Panera Bread

Last night I had the worst experience I have ever had any Panera. My husband went to get me a Fuji apple salad at the Howell location. I always loved the salad and was looking forward to eating it. When he got home I took the cover off and noticed that the lettuce had a strong odor. I ignored it and put the dressing on. I lifted up one of the apples to eat it and it was limp in my hand. I usually enjoy crunching on them but there was no crunch to be had then I noticed that the lettuce was limp, it was not fresh, not even close to fresh. I called the location and asked to speak to the manager, DAVID. He told me that his romaine is always fresh and he highly doubted my experience so I told him I’d be right in. He contradicted me three times during the course of our conversation. He was not a professional. He even insulted me. I asked for my money to be refunded, he asked me how I paid for it. Finally he decided to look it up and after some discussion an A LOT of anxiety I was refunded the money.

Since I work in the area I frequent here often. The food is what you expect. The staff always seems very confused and makes constant mistakes. I'm making this review to highlight the General Manager Chris. I confronted him when they lost an order I placed. I said unfortunately I'm at work right now and don't have time for this and that I'll return to the store to get a refund. I didn't yell or curse as I worked in the food industry and know what's it's like. Chris said to not come back. Chris maybe you were having a bad day, but I was having a bad day too. Keep your attitude to yourself.

For the first time in years of ordering Fiji apple salad I saw bad leafy greens in my salad. I thought this was unusual until I read a review by another customer who had a similar experience at the Howell Panera Bread. Hopefully these reviews help the store bring back the quality Panera Salads are known for. I will not be going back to the Howell store for a while though.

Very busy when I arrived but the staff was responsive and were going as quickly as they could. They were apologizing if an order took too long and treated each customer with respect. My food order was correct and delicious. However, a lot of the food was sold out (like the cheeses, Mac and cheese, some desserts, etc). Was hoping for more options.

If I could leave no stars I would. Working for a business and placed an order for 5 PEOPLE. on the website it says you can deliver. Well. If you want to deliver from Panera you better hope you only want one thing delivered. The order came out to 116. Keep in mind there was 30$ worth of fees and tips. They have cancelled our order. We called to see why our order was cancelled. The first excuse was they were short staffed, understandable we would come pick it up. But then the manager said that order was now considered a “catering” order. 5PEOPLE. that is now catering. Said anything over 100.00 is catering. with all the tips and fees that’s the only reason it was over $100.00. Manager was rude and sounded like she didn’t even care and didn’t want to help us.

placed an $80 online order only to come back home and realize I was missing 3 items. Called the store, manager said they were going to cancel my order completely and that there were not enough staff to deliver to my home and they would “take extra care of me” my next visit . I offered to drive and pick up the food that I was missing but still waited 20 minutes to receive it. I’m typically not a big complainer and try to be understanding but after this it’s safe to say I will not be spending money their again

Food is good, nothing absolutely special. One of the managers there (woman with blonde hair, looks to be about in her 50’s) is what really gives this place a bad review. One of the most miserable people I’ve ever met. Entitled and rude, completely forgetting the customers pay her salary. Also very rude to employees who are just looking to get a part time job after school. Maybe she should stop picking on teenagers at her old age and focus on actually making customers have a good experience here. Made my siblings and I’s experience at this place hellish. She stopped my twelve year old brother and accused him of stealing cups for about fifteen minutes. The cups weren’t even stolen. Not a good experience.