Panera Bread - Nampa

The wait for our food wasn't excessively long, but it wasn't particularly quick either. If I had been on a tight schedule, it might have felt stressful. The food was delicious—I had half a sandwich and a bowl of soup. I preferred the sandwich over the soup, mostly because the soup was something I could have easily made at home, whereas I don't have a panini press. Someone came to clear the table, but they didn't rush us to finish our meal. They simply offered to take our trays if we were done with them. We ended up chatting for about 30 minutes after finishing our food, and we felt completely comfortable without any pressure to leave.

I've been a big fan of Panera since they first opened in Idaho, but recently I've noticed a decline in food quality, while prices continue to rise. The other day, I ordered a chicken sandwich and a cookie for around $16, but both items were incredibly dry and didn’t taste good at all. The staff are always very friendly, but unfortunately, the food just isn't what it used to be.

The food at this restaurant is usually quite good, but I've noticed that the portion sizes have decreased. Additionally, charging over $3 for a medium soda is just too much. I've visited about five times in the last six weeks, and despite providing my phone number each time, I still haven't received any rewards. At least Subway offers a $2 discount on every third online order. Because of this, I’m going to reduce how often I visit Panera.

The food was not the quality you usually expect for a Panera. The line to order was longer than usual, but the kitchen was WAY behind. I could understand it we came at peak time, but it was 1:30 and it looked like people had been waiting a while. It took over 30 minutes for the food to be ready, luckily we got the kids fruit cups to eat while we waited. The WiFi is good, which was important with two little kids waiting a half hour for Mac and Cheese. It total two Pick Two lunches, two kids meals and two drinks were over $50 which would have been steep, but acceptable, if it hadn’t been so slow!

I ran through the drive through. No one was in front of me, so my only wait time was while they prepared my order. Everything was fresh and warm. It was a nice treat that my family enjoyed at home.