Gristedes

The prices are so high compared to other area merchants. The store is clean for an uptown grocer, but the selection and pricing isn’t worth it. Today, I came across an expired product. Upon further inspection, I came across some cheese that was liquefying. I also worry that the cooling cases don’t adequately cool the items.

This review is specifically for an employee at this gristedes location. The woman at the check out counter seemed to be new and I guess she wasn’t trained well enough. First off the glass bottle I bought she literally threw into the plastic bag. It obviously sounded loud but this woman did not even bother to check if the bottle was damaged nor did she acknowledge her rudeness Next, she put all my stuff in one bag. Common sense would say double bag a glass bottle but nope she chose not to.
Gristedes, you already have such miserable reviews at least get some better and happy people to work who won’t make customers experience so horrible.

good selection
higher prices than the uws
mostly rude workers to include managers
only 2 cashiers care to even give you eye contact, greet you and smile
i only go here when i fail to go to tj
or fairway on my way from work

When you look into renting a new apartment, you think «Amenities include a ridiculously close grocery store! Great!»
And then you take a few trips to your block’s Gristedes… and vow to only go there for emergency or 3-​item situations — bread, eggs, & almond milk — but only the ShopRite brand because the other brands push a ridiculous $ 6.
I will give them kudos for their fresh fish that’s available. I can usually get a well-​seasoned tilapia filet for about $ 2 – 3. However, I bought a pack of peppers yesterday. They’re already slimy, sour, and unusable. Bye, $ 4. And I’ve learned that I have to closely examine whether or not the bananas are soft or have splitting peels, ’cause that’s usually the case.
Also, so many signs indicate a rewards card. I have yet to see anyone in line faithfully use one. Maybe it’s based on how many times you attend, like a coffee shop punch card? In any case, I’ve determined that my Gristedes rewards card is when I can successfully get my ass to Trader Joe’s.

Made the mistake of stopping by Gristedes instead of walking a couple streets more to Key Foods or Bravo because it was on the way. There wasn’t a bad selection, but the selection was unbelievably expensive. It doesn’t make it hard to decide between fancy meats and cheese and regular meats and cheese when they are only a few cents to a couple dollars different in price.
Not sure if this is a positive or a negative, but their beer prices sure do make it impossible to be an alcoholic.

ICK! This place is always dirty, smells awful and is ridiculously over priced. The selection is limited and seemingly random. Half an aisle of suction cup kitchen sponge holders and fifty types of seltzer water but no sparkling mineral water anywhere. Forget about anything even close to organic. How is a place like this able to exist? Washington Heights deserves better.

God I hate this place. Why is everything (legit, no exaggeration) 2 — 3X more expensive than it would be at any other grocery store? If you ever find yourself walking into this place, stop, walk back out, and continue on to Key Foods or Bravo.
The only good thing this place has going for it is that it has the only selection of somewhat bougie food in the area. So if you need, like, some fancy cheese or olives, you can maybe buy them here, but that’s it. Maybe if everyone stops shopping here, it will close and they can build a Trader Joe’s… hey, a girl can dream.

The selection here is fine if you don’t mind selling a kidney on the black market to pay for it.
The place has two benefits that other nearby groceries lack: a good international food section & healthier options (vegetarian/​whole wheat, etc.)
The downsides: ridiculously slow check out. Plan an extra 10 – 20 minutes at the cashier. Rude cashiers who just plain don’t speak to you at all. Rude customers who think they can butt in front of you in line because they have a «question.» Slow customers who don’t ever seem to have enough money to pay their whole bill. Rude management who does absolutely nothing to fix any of these situations.
Today on my trip there a man went to the opposite side of the cash register, reached over, and put all his things down in front of everyone else. Then he came back to the correct side and the cashier rang up his items like nothing had happened. This dude then proceeded to pay with bottle deposit money and then didn’t have enough so someone else who works there came and gave him a dollar. I’m not being priveleged about not being able to afford groceries, I am sure that’s embarrassing, but this dude had no freaking manners. The management sat by and watched this whole thing go down and did nothing to help. Talk about lazy. I will not be going back after this incident.

Remember when John Catsimitides, owner of Gristedes, tried to run for mayor but lost the Republican primary in September 2013?
Well, fast forward to March 2015, and this Gristedes is selling cases of bottled water from his campaign. Yes, they expect you to pay actual money for water that’s been sitting around for a year and a half, and which was presumably given away for free during that failed mayoral campaign. Just donate it to a soup kitchen, seriously! But no, anything to wring another dollar out of customers, eh?
And they don’t let you do cash back unless you spend a minimum of $ 10 — which, to be fair, isn’t too difficult because everything in this disgrace of a store is hideously overpriced.

I go here when I’m feeling too lazy to walk an extra couple blocks to Bravo or Key Foods.
Positives: The turkey and ham deli meat that they bake on the premises is delicious (if you can find an employee to serve you). They have the best selection of Ben & Jerry’s flavors that I’ve seen around here. Their Amazon lockers are a godsend. Lastly, It’s so outrageously overpriced that it’s less crowded than some of the other stores in the area.
So many negatives: The produce is subpar, and there’s not a lot of selection. I often can’t find alfalfa sprouts, tarragon, or even jalapenos. There are often no employees in the deli area, and if there are, it’s difficult to get their attention. The cashiers are not very nice, but I’m sure they’re underpaid. Plus they have to stand there listening to awful music all day. You have to be careful about buying things that are supposed to be on sale. They sometimes don’t ring up at the discounted price. Lastly, I don’t think the store is dirty; it’s just old, but either way it’s not very pleasant to be in.

HATE THIS PLACE. So expensive, so slow, so gross. If you want your vegetables to get rotten immediately then shop here.

Sure, it’s nice to have a supermarket in this area. And sure, they have a mediocre selection. But damn is everything expensive – like *very* expensive – and the employees quite unfriendly. Unless you want to pay more than $ 8 for a box of delicious (but not $ 8-​delicious) Cracklin’ Oat Bran, I’d say try your luck at a local bodega. Also, I noticed this place harbors a certain armpit-​like stench. I’d say it’s like a cross between BO and the stale box of Cheez-​Its for sale for $ 20 on isle 3.

Pros:
Great selection of recognizable brands and their cheaper counterparts
Produce is mostly fresh when available
Has vegetarian brands of packaged foods (i.e. Morningstar)
Always pretty quick check out
Close to AC & 1 trains
Excellent variety of imported beers (Belgians, Japanese, Mexican, etc.)
*Accepts and recycle plastic bags!
Cons:
Sometimes does not restock produce quickly enough
A bit cramped, but not terrible
High prices
This Supermarket is convenient for stopping by on the way home from work. Usually has everything you need, but the prices are rather high, especially for being in the Heights. For example, almond milk is almost always .50 to $ 1.00 more here than at Trader Joe’s. I suppose you pay for the convenience.

Pros
Good selection of items on the shelves
Produce is mostly fresh, has a deli and small bakery
Good variety of beers
Close to the subway station
Cons
Not spacious, feels cramped

This Gristedes like every other Gristedes on the island of Manhattan has marginal selection, poor quality, and exorbitantly priced food items. Its produce looks like its going through an emotional breakdown, the service is incompetent, unprofessional, ghetto and rude.
I had the manager tell me to her incompetent cashier to «Never listen to a customer. They don’t know anything. They are always going to lie. Always use the sticker. While I was standing there. Jaw open. She then said «no disrespect. Just saying» this was over a bell pepper that was the same price different colour that was missing a sticker. The register said yellow, red and green bell pepper same price, same number. .but no I was wrong and deserved to be publicly degraded.

Prices are insane! A box of Capri Suns (100% juice, fruit punch flavor) for $ 7.59! Are you serious?! They sell this at Target for $ 3.49. I understand Target has the mega-​buying power to offer lower prices. However, even local bodegas (who probably buy a lot of their inventory from BJ’s thus making very little profit) wouldn’t sell a box of Capri Suns for more than $ 4-​$ 4.50, even the 100% juice ones.
It’s NYC, I expect to pay a premium for even basic items, however time and time again I’ve found Gristede’s prices outrageous. Why?! Being the largest supermarket chain in NYC I’m sure they are able to negotiate cheaper prices than many of the other smaller chains… how about passing some of those savings on to the customer rather than jacking the prices above reason and keeping the profits for themselves? No wonder the owner is a billionaire!
Thank goodness I have a car and can drive to a real supermarket with a huge selection and reasonable prices. When I’m in a pinch I’d rather walk to Associated or even a bodega. I only go to Gristede’s if I absolutely have no choice knowing they have a (somewhat) wider selection but also knowing I will be paying out the a**.

This store is pretty well-​stocked. It’s definitely better than other Gristedes I’ve been to, and it’s always clean when I’m there as well. They have a nice little locker system going on the in the back too.
Is Gristedes the place I always go? No. Is it totally fine in a pinch? You bet.

we joke, «everything here is 5 dollars». Its so expensive. Don’t come here for anything related to bath — you do not want to pay 10 dollars for dove shampoo. go to rite aid across the street.
however, they have a great bakery (the bday cakes are very good), the meat is good and way safer than other options in the area, great beer selection, they have alot. it isn’t fairway, but it’s the closest your gonna get in the area… just expect a few things to come out to at least 30 bucks, your cashier to hate you, and to wait in what is usually a long slow line.

Another love/​hate deal for me. I’ve been shopping here for years… but only as a last resort after exhausting the other neighborhood options. It’s clean, it’s spacious. One of the check out girls is very, very nice to me and says hello every time I shop there during her shift. She’ll also bend over to help me if I have an issue.
But the main manager often has attitude if you ask him a question, he’s not always open and pleasant when you say something is marked on sale but is coming up at the normal price, and their prices are OUTRAGEOUS!!! $ 8 for a large jar of chopped garlic, when the Fine Fare around the corner sells if for $ 3.50! And most other items are jacked up with just as much of an increase.
Unfortunately, the Fine Fare decided to compete and swipe some of their business and did a huge remodel to better resemble Gristede’s. In doing so, they raised prices as well! It’s a trickle down effect, folks!
Granted, the items are always fresh. And you can find specialty things here that you cannot find elsewhere in the neighborhood. But when you’re located in Washington Heights and have prices comparable/​exceeding that of midtown stores like Morton Williams and Whole Foods, something just ain’t right. But the fresh factor, and the customer service of most of their employees will grant them a 3-​star rating from me, and occasional continued business.

Definitely crowded but well stocked.
Took forever to check out, though. One cashier was having a conversation with a customer about spices!
I guess that makes it feel more neighborhood-​y, or whatever, but I’d plan to add more time to your shopping trip because of it.