Went in yesterday for the first time since this location transitioned from the Paradise Bakery name to Panera Bread. The first thing I found out was that my Paradise Bakery rewards card was no longer valid. The remodeled space is lighter and brighter, but that's about the only good thing. I counted at least 7 employees bustling around behind the counter (with many more in the kitchen), but only ONE person was actually taking orders and payments from the customers. She was very slow--even though it was 2:30pm and the lunch rush was over. With only 1 customer ahead of me, it took 5 FULL minutes for her to take that person's order and payment and over 3 MORE minutes to take my order and money, even though I knew exactly what I wanted--and then another 4 full minutes waiting for pickup (they have a bench now, so wait times MUST be longer).
I was glad to see that they still have the chicken-walnut salad on molasses bread--but it is not nearly as good as it used to be because:
** There is now a much smaller portion of chicken salad on the full sandwich for the same price of nearly $7.50.
** No more free cookie (you have to include a drink with your sandwich order & then you get to BUY a cookie for ONLY 99 cents more.
** My to-go order had a pickle spear (which I didn't order and do not like) wrapped up with the sandwich, with a lot of pickle juice getting absorbed by the bread, plus a 1-ounce bag of chips (that I also didn't order and do not like), which I tossed into the garbage can when I got home.
Ordering a sandwich from Paradise Bakery and getting the free chocolate chip cookie used to be an occasional mid-day treat--not any more!