Wow the service here has really stepped up from when I used to come here daily for homework about 3 years ago. Newer menu and fun drink options. The self serve coffee is so nice and of course the bakery items are great. The chocolate chipper cookie is still my fave! You can order at a kiosk or at the counter. There is also a drive thru which I'm not sure everyone knows about. Lots of parking. It is a bigger getting in and out of here though as it's on Florida Ave. another great option which we use is the "sip club". It's great if you like your daily coffee but are also on a budget. Nice amount of outdoor seating. Fun spring refreshers now being served. Tried the passion fruit, very tart but super "refreshing" haha. read more

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Panera is pretty consistent across most locations, and I'd say this South Lakeland one is fairly in that parameter for the most part. I've done a lot of big group orders from here, for 15-17 people and they usually have everything ready and rarely have anything missing which is impressive. There's plenty of seating both inside and outside, and having the coffee club membership is worth it if you'd come here even once a month. I do like even just being a rewards member, as they give you a free item here and there and a free pastry on your birthday! read more

Panera Bread - Sandwiches Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

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Replacing automated order stations for human cashiers may make financial sense but it limits the customer's options when ordering. For example I wanted my bagel toasted...no option. I wanted to get peanut butter and jelly instead of cream cheese....no option. No one attends the coffee station. So, the dark roast jug was empty , the decaf coffee was like warm at best and the brown sugar container was empty. No wonder the star rating is so low. read more

The food was okay. We walked in and waited a bit for someone to ring us up. The girl that ended up taking our order was coughing quite a bit and obviously sick. Now back to the food I did the pick 2 and chose the Autumn Squash soup and the Turkey & Cheddar sandwich. The soup was very sweet. I like more of a savory soup. The sandwich was just barely edible. I just didn't really like the taste or texture. She didn't ask me if I wanted chips, so I ended up with bread. My brother ordered a bagel with cream cheese and liked that. My Mom ordered the chicken salad sandwich with cranberry on sourdough. She found it a little too sweet. Just not the best experience at Panera. read more

Panera Bread - Autumn Squash Soup Turkey & Cheddar Sandwich - Sandwiches Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

I'll state upfront, I have not been inside this particular Panera Bread, but I have ordered delivery from them and have been through the drive-thru. (Especially since they closed the dining room during the pandemic.) Both are very good. The first time I had food delivered, the delivery driver saw my order coming through and had them rush it because he already had orders in the same neighborhood, so I received my food much earlier than estimated. Smart and appreciated. Going through the drive-thru, the orders are expedited fast and efficient and I haven't found a mistake yet. (Of course, the since dining room is closed, so they only concentrate on the one line.) Their sandwiches have always been fresh and tasty. I always opt for the half size, because they are pretty well-stuffed. Everyone knows how good their soups are. They are packed well and arrive at their destination still hot. The breakfast sandwiches are definitely better than their fast food counterparts. The pastries, well, YUM! I haven't had too much contact with employees, other than the nice ones at the window, so I can't say much. I will say the drive-thru is very tight. Drive ALL the way to the back, way behind the store until you think you've completely left the block and then make a super tight u-turn to the left. After you order at the sign, be careful and hug the building at the curve, another very tight turn. Then, after the window, please look both ways before making a left because not everyone pays attention at that drive. read more

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Person at the front counter very courteous Big complaint is the condition of the store . Not Clean , FLIES over my food at the pick up counter !!!!!!!! Management, very dissatisfied seen this store condition and having flies in your kitchen . Person was rude when I pointed out on the flies !!! Hello this is Panera , not a food truck in the middle of the street . read more

I ordered a grilled cheese mac & cheese and this is what I got instead. Horrible packaging the sandwhich was stuck to the wrapper. Also no mac and cheese!!!!!! Do not recommend this location. read more

Panera Bread - Sandwiches Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

The Baja Bowl with Chicken was delicious. I ordered on line, my order was ready and delivered to my car when I arrived!

Location has fast service and convenient drive through. Food is always fresh, especially their sandwiches made on fresh-baked bread.

They're usually out of decaf in the afternoon. When we ask them to make it, they say they will but then we wait fifteen or twenty minutes and it's still not done. read more

$6 for a small macaroni! What is this country coming to!!! You can go to Publix or Harry's and have a sit down dinner for a larger portion of macaroni than what I just bought from Panera Bread. I will not be going there again, the food sucks anyways read more

First, they keep this place ice cold in the morning! You can hear employees in the back saying if you don't keep the air conditioning down, we're leaving! So the patrons shiver, and the food gets cold almost immeasurable. That's nice. Secondly, one of their major breakfast items, the soufflés, which is the main reason for going there, are never ready at opening in the four years I've been going there. Why do you have a breakfast item, the very reason for people coming there, and not have it ready? The poor excuse is that they got started late. Well, they've been starting late for years. Can't they get their act together? read more

Just visited this location ordered steak and white cheddar. Only 1 slice of sandwich steak for $13. For fn real. Go elsewhere. Get 2 at wawa for same price.screw this place read more

Brought our team in for breakfast, everything came out fast and correct - only negative ordering, the 2 taking our order seemed confused and slow read more

Been a few times to this location. I love the herbal tea fusions. Today had a prickly pear hibiscus tea. It was ice cold and amazing. My daughter and i both had bread bowl with broccoli cheddar soup. The bread here is great. First time trying the bread bowl won't be last. The service was good and food came out fast and hot. read more

We ordered 1/2 of a turkey, bacon, avocado sandwich and tomato soup. The soup was very good but the sandwich had mostly lettuce, a tomato and a few clumps of turkey, all the rest was left off. It was very skimpy and disappointing for Panera. read more

Often my order is wrong and I let it slide because I always get it to-go, and I'm gone. today the bread is completely wrong in my sandwich. I have called you twice to let you know because I've had enough of this wrong order stuff. Both times the phone rings and rings and then cuts me off. if you are so busy you can't give good customer service then you really should hire some more people. read more

Food is ok. Little overpriced Not a favorite Not much more to say. Soups are ok. Also overpriced

Cashiers unprofessional, argue with customers. The manager Joy Kunz also representing this company poorly by not even wearing her mask correctly while arguing with customers as well. Spend your money elsewhere in all the wonderful privately owned restaurants Lakeland has to offer. read more

the 4028 south florida panera bread, was very stingy in their sandwiches. They barely put any chicken in my sandwich and one little piece of bacon. They only put one tiny slice of avacado for a whole sandwich and used the wrong bread. They stated they were out of it but they in fact did have it. read more

Nelson was exceptional. Stopped in for a quick dinner and was very pleasantly surprised. Thank you Nelson!

The most poorly run Panera I've been to Half the coffee pots empty which was strange since they had more employees in the then customers One person running the register who did not know what she was doing. It took her 10 minutes to ring up 3 orders Total lack of management/supervision read more

the attached picture speaks for itself. i am disgusted . i hope they give me a refund, but either way i have never been more disgusted.

Finally have hours that work for me! Truly enjoy their soufflé dishes and love their fresh iced tea. My new breakfast place in Lakeland. I will be back. Return visit today. Orange/cranberry muffin was very good. Nathan does a great job at the register. Joy is very friendly in the kitchen. Was impressed with Austin, the manager. He went out of the way to clear an obstacle in the roadway that may have caused an accident. Good job! Give them all a raise! read more

My '07 and '11 reviews still hold pretty true with this being a "meh" experience. They are often busy and the frenetic pace minimized the service and cleanliness upkeep. We did have an employee offer to take our dirty plates for us which never happens and was delightful. I ordered the new Thai half salad at $5. The dressing was sooo acidic and tasted like hair spray--I thought it was rancid. The manager stood behind the product (without tasting it) saying "It's how Thai people like it, it's spicy". Sorry Thai is a personal favorite food and this insults the ethnic scrumptiousness of their foods. It was not a "spicy" issue it was a flavor issue. A friend got an "Asian salad". The only difference we could see is one had dressing, one did not. A third friend had a great looking flatbread sandwich. The manager replaced my salad with balsamic and it was quite edible. (However, you could see the manager and the greasy-haired employee speaking under their breath to each other with the replacement which made me uncomfortable.) I appreciated this as the other was so inedible I would've had to leave it. I've never returned a meal before and would have tolerated it were it in any way possible to eat. They have improved the side bread, offering a softer chewier roll than the coarse unbite-able French loaf slice of before. They have a lame order process and two of the four registers are not in view of the menu. They just sigh and wait for you to dream up an order or walk back and forth to see the menu while others groan in the line. A little friendliness and helpfulness would've gone a long way. When you order a plain water, it comes out pink, making a statement on how "pure" the water is. My big lesson is to order dressing on the side in the future. But I will only go here when forced by pals. I love soups and salads but too many other places do it with care and deliciousness. I've tried for 7 years to like this place and just can't force it. read more

I absolutely love going to Panera! I get the Broccoli & Cheddar Soup in a Bread Bowl and omg it is so good! I've gone quite a bit and I have never had poor service! read more

The worst service today thru the drive thru this morning. I have no idea what was wrong with the girl taking the order. Before I could even place the order for my drink she gave me the total of my order. I told her I had to add a drink order. When I pulled up to the window. Greeted by the cashier with the worst attitude. You guys are my favorite place to stop in the morning but i won't be back for awhile. read more

Restaurant was very clean and need but the experience was one of the worst at any Panera have been too because of the pick two menu. Which was highly confusing I guess a while back if you picked that menu choice you would get two items for one price and it wasn't moderate-priced between 699 and 999. Well today we learned that the pick two menu items of all been separated out individually the big to have a sandwich was $5.89 and the salad or soup was even more. So the average price for a pick to meal and any Panera Bread now is $12 not what you expect. The discount that you would expect to get from that it's misleading on all menus. That's how you ruin your business by not really letting customers know the price of the items you're looking to purchase. The store's the atmosphere is fantastic but the pricing and potentially misleading methods that they do price is just not good and wants a forever long time from their bread customer for over 10 years that's done thanks Panera Bread see you later I'll be heading to Jason's Deli from now on read more

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One car in front of me, waiting over ten minutes in a drive through is not acceptable. Next time I will take my lazy butt inside, the drive through is not convenient or efficient. I hope I don't pee my pants. The girl who took my order was not very friendly and frankly sounded bored. Uh oh...the car in front of me has turned off the engine. read more

Joy Kunz is the manager that doesn't provide professional customer service. I observed her being argumentative with a customer. We chose to leave and eat lunch at another restaurant. read more

Staff was really friendly! Card machine was running incredibly slow, nothing they could do about it, but they were really sweet and apologetic. The food seemed a little off though-- I always get the same thing from Panera and the pineapples in my salad this time seemed kind of off/out of date, and my panini barely had any of the sauce on it that I love. Not a bad experience though, the rest was fine. Just not the usual standard I'd expect for a panera. read more

Snarky, Smug, and dismissive ...Non ADA compliant and Medically discriminatory towards any exemptions of masking. As I quote the General Manager Ana, "that's not my concern in my store" could have been served & sat in minutes, but instead management made a case & sited corporate mask policies. I'm sorry... I didn't get the corporate memo!!! Apparently they did not get the State/County memo on allowable exemptions. No exemptions permitted inside, Manager James stated, " take your order outside or take it home".... I will just take ALL business elsewhere & not to this location! I will say I was at another Panera's on the Northside last week, a Very different and a Very pleasant experience. Not the case here....a fairly empty dinning area should have been the clue at this Southside location. read more

I love this place. I had the Power Chicken Hummus Bowl and it tasted excellent. The Hummus was to die for. I recommend this salad to anyone especially if you're vegetarian, just ask to have it without the chicken. I would get it again next time. It's that good. read more

Panera Bread - Power Chicken Hummus Bowl without Chicken. - Sandwiches Near Me - Lakeland, Florida

So disappointed. My son and I like to lunch at pPaneras but not Lakeland again. They are unprofessional in so many ways including but not limited to not using the table callers instead telling out names. 1 person register open on sat afternoon. Down hill from there . Sorry to see it is failing read more

This was a great Panera to go to. My friends and I Study here once in a while. I like the casual atmosphere of Panera. I often feel bad for the workers though because a lot of customers that come through seem very rude and insensitive. I LOVE their French onion soup, and the baguettes are always hot and fresh. My favorite pastry to order is the wild blueberry scone. This is a great stop to get homework or work done. The WiFi was a tad slow today, but it's usually good. read more

This location is great. Friendly staff and good food. However they need to do a better job cleaning the tables. Every time I go in this location, I have to ask a staff member to wipe down the table as it's typically covered in dirty dishes. With the Covid sanitary requirements, I would expect them to stay on top of cleanliness. read more

Absolutely terrible. Overpriced for mediocre food and small portions. Not specific to this location, this is a problem at EVERY Panera I have been to. Will not be back. read more

Good food but poorly run. So tired of going through the drive through and the order being wrong. Double check your order all the way down to dressing for your salad. read more

The management is no more delightful than a sack of shit left on your porch in July. I understand that serving food at such a fast pace is hectic, but the two robots who must have conceived this litter of unprofessional, inhuman management runts must have abandoned them at the hospital steps, as only orphans could know how to impart so much discomfort and frustration upon people. The only redeeming quality of this Panera is it's staff under management. They are incredibly kind and quick to tug away the cloak of "fuck this place" off of you. I especially enjoy the girl with the red hair who sometimes works the register, as her smile and general demeanor could brighten up anybody's day. It might honestly be the cure for cancer, if at least not the cure for the management's shitty attitude. I look forward to visiting this Panera again, if not for some good food, then to flick off that shitty shitty old white guy told me I can't have my bread and eat it to. Fuck him. read more

I am a little sad here at panera. I have always loved it and now am disappointed that the black bean soup has been discontinued as it was the only vegan option for soups. Please bring this back or replace it with another vegan soup. read more