Last time I was there a roach was crawling across the counter where you pick food up. My teen daughter saw it and won't eat there anymore. Teenagers today!! read more

It's fine. It's Panera. It's boring. Pronti Bistro is across the street and yummier.

I am a staunch supporter of the little Mom n' Pop breakfast places, which are few and far between in this economy. But I told myself I need to give the big guns a try once in a while, so I tried the Needham Panera Bread. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese and small coffee. Total price: $6.61. "I may have to rethink this," I thought. I am looking for $5 for breakfast, and may be reduced to Mc-y D's at this rate...Sigh. I asked if they have gluten-free breaf. "Not yet," said the cashier, who seemed intelligent. I ordered, served myself coffee (alas, they have no whole milk like Starbys, where I get free drinks and refills), and waited for my sandwich. A woman ahead of me waited, too, then picked up her order. Another "for here" order sat on the counter for what felt like too long. (I waitressed many moons ago.) I waited. After a bit, the server called my name (point for them, she pronounced it correctly--picky? You betcha.) I collected my order. Back in my car, I opened it up. The bacon, egg, and cheese was missing the bacon. So I hauled my now slightly peeved self back inside to a place to which I was already unsure I wanted to go in the first place. (Ain't Mamma happy, ain't nobody happy.) I asked the cashier if she could rectify the situation. She said sure, taking back the bag. Tick, tick. Am I even hungry anymore? After a few awkward minutes, she returned. "Uh, do you want another one, or a refund?" I was not sure. "Because we can't take this back." Now truly frustrated. "Another one," I snapped. She left me holding the original, orphan bag, and then, more waiting. While I did so, the lady from before reappeared. Problem with her order too, evidently. Then a man walked up with a plate of food and asked the manager to take out the egg shell that had fallen in his breakfast. The manager was, er, more peeved than contrite. You know? After a few more minutes, my newborn, twin sandwich appeared. The server smiled but her eyes glared, unable to hide her annoyance. I left with a final bitter taste to the morning. And I hadn't eaten a thing. To their credit, though, the ambiance is great for taking over a booth and working (do they let you sit, unhampered? Not sure I want to risk it). Or, as several people were doing, having a casual breakfast meeting. While I might come back for (not hot enough) coffee just for the pleasant surroundings alone, next time, I'll eat at home first. read more

I did the fast online order which the pickup is available 10 mins after checkout. I get there and the food is there waiting for me, which is great. I get back to my office and notice that the Chicken Alfredo Tortellini I ordered was just alfredo tortellini with two pieces of pink, VERY PINK, chicken. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever had and I will not be ordering it again. Wonder why the chicken is so pink! And the pasta was extremely salty! ew! read more

This location is a disaster. No parking, inaccurate orders, poor seating arrangements. Avoid this location!

Annoyed. I just did the mobile ordering and when I showed up my order was not there. I waited a few minutes and then asked a girl behind the counter. She then yelled across the counter to another employee that there were orders that were not in the right place. He took another two minutes to get my order on the shelf (instead of just asking me my name and giving it to me). He had two cups stacked together and then reached his hand inside of mine to pull it out. I'm sorry, but that's gross. Additionally, I did the "add-on" cookie for another dollar and it's not in my order. Maybe it's my fault I didn't check before I left, but then again...quality control. The place was empty so they can't use that as an excuse. read more

Stopped by with my mom. When we placed our order for two flatbreads, nobody told us that the store had run out of flatbreads. We waited patiently for five orders ahead of ours to be filled only to receive the wrong sandwiches that I couldn't eat, because I don't eat enriched flour. When we asked for our money back, not only did no one apologize, but everyone, including shift supervisor Ralph, treated us like it was we that did something wrong. And you know that free treat Panera promises you on every receipt if they get your order wrong. Not only did it not come up, but given how hostile everyone there was, I couldn't even bring myself to ask about it. After a total of 10 minutes of waiting and no food, we left hungry. read more

Pointless to go here - they are always out of stuff. Visited at least 5 times for the white loaf, at varying times in the afternoon and evening. They had it in stock only once. It's not a residential area, so I suppose they make 1 loaf everyday. read more

Like most places around lunch time during the work week, this place can get very crowded! You can usually find parking in the lot, although it can be iffy sometimes. The food is good as Panera always delivers on that end. read more

Yes their service is slow, but not as slow as the other Panera. I went in today and got fast service. Yes I got fast service today. However, their employees are great and they make the visit enjoyable. The only feedback is they have to some how find a way to speed things up when it is busy. I really think having the managers more involve and leading by example well make a difference if they can't add any more staff due to payroll. read more

This is a very clean store with a hard-working and kind staff. Their free wifi works well and the food is just as you would expect from Panera - two thumbs up! read more

I went to Panerain Needham on Highland Ave on a busy night, and they were fantastic. The staff at the register was very pleasant and the staff making the food was very professional and fast! Finding a clean table to relax was easy. I will be back to this location! read more

The service here is awesome! Coming from a former restaurant manager, I would say this location is doing a great job in customer service and accuracy. I did a lunch for my team of 13 employee's and everything was correct, labeled with name and fresh!!! Thank You Needham Panera Team! :) read more

My problem is not the food, but the way they staff the counter. I stop in every morning Mon-Fri between 7am - 9am and there is NEVER enough people at the registers. Yesterday I went in and there was a bus load of students, Ben was the only person ringing up their orders (Ben is great by the way!!) and they had one for us "regular folks" but at that we had to wait until someone would hop over to the register. Since the counter staff has to not only take the orders but fill the orders (bagels, muffins, pastries) that takes away from the line moving smoothly. Have a runner toast the bagels, let the counter staff man the register! Today I stopped in and there was about 12 people in line at 9am, I just turned around and walked out. I am afraid they are going to lose my business. The managers stand around talking with staff - sometimes non business conversations, look over at the line and most of the time, they do not hop on the register to help out the staff at the counter. I have stopped in at the Braintree lcoation a few times in the mornings, guess I will have to make that place my new morning breakfast spot. Eat and drink on my commute to Needham. Braintree is staffed properly, fast, efficient and I never have to wait for more than 1 maybe 2 minutes. read more

Been coming here for almost a decade for bagels and coffee. Bagels are consistently great and the staff has always been friendly. Coffee is consistently ok. Good layout and atmosphere. read more

Ordered via phone. Man on the other end was not very happy to talk with me and was hard to understand him. Just hung up the phone at the end of our little exchange. read more

This is the worst panera I've ever been to. Manager was rude to her employee at the cash register. 2 cashiers eating at the cash register, 2 items on our order were wrong as was the name on my order, manager did not apologize but did fix part of the order read more

The Place was busy as hell. The staff managed to keep the lines moving with very good quality service. I needed five sandwiches. I complement John Boardman, Coordinator, on completing my order exactly, as I needed. This gentleman is a credit to your organization in servicing customer needs, he even labled each sandwich. Regards, Wayne read more

I had a lobster salad sandwich at the Needham store this afternoon. I would not mind paying such a high price for a lobster salad sandwich if it was good. This was by far the worst lobster sandwich I have ever had in my life. Lobstah tasted like ice cubes with bits of shells in it. I would not recommend to anyone. I attempted to let the manager know how I felf and she pretty much ignored me. I would not even give it one star, but could not get the star off the top. read more

I've gone here in the past and it was very good and I got the same thing every time. However, the last four times I have gone, they have gotten my order wrong. I always ordered a simple turkey and swiss on white bread and one time they gave me a panini which was completely wrong. The worst of the four however was when I ordered my sandwich and when I went back to the car, I realized they gave me rye bread. I went back to get a new sandwich which they gave me and when I looked at it at home, they had gotten it wrong AGAIN and had given me ham. Another time when they got it wrong, the guy at the cash register was on his phone while I was ordering which I'm sure is they got my order wrong. read more

WORST PLACE EVER!!!!!! I use to come here every morning but the staff here is absolutely horrible. I went in this morning to order two breakfast sandwiches at 8:19am, the guy that was cooking them Chris told everyone that someone ordered the wrong eggs so it was going to take awhile, he had a bit of an attitude but we all proceeded to wait, I finally got my sandwiches at 8:40am, when I got to my car I checked my sandwiches because they ALWAYS mess them up and sure enough my sandwiches were wrong again. I went back in told Chris the sandwich was incorrect he told me no he made them correctly I proceeded to show him that my sandwich had egg and the receipt says no egg, he told me to keep that sandwich he will make me a new one, I told him I don't want it because I don't eat egg and I left it on the counter. He gave me the new sandwich and said "if your not going to take this one at least throw it away I'm not touching that", I replied with "yea right" and walked away he then said to everyone standing there "wow what a jerk" I turned around and said "did you just call me a jerk?, how dare you" at this point he proceeded to call me names and yell at me then decided he was going to go around the counter to try and hit me, the manager who was laughing at the whole thing tried to hold Chris back from hitting me at this point I left because I didn't know if they were all going to hit me I was afraid Chris is 6'2 at least 300lbs. I was shaken as I got in my car and could not eat the sandwiches I just threw them away. I returned to the store to get coporate's number and saw the 2 managers laughing and discussing the situation when I went to ask for the coporate number the manager in the red shirt just looked at me and smirked the other guy said you can talk to me but I didn't feel comfortable speaking with him as he was just laughing about the situation with the other manager. I am literally appauld never in my life have I ever experienced something like this. I will never eat at a Panera ever again nor will my family. I will be sharing this with all 180k of my followers on social media in hopes that no one ever goes into a Panera again. FYI the second sandwich he made didn't even have cheese. SMDH read more