John's Cafe - Fairfax

I 'm so done. I had upgraded John 's after several bad experiences because they finally started getting orders right. (Weird that I upgraded them for something that should just be standard restaurant practice, I know. I was feeling positive about John 's for several months, simply because they make an OK sandwich and finally got orders right. Then today, after ordering a sandwich with no tomato and no mayonnaise, the lady puts it on the counter and says, no lettuce, tomato! Uh, what? I ask her to confirm, You mean no tomato, no mayonnaise, right? Yes! she replies. Nope. Disgusting, terrible, sloppy, soggy mayo everywhere when I get back upstairs with my sandwich. And also, yeah, no lettuce. Derp. I don 't know what to do. I audibly confirm my order multiple times at this place, they say it back to me, and it 's still wrong. I 'm not going to meticulously unwrap every single sandwich and inspect it before taking it from the counter. I shouldn 't have to. It 's not that difficult to just listen, write it down if you have to, and get the order right. I guess I 'll be bringing protein bars for lunch.

Five stars for the Philly Chicken, and only the Philly Chicken. Especially if you get it with hot sauce. Negative two stars for everything else. Seriously, just get the Philly Chicken if you want to live.

I think many of the other reviews are unreasonably critical. It 's a work cafeteria. The made to order food is alright, and additions/substitutions are allowed. The reuben is on point. The salad bar is good, if a little expensive $8/lb, I think? . It has some really good stuff, like dolma, chickpea salad, and a broccoli+avocado salad although it typically needs salt to really taste good . There are also whole hard boiled eggs, and baby spinach as well as iceberg. I avoid the hot buffet, but it usually looks tasty I 'd just at that point rather go out somewhere. Sometimes some of the food they put out is a little unappetizing looking at you, light pink salmon filet , but they usually have a mix of 'asian ' and more traditional cafeteria fare. It 's a good choice if you forgot your lunch and are ok eating a wrap or a salad for $6 $8 and don 't want to waste the 20 30 minutes it will take to go somewhere nearby, get food, and get back to the office.

I love the fresh hot fries! It's great for a mid day snack or lunch add on. The breakfast platters are also great value. I usually get the French toast platter. They also have great sausage egg and cheese bagels. The fruit selection is also pretty good.

John's Cafe is a little lunch spot in my office building. The food is not so great, but it's just downstairs so I end up going there all the time. It's definitely overpriced for what you're getting, but they have a decent variety for a little cafeteria. The first few times I had the sandwiches, I liked them, but they get really old really fast. Some of the better sandwiches are the chicken philly sub, the club on wheat toast, the pulled pork (every other Wednesday), and the chicken teriyaki wrap. The hot bar is always disappointing and really over-priced. I think it's around $6 per pound, and the food sits there from 9am on, and seems to be recycled from day to day. Most of the hot bar items are bland and under-seasoned except for the soup, which is too salty. I definitely stick with the made-to-order sandwiches!