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| - 3.5 stars for good soups, salads and bagels, and really good baked breads and muffins.
The corporate food business model is based on the idea that people will keeping coming back for mediocre food as long as the food is predictably and consistently mediocre. You have to hand it to them. It's true. People will choose mediocre food over and over again (MsDonald's, Subway, etc.) rather than try out an unknown restaurant where the food might dip below mediocre and down to awful.
But unlike the typical corporate taste model, the folks behind Panera wondered what would happen if the food offered tasted good or if the menu included numerous healthy and tasty options. People might still come back again and again. Good call, Panera CEOs. You were right.
Panera offers a wide choice of sandwiches, baked goods, soups and salads. There's something on the menu for most taste buds. It's basically a deli / bakery with consistently decent/good food. Here's my breakdown:
Breads--really good, borderline great (4 stars)
Muffins and muffin tops - - mostly "hells yes" (4 stars)
Bagels -- pretty solid (3-4 stars)
Sandwiches -- a little hit or miss (2-3 stars) depending on your preference (but the bread will be good)
Salads -- pretty solid again (3-4 stars)
Soups -- decent (2-3 stars) -- but put it in a bread bowl and it jumps up to 4 stars b/c if I haven't mentioned it already, the bread is really good
Price is a little steeper than most corporate spots, but a lot of the food is fresh. The service is hit or miss (it is a high volume corporate counter service place) and the ambiance is well, blah (bland and dull and nowhere I want to hang out). But it's a solid place to get carry out from again and again.
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