So we meet again...The Lakewood Panera review.

There she sits.

My Panera experiences have come full circle now. I had the opportunity to re-visit the Lakewood Panera on Saturday. This is THE Panera that is responsible for my weird obsession slash blogging about Panera. As I discussed in my original post, the Lakewood Panera is so unique. To date, I have reviewed nearly 40 Panera Bread stores, and this one is by far the cat's ass!

I'm not sure what was housed at this Panera before it was a Panera, the cashier told me it has been a number of things over the years. The last thing she remembers it as was a Hallmark.

Each year, my mom and I visit my sister in Cleveland for a Christmas shopping weekend. Last year, I signed up to run the Lakewood Reindeer Run. Because of logistics, my mom had to tag along to this first race, and decided to have a coffee and read a book at Panera, while I ran. It is because of this race, that I found this Lakewood Panera. I decided to sign up for the race again this year. My mom was a trooper again this year, and camped out at the Panera while I ran.

The REVIEW:
Date visited: Saturday, December 3
Time of Day: 9:30ish
Those in attendance: My mom and me.
Items ordered: Mom: Hazelnut coffee, and cinnamon crisp bagel. Me: Whole grain bagel and an iced tea to go.

The race started at 9. So we arrived at the Panera right around 8:30. They have a parking garage at this Panera (which I remembered from last year) so we parked there. My mom found a nice seat in the front of the building, next to the windows overlooking the street. I grabbed a glass of water and did a warm up jog down to the race start.

Once the race was finished, I jogged back to the Panera.  We were in a bit of a hurry because we wanted to see my nephew's flag football game, which started at 10. Being true to my loyal readers, I felt the need to order something. So I got an iced tea and a whole grain bagel to go.

There I am with my whole-grain bagel and unsweet tea. Pretty standard, really.

Why do I like this Panera so much? Let me bullet point my reasons:

• The building. It is an old building, converted into a Panera. It is just so unique. 
• The location. If it wasn't for the unfortunate climate, I would consider moving to Cleveland, and Lakewood might be on the top of the list. It is a neat little town. I don't know if it would technically be called downtown, but this location feels like "downtown" Lakewood. There are other office buildings and little shops in the surrounding area. The houses are all very nice. Older, but nice. 
• The layout. They worked with the space that had to work with. There are windows that go from ceiling to floor all around the perimeter of this building. Naturally, that's where they chose to place all of the seating. Great view. 
• The signage. The exterior signage conforms to the rest of the tenants of the building. It is not the standard corporate image. I don't know why, but I like it. 

View from the waiting area. 

Cashier station.

View from the table.

Random NOTES:

• Last year, I was annoyed with the parking situation. We had to find street parking, which was a real pain. It wasn't until we left Panera last year, that we discovered the "FREE PARKING GARAGE" sign for Panera customers. I remembered this year, and capitalized on the garage parking. 

• Santa Claus. As I walked up to the Panera entrance, I noticed that they had Santa on their front porch for the day. Very nice touch, Panera!

I blocked the kids face at the suggestion from my sister. Good call, since I don't know him.

• My race results. Last year I finished #618 with a time of 31:34. This year I improved my time to 27:17, with only 548 others finishing before me! 
• I pre-registered for the race and picked up my packet the day before. However, once I arrived at the Panera, I realized I had forgotten my packet with my number and tracker thing that tells your time. Thankfully, the kind people at Hermes Road Racing gave me a new number and tracker. 

I still have another Columbus Panera to review (Grove City), and I am sure there will be new one's built as the year goes on. I plan to visit Grove City very soon.