Panera Bread - Ames

Worst chicken sandwich. It had about a tablespoon of chicken salad. A bunch of greens, a tomato slice on Bare bread which made it dry. French onion soup was ama... read more Worst chicken sandwich. It had about a tablespoon of chicken salad. A bunch of greens, a tomato slice on Bare bread which made it dry. French onion soup was amazing.

There are both good and bad things about the Panera in Ames. One good thing is their rapid pick-up service, which has always worked well for my wife and me. I h... read more There are both good and bad things about the Panera in Ames. One good thing is their rapid pick-up service, which has always worked well for my wife and me. I have seen other reviews complaining about this, but, over the course of half a dozen visits, we have never had any problems; our food has always been ready for us when we arrive to pick it up. Our orders have almost always been accurate; the one exception occurred years ago when they forgot our focaccia bread. However, a phone call to the restaurant fixed that immediately; they ran a bread out to our house at their expense. Another plus is the food, which has, over the years, been quite good. My wife and I have had, between us, several different kinds of breakfast souffles, several kinds of flatbread pizza, the toasted steak and white cheddar sandwich, the smokehouse BBQ chicken sandwich, the bacon turkey bravo sandwich, and (most recently) the new signature take chicken sandwich. All have been very satisfactory. But there are some negatives, chief among them being the prices, which are uniformly high. My signature chicken sandwich, for example, was $11, which is probably about three bucks more than it should be. In a similar vein, the portion sizes are not terribly large. I like to divide restaurant meals in two and eat half for leftovers, and while I did do that with my chicken sandwich, that made for a pretty small meal. Another mild complaint: the restaurant offers delivery, but, in addition to the delivery charges, increases the cost of each item. At least now they are somewhat up-front about it; when you click delivery there is a message to that effect. I don 't think it was always that way. As I recall (my memory may be faulty on this) at one point in the past they were making a big deal out of one dollar delivery and not saying as clearly as I would have liked to see that the individual item prices were jacked up. So, bottom line: if you eat here you 'll likely get a good, but expensive, meal. Whether it 's worth the money is an individual assessment.

I discovered a piece of plastic in my mac and cheese, and I nearly choked on it. It was a terrible surprise to what is usually a good meal. read more I discovered a piece of plastic in my mac and cheese, and I nearly choked on it. It was a terrible surprise to what is usually a good meal.

My sandwich was tasty, even though it was a bit messy. The iced latte, however, was spot on. I did encounter some problems with the Wi-Fi while I was trying to... read more My sandwich was tasty, even though it was a bit messy. The iced latte, however, was spot on. I did encounter some problems with the Wi-Fi while I was trying to work there...

I had the chicken salad was so happy and the bread that I got for supper awesome... read more I had the chicken salad was so happy and the bread that I got for supper awesome...