Panera Bread, Pepperoni Foccacia Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Panera Bread
Business Category: national chain
Website: https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html
Location: 103 Station Drive in Anderson, SC (in Anderson Station shopping center, behind Texas Roadhouse and Quik Trip)
Date of Review Visit: March 2023
What I Ordered: Pepperoni Foccacia Pizza, fountain drink
Price: $16.88 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

 

The Micro:

Crust: Given that this pizza is made by Panera Bread, you would expect the crust to be a strength, and indeed that is the case.  The crust has a fresh bready taste.  It is a thick crust that is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  My pizza's crust was a little on the hard side, which leads to a small deduction.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: This sauce has a thin texture and a strange orange color.  The taste is slightly spicy, and it tastes more like a mild sriracha sauce than anything you would normally see on a pizza.  Sriracha may be my least favorite flavor in the world, and therefore I seriously considered giving this sauce a score of zero.  Score: 1/10.

Cheese: The cheese is 100% mozzarella, so it does not have much flavor.  The odd part about the cheese is the application: it looks like they took a log of cheese and applied a few thick slices rather than spreading it evenly over the pizza.  The cheese formed a thick layer where it existed, but I would rather have the cheese spread more evenly.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni has a nice pork flavor and appears in adequate quantity.  Score: 8/10.

 

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The blackened crust around the edge makes the pizza look a little burnt.  The dining room has a nice quick casual dining atmosphere with a pleasant color scheme.  The service is always quick and professional at Panera.  Score: 9/10.

Value: Panera doesn't make inexpensive food, and thus the value here is not that great. Score: 3/10.

Taste: The sauce ruins the overall taste, which is too bad because I liked some of the other individual flavors on this pizza.  Score: 12/20.

 

The Final Judgment:

I really like Panera's pepperoni mozzarella melt baguette, so I decided to try their foccacia pizza.  This would be a solid pizza but for the sauce, and in the future I will stick with the baguette, which has no sauce.  Score: 49/80.