Call Your Mother Deli - Old Town — Restaurant in Alexandria

Ordered: Royal Palm (lox and cream cheese, dressed)

I can't quite convince myself that the person who made my sandwich fully understood the concept. Yes, they gave me the listed ingredients, all of which were fresh; but the proportions seemed bizarre. This sandwich was swimming in cream cheese, decorated with a few small rounds of tomato and cuke, and featuring of two rather small pieces of salmon on a passable bagel. I won't scorn the bagel itself, since great bagels are as rare as hens' teeth in the DC area. Plus, I did get a nice big helping of red onion -- but I find myself thinking it must have been accidental, since most people don't heap onions on the way I prefer. Still, there's a minimum bar to clear, and the Royal Palm didn't.

I'm not trying to get all "authentic" or play the New York card on the folks at Call Your Mother. (Which probably wouldn't work -- I think the vibe they are shooting for is more Boca than Brooklyn.) It's a mitzvah having some one trying to do deli of any sort in Old Town, especially now that the Chewish Deli location on King Street has closed its doors. To the contrary, I want them to keep going. But some of the staff clearly need to be trained on how to make a decent bagel and lox, and that means understanding not just what the ingredient list says, but what the right proportions are.

Yes, salmon is expensive. I'm not expecting two pounds of it. But I want to taste it among all the cream cheese, and if they can't give me a decent salmon serving, trying to cover up with an overgenerous cream cheese layer isn't going to help. Moreover, the $12 price tag doesn't max out my willingness to pay for a nicely dressed bagel. I'll fork over more if they would bring their A Game. But I won't be back at any price for what...

Today I am strolling along King St., and I popped into this eatery since I saw several folks walking in. Every now and then I will go with the crowd especially if most folks left good reviews. First, I stopped at the Order Here Line. I had to step back since there was quite a bit to review on the menu. After a few minutes I ordered a Jet Ski to go. While waiting for my food I walked around the place. It looks relaxed, has moderate conversational noise, and adorned with whimsy floral decorations to soften its industrial design. Ten minutes passed so I started standing near the Pick Up Line. I noticed the counter staff and cook were chilling sharing things on their phones and likely got behind on prepping food orders. By the time I received my bagel order, I took it to go. It is 100 degrees outside today so the bagel should stay warm for me to eat by the time I reach home. Once home, I was ready to eat. Honestly, I expected a warm, cheesy, slightly spicy pop during my first bite. What made it a meh (so-so) eat for me was a chewwwwyy bagel, not much flavor on the meat, and unevenly spread meat. For me, this is one eatery where my service and food experiences were different from the crowd's. Would I return? Not really, this was...

Disrespectful staff and manager doesn’t know how to deal with customers. I am a Data engineer and a phd student and I live in Old town Alexandria, VA. I normally go to different coffee shops and restaurants in old town, never had this experience before. I asked for more milk because my cappuccino was too strong and the line was way below the top of the cup. One of the staff told me I could get more milk… and I said thank you, I’ll bring my cup over this counter to pour it. And he started making comments in Spanish and having attitude and making gestures with his body. I asked him if there was a problem and why was he saying things ( I am fluent in Spanish) and he said nothing. I was talking to someone else.” I asked for the manager and told him what happened, and he said “ well, we would normally charge for milk” I was like “Hey what does that have to do with how your staff is treating people and the comments they make! Also, if I told you you got the drink wrong, as a courtesy you should ask what is wrong and how can we make it better. Not lash out at the customer. Really bad experience! You should have asked, what’s wrong with it? Do you want us to make a new one? Not coming back and definitely posting this on every social...