Vons

This Vons is ok. Inside it’s neat and clean. I have noticed that semi recently they have upped the booze section and expanded it. The staff there is friendly, I saw a woman that I used to go to Jr High with that worked there, that was cool. I usually go there for the sales, but in order to get something on sale, usually you need to have a vons card.

I was visiting a friend nearby and needed to pick up a few things before going home and figured it would be convenient to stop at this Vons. I hadn’t been here in awhile, since I lived in East County.
Well, it was a mixed bag. As many others say, it’s dirty outside. Lots of smokers around and I had to hold my breath while walking in. The produce section was nicely laid out and the bag of organic baby carrots that I bought was a fair price.
I wouldn’t make a point of stopping here, but it’s not that bad that I would go elsewhere if it was the most convenient option.

I do not get to shop at Vons as often as I would like to but whenever I see one, I am always here to stop him. This particular bonds had something that I really needed because no one else did. Thanks guys for keeping your inventory stocked

This review is only for the pharmacy.
In my first experience here, the pharmacy filled my prescription incorrectly, then billed me incorrectly. Since this is the closest pharmacy to my house, I still gave them another chance since everyone has bad days. That brings us to this morning… After being put on a lengthy hold, someone picked up, asked me one question then put me back on hold. Except, she didn’t put me on hold, she hung up. I called back and told them that I was disconnected, and the same person promptly told me that I was wrong because the «light was still flashing». Ok, whatever. She then can’t find my prescriptions, and promptly begins to question whether I even saw my doctor this morning since it is a holiday. WHAT?! So disorganized and unprofessional. I will never be using this pharmacy again.

Pharmacy is terrible. Son got an ear ache. Urgent Care called it in. Took 20 minutes to get over there from Urgent Care and they hadn’t even started on it let alone knew they had that order to fill. So I have to wait in line for 10 minutes just to tell them what they were supposed to already know. Knucklehead at the computer says she can’t find it, then… oh, there it is. Duh!!! So then they tell me 30 minutes. Too bad 20 of those 30 minutes weren’t spent while I was traveling to the pharmacy. If your business is to fill prescriptions from what we can assume are medications to relieve symptoms, and your business model is to «let ‘em wait», you may want to find something else you’re good at. May I suggest the DMV, or the post office.
We spent 30 minutes in their waiting room trying to keep 2 toddlers corralled, one with a bad ear ache, and I hear nothing. So I go up to the counter to check status and the prescription is just sitting there. I’m in a WAITING ROOM people! That means I’m waiting for something!
I have had some sort of issue every time I’ve been here. Only use it because it’s down the street. No more, time to change.

Today I got either the most incompetent cashier in the store, or the most inaccurate register scanner. I bought a cucumber and was charged for iceberg lettuce, 5 Stouffer dinners and was charged for 6, and half my coupons weren’t deducted. I’ve been shopping here for 2 years and never had any mistakes on my receipts before.

I may seem ignorant here, but I didn’t even know Vons existed until visiting San Diego. I usually come here because it’s the closest grocery store to where I stay while visiting and can take a short walk from the house to here.
After visiting this location a few times, I will agree with some of the reviews stating that there are solicitors outside this store. I feel like there is always someone outside soliciting.
I do like the fact that their produce seem fresh and it’s easy for me to find what I’m looking for and just need to get in and get out. The checkout areas can move fairly quick and we had a nice lady help out at the self checkout area once. I regret that I forgot her name because she was funny and made our checkout so much easier.
I will admit that some of their sales are awesome! One of my friends got a steak for fairly cheap. He ended up paying half the price. The bakery area has some of the best looking items and can tempt anyone trying to be good.
An OK place to shop and fairly close to other shopping areas. It’s easy to walk to if you don’t have a vehicle and close to public transportation. Just not a fan of soliciting and the parking can be a bit scary.

This Von’s in the La Mesa Springs shopping center is filthy. The only reason it’s getting a one star is the staff is overall friendly. The outside entry way to the store should be pressure cleaned frequently, very very dirty and very uninviting. Birds also fly into the entrance area and leave bird droppings. We are purchasing food, it should be sanitary, but instead it has the odor of the unfortunate homeless folks that live there during the day. I never feel safe at this location because of the number of homeless, panhandlers and other questionable characters lurking around. Expect to be harassed by some solicitor as you walk in and out. As you walk in there is a Cash 4 Gold shop that adds to the subpar and sad environment. Yesterday I arrived as the La Mesa police were leaving, 4 squad cars and they were walking out some guy in hand cuffs. I went to purchase a turkey two days ago, decided against it. In front of the refrigerator case of turkeys were two shopping carts full of frozen Butterball turkeys. They were left in the aisle, unrefrigerated for nearly an hour as I shopped, and you could see they were defrosting on the outside. Clearly they are not paying attention to food safety. I decided to purchase my turkey elsewhere.
The Starbucks here is the grungiest of them all, and awful customer service. The table area is usually full of homeless and their luggage. Today I stood at their counter waiting to order a drink. There were no other customers and the barista woman was reading the flip chart to her coworker on the items Starbucks employees could order. She glanced at me, like I didn’t exist, finished reading out loud to her pal, then in the most disinterested voice asked what I wanted. I won’t be shopping here any more. I have decided to just go to Sprouts for groceries from now on. Von’s probably does little to improve this location because it really is the only game in town here.

DO NOT ORDER A CAKE FROM THE BAKERY.
My girlfriend ordered a cake from the bakery on Thursday November 5^th for pick up on Sunday November 8^th. On Saturday November 7^th she got at 5pm to ask when she was going to pick up the cake. She told them she would pick it up on Sunday at 9am.
On Sunday she went into the store at 10:30am to pick up the cake. An employee asked her the name the cake was under, my girlfriend gave the employee her name. The employee asked if it could be under a different name, my girlfriend said no. Then they brought over 2 order forms that were supposed to have been my girlfriends cake order. The employee said that they couldn’t read the first order form so they asked the employee who took the order to re-​write the order. Then the employee said that because she couldn’t read either order form, that she didn’t make the cake. At that point, my girlfriend told the employee that she was very upset. The employee said that she could wait while they made a cake but that it would be half an hour and my girlfriend was crunched for time already. The employee never apologized to my girlfriend and when my girlfriend reiterated that she was upset about the situation, the employee said, «there’s nothing else I can do for you» and she walked away.
My girlfriend went up to the front and ask to speak with the manager. When she spoke with the manager Loren (I think that’s her name) apologized and gave her a $ 20 gift card.
We won’t be back for anything.

I like this vons because it’s huge! It has a lot of the things a normal vons does not, like silly organic drinks and am Illinois different things in their produce department. The people that work their are great as well considering they have to deal with alternative of soliciters that hang out in the store at the Starbucks and outside of the store but that’s the trolleys stops fault not the staff of the store.

Today I happened to be in an interview and they asked about a situation where I received the worst customer service & the 1^st thing that popped in my head was the Von’s La Mesa pharmacy… both the assistants as well as Bram, the Pharmacist. I had called in for 4 refills last Thursday… normal ETA is the next day, however I waited until Monday at 2:30 to pick them up. Only 1 Rx was ready & they stated that the other 3 should be ready by that evening if I wanted to come back (they also mentioned reaching out for a new refill to 1 of my Dr’s & not hearing back). I stated I would be in that Dr’s office in the morning and they said you might want to mention the Rx. Upon returning to the store that night, only 1 Rx was ready… really? They told me all would be ready that evening. After going to the Dr’s office the next day, I verified that the Dr. had indeed sent the Rx over electronically on the previous Friday after I called & that Von’s sent a 2^nd request through on Monday (after I inquired about it), so the Dr. rejected the 2^nd Rx request. Let’s not try to over medicate the patient here people. The tech spoke with the asst. tech and said weren’t all the Rx’s filled when I left? Answer: I don’t know. She then proceeded to ask Bram, the pharmacist who said the same thing: I don’t know. The tech said well do you have any requests and Bram answered nope, nothing here in a dismissive voice.
It was a game of who’s on first, what’s on second, I don’t know is on 3^rd. This was not a customer service oriented team but instead I’m not taking the blame, I’m not taking ownership, let’s throw someone else under the bus… let’s use an excuse… maybe it’s a computer… last thing they left me with was: I don’t know what to say & shrugged their shoulders. No, let me follow-​up & I’ll call you… nothing. It is their job to get a prescription to a customer & follow-​up, especially when the customer has now been in the store 3x. It shouldn’t be the job of the customer to keep up on them.
Unfortunately this is not the first time they have presented themselves in this manner. It seems to be their normal attitude towards their work. The tech even went so far as to mention that no one else has complained.
Bottom line… I never had any issues in my 15+ years with the Von’s pharmacy on Girard Ave in La Jolla. They treated you like family, would follow through with requests and contact you when your Rx was ready. If I still lived in the area, I would go back there in a heartbeat. They could teach this pharmacy the true meaning of customer service.
Moving all Rx’s from the worst pharmacy there is… Von’s La Mesa. If I could give them 0 stars I would.

I’m not a big fan of this location. There are always solicitors outside the store. There are a lot of sketchy people hanging out around the outside of the store and it’s just filthy by the entrance walkway. I don’t think it would be THAT hard for Vons to clean up the outside area. For as many years as my mom has owned her house nearby, it has always been grungy. Now that so many of the Vons stores have closed, this is kind of the only option left nearby. That’s pretty sad.
It’s not so terrible inside. It’s dated, yes, but clean for the most part. The last couple trips I made, they were out of red bell peppers. Wth Vons? I was shopping for my mom who had just had surgery and she had given me a list of items she wanted. I asked the produce clerk and he just shrugged and said «yeah, we didn’t get any.» No kidding dude. I can see that. Not all the people who work here are super helpful.
It’s interesting that they now make the tortilla chips in the deli since they were bought by Albertsons, but not the guacamole. What’s up with that? How can you sell fresh chips without the guacamole. It’s just weird. This store has a very small deli area compared to other stores. It almost feels cramped in comparison to the bakery, which is huge. And I don’t get their pricing on eggs at all. It’s completely ridiculous. They have to be the highest priced store I’ve seen. Weirder still, the already boiled eggs were cheaper. I would probably still come here for specific items maybe, but no way on the produce. Sprouts has them beat by a mile.

This is your standard Von’s store. I believe they carry more baked goods than most other locations but I could be wrong. They have a lot of really interesting regulars too. So the people watching is on point.
Most veggies here are pretty good and well stocked. They have a large organic section too. As for beer, good amount of local craft beers and also wines.

Waited in line for 15 minutes to cash in one lottery ticket. The lady at the counter was very courteous though.

My experiences here are hit or miss but I’ll always be a patron to this location.
The staff is really helpful since I have a baby with me and they’re usually happy to talk to my baby during check out and make him smile. Patrons here are also friendly and will chat up my son.
They always have my organic staples in stock and I keep an eye out for deals on things I normally wouldn’t buy. I haven’t quite mastered the Usave app but I do use the rewards card for gas.
Recently I’ve started patronizing the deli counter and fresh baked breads section since I’ve been packing lunches for my fiancé. I did the math recently and if he buys lunch ⁶⁄₇ days a week at $ 10 a pop, it’s over $ 200/​month! If I pack him lunch it’s about $ 3. The ladies at the counter are super nice too.

Pretty good stuff! They have a Starbucks and a Wells Fargo bank here. They have lots of parking!

I love Vons but this one is a disappointment! I live in la mesa so is the closest vons to me but it’s horrible! The manager really lacks, the lines are long ALWAYS & the cashiers are rude. Hope they get there act together because I won’t be going there anymore.

Decent selection, short lines. The staff is usually friendly. I don’t really understand the poor ratings on here. It’s a grocery store not a steak house. We’ve shopped here all my life and never had a problem.
Having the Starbucks inside makes it a plus. It’s not a super big store but it gets the job done.

Holy Smokes! I have not been back to this Von’s in a while. I had a terrible experience the last time that I had came here but what a turn around!
So I had to get some meat for a cook out and I was looking for the best type of hamburger meat and so forth but they had some stuff on the isle and I wasn’t really sure. That is when I went and asked the guy in the butcher shop there.
That is when I met this kid, named Val. I wasn’t sure and I was afraid to ask but this guy really knew what was up. Soon he was asking me how many people I was cooking for and how hungry they would be and how long we would be grilling for. Then the I ended up getting some sweet ribs, some chicken breasts and some hamburger meat for the kids. Hey the adults gotta get the good stuff sometimes and my guests appreciated it too.
Wanted to send a special Thank you out to that guy in the Butcher shop named Val! Thank you! You are the man and I will be sure to come back and ask for you personally!
Is there a manager that I could ask for to brag about you as well?

I originally saw a 2.5 star rating for this and thought to myself, «Hey, it’s not *that* bad.»
It’s a Vons. It’s relatively clean, it has produce, it has food, it has average retail prices until there’s a sale. It has adequate parking, it’s in the heart of La Mesa, it’s not going «wow» you with any «farm to table» stuff. It’s just your «run of the mill» Vons.
With all that said, it isn’t bad. I’ll only shop here when in the area because it’s a bit out of the way for me but it falls right in line with every other Vons I’ve ever known. When they run sales on items that I need or want, then I hit them up, otherwise they’re nothing special. This location isn’t any different. It fills a grocery necessity niche and that’s about it. If I recall correctly, I picked up some Fat Free Cream Cheese or something when I was here since I happened to be running a couple errands in the area.
It isn’t a Whole Foods, it isn’t a Sprouts, it isn’t a Trader Joe’s, it’s just another Vons… and that’s good enough. Seriously.