Panera Bread - Homewood

Interesting experience today. First off I tried another Panera close on 162nd and the dining room was closed. Likely this Panera?s dining room will close soon because the manager (see pictures) spent 25 minutes talking to a loud, boisterous man sitting at a table about his homes value. How is one Panera so short handed the dining room is closed while at this Panera the manager has time to visit one patron for 25 minutes? And I still had inedible lettuce cores in my salad. It?s a conundrum and unless you?re are hungry find another spot or you might be disappointed like me.

I posted a similar review n the Matteson location. And their corporate office contacted me about this. They gave me $20 in Panera Reward's so we're decided on Panera for dinner and movie night. This is the 3rd time went gone to this location and there is always a problem with the order! Last night we ordered and my husband drove 16 minutes to this location for carry out. His sandwich was missing and they gave us a small Mac Cheese instead of the large we ordered. The baguette looked it was half eaten. When he got home, we tried to call the store, but as usual, no answer. They have weak management at both locations because I'm the old days, this wouldn't be happening again and again!

I purchase food quite often for lunch as I work nearby. The food is good, the staff are friendly. However they have some of the worst drive through service. There's always something missing from the order such as no salad dressing....or only a quarter filled. I ask for butter and get none. But most frustrating is the time it takes to get through...today I've had it!! I waited 20 minutes stuck in drive thru...which ate a good portion of my lunch time, only to get back to work and find No salad dressing!! This needs Serious Attention!!

This morning I arrived at the drive thru at 9:15 and there were about 4 cars ahead of me. It was moving very slowly and I didn?t get to the window until 20 minutes later. When I got to the window the server told me she was sorry about the wait and that they were extremely short staffed. She then offered me a complimentary drink or pastry. The explanation was understandable and I appreciated her gesture. I am sorry that I did not get her name but thank you again for great customer service and good food.

We just got back home from a ridiculously horrid experience thanks to an unprofessional manager on duty named Cara. We picked up an expensive order from a nearby restaurant which included a free sundae for Teacher Appreciation Week, and decided to stop at this Panera to pickup a complimentary drink as part of the drink promo. We literally waited in the drive thru for 45 minutes thanks to the poorly designed drive through which prevents cars from driving out of the drive in the event that a customer changes their mind or there is an emergency. What angered us is that the car in front of us held up the line for 20 of that 45 minutes but that customer should have been instructed to pull up to a holding space until their order was brought to them. When we finally reached the pickup window, we asked for a manager and that was Cara who needs to be fired for incompetency! She lied and said she did not have staff to take orders to cars, yet we witnessed a worker who did just that for another customer who pulled to a wait space. We showed her the melted sundae and advised that our food was cold but she did not care, only saying there is nothing I can do. She kept asking what I wanted and when I advised her to compensate me for my food order from the other restaurant, she said, again, she is not responsible for orders from someplace else. Why ask me? Furthermore, we tried calling twice to ask that they instruct the other customer in front of us to pull up but they never answered the phone. I was so mad, I left without the drink and thinking I will never return! Awful manager! Awful decision on Panera 's part to hire Cara who is incapable of making common sense decisions.