Panera Bread

This Panera location and their staff rock! No matter the time of day or how busy they are, they are always serving with a smile on their face. The team has provided catering for me for years through different positions and has always been reliable and provided fantastic service. I know when I place an order that I can rely on them to fulfill it correctly and on time.

This Panera Bread has been an established part of Davenport for decades. I remember when it came to this space in the early 90s as the St. Louis Bread Company, then quickly changed to Panera Bread and stayed that way. I'm pretty introverted, and Panera Bread has helped provide a space over the years to sit, sip on a hot tea, and snack on a pastry or sandwich while reading a book or studying. It truly is one of my favorite chain restaurants. This last particular visit to the Davenport location was motivated out of a similar need - I'd just had dinner, yet needed to relax with a tea and pastry while reading work emails for a bit before returning home. The space is very much the same as it has been for years - warm brick red, beige, and golden yellow walls, simple chairs and booths throughout the dining room, two comfy chairs in one corner, and a big counter with breads and pastries centered on one side of the space. There's some accent lighting along the periphery that helps to brighten the space without adding any harsh lighting, which is also fantastic. I got a hot green tea and an M&M cookie. The associate helped me quickly and I was soon on my way to the corner with the two comfy chairs to relax. Soon enough, I had my emails read and some texts answered, and even sooner I'd finished the tea and cookie. All was pretty much as remembered. In fact, the chairs might be original to the space. No complaints there - they were definitely still plush and appeared sufficiently clean. I'll have to come back on the weekend for some black bean soup and a baguette slice as I'd always enjoyed. Thanks Panera, you're still one of my favorites!

Food is reliably good but prices are a bit high for what you get. Issue here is always a lack of people working the counter to take orders. Everytime we come here there's just 1 person at the register and a line of people waiting to place orders. Would be nice if they more reliably staffed the other registers and move customers through more quickly.