McAlister’s Deli

Abysmal service. This new management needs to figure it out, I won’t be eating lunch here anymore. Used to eat here 4 – 5 times a week with previous régime and never had issues and service was great. Now there are shift managers on the line and the cashiers are SLOW and NOT WELL TRAINED. Had to wait in line 25 mins only to receive a messed up order. Thanks alot, you guys used to be my go to lunch spot.

I had a quick lunch here and was quickly reminded why I do not like this deli. The service is great, the tea average, but the sandwich was mostly bread and very little meat. Paid twice the price of subway and got maybe… maybe ½ the meat.

The salads are fine. The service is ridiculously slow. One person taking orders people falling out the door to the parking lot.

this place is 0 customer service won’t be back for food. Get in line for 20’min … the place is very slow only a few people. Why take forever to get the food here … WHY!!!

We are weird and usually do everything to «Keep Austin Weird», so we have a strong bias to local ownership. But last week we went to McAlister’s and had a pleasant experience with a friendly staff and one good sandwich and one okay.
So imagine our disappointment today when we had a terrible experience. I know it’s a chain, and I know it’s fast casual, but serve edible food and get the order correct. I choose the Pick Two with a half BLT (how do you screw up a BLT? You only put one slice of bacon on it), and the chicken and dumpling soup. I didn’t order a dumpling soup with two very small pieces of pressed chicken. My wife order a corn-​beef sandwich and was served a Rueben. Uck.
I would rate last week’s experience as a 3 and today’s as a 1.

First time here. Came at night ordered the big nasty. And a cup of chicken and dumplings. The soup was good. The sandwich was not. It was cold. Cold meat and cold gravy. The gravy had a weird taste. My fiancé ordered pasta with cream tomato sauce. After we sat down we were told they only have cheese sauce. Double let down. His was okay when it came out. He told the girl at the register that my sandwich was cold and if I could get it heated up. Came out with a new one it was hot also half the meat that was on the first cold sandwich. Still the gravy to me tasted funny. I ate half and fiancé the other half. Went to ross afterwards and he had to run to the restroom because the food gave him the runs. First and last visit. Girl at the register was nice. Idk how somebody could serve a hot sandwich ice cold though.

The service was friendly and there are a lot of options to choose from, sandwiches, soups, salads, spuds, etc… I opted for the choose two option and ordered a half sandwich (french dip) and half caesar salad. The half caesar was a nice size for a half salad, and it was very nice. Fresh green lettuce and a nice dressing with a littlw cheese and croutons. The french dip was good as well, the beef was tasty and the au jus was nice. My only complaint it that the sandwich had very little meat on it. For the price $ 7 + I expected more meat. The place was clean and the food service was quick. I saw one of the spuds with roast beef on it and it looked very good. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

I give it two stars because the food was generally as expected. The service alone, however, grants one star, especially since my complaint is with the management. It is my understanding this location was recently acquired by a new owner, and all I can hope is that they are still figuring things out and this is not a new standard.
The kid’s menu clearly states — on both the menu behind the counter and the printed menus by the door — that all kid’s meals come with the option of chips or apple sauce. We ordered the cheese pita pizza for my daughter and requested the apple sauce. The cashier says it doesn’t come with apple sauce. I point out the tiny print on the big menu that says it does. He still insists that it doesn’t, but offers to give us an extra apple sauce on the side. Confused, I say ok. Well, ‘give’ is not so accurate — when I get the receipt I see that he charged us $ 1.50 for the apple sauce. The kid’s meal alone is 99 cents!
It was the middle of lunch rush, so I waited until the food came to ask what happened with the apple sauce, armed with my receipt and the printed menu. The server brought over the manager who says that the pizza does not come with apple sauce. I point to the menu that directly contradicts what she says.
«Oh, well, for future reference, the pizza doesn’t come with apple sauce. I wasn’t aware that this is what the menu says.» And that was it.
What? That’s it? No refund, not even an apology? She literally did not apologize. I understand that I’m picking on $ 1.50. But when that is 1.5 times more than the kid’s meal costs in the first place, and I am going off of what every version of their menu says, how am I in the wrong here?
Our friends also had confusion on their kids meal — they ordered the mac and cheese with apple sauce. It showed up with a fruit cup instead. The server brought out a (free) apple sauce with an apology. Maybe he should be the manager!
Maybe the (actual) manager should have considered customer satisfaction before she visited our table. We are frequent McAlister’s patrons, but it’s going to be awhile before we consider coming back.

Great service, awesome food. Love the staff!!! Very professional and attentive… Five stars*****

I’m from San Antonio and I love this place. It was refreshing to find one close to work here in Austin. It’s a little out of the, way but always worth the drive.

Had lunch here with my boss. Not bad food but from what i remember the big nasty is big and not child size. If i got jipped im not happy if portion size changed then change the fxxxing price to reflect that!

Been here twice now.
My first time I got the wildberry lemonade, McAllister club, and a cup of chili. The lemonade was delicious and refreshing, albeit a little sweet. The chili was mediocre, with nothing standing out from it. However, I absolutely loved my club sandwich. It was a wonderful mixture of meat, toast, and honey mustard sauce. I don’t remember all the other ingredients, but it was delicious.
Now onto my second time at McAllisters, I got the California turkey Reuben with a side of mashed potatoes and the famous sweet tea. The mashed potatoes are nothing special. I wouldn’t recommend since you have other options. The sweet tea is indeed pretty good. I have a preference for more of a bittersweet taste, but this is a good sweet tea that is not overly sweet either. The Turkey Reuben was not as good as the club that I got last time. Its turkey was slightly cold in some patches and the toast didn’t seem to balance off the saltiness of the meat. However, it still tasted good!
Based on food alone, this place would earn four stars. However, what sets this place apart from other delis or casual fast places is the service. Employees are friendly and always watching it for you. My meal always comes out in less then five minutes. They walk up to me and ask me if I would like a refill instead of me having to go get it myself. They clean my finished plates within five minutes of finishing. I really appreciate the service and management is doing a great job here.

My husband & I came here for lunch because he was in a pasta mood. This place is filled with many different types of salads, sandwiches, & pastas. There is so much to choose from when looking at the menu.
When choosing your drink, you’ve got to get their sweet tea! It is so delicious! I could drink it all day long. I always leave here with a large, & it leaves me craving more when it’s all gone.
I love spicy food so for you spicy food lovers, order jalapeños on the side. It makes the sandwiches even more delicious.
This has got to be one of my favorite delis! I recommend this place to all.

Check your to-​go orders before leaving. I ordered big plate of nachos no jalapenos, when I got to work I opened it to find dry chips, absolutely no cheese. Happily found a container thinking it was my cheese! Nope, giant mound of nothing but… *drum roll* … Jalapenos! It was not a good day :(
Also I tried to contact them to see if I could get a refund or voucher for another time and received no response.
Thanks for ruining my lunch McCalisters. You broke my heart.

Great salad. Substituted Swiss in salad and no cranberries. The shallot vinegratte was great. Quick and efficient and friendly service. Out in less than 5 minutes the food I mean. Huge portion of salad and tea. The waiter was funny with his sharing is caring mantra.

This place was recommended by a coworker so we decided to go there for lunch.
Many items on the menu had sounded tasty so I selected a «pick two» where I chose a half spicy chicken sandwich and a half southwest Cobb salad. Many restaurants restrict what menu options you can choose from. The fact that they didn’t here was refreshing.
The first thing I noticed was that the prices were reasonable — $ 7.50 after tax which seemed more than fair considering the quality and taste of the food which was excellent. Lastly I really enjoyed the incredibly friendly service we received.
Definitely a place I will return to!

I’ve searched all over Austin for this place. The sweet– tea cravings are definitely satiated.
The Choose two option is the way to go! Best of both worlds. I recommend their salads and the Mcalister’s Club

Baked potato is huge and good lunch item. Careful who you take there. If you happen to have a friend who is an immature Unilocaler, he may post a rude pic of you. Hopefully the restaurant Manager will reward me for a great review instead. The place is always clean and it is popular with the local military.

I have been coming to the anderson lane location ever since they moved from ih35 years ago. And I still love it just as much today as I did back then! The food is always delicious, the service is excellent and the employees are friendly.
My boyfriend and I came here today for lunch around 11am. We got in just before the lunch rush which was great! I ordered the pick two with the French dip (with Swiss instead of cheddar) and the chef salad. My boyfriend ordered the pick two as well and got the spud max and the sweet chipotle chicken. As far as my meal goes there was a good portion of roast beef in my sandwich and they even give you a side of aujus to dip it in. Yummy! The salad was also great, very fresh mixed greens with turkey, ham, bacon and cheese. We also got the sweet tea, because who comes here and doesn’t get sweet tea? Crazy people that’s who. The cookies had just come out so we added in a Heath bar cookie, it was to die for.
If you’re looking for a delicious and quick lunch or dinner definitely stop in here. I have never had a single issue and the McAlister’s team is always very friendly!

I am rating this 2 stars because of the customer service. Customer service is one of the lost important things in any business. The last time I came here the girl at the front that took our orders had a face that said «I hate my job and I hate being here.» Today I came here again and again we get the same girl and same expression on her face. Her service was awful. She seemed impatient and was very short with us and not helpful at all when we had questions about the menu. I understand if a person is not happy with their job, but if that’s the case then do something about it, but in the mean time do your JOB and do it well.
Her service has made me not want to return to this deli. I take time out of my day to enjoy my lunch and I get crappy service? No thank you.