Aj’s Purveyor of Fine Foods

I don’t think this place could ruin anything. We ordered our holiday dinner for Christmas through AJ’s this past Christmas. The prime rib dinner came with scalloped potatoes, green beans, apple pie, crossed buns, a Christmas tree shaped butter, and 2 huge things of gravy. It was meant to fit 6. Yeah, it could have fed maybe 6 morbidly obese people. We have had leftovers every day and still have extras. That prime rib was absolutely delicious. It was super moist and seasoned perfectly. None of the dishes were highly salted which was awesome and that Christmas tree butter was literally too cute to eat (JK I ate it). The rolls were so buttery and soft. Ugh. I’m hungry again now. The total for this dinner that could feed approximately 6 morbidly obese individuals was $ 220 ish. Worth it. No cooking. No clean up (minimal at least) and more time to chill and hang out with family. Also, we are lazy. So it was just awesome for my family and I. We will probably do this again next year.
For added dessert, we also picked out a bunch of desserts from the dessert counter. I got a bunch (carrot cake, sea salt caramel pecan brownie, flourless chocolate cake, tulip chocolate mousse, large cannoli) but only tried the mousse and brownie. The mousse was so light and the chocolate tulip shell it was in was so yummy to break up and eat with it! That brownie was my absolutely favorite though… It’s super rich and I’ll probably be diabetic as a result of it but it is well worth it.
Ok, AJ’s is just amazing. I already knew that but now I know that their catering is also amazing! If you’re a lazy SOB like me and hate cooking for holidays, try this place.

The food at this A.J.s, is usually fantastic but tonight it’s very bad. the salmon was cold, the mashed potatoes were mushy and tasteless, and the vegetables were overcooked I got no receipt from the cashier but did call the manager and they will replace it on my next visit I hope they get it together for next time.
I can hope that food is better. A. Js is one of my favorite places normally 5 stars… but not tonight stay away from the Sam and everyone

Best place for a Kobe burger! The cook put a great effort and pride in his food, what a concept. You have to try it

AJ’s is the big daddy of Basha’s and Food City, but you probably already knew that. Let’s establish one thing right off the bat: this is a grocery store. Not a craft boutique that sells food, not a liquor store that sells food, not a bakery that sells food. This is a dressed up Basha’s, well, it’s more like a dressed up Safeway owned by a different company.
I came here to buy some Fairytale Brownies. This store is located between my home and the Fairytale Brownie store. I found a few brownies and purchased those but because of the limited selection, I still needed to head over to the Fairytale Brownie store. However, just because AJ’s let me down on this visit, doesn’t mean there are stars in jeapardy.
There’s a bit of a misnomer that you can get anything you want at AJ’s and that’s just not true. Also, people might think that AJ’s stocks a bunch of natural, organic, GMO free foods but that’s not true either. Maybe it’s that they stock a bunch of brands that the other stores don’t stock. A tiny bit true, but overall, AJ’s stocks pretty much what the other store’s have. But, AJ’s does have something that most of the other stores don’t have, except maybe Whole Foods. High prices. Yikes this place puts a hefty surcharge on stuff just for looking beautiful inside. But that’s what happens when you hire a high priced model to wear your stuff.
Enough with the fluff. I like AJ’s. From the flowers that great you as you walk in the door, to the cute little boutique gift wears, the way they stack the fruit and the fresh herbs, the butcher shop with it’s beautiful selection of meats and seafood including live lobster, the cute little sushi bar, the amazing selection of wine and liquors to the goodies at the bakery and prepared food section. Plus, the store seems to always be clean. The negatives are the prices of course and that customer service can be a bit … sketchy.
Fantastic, beautiful, clean grocery store. Great quality of products carried. High prices. 4 Stars.

Their cake is good.
I tried White Chocolate Marble Rum cake, and it was really nice.
If you’d like to taste some nice cake which is not that sweet, than this is it.
Plus, it’s inexpensive! (single layer cake $ 15.00)

So apparently you need 2 tickets at the bakery, one to get your baked goods and one to pay for it? At least that’s what the short Hispanic lady with peppered short hair insinuated while I was waiting to check out. I literally watched a customer walk in the store while I was waiting to check out. She ordered her food came to the line and was getting helped right away, right in front of me. The cashier looked at me and said I can help you as soon as I’m done with her, because she got a number?! I told her that I got a number already, she asked what it was «44» I replied, and that didn’t even matter. She definitely got me off on the right foot this morning! Needless to say I just walked off and went to the extremely chipper gentleman that’s awesome all the time and got helped right away.
I thought that was extremely unprofessional and rude! I usually come here often because I work down the street. Might have to take my business elsewhere now, due to lack of attention.

AJ’s is a great little gourmet grocery store chain. However, do not mistake it for being a high quality, sustainable store. It is essentially a very fancy Safeway. The selection of organic, gmo free food and produce is actually very minimal and they regularly stock non-​sustainable seafood.
That being said, there is always a wide variety of meat and seafood. They sell live lobster and have a great little sushi bar. They also have a great selection of craft beer. My favorite is the café portion of the store. Pretty tasty meals and snacks to go. I love it the iced tea.

we had been to the one in phoenix and the Cuban sandwich was awesome. so we tried the one from here in chandler. and honestly I don’t think ill do that again.
the lady that took our order was really unusually slow… two people got served before she was done with our order. the sandwich itself left much to be desired of. thanks but no thanks.

Wow, super rude at the coffee counter! I went in to grab a coffee and was completely ignored by the ladies behind the counter. They even helped the people behind me instead of asking what I needed.
For being the higher end chain of Bashas and Food City, AJs makes sure to act superior and ends up being pretentious in the end. What a shame.

Can somebody turn on the lights???
This a small (dimly lit) boutique grocery store with an incredible selection. If you can’t find it anywhere else, AJ’s is the place. Prices approach the stratosphere, so while you may not buy much it will definitely be an experience. Excellent customer service too which to me is huge! Not the most logical product placement so if you’re in a hurry ask for help. You’ll be escorted directly to the item you need.
What’s up with the lights??? Can you turn them on (all of them) please???

AJ’s stores are consistently good. While I wouldn’t do every day shoppng here, you can get some great speciality items that really bring out the best in your cooking.
In addition the service is very good at AJ’s, and the people are very warm and friendly. This store has tremendous staff in the bakery, and they are very friendly and provide great service. A great deal can be had by getting a large iced tea, freshly brewed and a cool treat, even during our hotest days.
Another treat at this store is the great hot fresh entrees you can purchase. A very wide variety is availble, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you don’t feel like cooking– this place is your second home. Enjoy.

Meh. Went here Saturday morning and thought the breakfast burros looked good. They are big and $ 5.99 each. Got one chorizo and one bacon. Thought since it’s AJ’s and $ 6 each — they had to be good.
Nope.
I swear the eggs tasted powdered or liquid or something. Not freshly cracked. They also seemed undercooked. The ‘bacon’ was disgusting. It looked as if they processed it through a meat grinder or food processor. It was chewy and fatty and undercooked as well. No crisp whatsoever. Because it was so finely ground, you couldn’t even pick it out of the burrito. There was very little cheese.
In my 35 years of living in Phoenix, I have never had a more disappointing breakfast burro. It’s not a difficult thing to prepare. At $ 6 each it should have been better. At AJ’s, I expect so much more.
Never again.

Great selection, Smart & polite staff
The staff are very personable, produce selection is vast and diverse, spices, frozen foods, deli, sushi bar, beer and wine selection better than most grocery stores, and you can’t top the plethora of free samples. It goes past making shopping tolerable to enjoyable.

I’ve been here in quite a few different occasions & have had different experiences. As far as the store goes, AJ’s is very unique there are many different options as far as the groceries go — condiments, spreads, snacks, etc. Almost everything is pretty overpriced but if you’re looking for something different, there are good options.
Then there are the bakery & hot food items. I’ve had quite a few items from the bakery area & I think that the muffins are the best; The chocolate croissant is also a good option. I’ve tried some of their cakes as well & overall they are tasty but there is way too much frosting /​sweet stuff on all of them. If you get one though, I recommend getting the Mango Raspberry one. They set up a taco bar & pasta bar once a week & it’s completely worthless. Also, unfortunately the other food isn’t that great so I recommend skipping out on that.

The place holds up to it’s name with fine foods. The customer service and employee knowledge is also exemplary.

I like their pizza, dislike Diana.
Diana works in the bakery/​pizza area and is an evil short woman who sucks your soul till you look like a raisin.
She asks you what you want and doesn’t ask you for ad ons; drink, pastry, nothing– just goes straight to ring you up. She interrupts your order to snap «okay $ 7.45». SOUL SUCKER, I’m not done!
She gets orders incorrect and if you dare help her out by saying «that one May be mine» you’ll be told «no, it’s not.» Then watch her be corrected by her manager or coworker without an apology.
She sometimes just waits for you to meet her at the register not knowing how much you owe.
Ooooh Diana, you ruin my lunch hour!
Diana, I’m going to go in there again and try your pizza for a 3^rd time and I hope you aren’t there.
Oh Diana, I hope you get transferred to the val vista location and find yourself with a long commute. Yeah… That’ll do it.

Oh, Sushi Chef? Would you like to come out and roll?
My husband and I were in the area and we decided to try the sushi bar at the Chandler location (usually we head to our usual Camelback location). But after waiting 7 or 8 minutes at the bar for signs of Sushi Chef, we thought we would either leave or have him/​her paged overhead.
So we paged. And waited. And waited…
I’m not sure why we decided to stay. Maybe because I was hungry NOW and no one likes wandering around to find something when you already settled on a place in your mind.
Finally, Sushi Chef appears from the bowels of somewhere and comes over to get our order. Now, he did not look like a sushi chef, but I don’t judge books by their covers! So we decided on a couple rolls and let him go at it.
They were not very good :(A little mushy here, unrolling there, and just not enjoyable. I used extra wasabi and soy sauce to mask the experience.
So, I give it a «meh» and a «so long, Sushi Chef…»

Appeared to be a beautiful market, though was quite disappointed when going through the check-​out line that had the Store Director «helping out». He didn’t really even acknowledge me (e.g. ask how I was doing, if I found everything okay or even really acknowledge another human being was across from him). Instead he was talking to another person behind me and then answered the phone as he rang up my items. The only thing he said to me was «would you like something to drink with that?» So, if that is leading by example… ??
Beautiful décor and great selection are just part of a success story, though leadership that models great customer service is something essential. My suggestion is «Pay attention and be in the moment with the customer, Mr. Store Director (Ralf Wilhelm)…»

I recently started working in this area and discovered Aj’s! I had heard rave reviews from friends but I had never been to an Aj’s myself. I am very impressed. I have been stopping by every couple of days to try out the salad bar and soup options. They also have an amazing selection of craft beers that I scoped out today. I have not shopped here yet for other grocery items but it looks like they have a great selection of healthy foods and harder to find local items.
The bakery is also very nice and has a good selection of bagels, pastries, brownies and cupcakes. I ordered a green chile bagel here the other day for lunch which was delicious. The berry acai tea is also wonderful. Really I have not found anything bad about this place so far. The service has also been great on every visit. Top notch. I will be back.

Oh jeeze. AJ’s is one dangerous place for me…
No way would I ever do my weekly grocery shopping here — Far too expensive!
I LOVE cooking, entertaining and hospitality. When I’m having my family or friends over for dinner or a party, I’ll pull out all of the stops and do some of my shopping here.
Superb wine and beer selection and everything else in between that you could possibly need to be an excellent host.
If you’re thinking about hitting up «Yuppie Lunch Hour», just do it! I work nearby, and a lot of us will come here frequently for lunch. Excellent soup and salad bar, and the sushi is always pretty fresh. Happy hour is from 2 – 4. .. daily!
And you can’t beat $ 1.51 for a GINORMOUS iced tea — Suck on that, Starbucks! Blackberry Sage tastes great. Too bad it’s only available Saturday. Great place to get your coffee fix as well.
**UPDATE ⁶⁄₁₁: Reusable iced tea and coffee tumblers are BACK — 75 cent refills on iced tea and brewed coffee DAILY! $ 10.99. Hurry if you want one; these babies go fast. .. been meaning to get one since February!**
At the end of the day, you get what you pay for, and AJ’s exceeds expectations in terms of quality.