Panera Bread

This Panera in the Ghent area of Norfolk has several self ordering kiosks for faster service and a self service coffee station. There is one cashier for those who wish to order with a person. The restaurant seemed clean, and my order was delivered quickly. The cost is high as one breakfast sandwich and a large coffee was over $10.

I met a client at this Panera location in the lovely Ghent area during lunch hour recently. From the outside, the restaurant appeared well-maintained & aesthetically pleasing. There was a sense of chaos & confusion upon entering the restaurant, which immediately shifted my energy. If it were not for my client I would have turned around & walked back out. I waited more than 5 minutes for an employee to appear behind the counter to take my order. Employees were hustling in the kitchen area & nobody seemed to be manning the order station. An employee who was mopping the floor in the kitchen made eye contact with me & came to the counter to take my order. Mind you, there were also customers behind me waiting to order. There were so many customers standing around waiting for their orders, as well as employees hustling at the prep line that there was no real sense of order. I watched the monitor for my name to see when my food was ready only to discover after more than 15 minutes that my order was ready and had been sitting there for some time. My order was not a to-go order, yet my flatbread pizza was in a box at one end of the pickup counter & my latte was mixed in with someone else’s order at the other end. I might have been able to overlook all these little inconveniences but one thing changed all that. While waiting for my order I observed one of the employees, who appeared to be a food runner, touch her face, ears & hair & then immediately touch any & every food item on the pickup counter, whether it was a plate full of food, a cookie in a bag, or a to-go order she bagged herself. At first I could not believe what I was seeing, chalking it up to all the hustle & chaos. But after I witnessed this same employee touch her face & hair AND food items numerous times in succession I felt compelled to address it with an employee who was working behind the prep line & appeared to be leading the crew. I’m not sure if she was a manager but she was dressed differently from the others & was hustling. She seemed to be the crew leader which is why I felt drawn to voice my concerns to her. I could tell I completely caught her off guard as I asked whether or not the employees handling food on my side of the line should be wearing gloves. I informed her of what I had just witnessed. She barely broke momentum and did not seem to give my concerns any weight. It is important to mention that all employees were wearing masks & all visible employees working behind the prep line were wearing gloves. However, even if the employee that was handling all the food at the pickup counter had been wearing gloves that would have been totally irrelevant when it came to touching her face, hair & ears & subsequently touching food items. If I were to rate my experience based solely on the quality of the food I would have to say it was mediocre at best. While I had no complaints about the flatbread pizza (the crust was perfect) it was not something I will ever crave again. It pales in comparison to the fresh & hot pizza at Harris Teeter right down the street. As for the latte, it was good but it literally tasted like any other latte. Of course nobody goes to Panera just for the coffee but if you do, there’s a million local coffee shops in the area & they rock! Shop local.

Update: Manager called me shortly after i posted and was very helpful. Will 100% be coming back . I was having problems with the delivery app, and decided to pick up my order. I picked up my order, and my large coffee was only 2/3rds full and my salad didn't have dressing. But, it did seem like they were very busy and possibly overwhelmed today

I have the flu and was dying for a healthy, well balanced meal to soothe me. I had to pick up meds at Rite Aid so decided Panera was the perfect spot. I had a delicious cup of Creamy chicken and wild rice soup, a juicy Chicken Bravo sandwich and amazing Green Goddess Cobb Salad! These are my favorites at Panera besides their amazing Autumn Squash soup which unfortunately is out of season 😓😪 I forgot to take photos of the soup and sandwich but I did get the salad. My whole meal was to go and it was excellent as always! The employees are friendly and helpful and the food is always on point! Enjoy!

I ordered a loaf of small sourdough bread on My last visit over the weekend. After being sliced, the attendant took the ends of the loaf & tossed them in the trash, while I said that I wanted them. She appeared to not listen as she didn’t look my way. I wanted the whole loaf of bread. Service has really declined here since Jaime left.