CAVA — Restaurant in Alexandria

2 strikes and I'm out...

I was so excited about this new Cava because it was conveniently located. The first time I visited I asked for half chicken, half beef meatballs as my protein. I was informed it would be about 5 minutes until they were ready, there was a nice line forming but they kept fulfilling orders and they were to come back to mine. I noticed how they rush through the line and barely allow you to finish telling them your toppings before they push your bowl down the line. It ended up being about 15 minutes when the meatballs were finished but I'm fine with that because I don't want undercooked meat. They rushed my food down and didn't even put chicken in my bowl. 2 girls closer to the register seemed way more interested in anything else that was happening than paying attention to their jobs because I had to keep asking for pita chips then they were out of spicy lime tahini!!

My second visit was almost the same in regards to the rushing but I made sure that they put my chicken and beef meatballs in my bowl this time.

I'll just stick to the location by my job, it's a totally...

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Cava. I used to come to this place a lot, like almost everyday since it is nearby. Food was good. But what happened with all the employees being new? Like they don't know what they are doing. Worse is, they barely put ingredients in the bowl now as if it comes out of their payroll. As I said, I used to go to this place a lot and I always get the same order. I was used to getting larger portions (because I add lots of extras) that the bowl is really full. With these new employees, the bowl is barely half full. I made a comment one time saying, you must be kidding when the employee put like 5 pieces of chips when I asked for that. He just smiled. Seriously, for the price, it used to be worth it. Now, I don't think the almost $20 I pay for half bowl is worth it. I hope management talks to its new employees to be a little more generous in the portions because, to be honest, Cava is a...

Tried CAVA today and honestly, I won’t be going back. The steak was extremely chewy and not good at all, hard to even eat. The rice was dry and bland, which didn’t help. The only decent part was the chicken, but the portion sizes were ridiculously small. It’s starting to feel like the Chipotle trend of giving smaller and smaller servings, except here it’s even worse. I ordered a bowl with rice, chicken, and steak (steak is a $3.75 add-on), thinking it would be worth it. Instead, when I asked for both meats, they just split it half-and-half which I get but for nearly $20 for one bowl with basically rice, chicken, and some chewy steak, it’s absurd. Even Chipotle is a few dollars cheaper for a bigger portion. Go at your own risk. The staff was nice and respectful, the parking was good too there’s tons of parking. It’s just the food that wasn’t that good....