Supper at Panera Bread?

[Colin McGregor]

On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 5:59 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> | From: Colin McGregor <colin.mc151-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
>
> Thanks for working on this crucial problem.
>
> The future of TLUG depends on it (I'm only 1/4 joking).
>
> | On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Maureen <maureen-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> | > Have you looked on Church Street?  Some interesting places there and
> | > they are not all Gay Bars!
> |
> | To be honest, I've not looked at Church Street. But right now our
> | problem is too many very reasonable looking choices, and ... I'd like
> | to see us contracting the list of options not expanding them (even if
> | this means we might miss the "perfect" option...).
>
> I don't see any outstanding restaurants in the current list.  I'm
> certainly not saying that I could do better (I had suggested Salad King
> and was then aghast at the hubub).  But if Maureen (or anyone else) can
> find some better candidates on Church, I'm all for it.
>
> Ryersonians and ex-Ryersonians: surely you have some inside knowledge
> that you could share.

Well, I had supper at Panera Bread. I had a large classic penne pasta
with a small french onion soup, a chunk of bread and a large soft
drink (which is very large) for $15 (this includes tax).I came away
from the restaurant feeling quite full. The format is, you go in,
order/pay for your food (no tipping), you are given an empty soft
drink cup plus an electronic tracking disk. You fill your soft drink
cup and then go to your choice of table, leaving the disk in the
middle of the table. They then bring the food out to you. I did see
and chat for a while with Scott Sullivan (and I will look forward to
his observations).

As I see it the strengths / weaknesses of Panera Bread are:

Strengths:

- Good food
- Enough space (though we may end up being a little more scattered
than we were at Pho 88 or Salad King as there are fewer large tables)
- Free WiFi
- The volume of music and conversations from other people were low
enough not to be a problem

Weaknesses:

- To get enough space for our group we would need to be on the 2nd
floor and as there doesn't appear to be an elevator that could be a
real problem for GTALug folk with mobility issues.
- Cost, this place is a bit more expensive than Pho 88 and Salad King.

> PS: did you know that Ryerson started as the Toronto Normal School?
> Do you really think TLUG belongs there?

Of course GTALug belongs at Ryerson. A lot of our members (possibly
myself included) could use schooling on how to be normal :-) .

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