McAlister's Deli — Restaurant in Houston

The food is really good here, but the customer service needs serious improvement, hence my 2⭐ rating.

When I pulled up to the pickup window today the window itself was open and there were 3 staff members visible. They were busy, and I fully understand 'being in the weeds', but I sat there a full 7 (s-e-v-e-n) minutes without anyone even making eye contact with me. My order was prepared and had been sitting on the shelf for 20 minutes. One of the Expeditors who was assembling orders and bringing them to the shelf next to the window and sitting them down, did that 6 times. She was within 2 feet of me and had to purposely avert her eyes to avoid acknowledging me. The one working the register came within 2 feet of me twice to fill drink glasses. Again, no eye contact or any type of acknowledgement of me being there waiting patiently. The third staff member returned from somewhere to the expediting area and joined the first person pulling food from the window and bagging orders. Again, they were busy... I empathize...but by this point they had made me feel like I had done something wrong. It felt like they were all mad at me for the audacity to place an order and then show up to pick it up. I finally got asked what the name on the order was and I told her and she did a very quick rustle through the sacks sitting there then walked away and went back to expediting orders without saying a word. Finally I had to yell out, 'my order was due out at 1:06 and its now 1:30, the sack will be over here not over there', assuming that the reason she walked away was to look for my food coming fresh from the kitchen. Two of them then walked over, found my sack on the back of the shelf and handed it out the window without so much as a 'thank you', 'sorry for the delay,' or 'don't ever come back here again '. As they turned to walk away I had to ask if I had made them mad? They looked bewildered as if they had absolutely no idea how bad the ôcustomer service experience I just had really was. That tells me I'm not the only one enjoying this service.

My opinion is that it would have taken very little effort by any one of the three of them to quickly say 'we'll be right with you sir', or to simply look at me and hold up a finger signalling they knew I was there and they would get to me. The way this went down today was very unpleasant, and I don't think I will be so rude as to place another order or show up at their window or go in and have a meal, no matter how good the food is. I wouldn't want to piss them off again by giving...

I wish I looked at the reviews before coming here. The one by my house is temporarily closed so this location was our next choice as we havent been here yet. Its been a very long time since ive eated at a location so me and hubby decided on lunch today. I've been eating McAlisters since I was a kid and across multiple states and have never had a bad experience.. until today. My husband wanted a baked potato for lunch, but they were out. It's only noon 😭😭 so that was a huge let down for him. He got a chicken ceasar wrap and a baked potato soup instead. The wrap had the hard, white bitter parts of lettuce all through it, a small pinch of cheese and sais the chicken was dry. Its a small wrap and my husband is a big boy.. he didn't even eat it all because it all. Also said that the potatoes were undercooked in his soup too🤷‍♀️. I got 2 half sandwiches because I couldn't decide. The club and four cheese melt. The club was ok, but didn't have the extra mayo I asked for which made it taste dry. It was like they didn't put any mayo on it at all. The four cheese melt was also dry because it was missing cheese on it. Its was a thick ciabotta bread with like one slice of cheese. It sucked. Its supposed to have 4 different types and it definitely didn't. The first thing I always like to do with it, is tear it in half and do a cheese pull. It didn't do it.. for the first time ever.. and It broke my heart🥺. I'm still mad about it as I'm typing this. But for real, our lunch was super disappointing and a huge let down after being excited for it all the way here😭😭. I wont be back here for sure. Ill just go the extra distance for another location next time.. one that isn't skimping on ingredients to try to save money despite me paying my hard earned money for it smdh

P.s. the employees were fairly nice, but 2 of them in particular could definitely work on their customer...

So I thought I would give this location another try. This is my second visit. My daughter ordered first. A cup of broccoli soup but in a bread bowl. After paying she's told they ran out of bread bowls. So she opted for a regular sized bowl since it's the same price. The cashier was nice but called for a Jackie to help her out. Think maybe manager?? She was at the machine for a few minutes and made my daughter pay .22 cents. It wasn't our fault they didn't have bread bowls or spinach. Would of thought okay no problem just give her a bowl. Mind you there is now a line all the way to the door. As a manager you need to be quick and know how to quickly get the line down without pissing off the customer.

Okay now my order.....so I then order a simple chicken caesar salad and a tea. Go to pay, stick my card in....cashier asks me retry my card....the machine was stuck. Cashier tells Jackie and she said the machine is resetting and I will have to manually enter my card info....after growing frustration, I just cancelled my order and gave back my tea. There was no effort by anyone to fix this situation. Will not be returning to this location even though I live in the Heights. I would rather drive all the way to Sugarland / Richmond location off of 59 South and 99. They are awesome. Customer service is great and food is extra good. This location is a joke. I know it just opened but there is no excuse for the lack of common sense. My daughter and I have both worked in the F&B industry and this was not handled well. By the way, I sat with my adult son and daughter as they ate dinner. It's okay, I had time to sit and write this review. After we leave, I'm going next door to Gabbys BBQ and pick...