Panera Bread - Santa Barbara

Great place for a sandwich and coffee. Soups are,pretty good too. Cashier was very friendly.

The cashier and other staff working that I interacted with were all friendly and helpful even though I came in at the end of the night. It was my first time visiting this restaurant and the young woman taking my order was patient, helpful and more than willing to offer suggestions on what I might enjoy based on the tastes I told her I had. She even gave me samples of soups to try and a glass of water while I waited for my food. It was nice to see a restaurant chain like this that didn't slack on their service just because they were working on their closing routines as well as still accepting customers. As a former waitress I know what it's like to strike the proper balance to give superb customer service as well as complete your night duties in a timely manner. The food is delicious, I ordered the broccoli and cheese soup and a chai latte. I can't wait to come back and try some of their salad items. The ONLY reason they will not get five stars or even FOUR stars from me is because they are using too many plastic products still for their to go products and food packaging. It's unconscionable. There are too many alternatives in the manufacturing industry now for these large food corporations to not be leading the charge in making America plastic free. There's really no excuse for this anymore. I hope that Panera managers and owners take this to heart and make the necessary and imperative changes. Every business counts!

Food is mediocre. Acceptable I suppose because I have been back many times due to the convenient location. Never once had hot cup of coffee though. Sometimes it is barely warm. They do have a microwave at the coffee station which I’m sure gets lots of use. The servers are pleasant. I ding them pretty hard for the coffee. No excuse for regular cold coffee.

I was there yesterday and ordered the New Tuscan Grilled Chicken Sandwich. It was delicious! However, came in today and ordered the same sandwich and was a total disappointment. It was very messy and had no Mayo or basil pesto. The tomato confit was all over the box and exterior of the sandwich very messy. I don't think I will order this again. Not to mention they really need to remodel and replace seating (torn and the replace the carpet (very dirty-the carpet is dark but you can see the excess of dirt on it. Customer service has been great the two young ladies that attended me were very pleasant. Thank you. CG

NASTY! Dirty, smelly. Only reason we stop by there is because my son loves the Mac and Cheese. The smell of the dinning room is almost unappetizing. I have been to a few other locations in CA. and by far this one located in La Cumbre Plaze is the worst. I hope they can find manager that cares and some better customer service. If I was the district manager I would be embarrassed of this location. A remodel is needed, I would hate to see it shut down. The food is mediocre when hungry.