This is a review in 2 parts. Hold on to your britches, because ours almost caught on fire.
Part 1:
Last night was our first visit to Cava. I've been wanting to try it for awhile, so my husband, myself, and our youngest finally stopped in. The concept is delicious. It's the Chipotle of Mediterranean food but better. So many choices and all fresh! My husband and I settled on the Build Your Own Pita after waffling back and forth between the curated bowls and pitas. I chose the Kid's Meal for the 3-year-old.
Ordering was smooth. We picked out everything we wanted. Grilled Chicken pitas and all the fixings and unlimited toppings for us. Our daughter had grilled chicken and hummus on her kids plate. We settled in for the yumminess.
And that's where it got interesting. I popped a bite of chicken in my daughter's mouth, and she immediately yelled it was too spicy while grappling for her water. She's admittedly a bit dramatic at age 3, so I tried a bite while telling her it wasn't spicy. Mama was wrong. That chicken was HOT. I asked her dad to try it. He took a bite and said, "Tastes like grilled chicken to me....ohhh nope! There's the burn!" And he started gluggling down root beer like it was the last glass on earth.
I took her plate back up. The staff tried the chicken on the line. It was fine. They offered to remake her plate...then they tried the chicken again...oh crap. The two chickens got mixed up. So I'm pretty sure she got the Harissa Honey Chicken. One of the staff was even breathing deeply through her mouth to try to cool her tongue after finding the offending chicken. No prob on our end. They chopped new chicken from the back, I took it to my kid, and sat back down.
Then my husband and I took a bite of our pitas. Double crap. We got the wrong chicken too. The line was clear to the door. Not wanting to be those people who complain about everything, we were like, "I guess we are doing this then." I got halfway through my pita before giving up because my mouth couldn't take it anymore. My husband finished his. Waste not, want not and all that.
Part 2:
The real adventure began around noon today. Our dinner last night had had almost 18 hours in our digestive tracts.
My husband experienced the gloriousness of Harissa Honey Chicken on it's way out first. I got a strongly worded cautionary text from him at 11:50am. Pain. That basically described his experience in the bathroom stall at work in a nutshell. My adventures started a few hours later. The good Lord did warn of trials and tribulations in this life, but I don't believe He was thinking of Harissa Honey Chicken exiting the digestive tract at the time. Is it possible for something to be hotter coming out than it is going in? Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes.
In conclusion:
Although my husband and I are now very gingerly sitting as our poor butts recover from the fiery inferno we very politely put them through, we would give Cava 5 out of 5 stars for taste and freshness. Except for the Harissa Honey Chicken. While tasty, only get that if you like to live on the edge. And if you get it unexpectedly while expecting something else, go ahead and be the person who requests a remake on your food. Your butt will thank you. read more