Call Your Mother Lil' Deli - McLean — Restaurant in Virginia

We love this place!! Before my rant, top items are: Jetski (on rye, but on the cheddar bagel is also naughty), Royal Palm, Pastrami egg & cheese, Tuna Melt, Grandezza, Pizza Bagel, Gleneagle, veggie cream cheese, YUCA BREAD 🙌🏽, and all the cookies. ALL OF THEM!

I’m not big on review, but I’m annoyed this place has a 4.2 and I wanted to do it justic…what’s super disappointing about this area is people rate the bad places high and the solid and consistent places low. For whatever reason, that’s just how it goes and I think it’s because a lot of people don’t know good food. Or people just like to hate on success. You can taste the difference with Call Your Mother and you know they care about what they’re doing. Is everything perfect? No. Are there menu items I would tweak to make perfect? Absolutely. But I don’t think there are many places that compete with their product. And I was always afraid of black and white cookies because of Seinfeld 🤣, but this place makes the most beautiful and delicious black and white cookie. And don’t even get me started on the alfajor version...

I drive by and always see a queue, so I know this is a popular destination that enjoys a dedicated fan base. But in my three experiences dining here I haven't been very impressed (doubly so given the individual achievements of their operating team).

On my most recent experience I paid $11 for a bacon, egg, and cheese on a somewhat toasted bagel. But after tax and being railroaded in to a 20% tip -- the lowest number available on their POS -- I ended paying nearly $16. My sandwich would have been very decent for $7. For $15+ it was disappointing. The outside was excessively greasy, making it challenging to eat. And there was a cloying sweetness to one of the ingredients, I'm guessing the bacon.

Might give it one more go but won't...

I have had takeout from Call Your Mother twice now on recommendation from family and friends--both times I got an everything bagel. First time I thought may have been a one-off since they have such good reviews, but the bagel tasted/felt almost stale and there was no salt in the everything seasoning. I got it a second time but had the exact same experience--hard/tough bagel and no salt. I tried looking up if this was a creative choice or not, but if I'm getting an everything bagel, I want and everything bagel--salt included--fluffy on the inside but dense enough to hold cream cheese and a crispy golden-brown shell. Perhaps a simple thing to company about, but I really...