The Swampscott, MA Panera Bread is the best managed Panera Bread that I have visited in the USA, bar none (and, I have probably visited over 100 Panera Bread Cafe's, in the USA). I believe the high performance management, and favorable customer experience, are a result of the Cafe's manager, Luan. I hadn't seen Luan, or visited the Swampscott Panera Bread Cafe, in more than 10 years, and when I walked in, Luan was still there, still doing a great job managing the Cafe, and he remembered me and my name. I have no idea how he did that. The coffee at Panera Bread is outstanding; always hot, bold, flavorful, and with the right accompaniments, including Skim Milk. Unfortunately, the pastry at Panera Bread is not good. I don't remember how long Panera has been serving Par-Baked pastry, but the Par-Baked pastry are bad; they look good, but their taste and texture are terrible. Most decent bakeries put Panera's pastry to shame; Panera's bagels are awful, in the same league as Dunkin's hockey puck bagels, just awful. The salads and sandwiches at Panera are pretty good, but, expensive. As Panera Bread Cafe's go, I say with confidence, that the Panera Bread Cafe in Swampscott, MA is the best managed Panera Bread Cafe that I know, in the USA. read more

Nice place to go to sit and have coffee a piece of pastry. Also, they have a variety of sandwiches and soups plenty of seating. Plenty of parking come on in and have a quiet time with your coffee in amenity. read more

I've been a Panera customer for a long time but haven't visited one for a few years. I met a friend for coffee here this morning and picked up an almond danish to go with my beverage, based on the recommendation of the cashier. My danish had obviously been previously frozen and was still cool in the middle, while the edges were really dry and chewy. We all know that most of their bakery products are not baked onsite, but it's ridiculous that they wouldn't fully thaw products before serving them to customers. I typically get salads and sandwiches, so I'll stick to those going forward. read more

It's easy and fast to order online! The food is great and it's a nice atmosphere her! read more

Panera Bread - Vegetarian Autumn Squash Soup, Greek Salad - Sandwiches Near Me - Swampscott, Massachusetts

friendly service, great food l. Fair price! manager respectful to my disability. good parking

Came here for a quick bite to eat on the way from Salem to Chelsea. Never seen a Panera bread so packed before, even in Southern California. But the line moved fast. Ordered the Turkey BLT sandwich. Was very tasty as usual. Also ordered a chocolate chip cookie which was out of this world, surprisingly. Staff was very friendly read more

I have been coming to this location of Panera for well over 10 years now. Service for the most part has been friendly. Food similarly has been consistent in terms of the freshness and quickness of being served. Easy local spot to order and pick up food/sit down and eat. They can get really busy at lunch and dinner times so plan ahead if you're really in a crunch for time. Overall, will come again ESPECIALLY when their summer corn chowder is in season. Hands down my favorite dish on their menu. read more

Awful!awful! Worst food I have ever consumed. Ambiance is garbage. Worst Panera. Took 2 hours. People treated me like I was wanted for arson. The people who made my food were definitely not cuteness. read more

What can you say about Panera Bread that everyone doesn't already know??? Basically nothing. So let me just go over the basics which are as follows: This location has been in business for sometime now, I'd have to guess about ten years. The service and food quality has never taken a dip like other long time establishments. The facility is always clean. The staff has always been polite. The patio furniture is very well kept and clean. Large parking lot. The salads and soups are perfect for lunch or a quickie dinner. Custom bread slicing available at this location. A Solid 4 Stars. read more

Panera Bread - Tomato Basil Loaf custom sliced thick, - Sandwiches Near Me - Swampscott, Massachusetts

Luan is savagely rude to customers; I've been here on many occasions and have seen on two separate occasions people walk away and leave the store due to his mistreatment. I've spoken with management and they said they can't talk about it. Would avoid the store in general (as I now do) but especially because of this particular employee who should not be facing customers. read more

Since they changed the food, the quality has gone downhill. I didn't mind paying more money for good food, but now it is just awful. They are using some kind of chicken loaf. Whatever it is, the texture is weird and it is cut into tiny strips. Horrible. The baked goods are always stale. Why did you put powdered sugar and chocolate drizzle in the croissants? Gets my hands all sticky and adds nothing to the flavor. The cookies are barely edible. I just don't understand what happened. read more

Ordered over $200 worth of food and was picked up for delivery and never was delivered. Panera basically told me they can not do anything. They will not remake the order or return my payment. read more

This is one of my go to spots for lunch as the service is fast. I also often meet friends/family here for coffee/lunch. Recently I was thinking, "if this place ever closed I would really miss it" and so I thought I should write a review. The food is good and consistent in quality and the staff, bless their hearts, work really hard and despite that are always friendly. I also notice that several staff have been there for many years so that says something. The menu has something for whatever mood your in/ taste your looking for. And I love getting freebies with my Panera card. Keep going strong guys! read more

I took my daughter for first time to panera because she wanted a salad.my job use to order them so I told her panera has great salads.sge went inside for first time,didn't know where to go.no one in the registers. She went to the back and waited,she aske a worker and he told her where to go.afain no one in the register.she ask somone else and they grab the bag and gave it to her.when we got home.the bread was just inside the brown bag.non even wrap.we found hair in tje salad.this is disgusting. Pay more attention to the food,heath issues,to customers.disapointed read more

This is one of my favorite Panera spots so it pains me to leave this review. Home on a rainy day with a sick child, so I couldn't just run out. I decided to order delivery from here for the first time ever instead. It's very expensive. My total came to $50. They forgot my ice latte. They barely gave me any salad dressing for the salad. And the jug of papaya green tea was warm. So I called the store. Manager said he will refund me for the ice latte. But that the driver couldn't come back here to deliver it. Which is understandable but truly annoying. Now I am heading out to go and get an ice coffee from Dunks. Avoid delivery at all costs. I learned my lesson. read more

I like the restaurant. I had a tuna salad on french. I did not like the tuna. It was very mushy and watery. I would never get it again. read more

I ordered delivery from Panera Bread this AM. The order was not delivered. The manager refused to refund for this order or resend the order. He said they 'just make the food'. I used the Panera App to order not a food delivery service. read more

We enjoy the upbeat cashier (Elizabeth). She is very helpful and just always pleasant. Thank you PS - the food is good tooooooooo :O) read more

Awesome love this place the smell as you walk in yummy nothing like fresh bread there bread makes the sandwich

Usually when I have a bad experience I'll brush it off but this was so aggravating I felt I had to download Yelp and leave a a review. I'm doing my best to avoid catching COVID so I've been exclusively ordering from places with curbside pickup options, so decided to grab some panera since I saw they had that as an option. Drove there, ordered on the app for curbside pickup, parked in the designated curbside pickup parking spot, put in my car information, and clicked to let them know I was there so they would come to the car. I then waited a while past the time it said it would be ready and brought out by, so I decided to give them a call just to let them know I was there, and ended up getting hung up on after I said I was calling about my curbside order. Maybe they were busy and couldn't hear me on the phone, so I called back after a couple minutes and got hung up again after letting them know I was there for curbside pickup. At this point I decided to call the panera 1800 customer service number and see what was going on, the agent was very nice and ended up calling them to see what the issue was, he told me he got through and said the manager should be coming out with my food, but to leave the call on while he comes. Up til this point I just figured it was technical difficulties so I wasn't really bothered or anything other than having to wait a bit, but the manager finally comes out, wearing a mask improperly with his nose out, and tells me very rudely that the designated spots were for "pickup inside only", and said I was supposed to park directly in front of the building, which makes no sense since it's by a road with cars going by and I'd have to leave my hazards on. Fortunately customer service heard all this on the phone and said the manager was dead wrong and that I parked where I was supposed to. It's mind boggling how this specific franchise doesn't understand how it's own curbside pickup works. read more

Saw picture of new chicken sandwich in window so i ordered one. Tasteless, dry, undercooked and tiny for $12.49. I ate two bites and left rest for manager to try. Kids mac and cheese tiny portion and overcooked and mushy for $7.49. Never again. read more

The Panera folks are alright! Our church ordered a catered lunch for about 30 people. Everything arrived beautifully packaged and ready to serve. Fresh and delicious! To get back to the folks, though, when it was time to settle up, Panera donated the meal! What a surprise! Come visit us at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Marblehead. Blessings are donated to one and all! read more

Ordered a BBQ chicken salad for takeout. They forgot to add the chicken and substituted crispy onions with soggy red onions. Also left a fruit cup out of the order. No answer the first time I called. They did refund the salad and fruit cup when I did get through on the second call. read more

Walking around in this place is such a food adventure with the way all the pastry and bread look. Thanks to Luan and Joseph who served us kindly. read more

I love panera... except this location. Staff was unpleasant and they forgot my side. Cold food and their famous Mac was nasty. This location needs more care in their work read more

Made a very simple pickup order of several bagels. Pretty hard to mess up, but they did. They substituted some strange bread-like disc for 2 of the bagels. I called when I got home, and they said I could replace the discs with real bagels. When I arrived home, I saw one of the new bagels had already been sliced! And, tasted WAY below average. On top of everything, they cost more money than BETTER quality bagels at Whole Foods! Unlike General MacArthur, I shall not return! read more

This is absolutely horrible! I spent $45 on 2 pizzas, 3 soups, and a salad. I did curbside pickup and parked in Panera's designated spot 2 and waited 30 minutes to get my food. I called multiple times and no one picked up, and when I finally received my food the person who handed it to me was rude on top of that. What a horrible place. I've been to plenty of great Paneras. This is an absolute exception. Bad food, and staff that couldn't care less about their customers. I would avoid this place like the plague. read more

The workers here were not kind to us. We were looking at the menu when they started screaming at us about ordering and they were rude. I do not recommend. The customer service was bad. read more

The food is consistently good. The staff was really bad. Person taking my order kept talking to coworkers and walked away then came back to finish. Messed it up. I spoke up and said please pay attention to me and my order. Then I think the Mgr came over and said well he's new Then told Mgr what was going on. Then he proceeded to speak to his employee I stopped him and told him not to do that now. Talk to him when we are done. Then order came. It was screwed up. Ugh. Then Mgr wasn't very concerned as he kind of ignored us but was fixing but didn't say he was he told us to wait he'll get to it. Really it was a cup of chili. I asked a girl and he burst out I'm working on that Not good. read more

A lot of people these days are trying to kick the sugar habit, and would like to use a zero-calorie sweetener. However, that does not mean we want to ingest aspartame (equal) or saccharin (sweet and low). Ideally, you could follow Starbucks' lead and offer stevia, but at the very least you could have Sucralose (Splenda) available. For several weeks now there has been no Sucralose available at this location. I know Panera Bread typically offers Sucralose, so someone at the Swampscott location needs to order some....! read more

Love this Panera Bread! It is located conveniently right next to my work, so I come here at least 3 times a week. It can get really crowded here around lunch time, however, the staff never seem to get behind and are always getting orders out in a timely fashion. Staff- they are always very welcoming and greet me with a smile every time I come in. Anytime i ask them to provide something extra to accommodate my needs, they do it quickly and without any problems. Food- Lately i have been addicted to the Flat Bread sandwiches. Southwestern is my favorite along with the steak and blue cheese salad. The pastries are always fresh and i have to fight the urge to get one every time i come in. The free coffee and drink re-fills are the cherry on top. I will continue coming in here on a daily basis and recommend that you give them a try as well. read more

Panera Bread - Strawberry poppyseed and chicken salad and a BBQ chicken flatbread! - Sandwiches Near Me - Swampscott, Massachusetts

Hey, it's a Panera bread but it's good! Got the pick 2 combo, steak on focaccia with French onion soup. The sandwich was tasty, had to take it apart and reassemble it which is usually the case at Panera. Great ingredients but the art of sandwich making is missing from the corporate culture. The way you layer ingredients, the order, makes the difference between a good sandwich and a great one. The onion soup, great as always. The dining room was clean, the counter people friendly. My only gripe was they forgot my pickle! LOL, I'll be back read more

This is a lovely Panera located in the Vinnin Square shopping plaza and we stopped in for a late lunch yesterday post lunch rush but still quite busy. Ordering was not a problem, but I was confused to pick up bagel at the bakery counter and then my salad via beeper on the other side, probably b/c I'm not a regular. Staff was nice when ordering and also when I was at the coffee station could not find sleeves. Very nice designed space and lots of tables. Ladies room was clean, although the floor a little bit sticky but overall this is a great Panera, it reminded me of Brookline/Coolidge Corner which has closed/greatly missed. read more

Disgusted doesn't even begin to describe how I feel at this point.... I went to Panera looking forward to either a bagel or a breakfast sandwich. With it being Sunday, I assumed I could get either of these orders without an issue. First I go to the bakery line, which is typically where a breakfast order is placed. I stand behind a woman who is completing her order. All of a sudden another employee comes from behind and decides to take the 3 sorority looking girls behind me at her register rather than me. Fine, maybe they're friends of hers. I continue to wait. The cashier in my line disappears for a good 3-5 minutes, apparently making a drink for the woman who was ahead of me. The manager, or who I assume is the manager comes out from the back and asks me to come over to the other set of registers. I order my breakfast sandwich. He apologizes that breakfast is only served until 11. It was pretty tough to hide my disgust and I turned and left. There are no signs stating that breakfast is only til 11am and I probably wouldn't have been as annoyed if I had been taken in the proper order of the line. Instead I wasted another 5-10 minutes while the other cashiers either farted around making a drink or took care of their friends. Not good customer service. Panera should remember they are essentially fast food and not be so haughty and dismissive. read more

The way they make a kids grilled cheese is weird, the cheese was semi-burnt but not melted? And the bread was completely untoasted? Someone explain to me how that works. They made me a new one, it was ready in 45 seconds and was the same as the first ‍ My toddler ate it but didn't love it like she usually does elsewhere. Every table was gross when we sat down, it was 12:30 and slammed so maybe that's why? They should have someone cleaning tables constantly at that time of day. Luckily I had some baby wipes. Def won't be going here again, waste of money and crap food. read more

Never really had good service or good food at this chain. It's a real shame I wish I liked it there.

Very good food and family welcome they treat my 4 years old daughter so good. Food am service are amazing.

I want to give a shout-out to the employees here. They are working their butts off and have to deal with rude and inattentive customers. They are fast and courteous even though they must be so frustrated. I accidentally grabbed the wrong sandwich so I had to keep it and they were super nice about it. It was really busy and they all did amazing! They all should get a raise, seriously. Also the sandwich was really good and the big bread they include with the soup is better than sex. Definitely recommend this location! read more

The next time you enter a Panera - any Panera - stop for a minute and look around. Modern but inoffensive decor, attractive & slick signage. Take a look in the bakery case; boy do those pastries look, well, styled. Man that bread looks good - perfect even. Too perfect, perhaps. Welcome to the world of focus-group and marketing model-driven "upscale" fast food. Go ahead and order something - whatever it is, it's bound to look good, in a shiny, food-stylist sort of way. Okay, now time to close your eyes, forget about the perfect form to that loaf and the bright green mesclun sticking out of your sandwich and taste. No really, stop for a minute and TASTE it. You know what you are going to taste? Sugar. No doubt bound in some emulsifiers & stabilizers strategically blended to enhance mouthfeel. Salt. Soft, wonderbread-like crumb in a piece of bread masquerading as a euro-style artisan loaf. That about covers it. This is not good food. They don't really care about that, of course. It looks good. It even looks good FOR you. You're probably going to wolf it down and forget about it anyway, since it has enough sugar and salt to make you forget about flavor, and you're just there for a quick lunch anyway. Go ahead, go there, grab a sandwich, a coffee, a bagel, whatever (I'm not saying I don't). You'll feel good about yourself because you didn't go to McDonald's & you paid three times as much for your fancy Bell & Evans chicken sandwich with corn-syrup laced herb vinaigrette. Just don't get suckered into thinking this is good food. And for god sakes, don't think this is what bread is supposed to be like. For those in swampscott, there is a Finagle a Bagel opening up next door! So if you don't like the perfect-looking bagels at Panera, you can go next door and get what is essentially a grocery store dinner roll with a hole in it. Get yourself to Newman's in the real downtown swampscott if you want a passable bakery. read more

Absolute worst Panera I've ever been to. Always out of items..horrible customer service