AJ’S Purveyor of Fine Foods

Great place for peace and quiet, free wifi, coffee, iced tea and great muffins. I’m sure anything you order hear would be amazing. Staff is very nice and serve with a smile on there face daily. Love to people watch here as well and set goals to one day be like them. Friendly patrons here as well. I highly recommend the indoor patio early with cup of coffee and muffins or breakfast burritos! Fresh brewed Flavored Ice tea and burgers on the weekend!

Had them cater my entire Thanksgiving dinner for eight. Awesome! The turkey was moist and tender and had a flavor that was absolutely delicious. All of the trimmings were delicious. I did add a little more cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg to the candied sweet potatoes before re-​heating them. Yummy! The cranberry sauce was the best I ever had. The stuffing, while tasty, was a little too loose for me. All of my guests loved it, but I would have preferred a more crumbly, drier texture. Mashed potatoes and geen beans were good. The pumpkin pie was a big hit. Would have preferred a different kind of bread/​dinner roll. Overall the meal was outstanding and freed me from the kitchen for hours, allowing me to enjoy my guests and the day.

Cheryl K is by far the best employee I have ever dealt with at any retail establishment. She was so knowledgeable and friendly. She should be running the show because she really knows customer Service. Oh and by the way… the food she made was outstanding! I will recommend Cheryl to all my friends. Hell, I may even offer her a job :).
Thank you for hiring such a great employee. I love AJ’s!

I am seriously disappointed in AJ’s. The butchers don’t know where their meat comes from. I asked them about the pork chop. Not only could they not tell me what breed pig it was but the most they could tell me about where it came from was the mid-​west. Really!
I’m not a crazy organic only shopper but I do want to know where my food comes from. That it is healthy and treated humanely. Come AJ’s. Fine food means you know something about the food other than it is expensive. So Sad.

I had a wonderful experience shopping at AJ’s. I really like the produce but wish for more organics. I was very excited to find a Thai Basil plant! Listening to the butcher sing was very cool. He has a good voice! The Sushi Chef was very accommodating and was a pleasure to chat with. My Sunshine roll was delicious. The cashiers were very friendly. This will be my go to place to shop!

I am furious!
I usually go to the other location on Pima but decided to try this location since I was right there. BIG MISTAKE!
I picked up a chocolate cake from the bakery for my birthday while
I’m in town, paid my $ 25 only to come home and the cake is frozen solid! I have no issue with their exorbitant prices. I do have an issue with the cake not being fresh. Had I have known, I would have passed entirely.
This location clearly doesn’t have it together and I will make the extra trek to the Pima location from now on.

Following Josh D’s review on ¹¹⁄₁ — I totally agree that AJ’s has a cooked food problem.
At the soup bar yesterday I stood with 2 strangers (read snowbirds) 1 of which has been an AJ’s patron since it opened. All of us agreed the soups, whilst having interesting names were all very runny and had no substance.
They lost 3 sales in as many minutes — I should also add being a long term Cave Creek resident this has been a problem since earlier in the year — comments have been made to the on site management to no avail.
I have also tried the AJ’s on Pima and they are having the same issues — looks like the whole organization needs a kick up the pants…
Their pricing is expensive and we the customers expect value and quality for our money.

I used to love this place. It seems to have been spiraling down the past couple years … This last visit is my last. I ordered the Kobe burger at the outdoor grill. It literally tasted rancid but I had never had Kobe so wasn’t sure if it was normal. I then headed in and bought some salmon sushi after throwing the burger out. I go back to the patio, open it up and take a bite … The same thing — rancid! This place needs major health dept inspections.

I love to shop here! Don’t get me wrong, it’s called the «Purveyor of Fine Foods» for a reason, it is expensive. «You get what you pay for» is not ALWAYS an acceptable or applicable philosophy, however with AJ’s it is. Their store presentation and departments are often impeccable and most definitely aesthetically impressive.
Top five reasons that AJ’s (this location specifically) qualifies as a «Purveyor of Fine Foods»:
1. Sit-​Down or Pick-​Up Sushi Bar with a Professional Sushi Chef… Fresh sushi and sashimi made daily on site.
2. Gourmet Meals To Go… Choose from meals such as Marinated T-​Bone, Fresh Alaskan Salmon, Marinated Pork Loins (menu varies daily). Individual plates or group order Thanksgiving & Christmas Meals served every season (Pre-​Order for group orders required).
3. Large Wine Department w/​Wine Specialist On Hand For Pairing Recommendations Or Special Orders… Their wine specialists are superior in job experience and expertise.
4. Artisanal Floral Department… I have never seen any other floral department in any other grocery store compare to the arrangements at this AJ’s. Only a floral company such as «Cactus Flowers» compares to their talent.
5. Exceptional Produce… They have so many different options. Also, if you need a fruit or vegetable not on the floor, they most likely can order it for you!
Honorable mention– the Bakery Department. Small, but fantastic!

Good stuff. It’s always refreshing to go to an AJ’s coming from NY. Instead of fighting the hordes at Fairway, AJ’s are like grocery stores that merged with a wellness spa. .. And a Brighton Gifts.

Excellent wine selection, but small. Exceptional selection of oils and vinegars.
Over all during the last year we have lived here the experiencing have been getting better and better. The manager has been exceptionally responsive to the few minor complaints we have made. Overall great store.

It’s a little on the pricier side, but they are FINE food after all. They have a really cool thing here where they will make you a gift basket of any items you pick out in the store. I was able to get my parents a bunch of really cool stuff. If I was rich I would probably shop here all the time.

I don’t do my big shopping here, but there are certain items I totally come to AJ’s for. Like Rothchild’s condiments. Can’t live without my Balsamic-​Onion Jam — totally makes a roast beef and brie panini. And they have a lot of other specialty items. I always end up spending more money on those gourmet items once I am in the store. I am a condiment slut — just check out my fridge and pantry!
For grilling hamburgers, DH always sends me to pick up AJ’s ground sirloin. He says that is totally the best flavor hamburger around.
I don’t have a lot of interaction with the folks there — I just get my stuff and go, but they seem pleasant and ready to help.
I appreciate they offer a fair amount of my favorite goodies. That is the hardest part about moving to a new place — leaving behind your «special» brands. But then you walk out of the store and look at the mountains and it’s like: «duh». That makes up for no Frisch’s Special Sauce or Dei Fratelli Tomato products.

Awesome store with a warm, relaxing feel to it. The lighting is soft, the selections are broad, the end cap displays are like fine furniture bookcases. For all this you will pay a price! There are some good deals on meats and seafood but be aware of the upcoming specials or you will pay a lot more than you should for items you could find at Safeway for many dollars less.
Everyone is very friendly but some of the workers behind the counter (in the hot prepared foods section) are less than efficient. Guess they figure if you are willing to pay $ 15 a pound for cooked food you are probably not in any hurry — but the speed of service or lack thereof really was annoying.
Also keep an eye on the register and make sure the items on sale come up that way when rung up. In two visits we had two items that were each $ 5 higher at the register than the shelf price was showing. They were gracious about fixing them but still — had we not noticed we would have paid a lot more than we had intended. Just plain errors or an intentional trend we cannot be sure since we were visitors and don’t live or shop there enough to know.
The outside menu looks like a nice option for a quick bite on a sunny day and when we return we will plan on eating there for lunch.

AJs sure is fine about messing up orders. We couldn’t do a home cooked thanksgiving meal at our house because our oven was broken so we had AJs cater it. We explained to a Miss Teresa that we needed a cooked meal and she said she understood. We went to pick it up and we get cold uncooked dishes and a vacuum sealed turkey. We called AJs and the manager said that they couldn’t get ahold of her so the best they could do is have us drive the food all the way back to the store to cook it with our hungry guests waiting at our house. The worst part is, the manager was very unapologetic about it. Thank you AJs for your lack of competence and poor customer service. Happy thanksgiving.

Service has really gone downhill. Add to the fact that recent negative publicity has tarnished AJ’s reputation with regards to the mislabeling of meats over a two year period, I can only attest to the fact that AJ’s has gone down in quality over the years both in terms of product quality and overall service.
During my visit to this particular store this evening, not one staff member bothered to say hello or offered to help.

Love this AJ’s location. Super clean and neat everywhere you look. The parking lot is endless and so big you could park anywhere and still not have to walk far to the store. All the employees are super nice every time i’ve gone in which makes me keep coming back. Love the pastry area, the cheesecake selection is amazing and all of the are just as good as they look. They have the biggest produce section i’ve ever seen and all of it just looks clean fresh and all so good I just want to buy it all. The soup, pizza, and sandwich selection is all so good. I’ve had some of the pizza before and the slices are so big and worth the price that you don’t even need two pieces to fill you up. I’ve tried the corn chowder, tomato, and cream of mushroom soup and they are all to die for!

I stop here daily. Service varies. Some staff are rude. Food quality varies. Wish it was more consistent.

This AJ’s location is clean and well-​organized. Some of the products offered are such junk food it sort of disappoints me. I know it’s not a health-​food store, but I do wish they’d carry more real food type products.
The produce is always good, though you will pay for the quality (I don’t mind). Wine selection is good and I found the wine guy to be friendly and turned us on to some wines we would have never considered and we can also fend for ourselves with wine. Just sayin’ YMMV.
Best thing about this location is the meat counter. The regular burger patties are fantastic as are the grass fed steaks. Some of the best I’ve found in the valley. If you buy something here, you can count on it being fresh and of high quality.

I love this AJ’s. There’s a wine lady there on Thursdays and Sundays and she’s excellent; always helpful in getting me what I am looking for as well as in making suggestions when I want to try new things. They are great at the check out area too, always in good spirits. The meat counter is a pleasant experience as well. Everyone who works here is very knowledgeable.
The only negative I have to say is the wine guy is a little rough around the edges. I think he doesn’t think I know anything about wine, but that’s ok, I can definitely fend for myself around vino!