Laravel 5.1 Routes.Php Thinks I Am Not Authorized?

so I have an ajax call to a contoller which is logging me in, I know this is working because of Auth::check($user) and the returned cookie data, such as the laravel session cookie.

However, my problem is in my routes.php, I still can't get to the authorized only pages, and keep hitting the welcome view.

My routes.php:

use App\punsmodel;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

if (Auth::guest()) {
    Route::get('/', function () {
        return view('welcome');
    });
} else {
    Route::group(['middleware' => 'auth'], function () {
    Route::get('/', function ()    {
       return view('mainview');
    });

     Route::get('mainview', function ()    {
       return view('mainviewMolly');
    });
});
}

My controller:

<?php
    namespace App\Http\Controllers;
    use App\Email;
    use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
    use Illuminate\Http\Request;
    use Google_Client; 
    use Auth;
    use App\User;
    class verify extends Controller
    {

    public function verifyIdToken(Request $request)
      {
    $user = User::where('name', 'Molly')->first();
        Auth::login($user);
        if (Auth::check($user))
{
    return response()->json(['Logged In' => "Yes!"]);
}
    }
      }

So I do an ajax request to the above controller, which works as I get the json response that says I was logged in, however then when I refresh the homepage, I still get the welcome page not the mainview. Why is this the case?

via Chebli Mohamed