McAlister's Deli — Restaurant in Odessa

Updated review 12/12/23: I ordered online this morning around 10:15/10:30 for an in store pickup at 11:45. We arrived at 11:50 only to have to wait in line for a while. While waiting in line, another customer finally received her dine in order and had to ask them to make it to go because she used her whole lunch waiting, she was even pretty rude about it but I can't blame her... and they ended up refunding her. Once I was able to let them know I was there to pick up my order the cashier said "I'll hand it to you as soon as they push it out to me, I promise I will." lacking any kindness at all. As a matter of fact the whole staff lacked common curtesy. Then we witnessed other online orders being given to people who arrived after we did, including a huge order. In all that time, we reminded them two more times about our order. After about 40-50 minutes total wait time my friend intercepted an employee and told them how long we'd been waiting and how we ordered ahead online and she stood and watched when that employee said she would check on our order only to witness her finding it sitting in a corner, ready af. No telling how long it had been ready either. Then they basically handed it to us and shoved us out when we were nothing but patient and kind. I forgot why I hadn't eaten here in so long, 6 months at least, and now I remember. I think I'll skip the overpriced, underwhelming food and ridiculously awful customer service in the future.

Original review 2 years ago: Delicious as usual and with online ordering and the pickup window, I got my food faster than ever. I love customizing my sandwiches which is a lot easier when ordering online than in person and they always...

Horrible experience… If you are going to have a manager on duty please have someone who is competent enough to understand what priorities are and isn’t afraid to let others know what needs to get done. You guys had a bunch of kids working last night and if the Kid can’t be the boss then hire someone who isn’t afraid to tell others what needs to be done.

I placed my order and had just finished pumping gas so I was like “hey let me go to the bathroom and wash my hands.” As I’m walking I slip and almost fall. It was not residue from someone mopping, it was VOMIT. Someone had to just finished vomiting before I arrived and it was sitting there for a while and the workers seemed not to care that it was there on the floor. Because obviously they didn’t bother cleaning it up.

I let the employee who took my order know what had happened their response is the dumbest response I ever heard in the food industry business in why it wasn’t cleaned up prior. (That lets me know they were made aware of the situation already before hand.) His response “oh yeah I know about it, but I’m the only one in the front”. I counted, they had a total of 5 workers working. One easily could have taken care of the VOMIT trail leading into the Men’s restroom.

So whoever the DM of these surrounding locations or corporate if you see this something needs to change because this is unacceptable.

I’m not even going to talk about them getting my order wrong. Sanitation is our number 1 goal in the food industry and this store is not meeting...

Came here on a Friday afternoon in the last week of September. Only had two families seated inside the dining area, and it was extremely quiet. Peaceful. Calm.

Had a craving for their nachos, which are just light and crunchy enough for me to enjoy. All other nachos I’ve had locally in Odessa are always way too hard and thick for me to digest or enjoy. These are light.

Ordered the Nacho Basket (not the Ultimate Basket, since I cannot have chili or meat products) and a Chocolate Chip Cookie. Paid my bill. There was nobody in the line at this quiet hour, but they were still very short-staffed. The same worker who took my order also prepared it at the back of the kitchen, AND attended to the drive-thru window.

Waited for about 10 minutes before I got my order handed to me. Nachos were good and light. The nacho cheese cup was wrapped in cellophane very neatly and carefully, to preserve the integrity of the condiment. I also got a small cup of jalapenos, which I devoured!

Unfortunately, the cookie - and I’m a big dessert lady - was very hard. The worker had told me that they had just freshly baked them, so I think I likely grabbed the one piece that was overdone. It was definitely not stale, but it wasn’t an ooey-gooey cookie. So one star off for that.

Overall, good visit. Also, this place always is jam-packed in other Odessa locations. I’ve had work lunches here with colleagues and always thoroughly enjoyed my food here. Very busy, so today was an oddly quiet day. I recommend...