McAlister's Deli

McAlister's is a counter-serve sandwich chain and it knows its lane. The staff carried it for me, friendly and quick, Shelby double-checking my order and Claudia hustling even when the place clearly left her short-handed. The food came out hot and fast. And that Tea Pass, eight dollars for one tea a day for a month, is a borderline insane deal if you live nearby, the sweet tea with easy ice being a genuinely refreshing pour.

But the cracks show. I caught a visit where the tea machine was down, the card reader was glitching, and the sugar cookies out front had gone hard. None of it ruins the meal, and the people are trying, but it is the kind of operational sloppiness that keeps this from being more than a reliable, fine pit stop.