CAVA — Restaurant in Charlotte

NEEDS NEW MANAGEMENT!!!! We are repeat CAVA lunch take out customers and usually spend $175-$200 per order for a group of 10-12 people. We have always placed an online order for pickup at least 30 minutes ahead of when we will needed it and never have encountered such horrible service as we did today. I arrived at 12pm for an 11:45 pickup order and had to wait. No problem, it’s lunch time, they are under staffed, lots of people waiting on their take out order. I can wait since I had a larger order and they are still preparing my order. In walks 3-4 done in customers. They (2 employees) stop making my order and both help the customers. Ok I get it, in your face and they don’t need to be ignored. But hear me out! Now in walks another done in and a few take out and they continue to make the dine in orders only. Yes I said they, both of the only 2 front of the house staff! Never looking back at my order or the other take out orders waiting in side of the other tickets continuously spitting out to be made! So, at this point, they have made 2 maybe 3 of my 12 bowls! Other takeout customers are starting to get frustrated and and get in the Don in line and ask them to make their bowls so they can get back to work. Remind you these were takeout orders they had already placed and paid for but now they’re acting as a dining customer so they can get service! I am patiently waiting, trying to be respectful that there are only 2 of them trying to keep up and be pleasant. So I politely ask one of them, whom I find out later is the store manager at, where my order was in the line of being completed. The other employee speaks up and says we’re going as fast as we can. I politely speak back to the manager. They understand you are short staffed however, this was for a 11:45 take out and I have already waited now 45 minutes. In that time I have watched you skip over my orders and make orders for dine in and take out customers. Natasha, the store manager, looked as if she was going to bust out into tears as she was so overwhelmed she didn’t even know what orders were not made of mine. After an hour and a half, Natasha tells me my order is ready! Of course, I double checked it! And I was missing 3 items because they threw those tickets away and didn’t make them!!!! Still trying to be understanding, and very respectful, I asked if she could just make 3 entrees so I could be on my way! During that time, many customers were noticing our quiet conversation and began to ask for refunds! I felt extremely bad for Natasha and Kia, who had no leadership or guidance on what to do in this type of situation with no help at all! I ask Natasha for the district or regional managers contact information and called him to express my concerns for his staff members! Of course, no return phone call or contact back! Natasha, being the store manager should have the authority to turn off the online ordering a function so that they may be able to service the customers that have already placed orders and coming into dine in to the restaurant! we normally order from cava at this location many times, but from now on will choose another location that cares about their staff and customers! I commend Natasha and Kia for maintaining respectful attitudes towards all the customers during the busy lunchtime!!! They definitely do not make enough money to have to put up with that environment! Matt, district/regional manager,YOU SHOULD BE...

I visited this location last week, and I can positively say, this is definitely my favorite location I’ve been to! I originally stopped in to use their restroom, after a long shopping day in the Blakeney shopping center, and WOW! These are some of the cleanest public bathrooms I’ve been in, in a while. I must say though.. I was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness of the entire place. My first impression of Cava was at the Waverly location, which I visited a few months back, and the entire place was dirty!! Including the employees prep counters, tables & chairs(outdoor seating as well), drink & utensil station was extremely sticky, garbage cans overflowing, etc. Needless to say, the Blakeney location almost had my eyes beaming out of my head, by just how clean everything was! The tables & chairs here were very clean, as well as the floors, the drink & utensil station was spotless, & their garbage must’ve been recently taken out, as it was virtually empty. I was also greeted as I walked into this location, which didn’t happen at Waverly. After my long shopping day, & trip to the washroom I decided to hop in line as there was only 2 people ordering at the time. I ended up creating my own bowl, and two girls both named Lauren helped me out. They both had smiles on their faces throughout the entire ordering process, and their teamwork was fantastic! The Lauren in the gray shirt ended up fixing my toppings and checking me out, she even changed her gloves between finishing my bowl and touching the register.. HUGE, in my book! Both girls customer service, and cleanliness of the store have me hooked! I definitely consider this location the best, for its staff, cleanliness, and it’s food! The food was bomb! The greens & grains were fresh and not dry, the harissa honey chicken was super tender, & hot, the toppings were fresh and vibrant colored! Everything about this location is what all other locations need to take notes from! I’ll definitely be a regular here! Great job, Cava...

Do not order your food in advance online through the CAVA app for pick up unless you enjoy waiting. The quoted pick up time is not accurate. I placed my online order at 7:00 for a single Harissa Avocado bowl. The order said that I could pick my order up at 7:15, but it wasn’t ready until 8:20 pm. I asked to cancel it, but they couldn’t figure out how to do that at the register. I waited for over an hour for a scheduled pick up order. There were multiple people who walked in, placed their order at the counter and had their food in less than 10 minutes. They gave a higher priority to in person orders and did not honor the quoted online order pick up time. There were only 3 people working and it appeared that they needed to have at least 2 more people working to run this store. I blame the ownership for not being able to fully staff this restaurant and then allowing the app to quote wildly misleading pick up times. If they would have simply let me know that I wasn’t going to have my food on time, I could have avoided waiting and ordered from somewhere else. No other quick service restaurant...