Key Food

Like this neighborhood grocery a lot! Although there’s not everything I’m looking for, staff are super helpful and friendly, besides, there’re Asian food and snacks — bonus!

It’s crowded and horribly dysfunctional, but unfortunately, there are precious few grocery options in this neighborhood.
The aisles are pretty much impassible. But this Key Food has goat, gizzards, oxtail, pork shoulder, plantains and other food items that, unfortunately, one cannot find anymore on the UWS. I don’t enjoy shopping here at all, but I count my blessings that they still stock hard-​to-​find items.

Yep.
Got some good deals here AND
Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls!!!
Yessssssss!
No one else in UWS has them!
Small But renovated and decent prices!!!

This supermarket is probably the cheapest in the area. It is very crowded during the day. It has the very basics and you need a varying degree of patience to shop here, since some customers can be in the three digit range. It is the neighborhood Key Food. It is a great place to buy nuts and snacks, seltzer water, K-​Cups for the office machine, fruits and cheese, and such…

On sale transition days (i.e.when the prices are changing the next day) the store will change the prices on the skids to reflect the new sales ON THE EVENING BEFORE. Result: Incorrect, unhonored sale prices indicated on skid: Find a product for a certain price written on skid, get higher price at register. They do this HOURS BEFORE closing time, thus potentially (and actually) scamming customers into unknowingly paying more than expected (sadly, not all consumers watch the register screen, as they should). THIS PRACTICE IS ILLEGAL, AND I AM REPORTING TO DEPT. OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS. Sheesh, the bums who own this place are likely too cheap to pay a minimum wage earner 1 or 2 hours of OT to properly change the price when the store is closed.

Convenient location. Not the fanciest store but has what you need. The cold cut area is not impressive at all.

This is the ABSOLUTE WORST Key Food.
It’s teeny tiny like a pantry.
People are crammed in here shopping, like you have to shop the aisles in a single file line. You can’t carry the shopping baskets without turning and almost hitting someone and I’m not even sure how you’re supposed to get around in here with a cart.
They don’t have a seafood counter or hot foods counter. The seafood selection is scarce.
This place is just NO for me on all fronts. I left here too frustrated to shop.
The Key Food Bodega.
(The 125^th location and Park Slope locations are nice)

Decent supermarket with great prices. The reason for the three star rating is because the customer service provided by some employees are far below average.

So I am not used to the whole NYC grocery shopping experience. I am used to big, sprawling supermarkets. That is NOT Key Food. We were staying in a rental in the neighborhood for a few days so we had a kitchen and cooked and snacked when were not out in the city. Key Food may not have the exact of everything that you want. But it has the necessities. The place is INCREDIBLY cramped. Lord forbid someone has a cart and has to pass by you. Forget about it. That is the major drawback of this place. It’s New York, right? But it was nice to have something so convenient with the stuff that we needed.

Kinda gross. Make the trip to fairway, trader joes or whole paycheck.

This place does not have everything, however, it is super convenient for us which keeps us going back again and again. It can be a little crowded around the rush hours, however, if you are an early riser, or a night owl, it is a fairly easy trip. They do have sales that occur on occasion, in which you can get a better deal versus other area grocers.

It’s not the worst grocery store in the area… but it certainly makes you want to take the extra time to go to Fairway or Whole Foods.
There ain’t nothin’ gourmet about Met «Gourmet» Food. And what the heck are people talking about when they say it isn’t expensive? Sure there are sales every now and then… which make some items a normal price. I can still shop cheaper and better at Whole Foods and Fairway.
The produce is wilted and not fresh at all. There is little to no selection of anything… except things like pasta sauce and soup. I would never get any type of poultry, fish, pork or red meat here… or milk and eggs for that matter.
For what it’s worth, I’d get packaged goods here… never anything fresh.

This place is the cheapest grocery store in the area. (except for chalula hot sauce $ 5, i think not) I work right by here so I stop in to grab stuff for lunch all the time to stock in our work frig. They have a pretty decent selection for a small grocery store. Whenever I don’t know what to have for lunch I’ll grab a sandwich from the deli there. $ 5.50 on a fresh roll picked by myself, comes with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and choicce of dressing. Quick, easy, fresh. All the cashiers there are sweet little mexican girls, that have no problem with ringing my work stuff up seperately from my personal stuff so I can get 2 receipts. ROCK on MET!

Slightly above average selections and fairly decent prices, especially with their weekly sales. The produce department is lacking but I usually hit up Fairway for that anyway.

I call this place the Ghetto Mart with friends, and I know it sounds terrible, but it’s actually a term of affection. You see, this is the cheapest grocery store in the entire area (unless you want to hoof it down to Fairway), and it has a straight up 1985 feel to it in here. As if you’re not even certain whether they’ll have scanners.
It’s small too, but they sure do cram an awful lot of stuff in there. Not good on produce admittedly (too small a selection), and it’s not the cleanest of stores, but they have great weekly sales. Dont be afraid to grab one of those sales flyers located on the right as you enter. Yes, yes I know, I know… only blue-​haired 73 year old ladies actually read grocery store sales flyers, but in the immortal words of ABBA, take a chance. They really do have great deals each week. Just last week Pepsi 2-​liter varieties were $ 1.25 each, OJ was only $ 2.50 for a big 64 ounce carton, and yogurt was like $ 0.60.
I’m sure people pass by this grocer literally every day and never take a chance, but that’s a mistake.
So… If you change your mind, be the first in Express line, the cashier’s still free. Take a chance on me.
If you need food stuffs, just let me know, Met Foods around if you’ve got no other place to go.
If you’re feeling hungry or if you’re all alone, there’s a pretty good grocer that’s not far from home.
Honey some items are so cheap they’re nearly free. Take a chance on me. Gonna do their very best and it ain’t no lie. If you put Met Foods to the test, if you let them try. Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance…

This is our most convenient grocery store to us, so unfortunately we do have to come here when our favored is too much of a trip for the night (see Fairway).
The Met is tiny, overpriced and it’s really hit or miss whether or not you’ll get fresh produce. There are weekly sales (which are good deals) but on average your necessaries, i.e. cereal, milk, beer, cost an arm and a leg. Also don’t expect to find too much variety in brands.
Big con: Very few Ben n Jerry’s ice cream selections :)