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    McAlister's Deli

    3.3 (94 reviews)
    ModerateSalad, Delis, Sandwiches
    Closed 10:00 am - 9:00 pm

    McAlister's Deli Photos

    MCALISTER'S DELI ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating
    Dogs allowed

    Recommended Reviews - McAlister's Deli

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    Reviews With Photos

    Sweet and smoky chicken sandwich
    Christine W.

    The food was okay! I got a sweet and smoky chicken sandwich. I wish it came with more vegetables, but the BBQ sauce was tasty. Their lemonade is really good, too. The employees didn't seem very happy, hence the four star review. It was also a tad chilly in the restaurant. Music was okay, ambiance just seemed like typical fast food restaurants. There were a lot of tables left uncleared, too.

    This is my pick 2 with the Broccoli Cheese Soup & Ultimate Nachos.  you can't tell from the pic but it's a huge portion of nachos!
    Surelyne L.

    We've been to McAlister's many times over the years and the food has always been fresh and consistent. It's not fancy since it is quick service but there's plenty of seating for smaller and larger groups. Service can be a bit slow but like many places, they are short-handed. My personal favorite is the Pick 2. It's a take on the other popular quick service chain that also offers this but the biggest difference is that the quality is much better at McAlisters and the portion sizes are much more generous at a fraction of the cost.

    David A.

    Been a few years since getting anything at McAlister's and my buddy was looking for something other than fast food, so I talked them up and figured I'd grab a sandwich as well. What a difference a few years makes. $15 got me a 6" sandwich(They called it Big & Bold ) and $9 got him some canned chili. I guess that's a microcosm of the world today. Good things just don't last..

    Grilled chicken salad
    J S.

    Ingredients are fresh but the service was disappointing. I ordered a salad to-go and it wasn't made as I had ordered or described on the menu. Also the staff was huddled inside the kitchen, gossiping and not paying attention... maybe that's why my order lacked care? The grilled chicken salad is usually extremely crisp with mixed greens and I specifically ordered extra cucumbers. What I got was 95% spinach with zero cucumbers and barely any tomatoes as well. The whole experience/excitement was deflated because it really is the little things sometimes! Right?! It's a tricky parking situation sometimes but a great spot for typical lunch fare. Ambiance is clean and spacious inside, even some outdoor seating.

    Grilled Chicken Club ($8.49) with extra bacon (+$1.59)
    Jillian S.

    Customizable items, reasonable prices, and curbside carryout? Yes please! I recommend their Choose 2 deal. It's affordable and you receive a good amount of food. Ordered: -Cinnabon Cheesecake ($4.49): delish, cheesecake part is basically just Cinnabon frosting (frosting is the best part right??) -Choose 2 (1/2 spud, 1/2 salad for $8.89): filling, nutritious, and fresh -Grilled Chicken Club ($8.49): small portion of sandwich and side, leaves you hungry Pros: -curbside and in restaurant takeout available -orders made quickly and accurately -online menu is easy to use -payment accepted online -employees bringing out orders are wearing masks -menu items are incredibly customizable -varied menu, you are bound to find at least one item you will enjoy Cons: -full size sandwich is mainly bread. Leaves you hungry. We would prefer more meat. We enjoyed this meal and previous delivered meals. We continue to recommend this restaurant to others!

    Turkey Reuben
    Tammy M.

    I thought I had already written a review so I didn't take any pics. I'll be back soon and will add some later. This is my GO TO McAlisters. It is too close to my house ! Walking here is an option and based on the size of my Rachel sandwich , our next visit will require a walk. Hubby and I both were craving a Reuben. We opted for the (slightly) lower fat version that they call a Rachel. Turkey instead of corned beef. I couldn't believe how much meat was on the sandwich !! YUM !!!! We probably should of split one. Their new SPUDS chips are delicious. Service is always quick and friendly. We will be back. They have nachos now !!!! Gotta try them !

    McAlister's The McAlister's Club
    Kathy G.

    COVID dinning experience- Stopped in for a quick bite. Masks are required upon entry. Hand sanitizer throughout the restaurant. Ordered a you pick two- sandwich with salad. Party of 4 and we all enjoyed our food. Don't forget to sign up for their rewards program!

    Dining area
    Patrick B.

    McAlister's is an establishment where you can get great, wholesome sandwiches, soups and salads. I will say that their proportions have slightly decreased over the years but the food still is packed with quality ingredients. In terms of cost -- I'd probably give it two $ our of $$$$. It's a little steep for what you're getting. But hey, the food is enjoyable. Staff at this location was incredibly kind and top rated customer service. Love all of their menu items -- especially the brookie.

    Tomato bisque soup and Southwest salad

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    10 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    Matt J.

    Great to read this! Thanks for the review!

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    6 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    Greg P.

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    4 years ago

    My food was not fresh at all, My sandwich came out cold and my nacho basket was not properly done correctly!

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    7 years ago

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    Matt J.

    Thanks Courtney!

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    Matt J.

    Thanks Jim! See you next time!

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    10 years ago

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    Matt J.

    Thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed!

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    Matt J.

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    Matt J.

    Thanks Hazel!

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    9 years ago

    Always great food and service! They have really good potatoes and sandwiches. The staff is friendly and the place is very clean.

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    Matt J.

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    Matt J.

    Great to hear, Amanda! Thanks for placing this review!

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    Matt J.

    Thank you Peter!

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    Page 2 of 3

    Ask the Community - McAlister's Deli

    Fratelli’s Delicatessen - Our patio awaits you...

    Fratelli’s Delicatessen

    4.4(197 reviews)
    4.9 mi
    $$
    Gluten-free friendly
    Catering service

    Very busy hipster deli user a mixed-use condo and apartment complex where the ground floor is shops…read moreand restaurants. And there is a tiny park in the middle next to the deli. They were doing everything right, even down to the Dr Brown's, and they had ZERO flavors too. There is a meat and cheese counter,r but most of the length of the shop is pastries, cakes, pies, es and other beautiful-looking treats. We ordered our sandwiches; I had an Italian sub, and it was just ok, kind of dry and lacking in flavor; frankly, Jersey Mike's makes a better Italian. But my wife got theReubenn, and it was simply the best Reuben we've had outside of Katz in NYC. I order Rueben's all the time, and I'm consistently disappointed. Most are dried out, have too little meat, and the corned beef is often dry, but not in this case. The sandwich was truly worthy, and we are ready to go back and have it again. Moist, flavorful meat, a generous portion, and the dressing andkraut weres well balanced. The bread was grilled, not toasted, and was itself rich and flavorful. Altogether, it is a Reuben worth driving a distance to have it. We are already planning to come back and try some of the baked goods, but also get the Reuben again too.

    First, the positives... Service and friendliness couldn't be nicer! Wonderful people who seem to…read morecare about taking care of the customer. Prices seem fair. Cleanliness is good. Nice selection of menu items, and breakfast items are available all day. Unfortunately, these are offset by impressions of the food after two visits. Just not up to snuff. On the first visit, the Chicago dog was sub-par, but that was my partner's order and I don't remember the details. I just remember she said she wouldn't order it again. On today's visit, I ordered a meatball parm sandwich. It was cloyingly sweet - both the meatballs and the tomato sauce were unappetizing, and I could only manage to stand eating a bit of it. My partner ordered a side of corned beef hash. It turned up in a little paper tray with some dry shredded corned beef sprinkled on top of some home fry potatoes - just basic cubed potatoes and some beef shreds on top. That's it. It didn't feel like any corned beef hash we had ever seen. And we paid extra for a fried egg that didn't make it onto the dish. Of course when we pointed this out, it was quickly cooked up separately and brought to the table, so no problems again with the service or resolving the issue. Also be warned that Thursday nights from 6-8pm they run a music trivia game that blasts music loudly throughout the large dining space, completely surrounded by reflective surfaces. It was so loud and obnoxious that it made conversation impossible and drove us outside. I wish I could report a better experience. We need more quality delis around here!

    Photos
    Fratelli’s Delicatessen - DA' BEEF
House-made Italian beef with a side of au jus. served with hot or mild giardiniera on an Italian hero. (PRO TIP: add mozzarella)

    DA' BEEF House-made Italian beef with a side of au jus. served with hot or mild giardiniera on an Italian hero. (PRO TIP: add mozzarella)

    Fratelli’s Delicatessen - CHICKEN PARM
Same as the meatball parm only with...wait for it...chicken cutlet

    CHICKEN PARM Same as the meatball parm only with...wait for it...chicken cutlet

    Fratelli’s Delicatessen - HUNGRY MAN
Three eggs, three slices of American cheese, and Applewood smoked bacon, pork sausage, and Tavern Ham. Served on a Kaiser roll

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    HUNGRY MAN Three eggs, three slices of American cheese, and Applewood smoked bacon, pork sausage, and Tavern Ham. Served on a Kaiser roll

    New York Bagel and Deli

    New York Bagel and Deli

    3.9(389 reviews)
    2.8 mi
    $

    Your hunt for first-rate pastries and bagels ends right here. It's not surprising that there's a…read moregreat deli like this in Cary -- a city as stuffed with new Northeastern transplants as it is depleted of old Southeastern woodlands. Despite the overdeveloped bleakness, Cary is, at least, a good town to find many foods, markets, and restaurants otherwise unavailable in the region. The pastry case has a wide variety of options -- everything you might hope to find in a Portuguese or Italian bakery in New England in the 1980s (my touchstone for fundamental pastries). They are all apparently made on the premises, and have the particular look of pastries from the Northeast. Purely in the interest of scientific research, rather than barbaric gluttony, I tried an apple danish, a cheese danish, and a lemon danish. The cheese danish was faultless in taste: The filling was classic New England bakery cheese filling, and the pastry dough was very soft, and light, but not crumbly. Unlike at some Italian bakeries, it wasn't edge-to-edge filled with cheese (though it was the most edge-to-edge of all three danishes, as is customary for the cheese ones, in my experience); you can, and should, easily remedy this by ordering multiples. The apple danish was of the more cinnamon-crumble-forward style, but it was still terrific. The apples were well-coated small soft bits (unlike at some lesser pastry shops where the apples are crunchy undersweetened slices or chunks). Lemon danishes are very hard to find anywhere, and it was exciting to see one here. It was also excellent. The lemon filling sweated a little bit, so be prepared to get a little sticky (well worth it -- since this is definitely the right kind of filling for a lemon danish). The bagels are also top-notch, as you'd expect. They are a tiny bit lighter and smaller than the classic NY deli bagels were a few decades ago. Which is probably a good thing, since the New York ones seemed to be made from lead-208, all-gluten flour, and condensed dwarf star. The taste is pretty correct, though (as opposed to another bagel shop in the region which does manage to make gigantic leaden NY bagels, but which taste like dense white bread). All of the expected varieties of bagels were at the ready, and in good supply. The bagel/egg/cheese/meat sandwiches are pretty much NY deli accurate (but a little lighter -- which, again, is most welcome, compared to spending the entire morning defeating a NY bodega BEC, and the entire afternoon groaning), and carefully yet briskly prepared (with very good quality meat, and with yellow -- the tastier color -- American). (There also was a slice of chocolate cake -- it, unfortunately, was of the minimally frosted type, with some sort of ill-advised sour cream mixture between the layers. We'll just forget about that item.) The shop itself isn't quite as densely packed (with either people or pastry) as a NY deli, and is also much cleaner and kinder. The service is simply excellent. Customers are all quickly moved through the line, and the orders are prepared very efficiently. Despite the speediness, everyone behind the counter is very friendly and as patient as needed. The speed of the North is combined with the friendliness of the South -- a perfect combination, especially for those of us who are hopelessly impatient, but have no desire to ever be yelled at while at a deli counter again. A great business. I hope they flourish for a very long time.

    I went to NY Deli and was honestly flabbergasted by the lack of assistance I received just trying…read moreto place an order. First, the menu is written on the wall, but it looks like it may have been written years ago because much of it is nearly illegible--as the picture I included shows. When I asked the gentleman taking my order what the menu said and what some of the options were, he seemed almost as unaware as I was. Instead of helping me understand the menu or offering a few popular choices at different price points, he began making higher-priced suggestions that really weren't very helpful. At that point, I finally just asked for an egg and cheese sandwich because I figured that was something simple and safe to try. And I'm glad I did! The egg and cheese was actually very good, and honestly, that is the only reason I didn't give NY Deli a lower rating. The food showed me that there may be a lot of potential here--the ordering experience just needs some serious attention. Please consider rewriting the menu on the wall so customers can actually read it, providing paper menus, making sure staff are familiar with the menu and can offer helpful recommendations, or preferably a combination of all three. Good food shouldn't be this difficult to order. Make the experience as good as the sandwich was, and I'd be much more inclined to come back.

    Photos
    New York Bagel and Deli
    New York Bagel and Deli
    New York Bagel and Deli

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    Potbelly

    Potbelly

    3.3(121 reviews)
    4.4 mi
    $

    After a long flight and the usual airport chaos, I was heading back when I spotted Potbelly and…read moreimmediately knew I had to pull over. Something about being travel-hungry made one thing crystal clear: I needed a Wreck. And wow... this hit the spot perfectly. I ordered the A Wreck on multigrain, thin-cut, loaded with basically everything good in the house -- Genoa salami, roast beef, smoked ham, turkey breast, provolone, hot peppers, caramelized onions, pickles, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, roasted garlic aioli... the whole masterpiece. Every bite hit. The bread had that perfect warm toast, the meats were stacked generously, and the balance of tangy, savory, crunchy, and spicy was chef's kiss. The caramelized onions with the hot peppers especially took it over the top. Also grabbed a large Strawberry Dragonfruit refresher, which was ice-cold and ridiculously refreshing after airport chaos and North Carolina humidity. Exactly what I needed. If you're anywhere near RDU and debating a stop before heading home -- do it. This Potbelly absolutely delivered. The Wreck remains undefeated.

    Potbelly is a reliable go-to for solid sandwiches, especially when you want something quick but…read morecustomizable. My favorite order is The Wreck! it's loaded with all the meats and always hits the spot. One of Potbelly's biggest strengths is the ability to pile on condiments, veggies, and dressings, which makes it easy to tailor your sandwich exactly how you like it (also a big fan of their hot peppers). That flexibility goes a long way in keeping things interesting even if you order the same sandwich regularly. We've also used Potbelly for office catering, and it's been a consistently good experience. Orders are straightforward, food travels well, and it's a crowd-pleaser for a group with different preferences. It's not trying to be gourmet, but it's dependable, filling, and well-executed. A strong option for lunch, group orders, or when you want a sandwich that you can really customize.

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    Potbelly
    Potbelly
    Potbelly

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    McAlister's Deli - salad - Updated September 2026

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