Fresh & Easy

Loved this store, too bad it’s gone. I was going there today but alas I shall have to reroute.

Definitely not fresh… But. Very easy.
Open ²⁴⁄₇ which makes it exactly what you’d expect.
Their produce is not very good. However they have a bunch of frozen fruit and a good variety of prepackaged items that are helpful when you’re in a crunch. Since the new ownership has taken over, it has become more expensive so pick and choose your battles.

This review is apparently too late to save it, but I am surely going to miss fresh & easy.
First of all, the convenience led me here every time. The store was less than a mile from our house and open 24 hours every day. They almost always had everything I needed. The only trouble I found was looking for pine nuts, but seriously how often does one use pine nuts?
The staff at this location was always super sweet. I was offered free kale on kale day and they offered meals to my husband when he came in in uniform.
The prices were a little higher, but the Vons and Sprouts nearby don’t even compare. With fresh & easy closing, I now have to make the trip to hillcrest for my grocery needs :(
Someone buy fresh & easy! We love their food!

After the major price increases over the past 18 months I have pretty much stopped shopping here. Items can be found much cheaper at Vons a couple blocks away. I miss the decent prices and convenience of a grocery store a couple blocks from my house, but its not worth the massive mark ups. Now, I see they’re going out of business. Hopefully a Walmart neighborhood market or traders will replace it. I never was a fan of their produce or meats as the «fresh» part didn’t ever really seem to carry over to this part of the store. Over priced wilted veggies and grossly overpriced meat abound. I mean they wanted 7.99/lb for boneless skinless chicken thighs that are 2.99/lb all day at Von’s/Ralph’s.

I have been shopping here for almost 3 years. Today was my last. The WORST customer service experience I’ve ever had. After walking up to a check out lane with 5 items in my hands, I greeted the F&E employee who was standing at the end of the belt line near bagging area, and started scanning and placing my items on the belt. The employee, lady in her early 50s, was RUDE RUDE RUDE. Not coming back.

I wanted to pick up some food items for home after the movies last night. Most of the stores in the area were closed or were about to close. I miss the days when Food 4 Less (in Mission Valley) was open 24 hours. I Unilocaled and found this 24 hour Fresh & Easy (F&E) nearby so thought I’d hit it up.
The store is on University Avenue off the 805 in North Park. Since it was late night around 1:00am or so, I had no issues with parking.
I’ve heard of F&E, but this was my first time visiting a store. It’s pretty cool, it’s a smaller grocery store that stocks and sells the essentials (or what most people would likely buy).
They have a big selection of grab & go items that are decent sized portions. They’ve got salads, soups, sandwiches, and entrees. I picked up a tandoori chicken with quinoa dish and it was enough to last at least 2 meals. I like that they offer healthier grab & go selections.
They got a nice selection of energy /​caffeinated drinks for those all nighters. They also offer healthier beverages such as organic tea and juices.
Check out was a breeze, I scanned items and the employee was nice enough to bag my items. I like that they have a security guard on duty. Makes me feel safer if my wifey comes here alone late night.
Some items were a bargain (mostly F&E brands), some fair, and other items pricey. Overall, I enjoyed shopping here. I wouldn’t do all my shopping here, but they offer good deals on a fair amount of items. I like the freshness of the grab & go and produce I purchased along with the convenience of the store being open 24 hours and it’s location. They’re living up to their name, both Fresh & Easy!

Came into this location looking for Motzaball soup. They carry it at the Spring Valley, so I was right here why not look for it. We had to go through several employees to find out if they have it. It was comical. End results, I was to to go to a Jewish store to find it. Pfft, thanks for checking at least.

To say fresh & Easy has gone down hill is an understatement. Since the new owners took over, the prices have skyrocketed and the quality has dropped like a rock. It’s just a matter of time before they close all the stores for good.

Fresh & easy still carries some organic products we love including ranch dressing, sour cream, tomatoes, rice, lentils. Their sour cream is the best tasting organic sour cream we have tried. I also love their Wildwood organic Italian salad dressing. Fresh & easy popcorn (organic) and while not organic but very tasty: fresh and easy malted vinegar potato chips. Yes, malted vinegar does makes a British difference compared to other brands.
Going in and out at self registers is cool and you get friends points if you have a «friends card.»

First of all I have to say that this store is very alike to an European grocery store in Holland, Germany, or France. It is not so overstocked with ”BS” products with too much choice keeping you for ever in the store, and its lay out is very ”fresh” indeed.
In addition to that, they are 24 hours open which brings the best both of 2 worlds together (Us. and Europe). Way better than the grocery stores closing at 7 – 8 back home in Holland.
I love their bakery section the most. They have the best croissants (even though they’re fatty). Also, their Belgian waffles I haven’t found elsewhere. And I have to add, they taste just like back home.
However, my concern is not the quality whatsoever, it is the ridiculous PRICE they ask for certain products! The store is quite overpriced. I don’t care about their shelved food, but bakery items such as a simple Belgian waffle shouldn’t be $ 2?! For that price I get with my expensive Euro maybe a dozen of them. I know they are special to here, but are they imported? NO, just baked at the bakery. Are they containing any expensive ingredients? NO. Nothing more than basic ingredients. I felt really satisfied after a Belgian Waffle, however; the price still hurts.
I would suggest this store some more competitive prices, especially in their bakery section. Since they don’t have to pay the wages of full time cashiers due to their self check out system, this should be a realistic goal.
Also, parking sucks big time here. Sometimes you’re just better of parking across the street all the way at the CVS.

I was a shopper at the store in Chula Vista. The company cloed that store. On Saturday I was in North Park. So I thought I would go here and get a few items, that Ralph’s, Von’s Sprout’s in Chula Vista do not carry.
This store sucks. The parking is very bad. Also they have a Security Guard that walks around and follows customers around and is very rude. He makes yo feel like you are a thief. (they really should be watching him!). I had a problem getting the bar code reader to work he walked up behind me made a rude comment about how I was trying to get the code reader to work. If I didn’t need the 5 items i went there to get I would have walked out. I will never go there again. Fresh and Easy is doing their customers a dis-​service by hiring employees like the {Slug they hired as a Security Guard} Of course they closed the wrong stores the stores here in Chula Vista had no Security Guards.
The company that owns these store do not care about their customers.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the fresh and easy chain to begin with, as they take away clientele who would normally shop at more sustainable farmer’s markets in exchange for mediocre products that are overly priced (compared to price comparisons I’ve done with nearby Vons and independent grocery stores). Talking about this specific site in particular, the selection is even smaller as the store is tiny compared to what many of us would expect a grocery store. The produce section in particular is very small despite having the word «fresh» in the name. There are also only 4 self-​check registers, but 1 or 2 always seem under maintenance for some reason.
On the plus side, it is ²⁴⁄₇ and the one of the only place to get myself eggs in the area at 3AM. The security guards get bored around this time though, and not-​so-​subtly followed me around during this time. Maybe they want to see if I get the brown or white eggs, or maybe that none of them have cracked.

24 hours a day, this store supplies all of your basic needs and then some.
The majority of their shelf products are proprietary, formulated to incorporate healthy grains and vegetables. A nice selection of chips, cookies, crackers, soy and nut pressed «milk.» Dairy, fresh and frozen meat, varied cheese selection.
Recurring favorites: F&E ice cream, yogurt, unflavored organic soy milk, multi grain bread and their brand of chocolate bar.
Friendly, helpful staff. Parking above and below.

I’m in the middle of 3.5 stars or 4 stars.
This grocery store as it’s name states is FRESH pre-​made things that are EASY to cook, heat and eat.
The store itself is very well stocked and organized, items are easy to find and I like the self-​serve registers. Although the self-​serve can sometimes be a pain, when it says that you skipped bagging or the item is not recognized, you must wait until someone comes to the rescue and it may happen several times during one transaction.
I used to shop at the Fresh & Easy in El Cajon when i worked in the area and I was always happy with the products and prices seemed fair, but now a days I feel prices have gone off the roof.
Almost $ 7 for a chicken Caesar salad??? wtf!
I feel the things they sell here are very convenient when you are on the run and want to eat something healthy.
The baked gods are very good, love their fresh bread.
Overall I would shop here when I’m tight on time and want/​need something healthy and i am willing to pay the price.
I’ve never had any problems with parking.

I really like Fresh & Easy. They live up to their name very well. There are many times I just don’t feel like cooking, or don’t take something out of the freezer to thaw, and don’t feel like «eating out» and that’s where this store shines. They have a very wide variety of ready to microwave meals to choose from. Also salads of all kinds, soups and sandwiches. Perfect for lazy bachelors like me who doesn’t wanna whip out the cast iron every night. Plus they’re open 24 hours! And after 9 p.m. a lot of stuff goes 50% off, keeping everything «fresh». There is also a bunch of «ready to cook» meals and sides that are already seasoned, marinated and or prepared. My only complaint, if you can call it one, is they are a bit pricey. But I guess you’re paying for convenience. The parking lot is pretty small but they also have an underground parking structure (which I’ve never had to use).
I really like the self check out system as well, more stores should have these. I’m usually in the line and walking out with my food in a minute or so. But if you ever need help with something, such as buying alcohol, there’s always a nice, smiling employee to assist you. Lot’s of hipsters buy up the vegan stuff but hey it’s North Park, lol. Anyways good location (right off the 805 and University) and the food is actually GOOD! Plus, they even have a microwave in the store in case you just can’t wait to get home to eat a hot delicious meal.

The store is open 24 hours daily which is perfect for me and my crazy work hours leaving me to do grocery shopping at 3am.
Very clean and organized, nice staff, self check outs which I love, fresh products, fair pricing, and good location with decent parking available.
Perfect place for quick shopping!

Bought a steak last night to cook today… it was pink and delicious looking on one side, flipped over my meat and it was grey and stinky! I wasted $ 14 on what was supposed to be a romantic dinner for two… had to put that on hold to go elsewhere for an entrée
They claim to have low prices… they are 2 – 3 times higher!
This was my first time shopping here and I won’t be returning… beware of their meat case!

Downhill is an understatement. More like circling-​the-​bowl.
I haven’t been to a Fresh & Easy for some time, because basically there’s ton of other inexpensive options in North Park. Today I decided to give them another chance and was shocked to see how much the prices have gone up!
I understand prices go up especially with produce in California, but almost everything in here had gone up at least $ 2 — $ 3 dollars from my last visit. I also noticed that they have removed a lot of their «organic» products from the shelves are carrying more name brand and off-​brand products. No more mom & pop shop vibe.
I’m not trying to sound snobby here, but when you promote healthy & organic products in your ads and online; yet you no longer carry half of them it doesn’t look good.
Avoid this place if you can, but in a pinch it will get the job done… at a price.

My favorite Fresh & Easy so far, super clean, big, lots of apple green coloring everywhere… overall fresher, newer and prettier looking that other counterparts. I normally don’t shop at this store, but I was in North Park and just needed milk and bread… and curiosity brought me there (plus the GPS giving me bad instructions on where to go).
I don’t regret the visit at all, and this will be my favorite grocer shop if I lived in North Park. Everything looks packed the same day. Besides, you can find Mexican Coca-​Cola (which is always great with that sugar cane in it). Also you can find really cute and yummy croissants (with the shape and taste of a real French croissant), fluffy and not hard like in some bakeries of reputed name. The wine assortment is also excellent.

I stopped in Fresh and Easy initially just to pick up some wheat bread and a few apples to take home, but you know how that goes. As usual, I see something good and I buy it. I which I had an affective filter for food shopping because I certainly need one. Don’t even get me starting on Costco shopping.
Anyways, I found the bread and apples that I needed at the small yet well stocked and clean produce section. (
) I also picked a bag of some good looking well priced sweet potatoes. Not for making fries, but I have been wanting to learn to make a sweet potato pie. Now I just need to find a good recipe.
I am a big pesto fan, and saw that F&E has their own brand, so I decided to pick up a container to try with some pasta. (
) Also, I found some I heart California wine that I intend to use for cooking and making sauces. At $ 4.99 per bottle and getting the fourth one for .01 cents, well I could not resist. (
)
All in all, a good shopping excursion with good prices and deals.