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| - My family has always been fans of Panera Bread. We frequented their Seal Beach, CA location often as we enjoyed the food and their dedication to customer service. Unfortunately this Panera location was lacking in most aspects.
Even finding this 'Panera' (The facade says Paradise Bakery) was frustrating. I'm not sure if this was a Paradise Bakery that was bought out by Panera, or if this is some kind of one-off rebranding, but even Panera's website says that this is a Panera Bread location. The signs told us otherwise.
Once inside, it was obvious that none of the workers wanted to be there. Bored, slack-faced, hanging one-armed off of the registers. They seemed to all be of younger age, and it was clear that they had better things they wanted to be doing.
The food was what we had come to expect. My Frontega Chicken panini was actually well assembled and tasted fresh. Not much to complain about there.
However, the inside of the restaurant needs a deep cleaning in the worst way. Everything is sticky, dingy, and unvacuumed. The girl bussing the tables sullied about looking miserable, and used the same nasty rag on all of the tables. There was a noticeable funk smell that permeated after she had wiped down our eating area. Definitely not an appetizing aroma.
We are disheartened that this is our closest Panera location. All it would take is a little better management to ensure better cleaning practices and perkier associates. For now though, we'll probably think twice and drive further to a well-run Paneradise.
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