Choice Greene

This place is being gutted to become an … OYSTER BAR
It is true.
Believe it.
I will when I taste it.

I love this place. Seriously. It reminds me of the kind of market you would find dotted all over the city in an era before target and walmart were even a twinkle in the mind of evil bastards who brought them into existence. Everything this store offers feels like it must be hand picked by the owners to be fresh and delicious, as everything they sell is wonderful. The cheese counter is full of an amazing selection from all over the world, and the meats are to die for. The fresh bread is a treat, better than most bakeries can offer up.
Come here for the food and ambiance, this is how a grocery shop should be.

Awesome sweet grocery store with great local ingredients. Really expensive but awesome produce, cheeses and organic meats.

Delicious! Great meats and cheeses (just got the ham & swiss) and tasty baguettes. So glad to have a quality cold cuts place nearby!
Friendly staff, cute shop.

Un endroit génial pour tous les français. Vous pourrez trouver des croissants des pains au raisins du pain des baguette tes bagages mais aussi du fromage.
Du bon café ce qu’il faut pour bien manger.
Il y a aussi des fleurs à emporter.

I like Choice Greene, but recently they have been increasing the price of their items. I usually go there to buy two things: organic avocados, and organic chicken breasts, because it is cheaper than the other stores/​supermarkets in my neighborhood.
The avocados were 1.50 each, they are now 2.50 each, so I stopped buying avocados because MET is selling them for 2. But that was fine by me, I decided I would still go there for the chicken.
Today, I show up to buy some chicken, and I discover the price of the organic chicken breasts is now 15.99/lbs instead of 9.99/lbs a week ago. I don’t write a lot of reviews on Unilocal,but this is too much for me.
Even Whole Foods appears reasonable next to Choice Greene now. I find it sad, I really liked this place.

Fresh food, good cheese, interesting sandwiches. I would give it 5 starts but it is very expensive so I will give it 4. They have a nice selection of Brooklyn produced items and a friendly staff.

This place is so overpriced and up it’s own ass it makes me angry.
Quality my ass. Don’t be fooled by the feel of the place, which is extremely charming, I must admit. But you can find the EXACT same things I mean same brand name and everything, at different places and pay nearly half as much for it.
Also, twice now the refill dish soap has been WATERED DOWN. That is theft guys! You’re tricking people into buying watered down soap. If you’re out of the soap, don’t sell it.

Choice Greene is such a great asset to the neighborhood. Yes, it’s pricy, but the food I buy here does not go to waste.
Some highlights
They are really good with beef:
— the Brooklyn corned beef is the best. I heat is very quickly in a seasoned, ungreased skillet until it begins to furl, then place it on coarse white bread with some smoky mustard and fresh horseradish (from Clinton Hill Pickles.) The men in my life have declared this sandwich amazing.
— the grass fed ground beef is a good staple. I make a few burgers and toss them in the freezer. Always something to eat.
— the braesola is my absolute favorite. A half dozen slices of this wonderful air-​dried beef from the Alps placed over a bed of greens, drizzled with olive oil, with a squeeze of lemon and shavings of Parmesan Reggiano make a perfect super easy light lunch or an elegant appetizer. If you are on a budget this makes a luxury meat first course which you can follow with something economical, like pasta. I also like to pile pea shoots on a slice with some oil and lemon, roll it up and eat out of hand.
— the rolled beef roast is very good and not super expensive. Sear it on all sides in a cast iron skillet, Pop it in the oven til it reads 125 on a meat thermometer. Take it out of the pan to rest, throw some chopped shallots in the pan then deglaze the pan with red wine or beef broth. Finish with a pat of butter. Serve thick slices with jus. A nice easy meal with a simple starch and salad.
— the lamb sausage is nice, cooks up quickly and is satisfying with a simple salad. The bacon is great.
— very good breads, especially the square little loaf of white, sort of like a ciabatta, but not.
— lovely cheeses.
— good organic produce but a narrow selection. I wish they always had the pea shoots ;-(
— the premade salmon or veggie burgers are handy in a pinch when you want home-​cooked but not the prep.
— a good selection of made in Brooklyn foods. It’s easy to throw together a nice gift basket to bring to people out of town.
— the people are nice
Cons: Sometimes the dairy is past its date code. Out of stocks or low inventory (understandable in a tiny place like this)
I lived in the West Village in the early 80’s and always shopped at Balducci’s back when mama was still alive, before it became a brand. It was inspiring to shop there. I get a bit of that feeling at Choice Greene and that keeps me going back.

When I briefly lived in Clinton Hill this use to be my go to grocery spot for quick items or weekly necessities. Keeping in the tradition of Brooklyn stoops you step down to enter the store. Once you go inside you instantly see the unique food items and character the store invokes. Sorta something you would expect from an authentic deli/​bodega/​grocery store from another time period.
Though there is lots to pick from what I always enjoyed getting every time was the deli sandwiches. You can pick either a standard cold cut meat sandwich on baguette bread or smaller artisan crafted smoked salmon, capers, arugula treat on a kaiser roll (my typical choice.)
Not to be left out is the nice variety of produce offered. If you enjoy fresh greens and vegetables then definitely see all there is in selection.
The coffee is also something of note since most of the blends are from local coffee roasters (Brooklyn Roasting Co.) Typically they have it fresh and at the ready for when you need that morning kick when you’re on the go.
A unique feature that most people might not see initially is the eating area patio in the very back of the store. If you want to have a nice peaceful meal or drink head further in and enjoy some open air and sky.
While I do love this place the only downside would be the pricey items. Typically a weeks worth of food would total close to $ 66 — $ 68. The quality is hard to beat though so you’re basically paying for the quality.
Though I live in another neighborhood in BK I often try and find a reason to come by and grab a coffee or sandwich. With all the positives it has, this place is worth visiting.

I go here because I literally live right upstairs.
If I have any forethought I shop in other places that have more reasonable prices. The coffee is good and they let me use my own vessel from home because we like to save trees.
That being said, the quality is good and they have great cheeses and fresh bread.

I only really go here for coffee and pasties. Everything else is insanely overpriced. The produce section isn’t particularly fresh. The breads are often understocked. I can’t believe how many people seem to use this store as their main grocery.
But the staff is very very friendly. So, cool!

I stopped in here because they were one of the few places that had a home beer-​brewing kit I was getting a friend for his birthday, and discovered a fabulous little market with a very eclectic selection.
The home-​brewing kit was a success for my friend, and the great fresh bread and cheese a success for me.

I love this place for coffee and a croissant, but since they’re not on my way to the train (cry) I don’t make it in there too often. I also want to give a shout-​out to the nice men who work at the register — one who didn’t give me a hard time when I was 50 cents short on my coffee, and the other who was pleasantly shocked when I came in about a week later to finally repay my debt. Those guys rock. Actually, all the people who work here are total sweethearts.
However, the rest of the time my trips to CG look like this: Walk in looking for food to eat, scan the store and realize all the produce costs about my hourly wage, become disillusioned, leave. The times I’ve picked something up — a lentil pâté sandwich, a premade salad — it’s been good but the sheer impracticality of the selection for slobs like me who don’t cook/don’t make a lot of money makes it hard to shop here.

I have been going to both Choice Greene and Choice Market since they opened (we actually moved to the neighborhood within a few months of their opening) and have generally been happy. Choice Greene is quite expensive but when you want something special or high-​quality it is a good option in the area. UNTIL RECENTLY, about 2 weeks ago I purchased 4 ears of corn (I know it has been a rough year for corn but these were supposedly local organic and as far as I know the drought has not affected the North East like it has the rest of the country). When I brought they home and shucked them, ALL were full of maggots and worms. I know it happens but this was extremely disgusting. I called them and they were very apologetic and told me they would refund my money if I returned them. He was very polite and I said all I cared was that they removed the remaining corn from the store, I was already home and didn’t want to return for the $ 5 refund. This moment was not the one I am using for my bad review, but it was on my mind when I entered the store yesterday with a friend from out of town to buy some cheese and extras for an impromptu wine gathering at my apartment. To say the woman behind the cheese counter was rude is an understatement. She was the quintessential angry hipster. Absolutely zero help, cold and rude response to questions, condescending when we asked about the differences between 2 cheeses. All around unpleasant. With the amount of money we were about to spend on cheese and meats, some politeness and help would have been appreciated. That was the last straw for me. I would rather go to Green Grape Provisions in Fort Greene or drive to Fairway in Red Hook than deal with that place again. The politeness of the person who spoke to me on the phone about the corn is the only reason I didn’t give 1 star. Thanks but no thanks.
P. S. I will continue going to Choice Market, the service there is questionable, but everyone in the neighborhood knows it and, in a way, it adds to its charm. Great food all around!

I have mixed feelings about Choice Greene. I want to like it but after shopping here a couple of times, I can’t bring myself to adore it.
Some stuff are overpriced, some are not (like cheeses, chocolates). Some are tasty, some are surprisingly not (e.g. the smoked veal behind the counter… I have had better around the same price range).
Staff wise, sometimes the ones behind the meat and cheese counter are a bit weird but nothing major. The cashier is always friendly though.

This place used to be the bomb, definitely an easy four stars and a handy neighborhood asset, back when they had a seafood selection run by a guy with some serious experience on his resume including a stint at Blue Ribbon Sushi I believe. Way better quality and significantly cheaper then the rip off, low quality seafood at Greene Grape provisions. He left, the seafood quality dropped dramatically before they wound p dropping it completely, and my visits here dropped off dramatically along with it. Oh well, can’t live in the past. As it stands now the place still does a pretty decent job all around. Good selection of cured and a few fresh sausages, cheese and lots of artisanal, new Brooklyny type grocery products, along with some prepared foods, breads, coffee at slightly expensive prices, which is not unexpected considering its location. No beer or booze of any kind however, which is kind of a drag.

The cheese mongress behind the charcuterie counter makes every trip worthwhile. I don’t even like the fancy organic Zanzibar eagle cheese they hawk for $ 200/​lb but I’m going to keep buying it as long as she’s around. Keep hiring babes and I’ll keep bending over for your outrageous prices, Choice Greene.
EDIT: They fired the sexy cheese mongress. Now I can speak my mind. Everything is overpriced. Their selection of non-​cured meat blows. They treat their employees like the citizen-​slaves of a dystopian fascist society. The secret is out. Take your wages elsewhere and let this beast starve to death.

Nowadays I go here BEFORE the Fairway so I get great stuff at good values … yeah, some stuff is super-​artisinal, but there are more good values here if you know your food, and a bunch of smarts. BTW, I had the awesome Bombay Chicken Salad ($ 7.50); another revelation. The greens, couscous, chicken, dressing were all outstanding and well-​paired.

Um… wait a just one minute… I think I bought a grapefruit for 2.00 that was not even organic…
I will have to talk to someone about this next time I go in… what’s the deal!??

Prices have gone up and I would rather schlep my groceries from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. The cheese selection is good and really the only thing I would buy when I need it immediately.
Either they need to make money to stay afloat or they are hiking up their margins. Maybe the Walmart strategy is better, cheaper prices and turn over their products faster.