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| - After reading several reviews and hearing about CAVA from some Yelp friends, I decided to give it a try for lunch today and it was great! More and more places are going with the "customize everything" method and if you can keep things fresh and delicious then I'm a huge advocate for it.
Clean, minimal dining area with friendly staff. They have little tasting spoons beside the proteins so don't be shy to ask for a sample if you wish. Today the line of customers was massive, yet I wouldn't say they were understaffed, just a ton of customers. There's a point where adding more staff to a line-style service counter will just create chaos, so I'm not blaming them at all for the wait, they were moving crazy-fast anyway. If anything it shows how successful they already are and can handle a massive lunch service in stride.
For my first visit I decided on the grain bowl that's served with your choice of several starches. I went with brown rice and lentils. The proteins all looked great but the brazed Lamb looked so moist and fresh, I couldn't resist. Top it off with lettuce, pickled onions, feta, mint, and a dill yogurt sauce, I'm allset. They also had some Tzatiki dip and feta spread (2 of their 6 "spreads") that was added to the middle of the bowl which I thought was a little odd, but ok!
Upon digging in, I realized why the line was nearly out the door: Fresh, Filling, and Fast Mediterranean cuizine that's delicious as well! The braised Lamb was so juicy and tender, great lentils and rice, all of the toppings had a cool, crisp texture. Everything about this bowl screamed Quality.
The only thing that was lost were those Tzatiki and Feta dips they added in the middle. Why the middle? There was nothing wrong with them, I just wasn't able to ID them individually in a bowl with so many other flavor profiles going on.
Apparently you can order ahead on their app as well. While worth the wait, I'll definitely be doing this next time. Can't wait to explore this menu more, a great addition to an already diverse collection of restaurants in the University area.
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