The initial presentation of this restaurant had nothing to do with the people that were greeting you and had everything to do with presenting itself as an excellent deli/pastry shop. All I remember from initially walking in is the beautiful assortment and presentation of the desserts and breads. My mouth starting watering for all the stunning pastry's
The Cashiers seemed nice, I didn't take any note of upselling or suggestively selling. No hints of the specials or what is particularly good. These things are particularly important in my eyes. It steers the guest to what makes this restaurant particularly good and makes the employees appear knowledgeable. Both key in having an exceptional restaurant.
Keep in mind there are no servers here. You walk in to a counter with an enormous menu and order what you want. You seat yourself and you put your own dishes next to a trash bin. The tables were clean when we went to seat ourselves. What is common a lot when you frequent 'self seating' restaurant is that the employees don't seem to make it to wipe off the tables consistently. I give this Panera bread an "A" though, we walked to where we wanted... the table was clean and all tables on our way there were as well.
The drinks are all self serve though with the exception of the specialty drinks. I ordered a strawberry smoothie which the manager brought out to me. Now I will say in comparison, I had a McDonalds strawberry banana smoothie 2 weeks ago, the Panera smoothie was completely exceptional.
The meal selection consist of gourmet style deli sandwiches, both hot and cold. Soups and salads are a large portion of their menu as well and deli pastries and fresh breads. I ordered a smoked turkey panini which I regretted after I saw my wifes Asiago roast beef. My tasted ...ok... BUT hers looked fabulous. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it thoroughly though. Off the record, my wife usually orders the simple and I order the over the top extravagant dishes, well this day was a different story. A friend of our ordered a soup as well which came out looking extremely tasty. Most dishes it seemed were accompanied by a side of fresh baked bread or chips.
Dessert for us was a "Cobblestone" which the 3 of us could only describe as a mix between monkey bread, an apple fritter, bread pudding and 100% goodness. One of this 'muffins on steroids' could be divided in quarters and still be enough to enjoy. I do highly recommend this as a before OR after meal treat.
For feeding 3 adults lunch and a 2 yr old for $30, I would say that it was worth it given the relaxing atmosphere and the quality of food.
On the surface the cleanliness of the restaurant was pretty good. The staff seemed well dressed, presentable and they seemed as though they knew what good food safety was about. I chose to look a little deeper though.
The restrooms looked well kept, the daily routine of cleaning was done. Also, keep in mind that restrooms are hard to keep clean at times. One person can walk in, splash water on the floor, drop pieces of toilet paper on the floor, splatter the mirror with water, drip soap on the floor and then throw their paper towel on the floor. All from one guest, now for the next 30 minuets every guest after them will walk into that restroom and be disgusted because the bathrooms aren't kept up which means the kitchen MUST be a mess!! Wrong! One slob doesn't imply that the kitchen is a mess.... *sigh* (getting off my soap box not). The short run is that the bathrooms up keep was good. Everything was stocked, trash was a bit full but not over full. The mirror could be replaced because water has seeped behind the mounting and corroded it, But, overall pretty good. In the corners, around the floor tiles you could see a small build up of dust and dirt. This forms from not getting down on the floor, hands and knees, to scrub tile where the 'deck' brushes cant reach. The wood work around the seat and on the walls had not been cleaned in some time and the lights and light cords from the ceiling had about a 2 month (or more) accumulation of dust on them. Keep in mind I was looking for these things, not that I noticed them on the surface.
Overall value for the money was fair to good. It's a bit expensive but that is the target consumer. It's almost the McDonalds of the wealthier and more health conscientious. Not saying anything bad about the people who eat McDonalds ( my wife and I hit it up at least once a week) but we don't go to Panera because we know it's more expensive and it doesn't have a 'Value Menu' (how can you beat McChickens for $1 when your low on cash). Food was pretty good, the atmosphere was relaxing, as an added value they have free wi-fi and everyone was nice. I recommend going here for a good brunch, perhaps a special occasion, a business meeting or to read a book and/or study.
