Avoid Ordering This Basic Breakfast Item From Panera Bread, It's A Total Miss

Panera Bread has a vast menu with numerous sandwiches, salads, and soups. As its name implies, Panera is also a bakery, cranking out fresh loaves for elaborate panini and breakfast toasts. Since bread is purportedly its strong suit, you'd think a menu item like avocado toast would be a safe bet. Surprisingly, the chain's Classic Avo is one of the breakfast items to avoid ordering at all costs.

Panera Bread's Classic Avo features a chunky avocado spread over a toasted slice of Country Rustic Sourdough, topped with everything bagel seasoning, salt and pepper. At the low cost of $3.99, the avocado toast seemed worth the price at first glance. But one bite was all it took to change our taste tester's mind. The toast itself was rough and rock-hard, putting the roof of our taste tester's mouth in danger of ripping off with every bite. The chunks of avocado in the spread were underripe, making for a really unpleasant contrast between the hard chunks and the thin, hardly-velvety spread. 

Avocado has a neutral flavor, relying on its creaminess to act as the luxurious foundation for flavorful seasonings. Unfortunately, however, the everything bagel seasoning was bland. It was sesame and poppyseed-forward with not even a hint of the garlic and onion granules that usually give the blend its zingy, aromatic pop. Since Panera's avocado toast missed the mark on every single element, we can't even fathom spending under $5 on it.

Redditors were as unimpressed with Panera's Classic Avo as we were, with one customer commenting, "This is probably one of the most mediocre things I've seen them release." Other Redditors claimed that the spread isn't made with fresh avocados but instead comes in a pre-made package, which makes sense considering its awful consistency. Similar to our taste tester's experience, one Redditor wrote, "I had the avocado toast from Panera the other week and it was unripe and unseasoned. I love avocado and I couldn't even finish it; it was so bad." 

While many customers were complimentary of the price, others pointed out a glaring oversight that made them feel scammed. As a former employee put it, "The new avocado toast and garden avocado toasts are about a dollar different in price, but my manager noted to me that a customer could add garlic aioli and tomato for no additional charge to the original avocado toast." 

To that effect, you could continue to upgrade the tasteless Classic Avo with free add-ons like a spicier and zestier chipotle aioli, or crunchy slices of cucumber or onion. Still, we can't get past the texture and quality of the avocado spread. For breakfast, you're better off ordering one of Panera Bread's pastries and a chai tea latte, which is one of our favorite Panera drinks.