McAlister's Deli

One of the things on my to-do list for my Tuesday day off was to eat lunch in Beaumont. Marilyn told me that there was a McAlister's Deli down on Dowlen past the Kroger. I happen to LOVE McAlister's. (They have bread bowls!) I don't often get to eat there cos I'm rarely in a town that has one. I think it is kinda sad that I've been living very near to a town that has one for 8 months and I never knew it existed!
So, I walked into the restaurant with my two most recent issues of TIME (I'm a little behind cos of the holidays) and was greeted immediately by Nello. It took me Waayyy too long to decide, but it has been so long since I ate at McAlister's. I was really tempted by the bread bowls, but I also knew that I was planning on going to Rao's after the movie, so I decided to just get soup and a small serving of potato salad. I was hoping that potato salad was better for me than the big bread bowl. I'm really not sure about the answer to that query, but I will say that the potato salad was delicious! It was the mustard kind and not the German kind. I definitely prefer the mustard kind.

The funny part of all of this is that they kept messing up my drink order. I--of course--ordered un-sweet tea. The first drink which Nello gave me was sweet tea. I was sitting down reading my TIME, so I didn't get around to sipping it for about 5 minutes. However, when I did, the wrong-ness of my drink was clearly evident. I know many people think I'm weird about this thing, but I cannot stand the taste of sweet tea. It is so entirely GROSS to me. That fact is even funnier when you consider that I love everything sweet. Cake, candy, cookies--YUM! But un-sweet tea? No Thank You!

They fixed the issue immediately AND with a smile on their faces, so I wasn't upset at all. (And really, it isn't like I would really have been upset anyway, yeah?) The manager came up to me a little later and asked if I needed a re-fill. Of course, I did. When she (the manager) came back with my tea, I was surprised to find that it was sweet, but--again--someone fixed it poste haste and with a smile.

The soup I ordered was also delicious. I was offered crackers at least twice by passing employees. Man! Talk about customer service! I declined however cos I wanted to make sure I had plenty of room for a Rao's dessert with a ton of calories. By the way, I had that Chocolate Moose Cake at Rao's--my first time. It was FAN-TAS-TIC!! I've tried several other desserts there and they were all pretty good, but this one is the best so far.

Sorry for the digression. Back to the soup! I actually can't remember what it was called. It might be something called "Fire-Roasted Vegetable Soup." It was all vegetables and had something like 6 calories a bowl. I called later and asked about adding chicken to the soup for some protein. The young gal didn't know the exact price but she said it shouldn't be more than $ 1.50. So, a great and delicious soup (Something between $ 2.50 and $ 2.99), a drink (I think it is prolly about $ 2.00, I'm not sure). That particular visit I tried the potato salad which was about 90 cents. That is a pretty good price for a side dish nowadays, yeah? And it was delicious, so all in all, the potato salad was a good value.

So, basically--for future reference--you can have a GREAT meal. Veggie soup- $ 3.00
extra chicken for protein- $ 1.50
delicious UN-sweet tea- $ 2.00
a side (I recommend the potato salad- $ .90
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plus tax $ 7.40

So, the food was great. The customer service was great. And--most importantly for me--people were willing to talk to me. Y'all know how I like to make friends of strangers. Nello--who is pictured--sat down and we talked about finances and careers and family. It was lovely. Even the manager stopped and talked with me about something I was reading in TIME magazine. I really enjoyed myself. Clearly, I'm going end recommending that every one of my readers find a McAlister's near them and become a regular customer. I was just really impressed with them.

Great food. Great Customer Service. Great people. Go y'all! :) Check 'em out! http://www.mcalistersdeli.com/