Panera Bread's Worst Sandwich Gets The Proportions All Wrong

Panera Bread bakes its bread in house to make all of its sandwiches, toasts, and bagels, providing a stellar foundation for a wealth of different fillings and garnishes. We taste tested 16 different Panera Bread sandwiches to find the best option for your next visit. We also found that the worst sandwich is the Toasted Garden Caprese Sandwich.

Along with taste, overall satisfaction, sauces, and garnishes, a crucial factor for our ranking was filling-to-bread ratio. And the proportions of the toasted garden caprese sandwich were all wrong. We get that Panera is first and foremost a bakery, but a sandwich isn't all about the bread. We'd be generous in saying that the bread-to-filling ratio was 90 to 10, with the toasted ciabatta this bread came on completely overwhelming the whole sandwich.

Not only was there a mismatch in terms of bread and filling, but the proportion of fillings inside the sandwich also didn't do it any favors. A good caprese mozzarella and tomato salad should have thick-cut, juicy tomatoes, plenty of sweet and savory basil, and slices of fresh mozzarella that are on par with the thickness of the tomatoes. Unfortunately, Panera's caprese sandwich was filled with way too much cheese, way too little basil, and measly, thin tomato slices. The overly bready, overly cheesy caprese sandwich resulted in an overly bland taste that landed it in last place.

Not only did we think the toasted garden caprese sandwich was the worst, but we have also found various Reddit threads that think it's equally horrible. One Reddit thread posts a picture, providing the perfect visual proof of its awful proportions. It calls the caprese sandwich "nasty" and "like eating a piece of toasted bread with a little bit of mayo, cheese, and slimy lettuce" not to mention the thinly sliced unripe tomatoes. Another Redditor chimed in, "I don't even know what is 'caprese' about this ... no basil anywhere!" A second reddit feed entitled "Expectation vs Reality" went even further by posting side-by-side photos of the restaurant's picture of the caprese and the sad sandwich that the customer actually received. The bread was thick and dried out, with two thin slices of tomato and what appears to be a smear of mayonnaise with a sprinkle of black leaves we assume might be basil.

Yet another Redditor recommended swapping the ciabatta bread for slices of sourdough, which is a great way to reduce the bread-to-filling ratio. Unfortunately, the fillings were as disappointing as ever. Do yourself a favor and avoid this sandwich at all costs. If you're looking for a better caprese sandwich overall, we ranked the Chicken Green Goddess Caprese melt as our fifth favorite of the 20 best Panera menu items. Or skip the bread altogether and try the newest Strawberry Caprese Salad which we gave a glowing review.