Panera Bread

I love this place.The food is fabulous. I recently moved to the area and I am looking for familiar places.Panera does not disappoint.

I’ve always loved Panera but this location was particularly nice. It was a busy time of day, around lunch time, but got in and out fairly quickly. Got a pick 2 with the bacon turkey bravo and the Asian citrus salad. I was pleasantly shocked at the portion size! The salad was so good, I couldn’t get enough of it. Had a great lunch!

First visit in a long time and it won’t be my last. I got two gift cards from Verizon Up and I haven’t had lunch otherwise this place is a little above my budget. I wanted to share that ISAAC who helped me, and patiently waited for me to pull up my downloaded Verizon gift cards on my phone and even had to manually enter in the two gift card numbers was fantastic. He was patient, helpful, and kind. I hadn’t been in a while so I didn’t even know what I could buy with my $8. He helped me look thru the menu and find something! At some places I don’t think they’d go to the trouble that this young man went thru to help me use up my gift cards and get lunch. Great service. I’ll be back for sure!

This morning we came in to start our day with a light breakfast. I was really craving some greens so I ordered a green smoothie. The service was stellar! I really enjoyed receiving all our goodies at our table while dining in from both Danielle and Dylan. They were kind, pleasant to talk with and wanted to make sure our order was perfect. You don’t find that kind of customer service everywhere.

Amanda

I’ve always loved Panera but this location was particularly nice. It was a busy time of day, around lunch time, but got in and out fairly quickly. Got a pick 2 with the bacon turkey bravo and the Asian citrus salad. I was pleasantly shocked at the portion size! The salad was so good, I couldn’t get enough of it. Had a great lunch!

Ian Howell

First visit in a long time and it won’t be my last. I got two gift cards from Verizon Up and I haven’t had lunch otherwise this place is a little above my budget. I wanted to share that ISAAC who helped me, and patiently waited for me to pull up my downloaded Verizon gift cards on my phone and even had to manually enter in the two gift card numbers was fantastic. He was patient, helpful, and kind. I hadn’t been in a while so I didn’t even know what I could buy with my $8. He helped me look thru the menu and find something! At some places I don’t think they’d go to the trouble that this young man went thru to help me use up my gift cards and get lunch. Great service. I’ll be back for sure!

Heather Flattery

This morning we came in to start our day with a light breakfast. I was really craving some greens so I ordered a green smoothie. The service was stellar! I really enjoyed receiving all our goodies at our table while dining in from both Danielle and Dylan. They were kind, pleasant to talk with and wanted to make sure our order was perfect. You don’t find that kind of customer service everywhere.

Abdelrahman Homedan

Good breakfast! Clean restaurant and excellent service.

Had the 1/2 order chicken noodle soup 🍜 and half sandwich Italian. It was very yummy 😋

Great experience. The staff was super helpful. By Opening the door for my 86 year old Mother with a walker. Staff over heard that my son just had all four wisdom removed. She said she could help buy just scooping broth into my son's bowl. Which is what he wanted, worked out great. Broccoli cheddar was great tuna salad sandwich was great. I recommend.

Jasmine and Sarah are great employees, they’re friendly, great energy, huge asset to Panera. There positive energy @6am is why we come every morning with my friends.

Tina S

Jasmine and Sarah are great employees, they’re friendly, great energy, huge asset to Panera. There positive energy @6am is why we come every morning with my friends.

Mary Martinez

Had the 1/2 order chicken noodle soup 🍜 and half sandwich Italian. It was very yummy 😋

ronald deutschman

Great experience. The staff was super helpful. By Opening the door for my 86 year old Mother with a walker. Staff over heard that my son just had all four wisdom removed. She said she could help buy just scooping broth into my son's bowl. Which is what he wanted, worked out great. Broccoli cheddar was great tuna salad sandwich was great. I recommend.

Consistent. Can use a bit of sprucing up, somewhat outdated floors and furniture. Food is good. Worth singing up to earn coupons. Ample parking, but allow time during busy times of the day.

Food is good. This place need new carpet. It is sooo stained and worn through. It is hard to eat the food there looking at all that spilled on carpet. Maybe get hard floors so spills can be mopped up.

The food was good we had a strawberry poppy seed salad. The people are very nice , pleasant. One thing I don't appreciate is the bathroom is not kept up. One more thing my husband wanted me to tell u, the apples are not good quality like they use to. But we still really like Panera. Thank u

Everything there is good!! Their prices have really gone up!!! The service!! Seems these people don't like their jobs. They are like robots. No smiles! I like people who like what they do. I can take it or leave it!! Panera, I mean.

I come to this Panera all the time for coffee, a bite to eat, and to study. Nothing adds to a places conducivity to studying like free Wi-Fi, lots of space in between tables, and quick service for food and coffee. The staff is friendly and the bathrooms are kept clean.

Food is typically good but sometimes disappoints. Mac n cheese was refrigerator cold and the portion size was so small. Also my sandwich was made with soft wheat bread instead of the cranberry bread which is much denser. Sadly I had a soggy sandwich. Price was too much for the itty bitty portions.

Located in a good shopping plaza with plenty of parking. The inside is large and a lot of outdoor seating. The food was tasty & The staff was friendly. The bathrooms… were gross-Needs cleaning and or an update.

Reviews By Nitra

Located in a good shopping plaza with plenty of parking. The inside is large and a lot of outdoor seating. The food was tasty & The staff was friendly. The bathrooms… were gross-Needs cleaning and or an update.

Panera is always pretty good! I never say no if sometime suggest it. And i sometimes crave their broccoli cheddar soup. I miss when they use to bring the food to you. But I get it.

Melanie Garay

Panera is always pretty good! I never say no if sometime suggest it. And i sometimes crave their broccoli cheddar soup. I miss when they use to bring the food to you. But I get it.

Dr. Maryam D. Far

Consistent. Can use a bit of sprucing up, somewhat outdated floors and furniture. Food is good. Worth singing up to earn coupons. Ample parking, but allow time during busy times of the day.

Customer service is great. However the food is not up to participate with other Paneras. They ran out of 2 types of bread, so I got the tuna salad sandwhich. The amount of tuna was 1/2 the length of the bread and thin spread... the garden veggie was not delicious

For those of you that are like me, searching for good lunch break places, Panera Bread isn't a bad choice. Pretty good food, good drinks. I personally come in for the mango smoothies which are pretty good. The wait is longer than every other place I go to for lunch. Would recommend!

Salty service, woman working was snippy - not great customer service - made us ask to use the bathroom. Ordered a bagel and it was cold, never asked if we wanted it toasted. Clean facilities and fast service, but customer service could be a lot better.

The foods okay. Way to expensive for me, if Iam going to spend $25 for just myself. I would rather get a steak dinner. Plus rhere rewards program sucks I spent a lot of money and only got a dollar off a sandwich.

Ordered soup and waited 20 minutes, It was cold when I got it, took it back to the counter and the staff looked at me like, how dare I, I said can you please heat my soup up, it taste like it just came out of the fridge. I understand you are doing great door.dash business but remember The customers that are physically in your resturaunt

Food is expensive. Great tasting food also very busy during lunch hr

Food was good Service was all right.

James Ransome

Ordered soup and waited 20 minutes, It was cold when I got it, took it back to the counter and the staff looked at me like, how dare I, I said can you please heat my soup up, it taste like it just came out of the fridge. I understand you are doing great door.dash business but remember The customers that are physically in your resturaunt

Eddie !

Food is expensive. Great tasting food also very busy during lunch hr

This place is simply unkept and dirty. Not a pleasant visit.

I don't mind this location, and it's good in its own way. But compared to Panera Bread locations further south, this almost seems medieval. Why can't this location have kiosks to order inside? You have to talk to employees to get your order. Sure, I guess you can order online on the app. But personally, I feel people would like it more by ordering in the kiosks. Also the food portion sizes are a bit small, I ordered one of the new toasted baguettes and expected something like a sub. I guess I should reevaluate my expectations when I order something that pricy now.

I love Panera and have never had problems with my order anywhere else but this particular location. This is more so a customer service issue. 3 or 4 times now that I've done curbside pickup, I've waited in the curbside parking for over 30 minutes only to go in and see that my order was off to the side somewhere or in the pickup section when I specifically selected curbside pickup. It doesn't happen all the time, but Jesus! If you're gonna just stick a curbside order in the rapid pickup cubby, take off the option for curbside from the app. It's incredibly frustrating and the food gets cold.

I was eating a sandwich and salad and the server was serving a soup and an apple to an older gentleman. After she set the soup down, he looked and asked if that was all the soup he was getting? I looked over and saw the bowl barely filled. The girl said, "I guess that's all" and walked away. The old man looked at me and back at the barely filled bowl and shrugged. I made me feel terrible for this old guy. The girl seemed to care less and never offered to go back and see if the soup bowl was properly filled, or even go back and just get another spoonful. It was just the most thoughtless, crappy service. Its sad to see.

Other than their fairly decent pastries, I’m not sure why people go here for a meal. The food is consistently and painfully bland. It’s as if a hospital expanded their food service, so people could enjoy boring, tasteless meals when they’re not sick. Even their tiny little apples and bags of chips are so sad. They’ve aimed at “average” and just missed it.

It was my first time to try a Toasted beef & White Cheddar sandwich at this place, what can I say….. it was the worst sandwich I have ever had. Huge piece of bread, a few tiny pieces of beef, really few pieces of onion. That’s it. For $11.00. Just ridiculous.

Sandwich was mediocre at best, cash registers were not working, and the staff was doing the minimum required to keep the doors open. First time, and only time visiting Panera.

September 21 2025 , this place was full of people, but not enough of servers. I guess Santa Maria doesn’t have a lot of kids who wanna work in retail or restaurants anymore. Small towns are dying. The mentality of the younger groups are disgusting. They want everything for free and don’t wanna work so now Panera is gone kiosk, no more live person to talk to. I think this will be my last time coming here.

Adam Cards

Sandwich was mediocre at best, cash registers were not working, and the staff was doing the minimum required to keep the doors open. First time, and only time visiting Panera.

Sara Sinclair

September 21 2025 , this place was full of people, but not enough of servers. I guess Santa Maria doesn’t have a lot of kids who wanna work in retail or restaurants anymore. Small towns are dying. The mentality of the younger groups are disgusting. They want everything for free and don’t wanna work so now Panera is gone kiosk, no more live person to talk to. I think this will be my last time coming here.

Over 26 dollars for a large drink a watered down cheddar soup with 2 stems of broccoli and a skimpy sandwich??? No vengan aqui!!!Never eating here again and I've only had this problem here. I'll take my money to chic Fila from now on.

I will never go to Panera again That place was filthy ans all the table were not bussed. Had to clean off my own table. I recieved the worst take out ever. I thru my food in the trash. Never going there again.

Panera was not what it used to be the restaurant was different and the service was non existent. The restaurant was empty and still every table was dirty. And trash cans were all overflowing

I would not recommend to eat hear. The food was edible however the house keeping was very unkeep. Few people were actually dinning however we had a very hard time finding a clean table that didn't have stacks of dirty dishes. Under the tables had food and all types of liter and trash. This restaurant is past its Glory days. It has long past any real good management and the unkept tables really show. If the dinning area is boldly taken care of in this manner who knows how the back kitchen must be where none of the public sees

I absolutely love the food here, but customer service absolutely sucked. It was a late Saturday evening, the place is practically dead and I'm standing there waiting for someone to atleast acknowledge me since there are two workers right there. After waiting for about 5 minutes, I nearly walked out when someone finally came and took my order. Then again, they had an attitude and kept cutting me off. Hopefully if I come back with my family, I won't have to deal with these rude employees again.

I heard good things about Panera, so I chose it over Starbucks across the parking lot. I ordered a coffee and pain au chocolat/chocolate croissant to go, thinking it would be superior to SB's frozen buns. It was kind of stale...looked beautiful, but was soft and tough at the same time, like it had been microwaved and left to sit and dry out. No shattering, flaky, buttery goodness. Not even as flaky as a Costco croissant. So disappointing. Dare I say that SB's frozen chocolate croissant is better; at least, they offer to heat it up for you. Coffee was mild. Service was indifferent, shoved the bun in a bag, and pushed an empty cup at me. Apparently, after checking, Panera does not freshly bake these daily...my mistake.

They never have ice coffee ready. Doesn’t matter time of day early morning mid day or night they have it brewed.

I called to order and 1st person left me on hold for over 10 mins then somone picked the phone and had a terrible attitude talking nasty I mean if u hate ur job that much u should find something else to do bcs u suck at this job

Food was subpar, the restaurant was dirty, service was slow... 45 minutes to get our food. A bad experience all around.

Had the worst experience here today. First, I want to say they do not have any handicap accessible parking in the front. I got here around lunch very crowded, people were not respecting personal space/ entitled customers; no excuse me, no acknowledgement or anything. When I got to the register to order the cashier was very passive aggressive and kept trying to rush me out the line. By the time I had ordered the line was already to the door and only one cashier. I will never go back. The food was so so, not sure what happened to Panera but this environment is not safe for people with limited mobility.

Amani M

I called to order and 1st person left me on hold for over 10 mins then somone picked the phone and had a terrible attitude talking nasty I mean if u hate ur job that much u should find something else to do bcs u suck at this job

R Kay

Food was subpar, the restaurant was dirty, service was slow... 45 minutes to get our food. A bad experience all around.

Kim H

I heard good things about Panera, so I chose it over Starbucks across the parking lot. I ordered a coffee and pain au chocolat/chocolate croissant to go, thinking it would be superior to SB's frozen buns. It was kind of stale...looked beautiful, but was soft and tough at the same time, like it had been microwaved and left to sit and dry out. No shattering, flaky, buttery goodness. Not even as flaky as a Costco croissant. So disappointing. Dare I say that SB's frozen chocolate croissant is better; at least, they offer to heat it up for you. Coffee was mild. Service was indifferent, shoved the bun in a bag, and pushed an empty cup at me. Apparently, after checking, Panera does not freshly bake these daily...my mistake.

Brian Kusmitch

Panera was not what it used to be the restaurant was different and the service was non existent. The restaurant was empty and still every table was dirty. And trash cans were all overflowing

California lifestyle

Had the worst experience here today. First, I want to say they do not have any handicap accessible parking in the front. I got here around lunch very crowded, people were not respecting personal space/ entitled customers; no excuse me, no acknowledgement or anything. When I got to the register to order the cashier was very passive aggressive and kept trying to rush me out the line. By the time I had ordered the line was already to the door and only one cashier. I will never go back. The food was so so, not sure what happened to Panera but this environment is not safe for people with limited mobility.

Ave-Anailuj Magana

I absolutely love the food here, but customer service absolutely sucked. It was a late Saturday evening, the place is practically dead and I'm standing there waiting for someone to atleast acknowledge me since there are two workers right there. After waiting for about 5 minutes, I nearly walked out when someone finally came and took my order. Then again, they had an attitude and kept cutting me off. Hopefully if I come back with my family, I won't have to deal with these rude employees again.