Review: Panera's Asiago Bagel Stacks Don't Bring Anything New To The Table

Panera is taking one of its breakfast staples — the asiago bagel — and adding it to its lunch and dinner menu in the form of three new Asiago Bagel Stacks. These new sandwiches mark the first time the bakery-café restaurant chain has utilized one of its "beloved" bagels as a lunch or dinner item. The Asiago Bagel Stacks — which come on the heels of a massive menu reimagination in 2024 that added nine new items and 12 refreshed recipes for existing items — come in three options: Chicken Roma, Spicy Steak, and Zesty Tuscan.

None of the ingredients in these sandwiches are new to Panera, unlike some that were introduced as part of the menu shakeup last spring, so the company just appears to be tinkering in its kitchen and seeing what it comes up with. Panera's bagels — which are made fresh in-house every day — already make for delicious breakfast sandwiches, so it's likely the chain is taking advantage of that success and is now elevating the bagel sandwich to its daytime menu. To find out if this new take on the breakfast staple is worth stopping in mid-day or even after work for dinner, we got a sneak-peek taste test of each new sandwich. Here are our thoughts.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by Panera.

Panera's new Asiago Bagel Stacks launch at restaurants nationwide beginning January 9. Being lunch and dinner items, the bagel sandwiches will only be available to order starting at 10:30 a.m. Each of the new sandwiches costs $7.99 and while it's not uncommon for prices to differ from location to location, this is the price at my local Manhattan Panera. (Meaning, if it's not more expensive here, it likely isn't more expensive anywhere else.) It's also good to know that the Asiago Bagel Stacks can be included with the You Pick Two menu deal (perhaps pair it with Panera's new Rustic Baked Potato Soup or Hearty Fireside Chili, both of which are instant classics.)

Panera says the new lunch and dinner items will be available for a limited time only but has not given Tasting Table a clue as to how long that may be. Tip? In celebration of National Bagel Day (Wednesday, January 15), Panera is celebrating the menu additions with a special "Bagel Bash" promotion. Between January 15 and January 21, MyPanera members who try an Asiago Bagel Stack will receive a reward for a free bagel on their next visit.

The first of the three new Asiago Bagel Stacks I tried was the Chicken Roma (580 calories), made with grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, "vine-ripened" tomatoes, basil, arugula, Green Goddess dressing, and garlic aioli. Overall, it wasn't bad but there was one issue I had with mine: it seemed to be severely lacking in both basil and arugula. OK, maybe that's two issues, especially when you consider that this Chicken Roma Asiago Bagel Stack really needed those bright vegetal notes.

I still enjoyed the sandwich, and the chicken is tender. I thought it was plenty cheesy (I'm not one to complain about too much melty cheese); and the garlic aioli was very flavorful. The tomatoes were the only thing I found that cut through the richness of the sandwich, however. The sweetness was much-needed in the light of the cheesy bagel, melted mozzarella, and garlic aioli. They also helped cut down on the saltiness from the asiago cheese baked into the bagel.

Much like Panera's also fairly new Ciabatta Dippers, the Chicken Roma Asiago Bagel Stack was good, but it didn't blow me away. If I'm given the chance to try it again — especially if I can ensure there's a bit more greens on there — I would. Notwithstanding, I still don't imagine it would have ranked any higher than third on my list.

Asiago Bagel Stack No. 2 was a stark improvement over the first. The Spicy Steak (590 calories) comes with marinated steak, melty provolone, a creamy salsa verde spread, arugula, red onions, and zesty sweet peppers. This sandwich appeared to be made exactly correct and it packed much more flavor than the Chicken Roma. The marinated steak was tender, well-seasoned, and tasty on its own, but the salsa verde spread provides a nice level of heat (it's not overly spicy by any means, but it has a good kick) and the sweet peppers — which really are zesty and hardly spicy at all — play off it perfectly. Provolone is mild, a great melting cheese, so while the flavor gets a bit lost still it does check the melty box. Arugula and red onions provide some more bite as well as freshness.

Overall, I thought the sandwich components worked well with the asiago bagel, playing off the flavor profile of each. The next time I'm at Panera, I would definitely consider ordering this one again.

It's also good to know — if you haven't had the asiago bagel previously — that there's no hole in the center. This makes it well-suited for sandwiches, as it's not at risk of having all of its filling fall out through the center as you try to eat it.

The last — and my personal favorite of the three new sandwiches — is the Zesty Tuscan Asiago Bagel Stack (660 calories). This sandwich, stacked with grilled chicken, soppressata, provolone, basil, arugula, zesty sweet peppers, and garlic aioli, best worked with the flavor of the bagel, I thought. The chicken, as expected, was tender and while not super juicy, wasn't dry. 

It was the soppressata that stole the show for me. Added onto the menu as part of Panera's overhaul in 2024, the deli meat almost fills the role of bacon on a sandwich. It gives some salty and smoky flavors. Being soppressata, it also added a small level of heat to the Zesty Tuscan Asiago Bagel Stack. 

The garlic aioli pairs nicely with the meats, of course, and the sweet peppers bring a bit of brightness, cutting through some of the richness of the sandwich. The provolone, much like in the Chicken Roma, gets a bit lost, but you do get some melted cheese texture throughout. The greens — much more present in this sandwich — do their fair share to bring some brightness into an otherwise potentially heavy sandwich.

One thing to note: Between the asiago on the bagel and soppressata in the sandwich, this was noticeably the saltiest of the three sandwiches (which Panera's menu confirms). That said, I don't think it goes overboard and I would absolutely order this one again.

Panera is far from my favorite chain restaurant and it even got rid of my favorite sandwich as part of its menu redo in 2024, but for $7.99, it's hard to go wrong with these new Asiago Bagel Stacks. As mentioned previously, I would be more excited to try the Zesty Tuscan or Spicy Steak Asiago Bagel Stack before I try another Chicken Roma but, really, any would do in a pinch. Paired with one of Panera's sides and while the sandwiches aren't particularly large, they make do for a lunch item. For dinner, I might be wanting a bit more, depending on how hungry I am.

It's important to note that I had these sandwiches delivered and so they were not fresh-from-the-kitchen warm. After my initial taste test, I reheated the sandwiches in the oven and, with the bagel nice and warm and the asiago cheese on top getting just a bit bubbly, I found them to be much better than the first tasting. I expect had I dined in-store, I would have received sandwiches much closer to this than what I actually received. 

If you're a die-hard Panera fan, I have no doubt you will greatly enjoy these sandwiches; if you're simply looking for a new lunchtime item, for the price, it makes a good option but I wouldn't travel too far out of my way.