I go to CAVA frequently and have been impressed by the allergen safety they demonstrate in the way the employees operate, making it unnecessary to even mention my allergies usually. They use tongs, individual spoons, hover above the pitas to drop ingredients. Once I had a negative experience in which an employee used his just pita-ed gloved hand to stir around the lettuce then drop it in my bowl. I emailed CAVA to let them know and they made it right with a replacement bowl and stated the following: Thank you for reaching out and for bringing this to our attention, we sincerely hope that you are okay. We take cross contamination issues very seriously and take every precautionary measure to try and avoid it. That said, we would like to send our deepest apologies for this incident as your experience did not hold up to the high standards we hold ourselves to as a company. Please know that I’ve elevated this message on to our regional and area leaders who will be addressing this with our restaurant team immediately.
Kudos on continuing to improve and train your folks well, CAVA!
Update: February 2023
Not sure I trust this place as much anymore. I have watched one woman consistently (during multiple visits) grab lettuce using her gloves instead of the tongs, so cross contamination likely since they touch pitas. Also, on another recent visit, one woman was just reaching into the toppings at the end of the line with her gloves, instead of using the spoons. Again, cc. So, I feel like cc is more likely due to staff not being as careful as they were when I wrote my original review. Not sure I’ll frequent this place as much, might try Garbanzos instead.
I have eaten here many times and my sister frequents one in Denver. Tell them you have Celiac and they will wash their hands and change gloves. From my understanding, the only things with gluten are the pita and pita chips (in the toppings section at the end). The lentils also are possibly cross contaminated, so if celiac they recommend not getting those.
I have never had a problem here, they do a good job of not touching the spoon to the items when they put it on. I have had other locations be willing to get clean spoons out of the back upon request.
I’m a sensitive celiac and have never had a reaction (knock on wood!) I eat here at least once a week.
This was our first visit, but it won't be our last. There is a QR code which leads you to their allergen information. As soon as I mention Celiac Disease, the employee changed his gloves. He picked a safe bowl from the middle of the stack. He informed the next line employee, and he also changed her gloves. The food was delicious! I highly recommend.