The Food Emporium

closed

I liked this store OK. It was convenient. Hours were pretty good. A&P however (the owners of Food Emporium) have sold the lease off to an investment firm. They have closed…

This location is going out of business the first week of May 2013. Everything on sale! Was a great store.

I’ve been going here for over two years and I feel like I am punishing myself from doing it. The staff there is super friendly and hard-​working. However, their freezers and fridges are awful. I’ve bought rancid milk there twice, meat that was spoiled, and ice cream that was melted. For the prices they charge you would think they could afford decent equipment to safely store their food. The produce is good but extremely high even for Manhattan standards (4 ears of corn is about $ 7). I wouldn’t buy anything here except for bottled drinks and maybe bread.

I don’t really see the same problems most of these people that gave bad reviews apparently see, but I don’t come here THAT often. If the grocery store nearest me doesn’t have something or if I happen to be walking past on my way home, I’ll stop in. Every time I’ve gone in, there have been 3 or 4 cashiers (plus, there’s self-​checkout… why oh why are people so afraid to use it?) that were quick and efficient.
It’s clean, which is way more than I can say for Fairway which looks like a cockroach-​infested dump, and well-​stocked. Like I said, I don’t go there that often so I never go full-​fledged shopping and thus my charge is never that high.
Their prepared foods are good. I’ve had it a few times and was never disappointed. 3 out of 4 times, I had a good experience with the sushi. I noticed one person complained that you can’t get the rolls yourself. Personally, I like that everyone and their mother hasn’t already touched all of them before I get there. Let’s face it, most people don’t use those little paper thingies or the tongs to pick them up. Besides, I can spare an extra 5 seconds.

The only reason I come here is to get lunch on my break a few times a month. They have a small selection of prepared food, but everything is so expensive that it makes me wonder how anyone shops here.

I come here only for the sushi. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to sushi so I usually order the salmon & tuna combo. I sometimes get the seaweed salad and the shrimp summer roll as well.
SUSHI
Fresh, delicious, and reasonably priced for the quality and location. Sushi rice was delicious and well seasoned. The fish to rice ratio is perfect and someone Japanese is behind the counter making these things. Really good sushi if you don’t want to fork over unreasonable amount of cash.
SALAD & SUMMER ROLL
Seaweed salad is good. There’s a bit of a crunch and it’s well seasoned, great sesame taste as well. Shrimp in the summer roll is fresh. Good proportion of ingredients — no over stuffing the roll with vermicelli to fluff it up here. Sauce was sweet but not overwhelmingly so with a hint of sourness. Prices are a tad high but well worth it for a good meal. I hadn’t found a good summer roll in any of the restaurants I’ve tried thus far.

It will do in a pinch. Otherwise, I don’t love the higher than average prices and the confusing layout.
Weird critique — I dislike having to ask for someone to hand me a roll. Why can’t they just have bakery roll cases like everyone else?

Everyone that shops here on a regular basis that has another option should be ashamed of themselves. A chain of this size that is this lackluster should not be able to charge prices greater than the fanciest of small specialty markets for the most basic of products. Store brand non-​organic garlic powder is not an $ 8 product. Neither is a 1.5 quart Edy’s vanilla ice cream. On the rare occasion I end up stuck going to a Food Emporium, I always have to grit my teeth at the idea of supporting this robbery. On top of that, the employees always seem like they were just soul sucked.
Bottom line, if I’m going to pay those prices, I want to know the product is superior or at least I’m supporting the family owned bodega that appreciates my business.

Lord, I used to think this place was built over an ancient Indian burial ground or something, the vibes were so bad in here. A few years ago, I would have given them a rating worse than even Avery Fisher Hall
, due to their major assed suckiness. Jeezers, every time I went in here I either witnessed a fight or a very loud argument — most times between customer and management, other times between customer and fellow customer — all who were total strangers to each other!!!
Also, now that Morris Fruit bodega on B’wy between 68 & 69 has turned into Pinky Nails, FE unfortunately happens to be the closest food store to my place for emergency shopping (like when you’re cooking and then you suddenly remember, «damn!, onion!!!») .
Fortunately however, about two years or so ago they renovated the place up to about 3 star status. I don’t know if it’s the Feng Shui of the newly designed store arrangement or what, (most likely the new «serve yourself» checkout aisles they installed), but the mood has completely changed within this store which used to be the «Gruesome House of Horrors» of local UWS grocers.
As Jason said, the beer selection is OK from the cheapo to the neato and if you happen to possess a «Golden Value Card» or whatever the heck they’re calling the thing now, it will afford you some decent discounts when they’re having a sale. Still you have to be aware of FE’s mostly over-​exuberant prices. Predominantly, their dairy and junk food tend to go on sale a lot. Other than that, they’re Food Emporium after all, so you know what you’re getting yourself into.
Fairway, the new TJ’s and Pioneer are my main squeezes when it comes to local grocers, but when I’m very desperate and/​or pressed for time or Hell — just plain lazy, I’ll cruise a short block away to FE. I feel like such a grocery slut!

This store is the reason why I want to move in order to be within a reasonable walking distance to Whole Foods. I mean, there’s a Trader Joe’s but that gets too busy after work hours. There’s also a place that’s a step above a bodega in this hood. But Food Emporium in general sucks for several reasons. One of which has to be related to prices. They have good soda sales, but otherwise, it makes Whole Foods look like a Dollar Store. And their merch isn’t even that great — another reason it sucks. I had a pesto emergency — the basil i had bought went bad and this place has NO FRESH BASIL. #DivaProblems But still, you can’t say you have great organic produce and not have basil when it’s in season. If it was an easier walk to Fairway, I would have been ALL over that. But I needed stuff in a pinch. So their pesto — Buitoni? Seriously? This was the stuff you bought in my small town. This is the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Seriously? You can’t do better? I hate when I run out of stuff and need something in a pinch. Otherwise, I’m going to have to take better care in making shopping lists so I *don’t* forget anything when I do make it to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Otherwise it sucks here, and I hate it and did I mention it sucks?

Plus points for the cleanliness, wide aisles and the fact that it’s never overcrowded. Probably the reason why is the prices are exorbitant!
I only come here when I am in absolute need of a last minute item (ahem, a TP emergency)! It’s a shame since I live only half a block away. Even when things are on sale, they are still about the regular price as other supermarkets in the area.
A few times I’ve purchased milk here during the summer and it’s rancid already… unfortunately, by the time I’ve figured it out, I’ve already taken a huge gulp of it. YUUUUUCK!

This is the largest grocery store that I have been to on the Upper West Side (excluding Fairway). When I walked into the store I was just looking for a quick bite and I was utterly amazed at the size. I have lived in the city for a few years and it brought me back to how grocery stores are back where I grew up.
The selection seems large and the coffee bar is definitely key. The checkout lines where fast and the store seems to be fairly clean. I had minimal contact with their employees but they seemed ok.
Definitely a nice surprise when compared to Gristides in the city.

Seemed pretty quiet but everything was orderly and neat. Their staff seemed friendly. One employee helped us at the self-​check out line, she was happy and did her job well.

All I ask is that a business tries. That’s what’s really important. This one may have set a record in regards to apathy.
They usually have one check out person, so that the lines grow especially long. There isn’t really room for these lines, so it just tends to get overly crowded and congested. Everyday I expect a riot to ensue.
They don’t sell tortillas. I don’t consider myself one of those people that demands the really random and rare ethnic food, but I also don’t consider tortillas to fall into that category.
The prices are insane. If you are going to get produce of any kind, do not buy it here. Walk out the door, turn left and head down 68^th to Columbus. There is a produce cart there that sells veggies and fruits for a fraction of the price. Yesterday Blackberries were $ 4.50 at FE, and $ 1 at the cart.
And finally, the complaint that prompted my to log onto Unilocal and complain. The quality. I just opened a block of cheese and it is all moldy. You can’t see this because of the packaging, but once opened, it is all green (and it is cheddar, so it should be orange…). It would be one thing if this was the first «bad» product that they had sold to me, but I assure you, it is not.
Now I live about a half block away, so it would be wonderful if Food Emporium was dependable, but unfortunately they are not. I have now decided that I am going to train it down to 59^th to the whole foods. The quality is far superior, the prices are the same (if not lower), and the people working there actually help you (as opposed to those at FE that just grumble and point).
…There, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. Heed my advice friend and do not go here…

A $ 3.25 box of Special K at Fairway is $ 5.99 at Food Emporium.
Enough said.

This is my local grocery store, it’s right across the street from my apartment. While mentally-​preparing a review for this location of Food Emporium, three words instantly came to mind: stark, bleak, desolate.
This is an ideal place for hermits to get their shopping done. Everything is in order, it’s quiet, nobody approaches you, when you ask someone for help they aren’t very helpful (this will help to justify their lack of faith in humanity and eliminate any potential of yearning for companionship), and this is one of the only places around with multiple self-​check out machines.
They don’t give out lots of free samples, there aren’t ever any exciting sales or discounts or promitions, the meat section is just okay, the fruit and vegetable selection is just okay — there’s really just nothing about this place that makes me want to shop here on a regular basis (even if it’s raining or snowing or extremely hot outside I would much rather walk an extra couple/​few blocks to go somewhere I’ll actually enjoy myself) — the overall impression I always leave with is «cold and sterile» — though they do have an above average beer selection, and their frozen foods (if you’re into that sort of thing, I’m definitely not) is enormous, and it’s extremely convenient for purchasing snacks to sneak into IMAX directly across the street.
I want to give it two stars, but I’ve never had a bad encounter or situation here, nothing has ever gone wrong — it’s just entirely forgettable, and maybe that’s what some people want (but not me) so I’ll say it’s A-​OK, however _​just_​OK…

This is the closest thing you can get to a surburban shopping experience in New York City, except for the prices.
The aisles are wide, the frozen food section is the largest I’ve seen in Manhattan. And just like in the suburbs, there are also no people, or at least not many… and there are self-​checkout lines so that the occasional person who does come in the store can check themselves out quietly without hassling anyone or having any human contact whatsoever:-).
YOU CAN TRULY BE AN ISLAND HERE.
Which is great because Manhattan’s an island already, so that would make you sort of an island on an island… Which I guess is really cool.
«But why are there no people in the Food Emporium?»
I think they get no repeat customers because when most middle class people see their prices, their heads explode!
«Cleanup in aisle seven please.»
I didn’t know this when I entered and I was lucky to get out alive.
«What a nice grocery store,» I thought to myself as I scanned the aisles.
«Around $ 4 for a dozen organic eggs, oh that’s not bad. Oops, that’s for six eggs. A dozen is what? Almost $ 7?» I could feel a pain in my head, almost as if my brain was pushing up against the outer edges of the inside of my skull.
«Cheap frozen dinners $ 1 – 2 too expensive, ugh! Fresh fish at Citerella prices! Organic milk $.75 more than at my corner deli! HEAD HURTING. HEAD ABOUT TO EXPLODE. MUST GO TO FAIRWAY AND GET JOSTLED AND PUSHED NOW!»
I did then go to Fairway and bought a dozen cage free eggs for $ 2.59.
Of course in the process I got poked twice by the same woman, and was unable to remove my backpack at the register to pack my groceries because an attractive young woman who seemed like she was about to walk by instead stood up against my shoulder blade. Anywhere but Fairway this would have been sexy.
So yes, despite the ripoff prices, I can see the appeal of the Food Emporium… if your head doesn’t explode the first time you visit.

I have an awe of Food Emporium. I have never been to a place where food looked so sterile. It’s like walking into a pristine-​minimalist-​interior-​designed-​nothing-​should-​be-​touch-​lest-​it-​break sort of atmosphere, a glass house, very air conditioned experience. I am fairly certain that each produce item is carefully laid into an exact position and then never moved until somebody buys it… no pouring mushrooms into bins or just randomly stacking oranges going on here. If food could be bleached clean without making it poisonous, I am sure Food Emporium would do it.
I admit that the minimalist atmosphere is helped by the fact that exceedingly few people seem to actually shop here, and it’s equally hard to find the people who might lay down the produce or stack the aisles.
And I have a love-​hate relationship with the expensive line of European cooking utensils that Food Emporium stocks. On the one hand, they are ridiculously expensive (in the William Sonoma way of $ 19.95 garlic presses. For heaven’s sake, it’s a garlic press no matter how many springs and do-​dads you stick on it). On the other hand, they have this pristine stainless steel, will make your life immaculately clean just by merely entering your life after you buy it vibe to it going on.
Now, atmosphere aside, I will say that some of the items they stock are quite good. I really like the Stonyfield milk. And Siggi’s skyr yogurt. But be careful what you buy as prices are just astronomical.

Decent flowers if you need them in a pinch for a Lincoln Center event.
E.g. graduation.