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| - This was my first visit to any Panera Bread location, having been to a Paradise Bakery (their previous name) only once before. I came here for a late lunch with a friend who chose the place. Frankly I had never been interested in it because I'm not a big bread eater. But I tagged along.
My first impression is I was surprise how large the place is. They must get very busy at certain times. When we got there mid-afternoon on a weekday there were still a pretty good sized number of people.
The ordering counter takes a minute to figure out, obviously not a problem for return customers who seem to be what Panera Bread depends on. You can pre-order and when you arrive your meal is waiting for you in a little cubbyhole, or you can order from your phone as you're on the way, or you can order from a self-service electronic kiosk, or you can order from your table, the choices are amazing. We chose to do the traditional standing in line (actually there was no one else but us) because I had no idea what to expect on the menu. The staff was awesome and patient with us while we decided. I like the general choice of menu items, although it is surprisingly limited for as large of a place there is, and if I had a craving for junk food I could tell right away I was in the wrong place.
Being late and only wanting a light lunch I ordered the small Green Goddess Cobb salad and a latte. I didn't expect much from the salad since it hardly cost more than a Big Mac meal. The food was brought to our table by a friendly server a few minutes later.
I was pleasantly surprised at the salad. First impression ... the pieces of chicken were HUGE, not that diced lunchmeat-looking stuff most restaurants use. There were more different types of greens in the salad than I could identify, along with a lot of fresh avocado, tomato wedges and, um, more other stuff I couldn't identify, but thankfully NO iceberg lettuce. I started thinking to myself that I don't eat at "healthier" restaurant as much as I should if I don't even know what this stuff is. The salad was an absolute 5-stars. I am not used to having the dressing put on the bottom of the bowl and at first I didn't know there was any but I found that I preferred it that way, it doesn't soak all over the other ingredients and mess up their taste.
Another thing that struck me is how many people were using the workstations and free wifi. Yes, workstations, not just people taking up dining table space. I know when I have had to go to most other restaurants to work for a while I always feel out of place and that I am hogging someone's table. Panera Bread obviously welcomes people to hang around and gives them space where they won't feel guilty.
As is typical I didn't read any other reviews for this chain (or this particular location) before writing my review so I would be surprised if anyone could find anything negative about it.
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