Panera Bread Review (Carlsbad Restaurants)

Pricing:

Depends on what you get.  There a variety of items on their menu from just a single baked good/bagel to soup/salad/sandwiches.  If you get an actual meal with a sandwich, side and drink it's going to be about $9-11.

Distance:

In the Forum shopping mall off El Camino Real.  Very close to most Encinitas residents.  About a 10 minute drive.

Thoughts:

I've been eating at Panera Bread for years and I feel like it has ups and downs in its overall quality.  Though I'm not really one to keep track of these sorts of things, my guess is that the quality is probably directly related to who owns the chain at the time.

In general, I feel like Panera is a good lunch or light dinner option.  I almost always like whatever seasonal soup they are serving and any kind of breads they use are always fresh (one would hope so given the restaurant name).  The price isn't too terrible either.  Yes, it will be more expensive than Subway.  But the ingredients are also quite a bit fresher than Subway.

When Panera is on one of its "high quality" streaks, the sandwiches will be well made, the salads contain a good population of toppings and the soups are served hot.  In the "low quality" phases you ask for everything on your sandwich and they don't put any mayo/mustard on, there's one piece of chicken on your salad when you pay extra for chicken or your soup is icy.

I only point out these good and bad instances because I have experienced both extremes on numerous occasions.  The end result is that I'll still eat at Panera but it's just not a place I go to regularly.