From time to time I take a fright when I discover that I haven’t written about a topic here at VPD and today was one of those days. How come I haven’t talked about Panera Bread, a place I go on virtually every trip and like it so much? It’s absurd and I couldn’t let it happen for another day.

The Panera Bread is a kind of bakery that also serves some light dishes and ends up being the kind of place that we always like to have as “letter up the sleeve”. Besides everything, it has great prices so even if you have already closed your program, it can be interesting to know that it exists.

What is Panera Bread like?

For me the Panera Bread is a fusion of a coffee house + a bakery + the subway. I don’t know how to explain it, but the atmosphere is much more of a coffee house, like Starbucks for example. A well organized space, with wooden tables, comfortable chairs, with a more cozy look.

For everyone’s happiness, the Panera Bread is the kind of place that offers free wifi for its customers and it’s fine if you stretch a little your time there, enjoying your coffee while checking the emails.

Like every cozy place, it is also a casual and informal place. Don’t wait for waiters, for staff welcoming you at the entrance and asking where you want to sit, you won’t find any of this around here. It’s a more fast-food scheme in this sense: you arrive, look at the menu next to the cashier or the big menu behind the counter, also take a look at the sweets and breads on display, choose what you want, pay and search there at the counter when you’re ready. It’s that simple! Practical and also without winding up, that’s why I think it’s a beautiful branch breaker even when you’re in a hurry.

Panera Bread’s food

I see the Panera Bread as a good place for two moments: a good breakfast or another light meal. For breakfast, this is one of the best places for Brazilians in my opinion, because it doesn’t just serve eggs, pancakes and bacon. In the units of Orlando da Panera Bread, there is even French bread baguette, that is, you can eat here every day and not even miss breakfast in Brazil, huh? By the way, personally I think the French bread baguette of the Panera Bread is much better than the bread of any Brazilian bakery I’ve ever tried in the region.

In addition to this French bread baguette, you’ll find other less abrasive but super delicious things: bagels, danishes, cookies, muffins and a multitude of American bakery things that are delicious. I usually eat the bagel with cream cheese that I love, but there are lighter and heavier dishes than that (both sweet and savory). They have a “baked souffle” that has a kind of pasta that is filled with a soufflé of the flavor you choose. Very tasty for those who like egg in coffee! Anyway, the variety for those who go to Panera Bread for breakfast is quite large but my tip is to try at least one of the many breads or sweets.

For those who want a quick meal at another time of the day, they also have a great menu of soups, salads, sandwiches and even pasta. All very varied and very well done! See that they are faster dishes so it’s not the kind of place you go when you have an appetite worthy of a steakhouse, but the sandwiches and salads are super fed up so for me, you can kill the hunger super quietly. For the fitness guys, it is an excellent option because you will find super different and very tasty salads.

On top of that, like I said, it’s a very varied menu so I think it’s really hard not to find anything you like there. Although very good, I don’t even order the salads and sandwiches myself because they are big, I really prefer to order just one soup and then eat one more of the delicious sweets! 

Although I said at the beginning of the post that Panera has an air of fast-food, it is much more in the way of serving things than in the preparation of food. I think it’s very fresh over there and I’ve never eaten anything with the taste of old! Much better than most fast-foods. Best of all, I think the Panera Bread has a very honest price! We can have breakfast there without feeling stolen.

Conclusion about Panera Bread

I love Panera Bread and I think it’s one of the best places for a quick and tasty breakfast before heading to the park marathon. We’ve already talked about other good and cheap places to eat like my beloved Perkins, but there you’ll have to sit, order, wait more for the waiter, ask for the bill….anyway, it takes a little longer.

As in the day to day in Orlando many times we are in a hurry because we want to go soon to the park or to the shopping malls, the Panera can be a great meal that combines a delicious breakfast, fast and cheap. For the other meals of the day, the same combination is maintained. Besides, I love going to the Panera Bread to kill that hunger half an hour late, you know? In the middle of the afternoon, did you leave the mall and hit that little fominha? Nothing like eating a scone with a tea, or a giant cookie, a soup or a sandwich in the Panera! That’s why I’ve said it before and I repeat: it’s the kind of place worth having as a letter up your sleeve during your days in Orlando! Then tell me what you thought, okay? 

Name: Panera Bread
Address: several units in Orlando, see all here
Telephone: depends on the unit (see link above)
Price: varies a lot with the order, but in general something between $5 – $15
Hours of Operation: varies from store to store.
Menu: available on the Panera Bread website.
Disney Dining Plan: No