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| - I haven't had Panera in a while, but the moment I learned about their new broth bowls, I wanted to give one a try.
We stepped into the restaurant last Friday night, took a quick glance at the menu, and decided what we were going to order in less than a minute. We noticed a few kitchen staff walk by, but we waited a good five minutes before someone greeted us at the cash to take our orders. Understaffed, perhaps?
Then we proceeded to look for a table. There were a lot of empty tables, but quite a few of them were dirty and left uncleaned, and the whole dining area looked like it hadn't been vacuumed in a week. Again, we thought maybe they were really understaffed on that particular day...
I decided to try the Lentil Quinoa Bowl with Chicken. Chicken, quinoa, brown rice, lentils, tomato, kale, and spinach, all mixed in a miso soup. It sounded healthy and it looked healthy, but...it did not taste healthy at all. Not until I poured an entire cup of hot water into the extremely salty broth! The saltiness was so overpowering that I did not realize there was a bit of a spicy kick to the soup, which was nice. Considering it cost me about $10, the portion was also smaller than expected (it's just mostly soup). Overall though, I think it is a great recipe, but it was poorly executed.
If and when I visit Panera again, whether at this location or another, I'll definitely stick to their panini, sandwiches, and soup that I know taste good...
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