Panera Bread

First time at this Panera Bread. Second time I’ve been to one. Last time was years ago in North Carolina!
I was on a Unilocaling spree and was trying on deciding where I wanted to get a little bit for lunch, some place fast, easy and I wouldn’t mind going solo to! I also have been wanting to compare my mac and cheese recipe to theirs, I had heard this mac and cheese recipe that I use is a copycat for Panera’s. For the record: It is similar but the flavor is slightly off!
This panera hasn’t been there for too long, the place is pretty nice, clean and still new looking. I was a little confused by the table locator and wasn’t sure how it worked. It’s pretty simple — basically pick any seat and they will deliver your food to your table. The locator just tells them what seat you picked.
I got the frontega chicken panini, mac and cheese and an apple with iced chai. The panini was good, chicken was tender, the sandwich meshed really well together and worked well with my side of mac and cheese, which was perfectly creamy and pretty damn yummy. The apple needed to be washed off, it still had a little grit/​dirty or something on it. I just popped it in my purse and just remember now about it! The chai was okay, it was a little strong with one of the flavors and it ended up tasting a bit odd. Maybe it needed to be shaken up to mix things up a bit!
The service was good, friendly and answered any questions I had. He didn’t mind when I changed my mind a few times with ordering (Sorry!) As I was leaving a guy was picking up the plates around the trash area and he seemed really cool, polite and upbeat.
Overall, it was a pleasant experience and I would surely return someday!

One of my favorite places for lunch. The menu is ever changing and the staff are very helpful. They take the time to make sure your order is what you would expect. The service is fast, even on busy times. You can be in and out there in less than an hour. You can also order online for pick up.

This Panera was great.
My favorite part was that they brought your order out to you. In NY they don’t do that, you have to wait and carry it yourself
The food was great, and I liked the dinner roll with my soup instead of a baguette like I’m accustomed to.
My Mediterranean veggie sandwich was great. Good options for vegetarians.

We stopped at this location while staying in the area. The cashier couldn’t answer simple menu questions, then she rang it up cash after we told her credit. The manager had to be called to redo our whole order.
When our Togo order was finally ready we checked our bag & soup was missing. When we went back to get it, the employee preparing food was eating & preparing food with the same gloves, yuck! Definitely not what I expect from Panera.

the thai chicken salad is the best on the menu. couple it with the bacon turkey bravo for an ultimate meal

I’ve found it consistently easy to get seating and while its hard for me to stand, I just pop into the line when it’s small. My some employees, I’m now greeted by name. Look for Monique (AMs) and a guy who speaks Spanish with a smile bigger than the planet. If they typify training, the company is good. There are some real stars on the service/​cashier line – helpful, friendly, fast, smart. Big smiles. The food quality, and wide choice, is outstanding. Big-​gun management is around watching, and checking on trouble spots/​filling in at the register, looking for mall things: tables, china drop off, rest rooms. There’s an occasional snag: after a rush, lemons might run out for iced tea. As with all such chains, few offer healthy sweetener alternatives like Stevia; providing this on request would distinguish them. For now, I carry my own.

I was at this location the other night and it was my first time in this particular store. I do like the food there, that is where the 2 stars are coming from. The reason I’m taking 3 stars away is because:
1) There was this loud, repetitive beeping noise that could be heard all over the restaurant. When I asked the server what it was, she said it was the soda machine and there was nothing she could do about it, it was broken. If its broken, they either need to turn it off or fix it immediately. the noise was very disturbing to my experience.
2) The server was very rude, when I asked when my smoothie was coming out she told me it will be here when it gets here. Um? This was already 5 minutes after my food had been served. If it takes longer to prepare a smoothie than it does to prepare a sandwich and a salad, something is wrong.
3) There was a teenager and a small child who were playing follow the leader around the whole place clapping and stomping their feet and hands. This was very annoying and I asked the server if there was something she could do about it and she told me no. If there is someone disturbing the guests its in your best interest to tell them to stop otherwise you will be losing your business!
4) Poor lighting. The lighting was either very bright or very dull depending on where you sat. Not ideal.
All in all, I would not go back to this location.

This is a Panera Bread. They exist all over the country. It’s pretty standard stuff…
There is absolutely nothing special about this place… it’s good quality food, at reasonable costs. It tastes pretty good too, but exactly as if you had bought it at the Panera Bread in Florida or New York. I go here when I want predictability.
With that being said: this particular Panera gets 3 stars because every time I’ve been here the service has been fairly slow, even if they’re not that busy. I think one time it was fairly quick, and it was during the lunch rush. I’ve waited 10 minutes for a latte there though. (Starbucks down the road will have it to you in 2.)
Also, the floor plan is open, but with a lot more small tables than some Panera’s seem to have. Many Panera’s are set up to for patrons to come in, sit and work. I felt like this one is more suited for people just to eat. It’s a shame too, because if you’re there you can refill your coffee as much as you please. It’s also quite noisy during peak hours, unlike a lot of other Panera’s where the couple at the table next to yours is whispering, and all you hear is the smooth jazz or classical soundtrack they seem to play at every location. And finally those two stars come out because of the strange lighting in there. A table will either be so bright you can’t work at a computer, or so dim your eyes strain. It just doesn’t have that «I can go chill and pound out my writing» vibe that other Panera’s do. But, if you just want to have a quick light lunch with friends and know everyone will be satisfied (though not raving) about their meals, this is a great go-​to spot.

Panera’s newest location in the Burlington area! I must say its gonna do well from what I can tell.
For the new people in town or travelers to the Burlington area this used to be a Friendly’s. It was old smelly and felt like it was gonna cave in around you! What Panera did this with location is just flat out amazing! They now have an open floor plan and a lot more setting! You will still find your classic fireplace, comfy chairs with a small coffee table and booths to pick from! A little something for everyone. They also offer free WiFi for their customers. (Hint hint college students!)
The service here is very quick. We ordered our food before we sat down like at any other Panera and we went ahead and sat our selves. They had our food out to us within 10 minutes. The restaurant was very clean on top of that!
Pricing here is also very fair. For one bread bowl and one sandwich we spent about $ 19.46. It’s cheap and it taste good!
My only complaint about Panera is the rewards card. Its more or less how it works. When we earn points it never seems to earn us anything that we would use. A few months ago we got a free smoothie… However we don’t like smoothies so it did nothing for us. This past trip we got a free cookie… And we don’t eat cookies all that much. What they should do is do what Subway does. earn points toward items you ORDER. Like subs, soup or other items that can be bought for a certain amount of points. Now this is not an issue with this location and this will not reflect on its score.
So I have to give this location a ⁵⁄₅ stars. I walked in AMAZED with what they did with this space. They gave it another life and the service is as equally as good. It’s by far my favorite location in Vermont to date!