Safeway

Come here for random groceries that aren’t available at 99 Ranch on Grant street (more variety, fresher, for cheaper). For the things I want to be good quality, I defer to the Whole Foods on El Camino (better quality, more variety, more expensive). This Safeway satisfies a particular niche for me. In this case, it was a congratulations cake which I needed custom lettering. They were able to whip up a half decent Tres Leches cake with custom print in about a day.

Safeway is large chain of grocery stores on the west coast.
There’s literally hundreds of these things and overall I like them. In layout, pricing and stock this one is indistinguishable from every other Safeway.
However, there’s just something off about this location.
It’s not any one thing, it’s a series of small things that can totally nudge your experience from «that was okay» to «WTF?».
The parking lot is really not laid out well. Lots of small spaces with tight corners and high volume traffic. The store is one of the mid size layouts, and it seems a little cramped. This can lead to miniature scavenger hunts for the specific item you want. For example the tostito’s bean dip may be with the other bean dips, in with the salsa, in the chip aisle, or with the condiments. HA! just kidding. It’s on an end cap.
On my last visit the three aggravations were the sales flyer-​I picked it up at the one entrance that had it on display, conveniently located at the opposite entrance to the a one I entered at, and in my quick read over I totally failed to notice that it was a week out of date. The second aggravation was at the olive bar, which had the containers to put olive type items in, with a plu code helpfully tacked on. Alas, they only stacked the bottom half of the containers, not the top. The resolution offered by the staff? Go get one from the deli counter. The one with 11 people standing in line. Of course they had failed to re-​stock most of the five dollar friday items. They had them, but you needed to go back the deli counter line.
It’s like this every visit, a small aggravating series of tiny things that add up. For awhile I thought this was an employee issue, but having interacted with them and their front line supervisors I’m not convinced this is the whole problem. The client facing staff are helpful, kind and some (not all) really try.
But something’s totally off kilter here. Maybe the store is cursed.

Will keep this as short as possible. Come here at least 5x a week. Walk by all the time several times a day usually, so will often stop in and just take a random look around.
When you have an addiction to Nutella and carbs as well, it’s hard not to come here and grab one of their warm french loaves to go. Wait, did I say warm? Good luck with that! Have come here recently and both times the bread bins were basically empty (certainly nothing resembling anything fresh) at both 6:30 and 8 in the morning. And when I go up to ask what’s going on with the bread situation, they look at me like I’m crazy. Wish they had set times or at least thirty minute windows when you know things will be put out fresh.
The lines here are also beyond ridiculous in the evenings. I’ve come to grips with the fact that it will never be a quick in and out here at night. They open very few lanes even if the lines are stretching out into the aisles. It makes no sense to me, but little does after coming here so often.

This is a good Safeway, much less traffic than the San Antonio store which is always packed. I definitely think Safeway has some great deals on certain items and is way over priced on other items. But I split my shopping between 3 or four different stores to get the best bargains. Safeway has the best deals in the meat department. I have not found better deals anywhere. I also think their frozen food dept. has a good selection and lots of variety, and also they have really good sales on different items throughout the store.

The pharmacy here is AWFUL. Avoid it at all costs unless you want to wait far longer than normal and be treated badly by the staff.

This place is open 24 hours so it’s awesome :3 plus it’s close to where my friend lives so I might come here when I visit up north again: p I just came in with the girlfriend to get some vegetables and chips because we wanted to feel somewhat healthy and have something to snack on for the 5 hour trip back down to SoCal xD they had the kettle cooked chips that were maple bacon flavored: O and they were delicious. If you put a bag of that next to me I might just eat it all: D the prices here are fair, although I kinda wished they had smaller doses of creamer. We went to buy creamer for some Mexican coffee but they only had the 1.8 L one? I don’t remember how many liters or milliliters it was but we didn’t need too much. They also have self checkout here and the staff here is very friendly and nice ^_​^ I always usually have a good experience at grocery stores. There shouldn’t be a reason to be mean anyway: p Mountain View I’ll be back: D

This location has remodeled. A monumental effort to improve the interior layout. It has most of the normal groceries that you need, an ample organic section and many of the cashier and staff members are friendly. Peak hours are right after work and Sunday afternoons/​evenings. Sometimes the lines are long, but the location is perfect for 94 043 locals and commuters who use the Shoreline corridor.

Bakery department is nice and female cashers are friendly. They are what the 2 stars are for.
Male cashers are often rude and lazy. Male cashers often tell people that they are closed (I have witness that 5 times in 3 different occasion) leaving the one single hardworking female casher handle one crazy long line. — The cashers are not really close. They just bro-​out with other male cashers.
Things are overpriced. 5 dollars for 1 dozen of regular eggs (not even organic or ex-​large, just regular eggs). They don’t even have ½ gallon regular milk. They only have fancy organic ones or no-​lactose one.

Amazing customer service in the floral department! Francis took her time to hemp pick out flowers and arranged them beautifully!

They removed every single basket from the store, so you have to push the cart around now. Hopefully this moronic policy is not permanent.

Even the customer service representatives here are rude, and they are not helpful. I was at this Safeway branch this afternoon (8÷14÷15) around 5 pm, because I wanted to buy Annatto powder. I couldn’t find it, so I decided to go to the customer service. There were two representatives. The other representative was already handling a customer that went before me, so I asked the available representative if they have Annatto powder. I asked her, but she did not know what it was. The other representative who was already helping a customer suddenly jumped in and said we don’t have it. She also said that if it’s not on the shelf then they don’t have it. In my head, why can’t they call someone to help me look for it? They will lose customers if they keep on acting like this. Avoid this store if you can!

This is what the butcher dept. serves up as ground beef they pretend that it’s fresh to get you to buy it but really what is inside is brown/​grey color meat I’m pretty sure these guys can’t keep getting away with this crap!!! They are gonna get people sick!!!

Cashier is rude. Line is always long. Stock is not as good as your average Safeway store. Won’t go back.

***This review is about the Starbucks in the Safeway, not the Safeway in general.***
I moved into the neighborhood of this Safeway a week prior to this visit. I walked in at 7:56pm, and this Starbucks closed at 8:00pm. (I feel bad when I do that, so I always make sure to put something in the tip jar.)
The girl behind the counter says, «Sorry, we’re closed.»
I say, «Oh, actually it’s 7:56, so you’re open for a few more minutes. Sorry to cut it so close.»
«Well, I have to clock out early because I clocked in early. And, I have to leave early tonight anyway,» she said, with a nasty tone.
I don’t think she liked it that I called her out, and I certainly didn’t see how this was my problem, as the customer. I proceeded to try to politely tell her that this Starbucks is open until 8:00pm, and she got ugly with me and refused to make me a drink. I left the counter really angry by how I was treated. I did some grocery shopping and decided I was going to report her to a store manager, but I didn’t know her name. I snapped a picture of her, since I was in the checkout lane closest to the coffee kiosk, and she saw me. She became irate and stormed out of the kiosk and started yelling at me that I couldn’t take her picture and that it was illegal. I calmly explained that I took her picture so I could report her to her boss since she wasn’t wearing a name tag, and that taking a picture of someone certainly isn’t illegal. I expressed surprise that she was still there because she told me she «had to go» and «had to clock out early.» She made a huge scene. I was embarrassed and it was evident that my cashier was really uncomfortable. On my way out of the store, she was loudly venting about me to her coworker. I asked the coworker if she was her boss, and she said no, but she defended her coworker and said that the barista couldn’t help me because she clocked in early. Again, how is this MY problem? She was behind the counter and it wasn’t closing time yet. What on earth has happened to customer service? I wasn’t asking her to make a drink AFTER 8pm! I was appalled that not only was I treated badly by the barista, but that this other Safeway employee was actually defending her behavior. I reported her to the manager a week later. He said he would talk to her. Unfortunately, he said it was his first day, so I doubt he disciplined her at all. This was 3 weeks ago. She still works there, and I don’t trust her to make my drink. I can’t believe Safeway allows people like her to stay employed and treat their customers with such disrespect and lack of value. Truly a disappointing and frustrating experience.

The worst deli ever.
Honestly I don’t even want to put much energy into this review because I despise the majority of the customer service agents behind the counter.
1) they are rude
2) the manager is their teacher of rudeness. When she was making my sandwich she was short, didn’t have bacon yet wanted to charge me for it, when I asked why I was paying for something she didn’t have she tried to say I didn’t want it since I told her «if she didn’t t have it then just don’t charge me for it» then realized it really was her problem. HELLO, if I wanted to add it you would have charged me $ 1.00 so if you don’t have it then take $ 1.00 off my sandwich.
3) everything is a struggle. Are you over worked? Under staffed? Don’t thing so since there’s at least 3 of you doing nothing but staring at the line while we want something.
4) I don’t have numbers to check you out?! Um what? You just rang up the person before me.
5) everyone is cutting or placing items on shelves when it’s busy until the store manager walks by.
I hate this place. Stay away!

Compared to the new Safeway on San Antonio, this Safeway has quite a bit to be desired. Always long lines at checkout, produce department is frequently out of merchandise and is not staffed. The past 3 times I visited the store, I had a hard time finding a knowledgeable produce person.

This Safeway location is not as fancy as the newest one by El Camino & San Antonio. The selection of pre-​made sandwiches and wraps is decent. They are freshly made too!
Lines at the cash lanes were rather long, although they did call a few additional cashiers to help reduce the express check out lines!
Remember to use your Safeway card to take advantage of specials throughout the store!

I was looking for a safe way of acquiring groceries in Mountain View, and decided to check this place out. There is almost nothing exceptional about this grocery store, either good or bad. A lot of other reviews complain about the poor service, but as I prefer as little human contact as possible while shopping, that is not a problem for me. I’ve actually found most of the employees to be polite, and have no complaints in this regard. Lines can get long, especially in the evening. There are great deals to be found here on breakfast cereal, if you are patient and willing to stock up on anything that’s discounted.
Unfortunately, despite the name, I did not find this store to be any less dangerous than similar grocers in the area.

Service quality is not good from the beginning, but additional minus.
The line was sooooooo long and anyone is trying to open another checkout.

This is a rather standard Safeway located in Mountain View. The prices are okay but definitely have their club card otherwise you’re going to be overpaying. The aisles are kind of small, and the Starbucks is located awkwardly in the front of the store (not really segregated from the grocery store). I would definitely not go out of my way to go here obviously but it functions well as a grocery store.