Au Bon Pain

I’ve eaten at Au Bon Pain for as long as I can remember. I first enjoyed their food when I was very young, receiving care at the Boston Children’s Hospital. Au Bon Pain has always been better than Panera. Yes, I know the whole ownership thing. But still better than Panera to this day! This location is open 24/7 and it is located inside of Boston Children’s Hospital. They have a nice variety of fresh sandwiches, soups, & salads. They also have a fresh cold-case with a variety of pre-made sandwiches, salads, snack boxes, & beverages. The soup selection is plentiful and much more delicious than Panera’s offerings. My favorite is the Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup. It isn’t too heavy, is incredibly flavorful, and hits the spot every time! The soup selection does vary so you’ll never get bored. They also have a small hot case with fresh croissants filled with ham and cheese and other tasty fillings. Sadly, the baked goods are now absolutely horrendous. Everything used to be freshly made and tasty. Now, it tastes worse than a gas station baked good. Things are clearly baked off site and sealed in plastic. Those who have eaten here in the past know things never used to be this way. The cookies are now crumbly and hard. The Cherry danish is gone. The brownie bites lack the softness and flavor we all loved. Plain croissants are more bland than the grocery store croissants. Hard pass on any baked goods. The sandwich/salad counter is one of the downfalls. They have one person back there trying to rapidly fill orders. Keep in mind, you have medical staff on a time crunch. They could use additional staff back there. Due to the understaffing, my sandwich was made wrong multiple times. I ordered the “Chicken Caprese Sandwich” (cold) I reached out to corporate and was invited to return for a free dinner. We alerted the manager on our next visit and you could tell he didn’t want to accept it. The worker made the sandwich. I got home and it was wrong, again. Pictured and another email to and from corporate. A week later, I return as I was at the hospital getting blood work done. I went down to replace the sandwich. This time, the manager had a bad attitude and essentially felt we were lying and trying to get a free sandwich. It was a total insult. This time, he made it HIMSELF and didn’t say a word to me. He walked into the back and disappeared. The sandwiches are delicious, that’s one thing that hasn’t been totally changed up. The registers/checkout usually have a long line due to tech issues and understaffing. Every time I try my card there I have to swipe it multiple times before it works. Many times, we have to switch to a new checkout terminal. They don’t seem inclined to fix it. The new franchise owner/manager has a confrontational attitude, which is a poor choice. Parents have kids hospitalized. You want them to be happy and keep coming back.

The ham and cheese croissants are sooo good my family would always be like in the hospital and sense i was 5 I’ve always had the croissants and I was reminded of it today when I tried the croissants from Starbucks which are good but smaller then these ham and cheese croissants so it’s well worth the price.

Ordered through the app while I was upstairs in my son's patient room. Had his dad go pick up my order. Delicious latte and the egg, bacon, cheese sandwich was so yum!

lots of variety, luv mac n cheese! sandwiches made to order too. every visit I look forward to going!

When all other places close, this Au Bon Pain stays open well beyond midnight to provide sustenance on a long shift or visit!