Panera Bread

I'm just not a fan of Panera. And yet sometimes I just have to kill time and Panera is my only choice.

My dislike of Panera comes with age and of being exposed to so much good food the last decade, moreso than "I'm just a d*ck."  

Some may argue the latter to be true, and even if it was, it would not change the fact that Panera Bread serves sub-par food that takes forever to make and is at just the right price point for you to finish and wonder why you didn't just eat real food in a real restaurant instead.

There was a time many moons ago when Panera first broke out onto the scene, much like Starbucks' initial entry into the U.S. market. It was special because it was different and it was actually pretty good. My favorite Panera back in the day was in the Reston Town Center in Virginia. It was huge. And it was nicely laid out, very clean, great service, and decent food.

Perhaps my tastes have matured since then, but that doesn't make up for the fact that Panera, like Starbucks, went from what felt like a new and cool little local outfit, to a mass-produced chain of stores whose food tastes as homogenized as the environment it is served in. (If you're wondering what the hell that's supposed to mean look up the Urban Dictionary definition of "homogenized" and you'll get what I mean.)

What's good? The bread. And thank f'ing god for that otherwise why be in business?

I've tried the soups and many of the sandwiches. They all just taste like same kind of mass-produced foodservice products that you might find at Wawa, Subway, or QuickChek.

And in terms of environment, neither the East Brunswick or North Brunswick locations are very nice. Both are cramped and poorly laid out.

I have yet to see anyone over 17 in the kitchen assembling food. They all look stressed out and miserable. Nothing is made with love. And the food never seems as fresh as they'd want you to believe.

I'm done with Panera. I mean it this time.

I love any Panera, but this Panera is my favorite because of the fast and friendly service. The food comes out almost instantaneously. Sometimes the buzzers don't work, but if you go over to the pickup area, your food is bound to be there within 5 and at the most 10 minutes, so it's not really a problem.

I don't know why other reviews complain about the prices because I think it's extremely reasonably priced. I've never spent more than $15 a meal here and always leave very full and happy. I usually don't even go over $10 because I get the you pick two deal - the creamy tomato soup is amazing! I also love their garden salad, and the Caesar is great too. If you have a big appetite then maybe you'll need to order more, but I think that most people coming for lunch would leave satisfied. The food is delicious and relatively healthy, which is hard to find in chain restaurants.

Not a huge fan of the pastries; I think maybe they sit out too long. But all the other stuff - bagels, bread, salads, sandwiches - has always tasted fresh to me.

Gets crowded at peak hours so I wouldn't come here with an enormous group at like 12:00 PM because you won't find seating. Just be smart about when you're coming. There's outdoor seating here too.

I am a big Panera fan for lunch but this location isn't the best. Last time we went they put the wrong dressing on my salad and my husband's salad had brown avacado in it. There was also a big avocado peel in the salad. For what they charge (and they recently increased their already high prices) everything should be as fresh as possible. I'm hoping Panera isn't going downhill. The brand new Panera in Manalapan doesn't seem so swift either (sour oranges in my salad and they didn't put nuts in like it's supposed to have).