A Solid Corporate Citizen...AND Free Wi-Fi
Written: Dec 12 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Delicious bread, pastries, sandwiches, soups, salads, pizza. Free Wi-fi.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend Panera Bread as a delicious restaurant and bakery, as well as commending them on their contributions to the community.
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| coldsteel7's Full Review: Panera Bread |
Much has been written here at Epinions about Panera. There are currently 145 reviews, and I don't intend to read all the other ones. I would like to share my own anecdotal experiences at Panera, as well as taking the opportunity to point out some positive aspects of Panera that aren't about the food.
I will start, of course, with the food. When I first visited Panera, I wasn't really sure how to order. The sandwich menu offered many interesting choices, but the soups looked really good. This first experience was in Indiana several years ago. Then, as now, Panera offered a half sandwich with your choice of soup or salad. This gives you the opportunity to have a fresh delicious sandwich, while enjoying a bowl of their good-as-homemade soup. (Okay, sometimes I opt for the salad instead...the salads are also exceptional). The soups rotate, but I can normally order my favorite, Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice. The Asiago Roast Beef sandwich is also a favorite. If you order a specialty sandwich, it costs slightly more than advertised. You also are given a choice of fresh bread, an apple or chips.
After moving to South Carolina, Panera built a restaurant right down the street from my house. I quickly became a Saturday morning Panera junkie. With sleep still in my eyes, I'd pop some water in the coffee pot, drive to Panera, order a half dozen bagels (they have a nice variety to choose from) and grab a small tub of their specialty cream cheese. Honey walnut spread on Cinnamon bagels is always a special morning treat...it's like getting to eat candy for breakfast. Aside from bagels, the bake shop is packed with muffins, cookies, souffles, artisan breads, scones, brownies, tarts...I better stop...I may need to run down the street.
The most recent addition to the Panera menu is pizza. Pizza made by a bread maker...that has the makings of something special. Now, I may have lived in the Chicago area for a good while, but I'm not a deep-dish guy...I like thin crust. Panera is thin crust at it's best. The pizza takes a bit longer than the other items on Panera's menu, but it's worth the wait. The pizza is called crispani, my favorite being the tomato and fresh basil. It is addictively delicious. It's sinful. Not overdone, not high calorie, just good eats with no guilt.
Now, I promised something other than just a food review. There are two things about Panera that make me happy. First, they are a good corporate citizen. I have not asked at my local Panera, but I know the Panera Bread in Indiana donated all the left over bread to the local soup kitchens. Maybe artisan bread might not seem like the greatest gift to the community, but good solid bread for a hungry stomach is bound to do the trick. I appreciate that Panera is willing to give something back to the community. Many restaurants throw an ungodly amount of food away. It's good to see they all don't do that.
The other non-food aspect of dining at Panera Bread is the free Wi-Fi. You can take your laptop or notebook into Starbucks for a scone and a cup of coffee, but T-Mobile is going to charge you $9.99 to access their Wi-Fi. The coffee at Panera Bread is okay, not exceptional...a step below Starbucks for sure. But the pastries have starbucks beat hands down. So...the tiebreaker must be the free Wi-Fi. Panera has it. Starbucks doesn't. Think about it. The atmosphere in Panera is nice, certainly not coffee-shop artsy like Starbucks, but definitely cozy. It's a comfortable place to settle in with a cup of joe and a nice pastry. The problem here will be in choosing your pastry...everything in Starbucks looks like the freezer section at the grocery store...Mrs Smiths or something like that. The fresh-baked goodies at Panera will make you drool.
There are lots of reasons you can choose to dine at Panera Bread...the interesting sandwich selections made on homemade bread, the slurpity good soups, the always fresh and tasty salads, the smell-hits-you-before-you-hit-the-door bakery...you name it. Add to that free Wi-Fi and a sense that you are contributing to a company that gives back to the community, and you have more than enough reasons to stop by. I highly recommend Panera Bread. I've never been disappointed there. I would give this restaurant five stars out of a possible five.
For more information about Panera's community programs, you can visit them at:
http://www.panerabread.com/about/community
Recommended:
Yes
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