I met two friends at Kneaders for lunch 12:30 on a Thursday. The parking lot was packed and the line was out the door.
Ambiance: the restaurant itself is free standing with a relatively small parking lot. Adjacent to the paved parking lot is an unpaved area. Unfortunately there are some fairly substantially large rocks in that area that need to be avoided. However it is a useful area to park in when the paved lot is completely full. The entire time that we were there, there was a line waiting to place orders extending from the cash register to the front door. Despite the length of the line, it was under 10 minutes to reach the register and place my order. The eating area is very informal with wooden backed booths around the periphery and free-standing tables in the center. Pretty standard for fast food eateries. It has a bit of an oddity. There is a large display of sundry items that can be used to create a gift basket in the middle of the restaurant. The table turnover was fairly brisk so there was no problem getting a seat after you placed your order. After placing your order, you grab a seat and they bring your food to the table. Unlike other restaurants that I've been in that have this method of service, Kneaders does not have numbers that are placed on the table. Instead, the food runner hollers out your name and you try and flag them down as they go by. Very inefficient and a little weird for a noisy restaurant.
Service: the folks working behind the counter and the food runners we're all incredibly upbeat and seem to be happy working there. It took a bit longer than I expected to have my sandwich brought out. But I wasn't in a hurry and this was not a significant problem. Also this needs to be forgiven considering it's a fairly new restaurant.
Food: I ordered a chicken and pepper jack sandwich on focaccia bread. The sandwich was good, but not great. One of my buddies got the apple bread pudding for dessert. I did manage to steal a taste of it. It was incredible. In fact, if I come back I would consider skipping the sandwich and going straight to dessert.
Value: a filling lunch that is good but not great for under $10 is a good value for a fast food restaurant. I will definitely try Kneaders again. It is certainly good competition for Panera Bread just down Eastern from here.