McAlister's Deli — Restaurant in Live Oak

Three years ago I wrote a 5-star review for this McAlister's. It was clean, food consistently good, and service excellent across the board.

Two years ago I wrote a 3-star review, as all had clearly gone downhill and things were not trending in the right direction. At that time I noted the overall appearance of the restaurant had gone downhill, it did not feel all that clean, food was okay, but definitely lacking, bathrooms were not in great shape, furniture was worn and torn, and the on-duty manager looked like she didn't want to be there.

Flash forward to today and this 1-star review. My wife and I just had lunch there for what will be the last time at this McAlister's location. In general, we are truly patient in restaurants, especially when are there during a busy time. This experience, was one of the worst we've had with any restaurant. Specifically:

1. The older lady who took our order was not welcoming, never smiled, and when communicating with staff members was pretty sharp. Overall, she came across as a serious grump who was not happy with being there.

2. The tea we got with our meal--a McAlister's mainstay--was weak and watered down compared to the normal standard (our refills before departing were better).

3. We waited for nearly 40 minutes to get our food, with about a dozen other customers also waiting at tables or standing to get theirs, too. When the food did arrive (a couple of sandwiches, with fruit as our sides), it was barely lukewarm. Could not understand that, as they should have literally been getting it on the floor as it came from preparation.

4. The bathroom was completely unclean (and clearly had not been really cleaned in who knows how long), with no paper towels.

5. The windows all around the dining area were very smeared, blurry, and just dirty-looking.

6. The dining area itself was even more worn than the last time we were there and did not present a clean image at all.

7. There was just one person taking orders at the front and one working the bussing of the dining room.

8. The kitchen staff may have been working hard, but from what we could see through the window from the dining area was a whole lot of standing around, with little action going on. There was a complete lack of urgency from the entire staff. When I asked a waitress if there had been a breakdown in the kitchen she explained that they had been slammed by catering, curbside, door dash, drive-through, and dine-in customers all at once and were way behind. Clearly, both the manning and the process for this location was not set up for success with all those different ordering options.

9. After further inquiring about our food status at the front desk they started telling arriving customers that there would be a 25-35 min wait. No one from a management standpoint made the rounds to waiting customers to apologize for the extreme wait and give some form of status for all.

It was clear the staff was completely overwhelmed by the volume and multiple types of orders. There was no manager in sight, and if it was the older lady at the front taking orders that was not clear, nor was she acting as a showrunner, keeping priorities going with the staff. This is by far the worst we've ever seen any McAlister's--a chain we've eaten at all over San Antonio, greater Texas, Alabama, and multiple other locations without issue. Unfortunately, we will not be returning to this location. Anyone reading the more recent reviews here will see there is a running theme, with many of the areas I've addressed also brought up over and over. Whoever owns this franchise (assuming it is not company-owned) has clearly lost focus and does not have proper management and staffing in place. If the situation does not improve this location will find itself out of business. Too many other...

I called to place an order today and orders are now being taken by a call center. Was having my order picked up by my daughter and wanted it to be paid so I gave them my credit information and they ran my card for the order. When my daughter got to the restaurant they told her it had not been paid and she would need to pay for it again. I sent her a screen shot of my account showing the payment going thru my account and told her to ask for the manager. Aaron came to the window and told me he could not see it being paid therefore she would have to pay again. What is the point in having an option to pay ahead when their systems do not talk to each other. I told him it was his issue not mine that the system they have in place does not work and that if he could not give her the order he could keep it. He said “ok” like he could do without these phone orders. I told him I would not be back to place any future business with him and he could not have cared less. As a manager myself in a customer service based business I would never have treated a customer the way I was treated due to my company’s obvious technical issues and feel extremely nervous that I have given my cc# and other payment info with a company that does not have their customers best interest at heart. Shame on you. He said he would cancel my order and they money would be returned immediately. By the way, I called the store number and chose the option to place orders and got the call center again. Spoke to the same man who repeated my order back and confirmed it was paid but he cannot give me any escalation number to contact to report this manager and his poor management skills. I wish I could give this company zero stars but I will certainly never give them any future business. This is not the first issue with this location but it is the last.

Update: Since this review, I was contacted by the other manager on duty that day to apologize for how his other manager handled the situation and promised I would receive a refund as he could see I had payed for the food I did not receive. 5 days later I had to call and speak with general manager to...

This was one of the poorest restaurant experiences we've had in quite some time. Our experience may be limited to this location, and hopefully so, as it was substandard at best. We haven't been to a McAlister's in a few years, but remember it feeling more like a fast deli than a true fast food establishment.

They were out of ketchup. Completely. They didn't have any soda, limited to water and tea. The kids "pretzel hot dog" was not a pretzel hot dog, but really mini hot dog bites with a doughy coating more reminiscent of a corn dog. It also tasted stale and gross. We ended up tossing the hot dog bites and going to Chipotle down the road.

The adults ordered salads, which were accurate to their menu description. Nothing to write home about, but also not bad.

There were no trash cans in the entire restaurant. We had to ask the server/checkout/staff person behind the counter if we wanted to throw away any of the prepackaged utensils and straw wrappers that were slowly filling our table. On that note: Why are we using prepackaged utensils and napkins at a deli!?!? Another sign it has become a truly fast food establishment.

I would say that the one employee we could see, who was doing all the jobs save for cooking/prepping food, was helpful and understanding to McAlister's shortcomings. She was clearly being spread way too thin in her role, but still found the strength to apologize for the inadequate situation.

Lastly, the restrooms were disgusting. Just unclean and not...