customers or management cannot hire right or just does not care.
Or some toxic mixture of the above.
Oh well, I will still go to other locations not just this one if I can avoid it.

DO NOT GET THE Mediterranean Chicken Flatbread Sandwich! I am not a food snob. For instance, I love Ellios pizza (the box kind). I also love Panera’s Asiago Cheese bagels, but this flatbread sandwich was gross. I had no idea what I was eating, it tasted like caesar dressing gone bad. None of the ingredients were distinguishable… I just googled the flatbread in order to find out what I just attempted to eat. The hummus is a light brown blob, there was far too much tzatziki sauce (and it tasted like chalk), and the whole thing tasted like something I’d buy from the dollar menu.
I also ordered the side Greek salad, also a no-​go. The greens were browning, and although there was only two olives and one pepper, the entire thing tasted like the before mentioned ingredients.
Finally, as part of the meal deal, I was supposed to be offered a choice of side (bread, apple, chips), instead I was given bread. Their bread is good, but as someone who was intentionally trying to keep the meal on the healthier side, I would have appreciated a choice.
I feel badly giving this meal such a poor review. I love their cheese bagel and their soups are usually pretty decent as well. The location is convenient and they don’t appear to suffer from lack of customers.

This Panera is in a great, central location, especially for meet-​ups (though parking around Coolidge can sometimes be a pain). It’s very spacious inside, but oftentimes busy so finding seating/​outlets can sometimes be difficult.
I personally don’t mind Panera food in general, but admit that it’s overpriced (can easily spend $ 15 – 20 for a meal for 1 with a «You Pick 2», drink, and scrumptious pastry). The food here is inconsistent in quality and accuracy, and takes FOREVER.
Either way, it’s a decent option for a meal, getting work done, or meeting up with people since Coolidge Corner lacks the space and venue for those things in general.

2.5 stars
I have lost interest in Panera in general. It’s food is not super healthy (packed with sodium and sugar) and there is little on the menu that has fresh veggies. A little tip: if you’re concerned about nutrition value at all, take a look at their nutrition calculator on their website. It’s super easy to use and you’d be surprised at which types of bread, for example, are healthier than others.
This branch in particular is weird. The service is not great (I had the woman at the counter ask me three times what side I wanted and whether it was for here or to-​go) and you now have to ask for the bathroom key/​code (a clear sign that vagabonds wander in and out… not that there’s anything wrong with that, but when you got to go…)