Kiosk ordering system broke down in concert with kitchen per cook. Assistant trainer offered me a free drink and order was expedited.

Ok Panera. I dig your food. My favorite is the tomato and mozzarella...but you gotta lay off pushing the My Panera Card. It is just too annoying. I've started to avoid you now. My wife even got one, and now every time we swipe it, we get a laundry list of all this free, fattening food that I have no need for. So we traded one annoying diatribe for another. I think I'm gonna start wearing headphones when I order so I won't hear the endless My Panera Card saga. read more

Got here this morning at 6:45, ordered a soufflé it was ice cold, then the cashier had trouble working the register. I reordered a toasted bagel which took 15 minutes. My debit card was charged twice. I got up and told the manager and she told me to wait a few days for it to come off. I will never go to this Panera again!!! Not a great way to start a day! read more

It's like this particular location has forgotten what Panera Bread is supposed to be. They short us on salad dressing, use stale-ish bread, extra light on the cheeses, and generally mess up orders. They are in need of a corporate audit, and some re-training. read more

Nice, clean establishment with fresh ingredients. I have never had a complaint about the quality of service provided here. The wi-fi is great and is never spotty. I usually come here for breakfast, but I'm sure lunch here would be just as good of an experience. read more

I have been to this Panera Bread in the past and have not had any issues until today! After driving around town to find a place to get a few breakfast sandwiches (the driving around was due to downtown detouring me away from my initial preferred business because of a public event) I chose Panera Bread only to be denied ordering breakfast sandwiches because it was 11:00, which I was there and in line BEFORE 11:00 and I was told that breakfast ends at 11:00. Well, I was already standing in line to purchase breakfast sandwiches. Then I simply asked about ordering an egg sandwich, nothing fancy or extravagant, and I was just told "no, because we stop serving breakfast at 11:00" to which I replied "I was already in line for breakfast and that is the reason why I was here" ..... nothing! Already having been around town I sucked it up and reluctantly ordered something anyway, spending over $40. And then out of two orders that I placed one was prepared for the restaurant when I said it was to go and one of the sandwiches was not on the bread that I ordered it to be on. Of course this was not discovered until I got them to my destination where I was to eat. Also, I ordered two sweet teas. When I did the person taking my order could have told me that the restaurant only offers unsweet teaa and I would have to add the sweetener, which I would not have done and would have not ordered drinks. What horrible a horrible experience and terrible customer service! read more

The Panera on 21st street in Ghent (lets face it it's in Ghent not Norfolk) anyway, is one of the best i've found. The food is always fresh/fast and in true Panera style it's tasty! I've been able to get some Facetime and Internetting done while relaxing in the comfortable atmosphere. BZ to this Panera for keeping it simple. Most recently I noticed that new "bar" style table tops with outlets installed for computer power ease.. Just when i think Panera can't get any better - i'm proven wrong.. read more

Love the location of this place.. and of course its always a good time at Panera Bread! Grabbed a Panini and a smoothie and a chocolate chip cookie and all was amazing as usual! The Customer service was top notch and super helpful. I also grabbed a tomato bisque soup on the way out and was of course to die for!! read more

I have always been a fan of Panera bread! I love their food and desserts! The sugar cookie is my favorite no lie. I hate that they ask me if I want a pastry for $.99 every time because I always want that cookie lol. I really like this location as well very clean and nice. read more

Excellent staff which is what makes any of these franchise or chains stand out, as the food is consistant no matter the location.

I usually call in my order and typically a very simple order. The problem I had today was that I STRESSED that I wanted 2 pickle spears with my sandwich. I went in grabbed my order and returned to work. I started to eat my lunch and NO PICKLES!!! Not even one! It totally ruined my lunch! So the message I'm trying to convey is BE ESPECIALLY EFFICIENT with your phone in orders! read more

I keep coming back, so obviously not bad! HA! As a chain restaurant, they do what they do and they do it in a very busy area. Ghent gets hit hard when it comes to demand for yummy food and this Panera stands up to the pressure well. They have several kiosks and there are several ways to not have to wait for your food or wait to order. I enjoy ordering online and I can select whatever time I like to pick up my order. When I arrive, I just go to the shelf unit toward the back and grab my order and leave. How easy was that. As far as staff friendliness goes, it's OK. No one has disrespected me or crossed any lines, so all is well service wise read more

Food and service are always delicious and timely. However I feel like I need a full length fur coat to enjoy sitting and consuming. My soup was cooling down faster than I could warm up. read more

The food is always good and that's a huge plus!! But it's also quite hectic during the lunch rush. Kinda loud, makes it hard to have decent conversation between 2 people let alone a group. The parking here is so-so for a Ghent location, so beware if you're driving a big SUV or truck. Most of the time the counter folks are generally happy and seem to love their job which does make this a pleasant experience and a reason why I continue to come back often. read more

I like the place, clean and friendly. But the sandwiches have very little food in the middle. I always ask for extra to finish my meal satisfied...and I get charged for it. The breads are divine and the sweet counter is super. Three stars for not having enough food in the sandwiches. read more

I was a bit nervous coming into Panera during the lunch rush (I am from the DC area, boy do the Paneras around there get packed!). To my surprise it was a relatively small line. There was a Ms. Desiree that took my order and she was absolutely on point! The sandwiches here are aren't stingy and the soup was great. One of the managers ended up stopping his task and grabbed my food for me when my buzzer went off (which honestly wasn't necessary, I felt kinda bad. The gesture was appreciated though!). Either way, the staff is nice, food is great, and there are plenty of seats. Definitely recommend! read more

I've always loved panera and I've done the new computer kiosks many times instead of waiting in line. I was getting mine to go so I was just standing, waiting for my food minding my own business and the employees kept looking at me like I wasn't supposed to be standing there. Lol I've been to so many paneras so this was so weird to me. The food was great and the guy making it was super nice. But the 2 that grab the food and bring it to people(keep in mind not all paneras do this in the first place) made me feel super uncomfortable. read more

I would have given this place 5 stars if it wasnt for their terrible management. Our company placed an order at 11:30am for delivery (all on different computers but all at 11:30) it said delivery between 12:05-12:15pm. It was now 12:25pm and still nothing, yet everyone else received their food by 12:05. So I called the store and spoke to a manager and all he said was "Im sorry we are busy today, and she should be on her way", I say ok....5 more minutes pass by its now 12:30pm, my break is about to end and yet I still have not received my food. This is ridiculous! how did everyone else receive there items but mine just happened to slip through the crack? read more

The only place I know that has a wide variety of soups and salads!

So disappointed, I ordered 14 lunch boxes and soup yesterday for a going away party at work but was cancelled without calling. When I called them to put the order back on, they said they were too busy to make them. I had to call them to remove the charges on my account. What kind of customer service is that??? read more

Every time I come to this location my order gets messed up somehow. The workers don't really seem to care about customer service and the food isn't that great. I love Panera but this location needs some big attention!! read more

Stopped in for a quick breakfast to go after yoga. The employees all seemed confused but the food tasted great. Please get it together & use your words instead of assuming your co-worker can read minds. read more

Bad customer service. The cashier was rude and hard of hearing. It took 15 mins for a simple sandwich to be prepared.

I HATE THIS PANERA!!!! Now, I know this will sound stupid but... I hate this panera...even though I still go there atleast once per week. The food is always good (if you actually get what you ordered...and if they have what you want)...but the service SUCKS! The people who work there couldn't care less about you...and they don't listen! Also...every Sunday morning, I go here for breakfast. By 10:15am..EVERY WEEK, they are out of hazlenut coffee, creamer, and much of their bfast selection! WTF?!?! Also.. they run bfast differently than lunch. They have one register open, w/ one girl running it. She takes your order, gets your order, gives it to you, then comes the next person in line. Well, this makes the line quite long...meanwhile, there are like...12 employees in the back, or sitting and eating at a table, or getting ready for lunch! URGH! If they would do bfast the way they do lunch (someone takes the order, others fill it and everyone is happy), I'd be much happier....but instead, I'll keep going and getting pissed off...b/c the food is too good to just stop going! 2 stars...b/c of the food.....but nothing else is good about this place! read more

I've been to this Panera since my college days. Back then I complained about the price (cue: poor student). Now that I can afford to have lunch here I must say the quality and consistency of this particular Panera Bread has won me over. They are very quick to process orders. Their salads are always always fresh. Can't say this about every Panera for sure.This place is my safe lunch haven, where I know I will always pay at least $10 and leave happy. read more

Food was good, served quickly, atmosphere was pleasant. Lost a star because there is a weird electronic system that I couldn't figure out for getting your food. I still have no idea how it was supposed to work, so it was a confusing few minutes there at the beginning. Fortunately, it was mid-afternoon so not crowded and it didn't really matter. read more

Like just about everyone else in the free world, I've gone to Panera's several times before. I love to share a bowl of soup with my daughter after school on a chilly day. Today I was out running errands and thought I'd stop in to pick up some lunch. I haven't had lunch there in quite awhile and it sounded like a good idea. There was no line so I was able to order fairly quickly. The gentleman who helped me was somewhat patient, although not overly friendly. I ended up picking a half of a fuji apple salad and half of a chicken avocado BLT. I chose to get a drink and a dessert for 99 cents; the cupcakes were calling my name today! So I got home, thrilled to dig into what sounded like a great lunch. I started with the salad. The dried apples were tasty, but the rest of the salad had a strange aftertaste, like it was really savory and didn't belong with the apple slices. I ate about half of it and threw the rest away. I opened up the half sandwich and was disappointed with that as well. It was a tiny sandwich half, with very little avocado on it. I believe I saw one small avocado slice. The bacon was cold and so chewy I coudn't bite it off of the sandwich--the whole piece flew out from between the bread slices and the sandwich collapsed in my hands. Maybe I'm picky, but I'm not particularly fond of cold, rubbery bacon. The vanilla cupcake? Well, the icing had slid off by the time I got it home. The center of it was gooey and I don't think it was from filling, although I couldn't swear by it. It just looked like the center was raw. So all in all, the best part of this meal was the extra piece of baguette I got with my meal, and the diet pepsi. What a waste of fifteen bucks. read more

Ate there last night. Food was fine, predictable. The dining are, however was filthy. No other way to describe it. Virtually all the tables were dirty and greasy. Looked as though they hadn't been wiped down all evening (?all day). The carpet was littered with trash and crumbs. The bathrooms were dirty and stunk. Truly unsanitary and deserving of citation by the city! It will be a long time before I go back to this facility. read more

I like the healthy options, but wish there was a salad similar to the strawberry salad they have the in summer that is low calorie/fat year round. read more

I frequent this place simply because it is convenient. The food is usually what I expect and the staff is friendly but the service could use improvement - they are SLOW even when it's not a "peak" time of the day such as lunch. I have also gotten home more than once only to discover they have left out a key part of my meal such as salad dressing, etc, which isn't the end of the world but still a bummer. Overall, the food is good but they are slow at times. read more

The service at this Panera is quite good and the one time that they messed up my order.. I let them know, they apologized and were very quick to correct it. I will def. be back to visit. read more

I am teacher in (Ghent) Norfolk and called the store to speak to a manager about their donation program. I spoke with a manager about 106 of my students taking a 3 1/2 hour long AP exam on May 11th and that I wanted to feed them breakfast (a lot of my students do not get or do not have access to breakfast), but I was on a tight budget. I wanted to know if they could donate their leftover bakery goods to the school. The manager asked when the date was and I told her in 10 days. She promptly told me to go online to the donation center and put in my request application. I directly went online and was automatically denied my request because it was not in the time limit- which was 6 weeks. As a manager, she should have known the process and so should have told me that the request would be denied rather than making me go online and automatically be refused. Customer service dictates that you speak with a customer and NOT have someone else do your dirty work. So much for being a part of the community. read more