The list of places to get a bowl of protein and veggies nowadays is endless, but which is giving you the best bang for your buck? Apparently, it’s no longer Cava. This Chicago customer is outraged by the prices they paid for their Cava bowl and the small portions they received.
Moriah Janaye (@morejanaye) claims that Cava is “losing the plot” with their recent upcharges to what she considers to be their regular portion size in the past. You won’t believe how much they paid for just two bowls and two pitas.
Cava: ‘They Upped the Price and Lessened the Food’
“Cava has lost the plot,” Janaye begins. “They have lost their mind. Because the amount of money we just paid in that restaurant. … They upped the price and lessened the food by, like, a lot.”
They continue to explain, “Me and my friend both got those Harissa chicken bowls, and they literally gave us like a dab of chicken. We were like, ‘Can we get a little more?’ and they’re like, ‘It’s gonna be an upcharge. Is that OK?’ Usually, it’s an upcharge if I’m asking for double the amount of chicken, not if I’m asking for the regular amount of chicken.”
She also recounts how she had to pay extra for more sauce because they gave her less sauce than she had had in the past with her orders. “Are the forks also an extra charge?” Janaye jokingly asks viewers before revealing that the grand total for the two bowls with two pitas was $48.
“Almost $50 for fast food, with no beverage. I am sick inside,” Janaye concludes.
The video has 367,600 views and almost 45,000 likes as of this writing.
Have Cava Prices Gone Up?
In 2024, the average per-person check at Cava was between $13 and $14, according to a Wall Street Journal article. Janaye’s bowl came out to about $24 each. It is unclear if Janaye’s bowls were significantly more expensive than the average price because they ended up opting for those upcharges the employee warned them about.
Regardless, has Cava upped its prices? The answer is yes. Cava prices did go up in 2025 by what the company is calling a modest amount, ~1.4%, as reported in another article.
The company has not reported deliberately giving customers smaller portions. Janaye’s experience could have been due to the employee serving her food having a light hand. However, viewers in the comments section agree with Janaye that the bang for your buck at Cava is not what it used to be.
“48$ for TWO BOWLS NO BEVERAGE,” one person comments in outrage
“I stopped patronizing Cava after my last order looked like they ran out of everything,” says another viewer.
“Crazy I’ve been eating Cava since 2015 and now that they are popular they bout to start raising their price,” someone else says.
“$48 is crazy you coulda went to a real restaurant for that much,” someone else shares.
AllHipHop has reached out to Janaye for comment via email and TikTok message and to Cava via email. We will update this story if either party replies.
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