Safeway

 

1

25

Jerome L.

Monterey, CA

This Safeway is massive! It has everything in it, including a Jamba Juice! If you don't find what you want in this Safeway, you won't find it anywhere .

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18

312

Russell S.

Carmel, CA

huge....amazingly huge....with everything you could ask for in a grocery store and then some. too big for my liking, but hey it seems to be popular. They don't seem to have the customer service to back it up though, like a lot of Safeways. I am the kind of shopper who wants to get in and out, not browse. If you are like this as well, stick to a smaller supermarket. This place is pretty tight though if you want a variety of food for take-out.

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Elite '08

27

65

grace b.

Irvine, CA

Okay, everyone's talked about how huge and great this Safeway is.

So yeah. Ditto.

But I haven't seen anything about the catering. I ordered a Petite Croissant tray in the large size. I called two days before and made sure to tell them that I didn't want ham included in the sandwiches... ONLY ROAST BEEF AND TURKEY. I even went in at like, 6:30AM to double check my order. Everything was all set.

I went in around 10:15 and picked up the tray. It was ready to go. We got to the house and finished getting everything ready for my friend's bridal shower. And that's when they noticed the ham sammies in there. I was pissed. It was written RIGHT THERE ON THE ORDER.

Apparently, they don't know how to read. Or they just hate to follow directions.

After the shower I stormed back in there (I was already in a bad mood, anyway) and told them that they messed up. The Deli Manager was pretty calm, although, I thought I sensed a little bit of an attitude from her. (It might've just been me getting all defensive because I was in a crappy mood.) But she did tell us that she'd give us 50% back on the purchase of the tray (That's $25 back on a $50 tray.)

That was fine. I was feeling better. And then she got HER manager and they gave us back $30 instead of $25! Then I was appeased. hehe. They didn't give me a hard time or ask me for the remainder of the sandwiches or anything. They were really cool about it. Thank God. I would've ripped them a new one, otherwise.

A couple of other things.

1. The produce guys were super-friendly. I get the feeling I was getting hit on, just a little bit. Which kind of worked to my advantage since I have NO idea how to pick out a cantaloupe. hehe.

2. The Starbucks is really convenient. Also, the restrooms are pretty clean. Then again, it *WAS* 6:30AM and the cleaning guys JUST left.

3. The produce was really nice and fresh.

4. They had EVERYTHING I was looking for. And where they put all of their products was really intuitive so it didn't take me an hour and a half to find everything on my list.

5. The guy at the checkout was very helpful and friendly. I've got no beef with the employees here.

6. There's a food court type thing where you can get a quick fix of Chinese food. And some other stuff. Which was perfect because I was TOTALLY craving fried race. And it was surprisingly good. Or I was just super hungry. Either way, it hit the spot.

Okay. I think that's it.

My only advice is that if you're gonna order something from catering, you should triple check your order if you've got any special requests because apparently, double checking just isn't enough.

Oh, I didn't get a chance to taste any of the croissant sandwiches, but EVERYONE said they were delicious. I did notice that they put in mayo and mustard in the sandwiches already. Which I thought was kind of odd. No one had any complaints, though.

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2

77

Tricia M.

Seaside, CA

One of the better Safeway's but not the best. There are a few good employees here who will greet you and talk to you but most of the people who work here seem tired and annoyed... a major downfall.

The store really had to earn it's high ratings because although it opened in a new location (right down the street from its old location) the food selection, and employee attitude did not seem to change. it feels kind of like the same old ghetto Safeway you'd come to expect from Seaside area wearing a new fancy dress... and its not natural.

Alas, this Safeway is way better than anything I have in Marina so on my way home from Monterey I always stop here to do my shopping. It's not as expensive as Whole Foods and/or Savemart and can usually save a lot of money if I use my coupons and buy things on sale.

This Safeway has a sushi bar... a sushi bar in Safeway! haha! I love it! I go to the sushi bar and grab some quick sushi sometimes late at night, you get a decent amount of sushi for $5.00 and its usually pretty fresh... However, recently I grabbed an eel roll and it had not been trimmed of the fat making it chewy and disgusting. I threw half of it away and will probably never get the eel there again, though their version of spicy tuna is interesting quite tasty when you want sushi on the run.

I adore this Safeway for having a large selection of frozen vegetarian foods and soy ice cream, and for the fact that you can come here at any hour of the day or night.

I'd give it four stars if the employees weren't so awful... talking in the corner instead of helping my cashier with bagging. Where are the managers? No excuse for that, no matter how fancy the building is.

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Elite '08

176

1168

deb n.

Palo Alto, CA

I agree, this is the largest Safeway I have seen and I am from the Bay Area.  There is a Jamba juice in the store, I have never seen that.  A bank, Starbucks, pharmacy and a housewares section.  It has all the other sections of  fresh deli and baked goods too.

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Elite '08

151

363

Steven N.

Pacifica, CA

This is the biggest Safeway store that I've ever seen. It has everything. All of the usual stuff plus a pharmacy, a bank and a starbucks. All nice new and clean (Just opened on 10-4-07).
Everything except individual packets of cream cheese for your bagel. They're still working out the kinks but this is a really nice store. Just my luck to be looking for the one thing that they don't carry yet.

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Elite '08

13

100

Tim H.

Monterey, CA

I can't help thinking that this safeway was a massive missed opportunity.

I usually go to the old one at the top end of PG, but this new one opened, I got lots of junk mail about it opening, including a new club card that gives me a 10% discount (on eligible purchases - I have to admit, I didn't read the small print to see if ever make any eligible purchases) until December.

I decided to try this new place rather than the regular place one day when I was coming home early and therefore had a bit of time to spare.

First impressions were very good - the place looks awesome inside, with as others have said , bakery, deli, sushi bar etc. However, as I pushed my cart (complete with cupholder?!?) to each of these areas, I came away less than impressed. The sushi counter seemed to deal in the same sort of sushi as the typical pre-packaged stuff you'd find in any other safeway (and quite why you'd sit at the counter to eat it in a grocery store when there are some really good sushi restaurants not far from where you are did escape me).

They had my particular favorite section here too - "crack" chinese food - crack 'cos it's not that good, but is addictive - but here the various dishes looked even more dried up than they normally do. I did buy some (I was hungry) and when I got home to try it, it was as low grade "crack" as it looked.

So, that's the frills over with, how did the place stack up as a grocery store? Well, again, nothing special. As I said before, I'm used to shopping at the much smaller safeway in PG. In the PG safeway, choices are somewhat limited (for instance, if a company make 6 varieties of frozen pizza, you'll probably find 4 of 'em here) - I was expecting this new one to stock all 6 - but they didn't.

Same pattern repeated in dairy, in the beer section, in the soda section - no greater a choice than in my normal, old, safeway.

So, as I said, I feel this was a big opportunity wasted - this safeway could have been something really special, whereas in reality it seems more show than go.

I'll continue shopping at my old PG favorite (the 10% off applies there too!).

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Elite '08

1

116

Soh Jai R.

Monterey, CA

I have to go with Cynthia P. on this one and give this store high marks.

They have a great layout here and they have a very good selection.  The Cafe area is great.  They have everything from pizza and under 3$, to sandwich and soup for 6-9$, and a place to make toss salad.  A great quick equally priced alternative to fast food.  They also have a table of soups, and other cooked foods.  The sushi bar there is what it is.  Why would you ever eat sushi or anything at the grocery store? It is cheap and you probably have another reason to go there, (shopping).  Also, some people have a short lunch, and want something different that is fast.  This fills that void.

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Elite '08

23

140

cynthia p.

Monterey, CA

this safeway is awesome!

it uses the floor space infinitely better than the ralphs the building used to house.

they've got:
-- a pretty decent produce section (with a few local options here and there)
-- a large i'm-too-lazy-to-cook area (complete with people dressed as sushi chefs behind the rather large sushi bar)
-- a L-A-R-G-E selection of wines and cheeses and MEATS
-- fancy ass cookware (important for 3am i-want-to-make creme brulee urges, if the store is open 24 hours as i suspect)
-- the normal fare

the parking lot is well lit (it's down the street from the "sketchy" part of seaside) and the staff is friendly enough. the most interesting of the gimmicky things includes a nut area, where you can churn your own nut butter, which is probably not of interest to those who are allergic to nuts. also, the alcohol section has mixers and red party cups right next to the hard stuff! no more splitting up the party to get all of the essentials!

i feel dirty for giving safeway five stars. it's a chain, and one that doesn't treat their employees well at that. it's essentially a super wal-mart of grocery stores with more class. that being said, i have to give it credit for adding a lot of value to the monterey peninsula, which is more than i can say for the target they're opening that's less than 5 miles from the one in sand city. monterey lacked a big grocery store (the existing chain grocery stores in the area are pathetic-ly small and lack selection... the mom and pops are cool, but they're not practical for getting the essentials).

freshly made cashew nut butter, anyone?

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