CAVA — Restaurant in Metairie

So after mulling over it for a couple of days I’ve decided to review this to save future hungry people. Entering the newly opened Cava of Elmwood my mother and I had no idea what to expect considering I’ve never ate at a Cava before. Nothing to really complain about the decorations or atmosphere. Seemed like a typical average modern restaurant. We waited for a bit in line to be received by the first lady in the line and asked nicely what is popular to immediately be met with what was to come for the rest of my experience. She very quietly almost purposely whispered something we couldn’t make out. After repeating my question she just rolled her eyes and pointed to the menu with zero direction. So I decided to make my own bowl and while doing that I had to repeat myself multiple times for her to actually get what I was asking for and met with constant eye rolls and remarks to all the other employees but nothing coherent towards me. Unfortunately wasn’t able to get her name due to a lack of name tag. Eventually we were passed to the next lady, named Amani, and somehow things got worse. She was doing the toppings portion, I assume, with corn and all those other items. Again met with zero interest in being there or servicing customers. This lady didn’t even acknowledge half of what was said, loudly and multiple times. She then proceeded to ring us up with the rudest attitude I’ve experienced in a long time and begrudgingly pointed us to the drinks. This experience with the employees alone with make me never come back to this establishment.

Finally the food part of this review. I’ll keep it short like my time eating it. Rice was so under cooked it crunched and almost hurt to chew. The meat was drier than the Sahara Desert and the rest of the meal was filler and average. Only part of the meal that was slightly enjoyable was the side pita bread I ordered. Not enough to garner a positive review however.

I HIGHLY recommend anyone to avoid this place and if you are looking for something similar, go next door the the chipotle. It’s not my first choice but they at least get your order right and have similar stuff with properly cooked rice. This place is a disgrace to...

IF YOU CAN ONLY DRINK DIET SODAS DUE TO DIETARY RESTRICTIONS, BRING YOUR OWN WATER BOTTLE. We come here at least once or twice a month. CONSISTENTLY AND WITHOUT FAIL the diet soda is out. In the past 7 visits, we've only been able to get diet soda twice. My husband and I can't drink anything else due to dietary restrictions besides unsweet tea, which obviously tastes terrible as they do not have Splenda or anything available. That means, the only good tasting option is diet soda, which is again, most often than not unavailable. Usually, we get just enough unsweet tea to wash the food down and call it a day.

Today, I notified the cashier. She misheard me and added more ice to the machine. I went back and tried to lead with grace when I reiterated that the diet soda is out. By now, we were halfway done with our food.

Just before we left, I asked her if I could now get diet soda. She let me know she forgot. We left. That's when she started to ask us if we could wait. Wait for what? We are done dining, wasted money on drinks we did not get, and had to rush to the car to see if we had any water bottles thrown around the floor to wash down the food.

The lack of attention, proactivity, and initiative from staff is astounding. Routine checks should be done to ensure the items people are PAYING FOR are available. If something you offer is out, IMMEDIATELY OFFER ANOTHER OPTION OR A REFUND.

Again, there are multiple full sugar, high-calorie options, so having one of them out is not as bad as the SINGLE low-calorie, no-sugar, well-tasting option being out. Do...

Well, imagine my surprise when we got here and found out it was no longer Zoe's. But as a CAVA, it's a more than acceptable replacement. We had never been to a CAVA before, but on the way here thinking it was still Zoe's my wife was telling me about a co-worker that had told her about a place called CAVA and that we would have to try it sometime. Once we realized that it was no longer Zoe's, we said what the heck let's go give it a try. And we're super glad we did, the food is excellent, the restaurant retains some of the atmosphere and appearance of a Zoe's but, I think the food is much better. I selected the Chicken + Right Rice bowl and my wife had the Harissa Avacado bowl. We each tried some of the others Bowls And I think I liked mine over hers She said hers was super spicy so be forewarned. It can get a little hot. Now for the one negative that I had on the place, they don't have a standard soda fountain No Coke or Pepsi products. They have some fountain with some off-brand unnamed sodas that I had never heard of before (Idid take a picture of the selections and include them). But they did have a juice and Tea Bar and the unsweetened black tea is what I had and it was very good. The meal with drinks came to 34 dollars and change so right in line with the $10 to $20 per person. Wow that's a bit steep, and without getting too political, it's about average in today's economy. And it was pretty much worth it. So if you have a CAVA near you, you will want to give it a try if you like...