Panera Bread

Reviews

• JM

  Joseph Mathias

  Nov 11, 2025
  2.0
  The hours are really weird for a Panera (especially when it’s across the street from a university?) The kiosks were slow and occasionally just randomly pause. Food was not great, the soup tasted watery, and the chicken sandwich was not cooked properly (the chicken was cold). One of the ladies working in the back was also super rude (African American with the missing tooth).
• PB

  Patrick Bateman

  Oct 26, 2025
  5.0
  I am leaning back in my chair, my fingers steepled. On the screen of my laptop, the Panera Bread website glows, a study in benign, rustic-chic typography. I had a business lunch today, but it was a solitary one. An imperative. I was starving. Let’s start with the location. The Panera in New Haven is acceptably clean. The floors are a non-threatening, polished hardwood, the lighting is a diffused, inoffensive amber, and the ambient noise is a carefully engineered hum of white noise and soft rock, probably chosen by a demographic consultant in St. Louis. It’s not Dorsia, but it’s not… some ghastly food court atrocity, either. It will do. I approached the counter. The staff here is a problem. A young woman with a name tag that read “Chloe” greeted me with a smile that showed too many teeth. It was a vacant, practiced smile, the kind you see on flight attendants or kindergarten teachers. “Hi there! How are you doing today?” she asked, her voice a saccharine melody. I was doing… well, I was doing quite well, actually. My suit is a Giorgio Armani, my business cards are bone-colored, Roman-type, and I had just closed the Henderson account. But her question wasn’t a real question. It was a corporate-mandated vocalization, a hollow pleasantry. I find that sort of faux-friendliness deeply irritating. It lacks substance. It lacks truth. Just give me my food. Don’t pretend you care. I ordered the Tuna Salad Sandwich on Brioche and the French Onion Soup in the Sourdough Bread Bowl. I was very clear. Very precise. She repeated it back with that same cloying enthusiasm. “Excellent choice!” Was it? Or was it just a choice? There’s a difference. I took a seat by the window, overlooking the New Haven street. I could see my own reflection, pale and serious, a monument of control amidst the pedestrian chaos. When the food arrived, I was prepared to be disappointed. I was prepared to document every failure. But… I wasn’t. The Tuna Salad Sandwich was… perfect. The tuna was a consistent, creamy texture, with just the right amount of celery for a structural crunch. No rogue onions. The brioche was soft, yielding, but not soggy. It held its form. It was a coherent, well-engineered product. I ate it with a methodical precision, each bite identical to the last. It satisfied a deep, cellular hunger. I could feel the proteins realigning. The soup, however, was the main event. The French Onion Soup arrives in a cavernous sourdough bowl, the cheese a single, molten, golden-brown sheet stretched over the top. It’s a presentation that implies structural integrity. I broke through the cheese with my spoon—a satisfying, viscous tear—and excavated a portion of the bread-soaked broth. The flavor was robust, a deep, caramelized umami, the Gruyère providing a salty, fatty counterpoint. The sourdough itself, once penetrated by the soup, became a savory, steaming pudding. It was efficient. It was complete. There was no waste. I consumed every last gram of carbohydrate and protein. I even ate the bowl. The entire, hollowed-out sourdough vessel. It was gone. I sat there for a long moment, utterly sated. The meal was a flawless execution of its concept. It was better than the one I had at that pretentious bistro on the Upper West Side last week. Far better. And yet, as I left, “Chloe” chirped, “Have a great day!” with that same empty, surgical cheer. I gave her a tight, lipless smile in return. The food is impeccable. It’s the people that are the problem. If they could just be a little less… enthusiastic, a little more sterile and professional, then the entire experience would be unimpeachable. But for now, I’ll be back. The sandwich is that good.
• KC

  Kooi Chan

  Oct 14, 2025
  3.0
  The kiosk didn’t work properly and I ended up ordering in-person. The young girl was friendly. After paying, I went over to pick up my food. But I need to use the restroom. We had to use a key to open the restrooms. I asked politely and said is this the key to the restroom and the staff just nodded with no smile. She looked miserable working there. After using the restroom, I gave the key to another customer in line. I got my food and was able to eat. Overall the food was good.
• MS

  Manisha Skaria

  Sep 25, 2025
  5.0
  .I order on app and by the time I reach the place, it is ready.
• DE

  Dylan Endlich

  Aug 28, 2025
  5.0
  Really nice staff this morning! We used the kiosk to order but the front-of-house staff went out of their way to make sure our needs were met as we ordered and then hand delivered our breakfast to-go. I wish I got the ladies name, but her efforts made a really positive impression.

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