McAlister's Deli — Restaurant in West Des Moines

TLDR; Good food, good service, fair price, kids eat cheap, lengthy deli menu.

I've gone here a few times before making this review, this is a good restaurant for deli style items, they have a lot of sandwiches and good salads. Soups and tea are good though decently heavy.

I've tried both hot and cold ham/beef/veggie/turkey sandwiches and they've all been quite good. It's worth noting they have a lot of addons for sandwiches which do NOT cost extra (most veggies, bread subs, etc).

The easiest way to order is online, as you can browse all the sandwiches and addons that are free, and the cost of others like adding roastbeef. You can pay online or in store, if you do pay online you can grab the order without waiting in line as long as you show ID.

For sandwiches I like the cut up big chunks of chicken the most, followed by the roast beef. Turkey is quite good, and ham comes in last as the only one I wouldn't get regularly though it's not bad either.

Wide array of sides including potato salad, mashed, chips, mac n cheese that is actually fairly good, etc it's a long list.

The staff is quite friendly, one time they didn't have what I requested and they gave my kids a free cookie. They've been great outside of that as well.

The first few weeks have long lunch lines and while that should die down, it might stay longer than average as it is a better than average place to eat especially for the area.

For 2 sandwiches and a kids meal (about 3.00) we spend roughly 20 and get fairly full off of the meal. These are not enormous...

[ New Management is aweful ]

Don't even think of ordering online. Here's what happened. Staying late at work so thought I can trust these guys to help me out with some dinner . Put in the order- Came out to around 20 bucks. First off- the order was late. Secondly, they were missing a fork - for the salad. Thirdly, they put tortilla strips in and I told them not to put that in the order because I have allergies.

Also they missed one of the dressings and missed the veggies I mentioned. When called, I was directed to speak to "DOOR DASH" and after 40 minutes of my time wasted with those folks , Door Dash told me , McCallisters should have been the one dealing with this because they are ones with my payment info and Door dash is just the intermediary!

SMH!! Please- if you are planning to put in an order online - STOP . If you are putting in an order in-store- double check to make sure you have everything. Matter of fact- Tripple check before you leave because this is incompetence at the highest level.

I could give this place 0...

The staff at both West Des Moines and Urbandale locations are incredibly friendly and accommodating. The food is classic American fast casual (think of an unpretentious Panera without the bakery focus) and my favorite is the "Spud" selection. I can get a big ol' meal-sized potato with all the trimmings, a caesar salad, and an a very 'Merica sized soda for $10 and leave perfectly full and happy. Once I placed an online order for take-out and the employee called me to verify some substitutions I had made and even re-rang up some meals a cheaper way and explained how to order what I wanted to get the best price in the future. Totally above and beyond and as a single mom, VERY appreciated. The staff really does set it apart and I've had great experiences at each location. (My mom turned me on to them, so if you're reading this and go there, send her the good vibes when...