CAVA — Restaurant in Lower Merion Township

I’m just writing to let you know of our disappointment at the service we received at the Suburban Square CAVA outside of Philadelphia PA.

First of All— there was no way to call in an order. I only tried to call in an order because after going through all the hassle of trying to order online— it didn’t work. I wasn’t able to place my order. And then— if I wanted to place an order— I had to give all of my information like email, phone number and birthday. I was uncomfortable doing that but did it anyway in order to buy some food. So now CAVA has my personal information but I was still unable to order the food I wanted for my husband and me. My daughter-in-law had the same problem. We were ordering separately and my son was going to pick up our orders of food.

SO— we could not order online or on the phone so my son ordered when he got there. He left his 8 1/2 month pregnant wife and 3 year old in the car while he went in to order the food and wait. (They were on their way back from the zoo.) He placed 3 orders (all he had left was one more order) and when he said he had one more order the woman taking his order turned surly, said he was ordering too much food and told him he had to get at the back of the line. She forced him to go to the end of the line and wait again to place the last order! Meanwhile— his wife and son sat in the car. He would have left at that point but then they wouldn’t have food to eat and he’d have to start all over again somewhere else... His wife needed to eat— as did the 3 year old.

When they got back to our home to eat— the food was okay except they left off about 4-5 ingredients I wanted on my pita— including hummus and eggplant dip. The pitas everyone received with their meals were as hard as rocks.

I understand we have all been going through hard times and the restaurant business has been slammed. I want to be sensitive to that. And it is for that reason we try to support local businesses through buying food. But this is a takeaway set up and it is designed for pandemic conditions. How someone could go to a restaurant to buy food and be told they are ordering too much is beyond ridiculous to me. Isn’t that the point? To order food?— and the more food someone buys the more money you make? It was 4 orders. FOUR. How is that an over abundance of ordering and “too much food”? The order was 3 standard bowls and a pita wrap. That’s it. Seriously?

SO frustrating on so many levels. We have absolutely no desire to return to this place. As you know— there are many options for people in regard to eating out. I’m sure you can tell I am upset and do not appreciate that my son was treated in this manner. And I don't appreciate going through all sorts of contortions - including providing personal information in order to order food-- and then still not be able to order it. Horrible experience...

Stopped by while wandering Suburban Square. Found this place. Intriguing enough as I love grain bowls (so millennial!) and always up for some Mediterranean.

They are newly opened, and the store is clean, and everyone was wearing a mask (okay, I did see one nose...), and you can tell they're new, as they forgot the pita chips (read: fried pita bread...it was out-of-this-world good - had a boardwalk feel, but fresh enough you can pretend it's healthy!), and only while writing this review did I remember they forgot to get me a milk/chocolate milk. So they probably still need to work out some kinks. Still, since I went back and asked for Pita chips, I got them fresh and hot, and again, they were divine!

The sauces were awesome! Loves the yogurt dill sauce for the kid. The kid pita bread was awesome sweet and fluffy. The chicken is good.

The recommended sauce is lemon herb tahini, which is a house favorite for a reason...the zhug/skhug was fantastic too! Vivid colors! The lamb meatballs were decent, but I think you get more meat via the chicken. One bowl I split my "protein" selection to be half chicken half roasted veggies. Pretty good! I also love how their toppings are unlimited. I was too polite to ask for all, but they all looked fantastic and tasted fantastic.

Oh, and they have a reward app, which I love. Plus, I'd totally come back again and enjoy some delicious, healthy food. Maybe not within the week, but in awhile, and I'll want my cava. So, definitely recommend and plan on coming back at some point! Now here's to hoping the points came through after scanning the rewards bar code on their app...plus, you can score a free birthday meal if you include that info! The picture is of the pita chip. It sounds as good as fried bread sounds. If not fried, then certainly baked with butter or some other delicious oil!...

As someone who loves chipotle, I was looking for something new. After doing some research and watching a few videos , i came across Cava and was excited to try them for the first time for dinner and what a disappointment . When we first walked in, the gentleman that greeted us was very nice. We finally decided on what we wanted and got in line. He made the person in front of me’s bowl and began to ring her out . After a minute or two another associate walked over. She had dark colored hair, light eyes, and she was light skinned. She had an attitude from the very beginning and immediately i could sense this wouldn’t be a pleasant interaction. Very impersonal , didn’t greet me , just asked what I wanted . As she began to make my bowl i noticed that the portions were very small, she’d use half the spoon to scoop. Eventually we got down the line and the gentleman that greeted me began to ring me out , again very friendly. When i looked back at the people behind me, she wasn’t making any one else’s bowl only mine and everyone else’s bowls were twice as filled as mine. I made the comment that she kind of skimped out on my bowl. Overall, she made my first experience very unpleasant and I will not be back to this location. Whoever you are, change your attitude or change your career, but don’t take it out on my bowl ☹️ Edit: the food is so damn good I had to give them a star 😭. I’ll be trying the Newtown Square Location from...