McAlister's Deli — Restaurant in Knoxville

This is coming from a former manager for a different location. I am a firm believer in the 3 strikes rule. Well, today was my last visit to this location.

Strike 1: Several months ago I ordered a spud ole with veggie chili and no cheese (I'm vegan). Apparently they assumed that I also wanted no jalapeños. The chili was thicker than usual, a clear indicator that it was from the day before, and the potato was extra crisp on the ends. My husband's order was fine, and mine was at least edible. Strike 2: My husband wanted a club and when we went in to order, I saw that they had fire roasted vegetable soup. Since I haven't had the best of luck with special instructions, I ordered a bread bowl of soup. Simple enough, right? Wrong. When we got home, I was disappointed to see probably the most pathetic bread bowl ever. It seriously looked like someone had sat on it. I thought to myself "eh, it'll still taste the same". Alas, it had not been properly wrapped and the bread was stale and crumbly. Still edible, but not worth the money. Again, my husband's meal was fine. Strike 3: Tonight my husband, yet again, wanted a club. I was hesitant to get something for myself but decided to try again with the spud ole, veggie chili and no cheese. I had a bad feeling when the cashier took forever to ring in the order, but I didn't want to be 'that customer' who reiterates very simple special instructions. I should've reiterated NO CHEESE. We got home and I opened my to-go box to find a spud covered in cheese. So, I ended up microwaving my own potato and heating up some canned veggie chili and making my own spud ole.

As a vegan married to an omnivore, it's hard to find places to eat where both of us can order something good. In theory, McAlisters should be one of those places. Unfortunately, it's apparent that the staff simply doesn't care about quality. My suggestion would be to offer a decent wage so you can attract people who actually give a damn about customer service. We stopped eating in because the staff honestly seemed bothered by the presence of customers, and heaven forbid you ask for something when they drop your food off. Of course, since we started ordering food to-go, it's too much of a hassle to drive back to the restaurant to get things corrected. You get two stars instead of one because my husband's order is always correct, and because the...

terrible experience as an employee. I have worked there for 10 months and won front of house employee after the first 4 months. I have witnessed food that was dropped on the ground (mostly potatoes and cookie dough) being picked up and get prepared for someone's meal..they have fruit flies flying around and I've seen some land on food including the unwrapped cookies that are sometimes left overnight.. not to mention that I've witnessed employees bag cookies with no gloves with managers even witnessing them doing that and not saying anything...when I first started working there they never let me know I was allowed a break especially as a minor so I would work an 8 hour day straight while some people working 6 hours would take a 30 min break.. they allowed me, when I was 17 at the time, to go out on a catering order which they had wrote down the wrong name of the destination so I had to turn around which resulted in me crashing my brand new car..half the employees stand around and talk or disappear randomly and what's funny is that the managers and even the higher up district manager Chris Graves will notice it and even hop into their conversations while the other half are actually doing what needs to be done as well as picking up the slack not to mention I watched an old coworkers snapchat video of one of the new managers hitting a dab. Now one day the district manager didn't want to hear what I had to say regarding the problems this company has so I turned in my two weeks and he basically said that I was going to be done after that scheduled week so I left..correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it wrong/illegal to not...

Today is April 8, 2024. I am updating this review bc once again this location doesn't have the same customer service experience that all others seem to have. I ordered curb side. Waited too long. Went inside and my order was just sitting there. I left. The manager called and said I didn't place curb side order. I verified through the app that I did in fact place a curb side order. She lied and was no where to be found when I went into the store. Called me after I left to tell me I'm a liar. Gotta outta here!

I have ordered from this location twice this week and twice my order was wrong. I work too hard to pay for things that are not as ordered!!!! First time, my sandwich did not have honey mustard which comes on the sandwich. It was dry and I threw it out. It was delivered by Uber Eats. Today I picked up and order in the store. I stood at the counter for several minutes before I was even acknowledged or greeted. I had to speak out loud to myself about leaving this review to get anyone to speak to me. Once I got back to my office I realized my order was wrong. A spud max came without butter or sour cream included and I requested extra!! I'm so tired spending my money to receive crappy service and to not get what I pay for and ordered. Get your staff trained. Improve customer service. And verify orders before sending them out. Geeze as long as this franchise has been in business, one would think they could do so much better than I have...