CAVA — Restaurant in San Antonio

Long review! So disappointed. I've been a CAVA fan for quite a while now but sadly the last two visitIs to the Lincoln Heights location have been awful.

The previous visit was on August 11th. Ordered online for my mom and myself. We arrive and go inside to pick up the food. We waited our turn and the girl that "helped" us was rude. Then we walk to the side to make sure everything was included the side of pita, utensils, etc but realize the dressing wasn't in the bag. I head back to the register and let the girl know. Honestly, her reaction surprised me. She reacted like I was attacking or blaming her for not including the dressing. Then the first girl that "helped" comes over and I let her know the dressings weren't in the bag. She replies "Well, we add it to the bowl" and I asked "even if you ask for dressing on the side?" Anyhow, we go home and start mixing everything together, my mom eats a pita chip and said it tasted weird. After we mixed everything together, we ate. Well, I guess she was right because she spent the whole night vomiting.

Today I placed an order online and I WISH I could've taken a picture. The bowl was a joke. It had a few scoops of rice, beans and literally 5 pieces of lettuce. This time I noticed there was no dressing and since last time one of the girls didn't like that I asked about it, I didn't say anything but I should've bc there was no dressing.

I love CAVA but will absolutely not return to...

I have eaten here on many occasions, both dine-in and take-out; both for lunch and dinner.

The dine-in experiences I’ve had were during lunch hours and while they’re busy, they tend to move at a good pace. Food is good.

The take-out however, is problematic. The first couple of times I ordered were fine but lately I have started to experience a lot of problems. For starters, they never have my order ready on time. To the point that I tried coming later than the time it told me to be there and they STILL didn’t even have my order ready. I have to raise my voice to get anyone’s attention. They will often forget drinks and add-on items. And while I understand that it’s food service which means most of the employees are teenagers, it’s a little shocking not seeing anyone who seems old enough or responsible enough to be a manager during evening shifts. Because of the complete lack of professionalism from this place and disregard to timeframes for take-out orders that are expected to be ready in a certain timeframe, I will not be returning and will discourage others from coming here. This is clearly a reflection on the less than ideal management that could stand to take the time to actually train their employees.

TL;DR: The food is good but the customer service sucks....

Love Cava, but this location misses the mark every single time, no doubt about it. Tonight around 9:20 pm. I walked in and stood at the counter for about a minute like usual before finally having to ask someone to help me.

While waiting, I watched an employee who looked like she’d just rolled out of bed, communicating in grunts, eating a piece of pita with her gloves on and then using the same hand to stack a ridiculous amount of pitas onto the warmer—no glove change.

I started to order but suddenly had an epiphany and told the crew member, “I’m out” mid order. The manager overheard me leaving so I explained how I’d stood there without being greeted, typical at this location and mentioned seeing the crew member eating with her gloves on. By then, a line was forming and the manager thanked me, and I left.

As I glanced back through the window, I saw two employees who’d witnessed the whole thing laughing like they’re not even part of the problem. I’d bet they still served those pitas to the next guests.

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