Nixon's Deli — Restaurant in Knoxville

Well, I must admit I don’t enjoy writing negative reviews but I must also confess that criticism breeds change and if it doesn’t, failure ensues.

Today was my first visit to Nixon’s Deli in quite some time. I remember the food being delicious from my previous visits and to no surprise, it’s still awesome. I’d eat it daily, except that would be pricey.

However, the attitude of the employees and atmosphere they were creating was less then acceptable. When I approached the counter I found myself in front of a lady with long dark brown curly hair. I did not receive a warm greeting or feel as if my business or presence was genuinely appreciated. She almost seemed annoyed that I was there. Upon explaining to the teammate that I had not been in in awhile, she pointed me to the menu taped to the counter and then turned around and walked off. She proved quickly that she had no interest or intention of helping me make a decision or showing me what was good, popular or highly recommended. Instead of warm, genuine, friendly customer service...I got a “sit down and shut the f*ck up attitude. She was very “cold.” I did not receive a thank you, come back later or anything of that nature and I must state that I was friendly, inquired about how she was doing as that’s part of my customer service training and nature.

I whole heartedly believe that should this attitude be allowed to fester at this level for long enough, a loss of business will occur. Hospitality and genuine care go along way in the food industry but that’s not what I experienced on my visit.

Teammate attitudes will effect revenue as much as food quality. If the food is great but the person at the counter is cold, certain people will never return.

Aside from this, team members were behind the counter gossiping back and fourth and the lady I referenced above was talking on her cellphone in front of customers.

Highly unprofessional staff here. I can’t see myself coming back to this store but maybe I’ll check...

Ordered online today at 11:50am, pickup time states 12:15pm. My husband gets there to pick up the food at 12:10. The online wait time was 20 minutes, so he arrived right on time. When giving the name for our order, they told him it would be another 20 minutes before the sandwiches would be done. The restaurant is NOT busy at all, so how does it take 40 total minutes to make 2 sandwiches? This shows that the employees didn’t care to see that a to go order came through, and didn’t even have it started when my husband arrived. We arrived at LUNCH time because we are working civilians, there to get our to go order for a lunch BREAK. The employees could care less that we have to wait even longer when they seem to have nothing else going on. This is not our first issue with this place and based on other reviews it seems many others have issues too. How are you guys still in business?

We will never be back to this location, the staff is extremely rude, careless, and cannot even comprehend a simple to go order that should have been ready right now and not 20+ minutes AFTER the promised time. Absolutely ridiculous and a joke of an establishment!!! Seems like there is no organization in place so you could actually bring concerns to “management”, as there seems to be no one that knows what is going on currently...

This is very out of my character to share a review, much less a bad one, but the way they treated myself and the lady behind me was uncalled for. Yes, the sandwiches are great. However, you HAVE to treat people with respect. I waited almost 30 minutes for a sandwich Togo and within that time 3 people that ordered after me were served first. No, these were not call ahead orders that were coming to pick up, I watched everyone place their order at the counter. After being skipped for a third time, I tried asking how much longer mine would be and the response I got was that “this isn’t fast food”. I responded with I understand but I’ve been skipped and I didn’t know why. She told me “she had been doing this for 15 years and that actually I had not been”. When I watch the other people place their orders after but get their food before me, I know that, in fact, means that I was skipped. So, her rude behavior for no reason was outrageous. It doesn’t matter if your sandwiches are good or not if you don’t treat your customers with respect they won’t come back. Also, I would have preferred if she wouldn’t have thrown my sandwich on the counter! The worst part about this entire experience was that this behavior was coming from either the owner/ manager of...