Cava - Westwood

I used to really enjoy this Cava location, as the food was healthy, tasty, and a great value. However, during my most recent visit at lunchtime on a weekday during UCLA's first week of classes, the restaurant was severely understaffed. There was a long line out the door and the food quality had significantly declined. My meal was inedible, consisting of unseasoned roasted vegetables, raw cauliflower, undercooked lentils, and woody Brussel sprouts. I ended up throwing most of it away and felt like $14 was wasted. The staff was clearly overwhelmed, with only three visible employees trying to serve over 20 customers. They were working hard to keep up with web orders and in-person customers, but it was clear that speed had taken priority over food quality. I appreciate the efforts of the hardworking employees, but the management should be more prepared for busy periods, such as when UCLA is in session.

I used to come to this CAVA at least once a week when I was in undergrad and was obsessed. I decided to come back to grab dinner with a friend on a weekday and was surprised to see a long line since I remember them being busy exclusively for lunch a few years ago. It took around 7 min to get to the front and around 5 additional min to get our orders ready which is still fairly quick considering the line. The staff was very friendly and efficient although they appeared to be slightly understaffed at that time for the volume of people. The restaurant is unchanged from what I remembered, was clean, with plenty of seating available but for some reason their AC was not on and it was unbearably hot inside. Luckily we were able to get a table outside where it was a little bit more fresh but I noticed some people wanted to sit down and could not since there were no more tables outside and the inside was too uncomfortable due to the heat. I got a build your own greens bowl with half chicken and half roasted veggies which was my usual order before. The portion was generous and filling. However, this time the food felt a lot more oily to me than it used to before which I did not love and made me feel pretty heavy. The flavor was still pretty okay but not as good as I remembered and they also forgot to put in the free pita in my order which they never had before. Additionally, on my way out, I went to use the bathroom and noticed that it was very dirty, which might be because it was towards closing time but I still feel like this could be a factor to improve for a better customer experience. I think if I had had to rate this place a few years ago I would have given it 5 stars no question, but based on my latest experience in isolation, I would really give it 3.5. That being said, I will likely still come back and hope my most recent experience was just a blip--this is one of my favorite places and I truly love the concept of their fast casual Mediterranean food!

Generally good, but one of the girls (blonde) working there was so aggressive and I was afraid she would throw the bowl at me when I asked a question about the saffron rice option.

Very good vegan and gluten free options. We have eaten here several times and love it. This time the chicken was way overcooked, both the regular and spicy chicken.Vegetarian options: Several optionsDietary restrictions: Several options

There are many options you can choose from to build your bowl, but when we asked for falafel they gave us only 3 for the entire bowl... Portion sizes are a bit small