Panera Bread, Should Starbucks Beware!
Written: Jan 29 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The "You Pick Two" is a good value.
Cons: I don't like getting up and down for drinks and food. I like table service.
The Bottom Line: The food was good, the service perky. I'll go to a good diner for table service.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Panera Bread |
There are perhaps 10 of these bakery-cafes on Long Island. I read in their web site there are now over 825 of them in 35 states. They are on the move.
I made my first visit to one about a month ago with my wife. We had heard good things about it. After getting some coffee, I went to the bar with the milk sugar etc. It looked much like the Starbucks set-up. When I mentioned that to my wife she immediately asked the gal behind the counter if they were in anyway related. The girl took that question as a challenge stating that they "are better than Starbucks and plan to get ahead of them in sales."
More Than Coffee and Cakes
This place regards itself as a bakery that offers the best breads available. They have 18 different choices on their menu. A few are,
Country, A crisp crust and nutty flavor
French, Slightly blistered crust, wine-like aroma
Stone-Milled Rye, With Chopped rye kernels and caraway seeds
and on.
The list also included Lower-Carb Breads of Italian Herb and Pumpkin Seed. The specialty Breads listed...
Sourdough, Asiago Cheese, Honey Wheat, Sunflower, Tomato Basil, and Cinnamon Raisin.
All breads are baked fresh and on premises.
Now one thing about breads, they accompany a host of other items including soups that Panera Bread cooks daily on a scheduled basis. A list on their menu tells the days the particular soups are available. There are over eight choices as I saw it. Most are available every day with just a few rotating.
One order that I noticed as popular were soups served in a sourdough bread as a bowl. This was $4.69 on Long Island. My choice of soup was mushroom that was incredibly delicious and my wife said she will be ordering it the next time out. Whoops, I didn't have it in the bread. I had it on it's own it's $3.29. That comes with a chunk of "your choice" bread on the side. I had the rye with my soup and it was pretty good.
Breads are also very important when making sandwiches. These people have over a dozen listed on the board with their Signature Sandwiches of Tuscan Chicken, Pepperblue Steak, Asiago Roast beef, Sierra Turkey, Garden Veggie, Italian Combo and more.
I had the Bacon Turkey on Asiago Cheese Focaccia at $5.99.
I found the bread just a bit to crisp to my liking. It was actually rather hard and yes, I do have all my teeth.
A number of Hot Panini selections are also posted on the boards. They do a good take-out business too.
My wife had a salad with her sandwich. They were pretty much you would find anywhere.
They were priced anywhere from $5.29- $6.99
Fresh Fruit cup is also available.
You Pick Two
This was our first time at the place and I over-ordered. They have a pretty good deal where you can pick any two of the following; Any bowl of soup / Any Half Sandwich / Any Half Salad.
This is probably the route we will go next time, if there is a next time. That way we can indulge in some of their dessert selections that we had to pass-up on this visit but looked like something I'd be happy with.
Walk Up to the Counter and Then Grab a Table
This place is pretty much self-serve. Walk up to the counter and you should find a host of people ready to explain what they are offering and take your order. The process of giving the order took us a little extra time being new to the process and selection. I noticed that those who knew exactly what they wanted spent precious little time at the order counter.
The restaurant, that had a sort of modern look to it with its curved accent areas, had some booths and tables. By the way the restroom was large and spotless. The restaurant is nice enough looking but I don't care for all the people getting up and down to pick up orders or standing at tables, holding them while the rest of their crew is on line. The fact is I don't care to be getting up and down either. They have a speaker system that has one of the staff call your name when the order is ready. We were called in short time but one item wasn't ready yet. We waited a bit for our name to be called again. No luck. I walked back up and they seemed to have forgotten the order. With apologies they set it up for us and we had to return again a few moments later.
Last Thoughts
I loved the soup. The rye bread very good. The sandwich, though good, was far from exceptional. My wife liked her meal as did my daughter but neither "just had to come back again."
The place had a Starbucks feel to it in decor and counter service. Ha, I had to laugh when I read the sizes of the large selection of hot and cold coffee and tea they offer. Even the names of the sizes were somewhat like Starbucks. I ask, "What happened to Small, Medium and Large sizes?" This is another place like Starbucks where they confuse you by saying the "Tall" is the small. Huh? I just don't get that. Also like some Starbucks, most of their sites have free Wi-Fi high-speed internet access. No soft sink into furniture here though. It's all tables and chairs.
The service, behind the counters was perky friendly from a staff of young, seemed to be in their teens, staff. What I really didn't like was having to wait in line to order, get the table and then go up to yet another counter when the order was ready. You also had to go to the fountain for some of the soft drinks.
All in all I would prefer to go to a diner and order a good Ruben Sandwich and a cup of homemade Manhattan Clam Chowder and have it served to me. It would be just as good if not better than having to run around. Maybe the coffee and tea choices wouldn't be as good.
The bread is very good too but I don't like having to stand in line for it. I should feel blessed that the depression is long over. Rather than standing in line, I might have starved to death.
Starbucks
Recommended:
Yes
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