McAlister’s Deli

I’ve always thought the food was a bit overpriced, but I enjoy the sandwiches I’ve had. Love their huge teas though. I was walking around campus with a friend and we stopped by to grab cookies tonight, man those are great. The girl working there was also very sweet for us to have come in 15 minutes before closing. Overall good food, if you go with the mindset of paying a bit more.

My son and I visited McAlsiter’s when we were visiting the NC campus and we both loved it. The restaurant is very clean, well lit, and features some fun NC hoops memorabilia. We both loved our sandwiches. And the service was excellent — people were polite, attentive, and helpful. In my book, thats a 5 star deli!

Alright for a deli. Very spacious. I had the tomato basil soup, which wasn’t bad — extremely creamy and salty.

John that works there is literally the bomb. My credit card wasn’t working, and he comped the whole meal in exchange for me returning again in the future, and I definetely will be! Totally made my day! ¹⁰⁄₁₀

Stopped here before the planetarium. Very friendly staff. Very clean. My chicken sandwich was delicious and the food my party got looked great.

Friendly staff. Food was ready in less than 5 minutes.

Atmosphere: Very very clean and neat. Always well staffed and not busy.
Food: Very average, almost bland. Honestly, I can’t think of a place on Franklin that has more bland food than McAlister’s. It’s almost amazing how their food never fails to be flavorless.
Service: For some reason, even though it’s never crowded, the food always takes an unnecessarily long time to come out.

Pretty average sandwich spot, nothing that special but good if you want a relatively fast meal. The main thing it has going for it is its iced tea, cookies, and prime location. For the price you pay though I would probably choose one of the many other options on Franklin.

I have eaten 5+ salads from McAllister menu and had delivered by Tarheel takeout. Every one of the salads had bad lettuce, slimmy or withered. Whats up with that!!! Food poisoning.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the food, but I have several friends that always suggest we go here, so I do. The wait for food can be a little long depending on group size and how crowded it is; don’t go if you’ll be pressed for time.
Most sandwich options are good, but I’m always left unimpressed with the sides.
When it comes to cleanliness they’ve got you covered. Tables and bathrooms are always well taken care of.
Oh, and if I went to restaurants for their music instead of their food, I would eat here always and every meal.

The Franklin St McAlister’s is always a safe bet. The food is always made perfectly and the staff is friendly. The UNC memorabilia give the restaurant a unique feel compared to other McAlister’s. It’s nice to eat outside in the spring and stop into Linda’s next door and enjoy a beer with your meal.

Very friendly and didn’t have to wait long for the food. As a university student I have been here several times. The food can be a bit overpriced but it is good quality. Plus, their sweet tea is really good! Definitely will miss this place when I graduate in a week!

The employees were incredibly friendly and my lunch was great. I got the Choose Two option with ½ chef salad and ½ turkey melt. My food was ready quickly and all ingredients were fresh. Good quick healthy lunch place.

Quit whining, y’all. This place is solid. Get the southwest grilled chicken sandwich, add Tabasco, and finish it off with a magic brownie. Foolproof.

I’ve eaten here twice. Both times were disappointing. The food is okay but overpriced for the ingredients and quality of assemblage. I really don’t like sandwiches crafted poorly, so that there’s a pile of meat and condiments in the middle or to one side. I shouldn’t have to disassemble my sandwich to balance the ingredients.
But I was really put off during my last (ever) visit. It turns out that the cost to add bacon to anything is outrageous. My daughter asked what came on their kid’s spud. They told her butter and sour cream and that she could add cheese and bacon. So when I’m ordering her kid’s spud, I tell them to please add cheese and bacon. «Cheese will be an extra 60 cents.» Hmm… okay, fine. «And the bacon will be an extra $ 2.50.» O_​O
Are you kidding me? What kind of imported, organic, wine-​rubbed, saffron, truffle and buttered corn-​fed Kobe pork is this bacon cut from that they charge $ 2.50 for a tablespoon of it? Nah, I’ll pass on that, thanks. Just… I’m out of words for this place.

Good location and reasonable prices!

Pretty great location! I dined here while working in Chapel Hill and found it to be a great locale. The staff was amazing and the food was wonderful! Their spuds are a great way to warm up on a cold day.
They have an upstairs area if downstairs is crowded and it overlooks Franklin Street. So, if you are a people watcher like I am, or nosey (like I am) this is an ideal place for lunch!
Of course, the sweet tea is a given! You are committing a crime if you leave and do not order their Sweet Tea!

I ate here with a group from work and was very happy with the food and especially service. I think we kind of caught the restaurant off guard when a large group of us walked in but they quickly took our orders our food was soon delivered to our tables. I had the Southwestern Chicken sandwich and it was really good. The woman who was looking after our table was quick, attentive and very, very friendly. No only will I not hesitate to go there again, this place is now on my list of places to go.

I just can’t get excited over this deli. Perhaps I have been spoiled by one of the many local sandwich shops that a standard chain just can’t compete with.
Now I will say that if I were in college and needed something quick to eat, reasonable cost that comes with a side I might check this place out. But if I’m going to get a sandwich I don’t want to eat it and forget it. I want to eat it and remember it (for being good!)
My major issues of course is that there aren’t many vegetarian options. The one sandwich option is a wrap and it tasted like they just put a salad in it and folded it over. The Ranch dressing that it came with wasn’t even that good to entice me to eat much of it.
Sure, I could get a potato but I can easily make my own taters at home. Maybe if they put sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese or offered more enticing toppings I would consider it.
I ordered food to go and they forgot the desserts that i had ordered. :(
It is a nice looking deli/​clean and convenient to UNC but nothing to write home about.

As a chain restaurant, it’s okay. They have free wifi, though if you’re a UNC person, the UNC wifi reaches (as it does next door at Linda’s).
Food is decent, though unremarkable: the mac and cheese is better than most.
I think my only real issue with McAllister’s is the presentation. One example: I went looking for a place to sit down, and every table was still a little wet. I’m sorry, but had I not noticed, my happy lappy (or even paper stuff!) could have ended up wet. I don’t appreciate that. The tables were generally clean, but they hadn’t been wiped down fully.
That being said, the food is okay. A little pricey considering the barfood options one can get next door at Linda’s (and further down the street), but okay.