Panera? I don't understand

[Mick]

it is familiar.

You will get the same choices at any and it will taste the same (McDonald's model). No surprises.

Not for me though. Only been once. That was enough.

 

[August West]

it is familiar.

You will get the same choices at any and it will taste the same (McDonald's model). No surprises.

Not for me though. Only been once. That was enough.

Exactly. Consistent road food.

 

[novitiate]

Their cream of broccoli soup in a bread bowl is quite good. Usually too crowded for me around these parts. It is Starbuckish.

Broccoli & cheese soup fan here, runner up to French onion.

 

[August West]

Broccoli & cheese soup fan here, runner up to French onion.

Neat. Perhaps I should pop in during the evening sometime as I usually go for lunch.

 

[novitiate]

Neat. Perhaps I should pop in during the evening sometime as I usually go for lunch.

I avoid during the day as around me they are swarmed and tough to get a table. Evenings best near us as the crowd dramatically drops off after 7PM. They are swarmed from 5:30PM until then with the evening commuter crowd.

 

[FarmerTan]

I used to manage an office of 3 fellows and about 20 women. Some Fridays I would buy Panera bagel packs for the staff. I had to get one entirely of the cinnamon crunch bagels with hazelnut cream cheese. For some reason the ladies adored that. My wife and my mother love Panera. The reason it's successful? Chicks dig it.

This. Exactly. The War Department and her gal pals choose this place. My wife admits to a bread addiction.

 

[August West]

I avoid during the day as around me they are swarmed and tough to get a table. Evenings best near us as the crowd dramatically drops off after 7PM. They are swarmed from 5:30PM until then with the evening commuter crowd.

Same here. I should have thought of that before.

 

[Alacrity59]

There are a few around the Toronto area . . . just a bit too far away. Hopefully they are expanding. My wife and I see the ads on CNN for the Broccoli Cheese soup frequently. I've been telling here, apparently wrongly, there aren't any in Canada.

 

[stamasd]

I go to Panera occasionally because my daughter likes the broccoli cheddar soup there. I generally get the New England clam chowder which is decent but nothing to write home about. In the past they used to have a salad with steak strips and blue cheese dressing which was pretty good, but I haven't seen it on the menu for a couple of years at least.

 

[John Rose]

That's also one of its downfalls...it's freaking impossible to get a seat in a busy Panera, since all the tables are taken up by some guy with his laptop or college students studying! It's incredibly annoying to be competing for the few remaining seats with the rest of the lunch rush while the guy using Panera as his office is taking up a table and is clearly never going to leave.

Our favourite cafe has two sections. The front, where electronic devices are permitted and you can mooch off the neighbouring restaurant's wifi, and "the Atrium" out back which is designated as "device-free" to encourage lively discourse.

Oh well, when we got back to Montreal it was still Saturday night in Montreal.

Montreal? Shoulda' went to this Italian restaurant, "Da Giovanni" on St-Catherine Est.

 

[Rhody]

Our favourite cafe has two sections. The front, where electronic devices are permitted and you can mooch off the neighbouring restaurant's wifi, and "the Atrium" out back which is designated as "device-free" to encourage lively discourse.

Montreal? Shoulda' went to this Italian restaurant, "Da Giovanni" on St-Catherine Est.

Or mister steer

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Sometimes I feel like people like a certain place because people of a certain demographic tell them they should like it. There are lots of really popular places that are a hit with a lot of people, but they're just average, in my opinion. Panera bread is one of them! Very overrated. Chick Fil-a is another; sorry, I know that's heretical to some! Starbucks, almost all popular fast food, etc. People around here (SC) rant and rave about Bojangle's, Church's and Popeye's having awesome fried chicken. Really?!

Sorry, I could go on and on.

Add: by demographic, I'm not referring to race, social class or political affiliation, by the way.

 

[Sneetch]

People rave about this place and I don’t get it all all either! First of all, I’d always rather eat local, but as far as chains go, this food is just bland and unispsired. Ended up their as part of a group a while back and the grilled cheese and tomato soup (should have been comfort food) was not even worthy of being a a bacelors clothes iron special!

 

[pdieten]

Panera makes a broccoli cheese soup that my wife likes better than the same thing from anywhere else.
As for me, I could take or leave any of their food. It's okay. Not typically what I'm thinking when I'm thinking lunch, though.

 

[joeyboy]

I like their sugar cookies and danishes.