Panera Bread - Newport Beach

Food was good people were nice. They need to improve the wifi. I came here to work and wasn't able to connect. This is probably a huge customer base so it needs to improve if you don't want to lose customers to Starbucks.

After over a year of not frequenting this Panera bread, we decided to try it again today. They’re doing much better since we were here last year and ended up walking out because of their irrational enforcement of mask and rules. As long as they continue to be rational I have no problem shopping here. The food was good and the service was fast. My previous (one star) review from about March 2021): I came in to place a take-out order (since they are not permitting indoor dining at this time), and was wearing a face mask. According to the cashier the way I was wearing it didn’t meet her satisfaction even though it was fully covering my mouth. In addition there was 6 feet of physical separation as well as a plastic guard between us. I requested that the cashier provide the basis of what she was mandating in the form of some written guidelines. Rather than providing that she went to get the manager and he was not able to provide any guidelines either other than a picture on the front of the store. As a result of this arbitrary decisions of how they want to enforce their mask mandate (which I was in compliance with), I decided to leave and take my business elsewhere. If, in these trying times, businesses are not wanting to accommodate their customers, there are other businesses who will. I ended up going to a different Panera bread that was much more customer friendly and I made my order there.

As always great food.. Love the egg white , avocado and spinach breakfast sandwich

I wanted to take my mom out for lunch tonight, and she suggested Panera Bread since it's close to her house. We've been there a few times before and always enjoyed it. When we arrived on Saturday at 2:00 PM, the restaurant wasn't busy at all. I ordered the mac and cheese along with a cup of French onion soup, while my mom chose a cup of noodle soup and a bagel. My soup was delicious, packed with onions and topped with cheesy bread. The mac and cheese is one of my favorites! Overall, Panera is fantastic, and my mom and I had a lovely lunch on that warm afternoon. I highly recommend it!

The restaurant has a spacious location. I typically order online to avoid the lines. Parking can get crowded during peak hours, and drivers tend to go a bit too fast at the entrance and around the terrace area. They often run low on bananas since the smoothies are quite popular. I usually try to get the strawberry banana smoothie, but sometimes I have to settle for just strawberry. Oh, the woes of humanity!