i stop in their stores occasionally to buy one or two items when i can find something fairly priced .. they call their stores ".. community markets .." they should call them ".. Wealthy community markets .." OverStocked .. OverPriced .. Safeway ( destestable Corporate Chain ) ended up buying Andronico's after one of the Andronico family's sons Embezzled a Huge amount of money years ago according to one of Andronico's employees .. and sign prices on the Racks are misleading with fine print .. and then you have to give them your phone number to get a ".. discount .." ( regular price ) and then they ask you survey questions and donation requests after giving your number when All you want to do is pay for your items & go .. their restrooms are Atrocious .. Dirty, Wet, Debris strewn floors All the time .. toilet paper dispensers that don't work .. too bad Trader Joe's didn't buy All the Andronico markets and make them Trader Joe's .. read more

An amazing sandwich! Tanya behind the deli counter could not have been nicer and her sandwich tasted even better than it looked. read more

Andronico's Community Markets - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

I went in last week, in a hurry to get snacks for my child's soccer game. Very clean store. They had a great variety of pastries and fruit. The customer service was great, employees seem to love theirs job. I was in and out in 15 mins. That never happens to me. Most supermarket are low in stock and you can't find anyone for help. I will be coming here a lot more. read more

Stopped here for lunch with friend and we were fortunate enough to have Sam make our sandwiches. OMG, he is engaging and just such a joy. Handsome with a Beautiful smile and extremely pleasant. Friend got turkey w/pepper jack on wheat w/everything and I ordered as usual, a grilled cheese on sliced sourdough but instead of cheddar and jack, I got asiago and cheddar with the olive tapenade and OMG, delicious. My friend throughly enjoyed his sandwich as well and although we've been here a number of times, we truly enjoyed our experience today. Thank you Sam for your pleasurable attitude and love for your job. It definitely shows. read more

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The store is clean and good. And it has a wide range of selections . Including organic produce. The experience is much better than the review. And it has ample parking space. read more

Unfortunately, recent shop at location was lackluster service and inflated prices! Their formerly good butcher just $$$ pricey. Monterey Market a better shop. Stay away is my review. read more

Big shout out to Joyce who made us amazing sandwiches. We had a nice chat about Laos and got some requested help with saying thank you in her native language. Thanks, Joyce. You rock! read more

The store itself is ok. Even if it is owned by Safeway, it's still better than safeway Solano (Safeway on Shattuck is better). My complaint is with the drive up pick "service". It is awful. Their app has bugs, substitutions are all over the place, pick up is slow, and today they just dropped my order altogether because, when I called after the window for pick up had expired and I called to ask where it was, I was told "they were short staffed." All I wanted to do was to streamline shopping and I instead got a huge hassle. When I called, I talked to 3 different people, NONE of whom knew what was going on. One finally addressed it, still waiting on the outcome. From now on, I'm getting pick up groceries at Whole Foods....they know what they're doing. read more

Andronicos is a fun place to shop because they have a lot of interesting Deli items and fresh vegetables, and their butchery has high-quality items. It is not cheap, but it is worth it if you want something special. I have been shopping there for over 20 years if I want to cook an outstanding meal. read more

I have lived in this neighborhood for decades and have been frequenting this location as many years. the 5 years-unrelated to covid-checkers consistently treat me as if I'm a bothersome peasant. They are at best sullen but more often disdainful. It's unfortunate because like to loyal to my neighborhood businesses. read more

A couple of days ago I went to the Andronico's on Solano Avenue in Berkeley. After finishing shopping I noticed that a cleaning woman had just finished cleaning the bathrooms. I asked her if she was done cleaning and she assured me that she was done. I generally don't use public restrooms because they are usually filthy. But considering the cleaning woman had just finished cleaning I figured they would be okay. But the bathroom was disgusting. I thing the only thing the woman did was to soak the floors with water. There was feces on the walls, used toilet paper on the wet floors, and a general horrible stench throughout. Needless to say I got out of there as soon as I could. This Andronico's needs to hire someone who actually knows how to clean a bathroom and a new manager capable of overseeing that the bathrooms actually get cleaned. I can understand a bathroom being dirty after a day of use but not right after it has just been "cleaned". Because this grocery store is near my house I have been shopping there for years but lately I have noticed cleanliness problems inside the store as well so I'll now go to the Safeway in Albany instead. they seem to be well managed and they keep everything very clean. read more

Disclaimer: not a Bay Area native, haven't fully developed a disdain for chains, I never went to Andronico's so I have no prior experience to base this on I wasn't sure how to rate a grocery store but I've based it on the things I value such as: - price - variety of items - cleanliness - organization The price is typical of other Safeways - so you can get some pretty good deals with the just for u safeway app coupons! I don't buy everything at Safeway but I do love the wide variety of items this particular store has. They also have really cute bakery items that other Safeways don't usually have. Lots of (free) parking. Really clean. Big store (or at least it seems that way due to all of the aisles you can go down). LOTS OF BULK ITEMS!!! They have a bathroom outside in the parking lot area so it can get a little dirty. I really could care less about the friendliness of the employees as long as they ring my items up properly and aren't purposefully rude. I didn't have a bad experience with my cashier. I'm not looking for anything special in my grocery shopping so 4/5 for me! read more

This is by far the worst grocery store in the area. It's even the worst Safeway store in the area. The manager is an entitled jerk and the employees are very lazy and are STILL refusing to offer any sort of customer service (like BAGGING) saying "covid restrictions" - the Safeway down the street is bagging groceries so... Not to mention the horrible attitude from anyone behind any sort of counter - deli, meat, fish, bakery. If I were in the Andronico's family and sold my name to Safeway, I'd be mortified. read more

Safeway Community Markets in in Andronico's space. not haven't been here in decades, i forgot how small the space is. just entering from the rear parking lotm almost ran into someone looking at some items. aisles very narrow. salad bar not priced. serving size list calories. unclear what is a serving size.' buys: coffee gelato bar (2.49) leftovers: -didn't want to stay long. left asap to avoid accidents. read more

I wouldn't normally write an update, but circumstance and misfortune urges me to warn others. Thus, regarding the deli counter: I stopped in on Thursday, Feb 16 at around 5 PM. I had a hankering for sopressata, Andronico's wasn't too far out of my way, and while I'm not a fan of the deli there, I was willing to put up with the usual nonsense and the high prices. It was a bad decision. 1) I waited: Oh yeah. The guy behind the counter knew I was there, but he kept mucking around with his back to me, refusing to make eye contact. Finally, one of the other Andronico's employees walked by and told him in a loud voice that I was waiting. He bumbled over, and asked me what I wanted. 2) He put his dirty gloves all over the food I ordered: So, I gave him my order: I wanted a pound of soprasseta and that would cost a little under $17 per pound. He got right on it. The catch is that while he was mucking around behind the counter with his back to me, he was wearing a pair of disposable gloves, and he was doing things, to include picking up something off the floor. When he started cutting the meat, he didn't bother to change his gloves. The good part: even though he had put a peice of wax paper down to catch the meat as it fell, he was catching the meat meat with this left hand, and every few slices he would stop and literally pack the growing pile with both of his hands. No fooling, he was catching and packing my almost $17 per pound sopressata. I don't believe I've ever seen a meat counter person aggressively handle food that way with such disregard for hygiene, and for a few seconds I was so suprised that I couldn't speak. Once I was able to do so I stopped him and pointedly asked him what exactly he thought he was doing. He told me, somewhat surprised that I objected to how he executed his job, that he was just keeping it neat. I could feel a violent turn coming on, so I did the responsible thing and left I don't have the time or the patience for this kind of nonsense, and I suspect you don't either. You've been warned. A word to the folks at Andronico's: get that imbecile away from food. He's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Really. I'm not litigious, and I'd rather just go somewhere else and get what I want than take my chances with food prepped by the dummy you have currently behind the counter. I'll never know how you handle this because I likely won't be back, ever, but getting an actual, thinking human being at the deli counter just might work out for you in the long run. read more

BEWARE OF OVERCHARGING! Stay FAR away unless you enjoy being outrageously overcharged for already overpriced items, then bullied by the manager and staff when you ask them to correct their mistake. Checker #1 charged me $8 for two ears of corn that were posted at $0.59 each, and a deli item that was supposedly on sale rang up at the regular price even though I had entered my member number. I didn't notice until I glanced at the receipt on my way out. There are very large signs above each checkout line with detailed policies about items being fully refunded when you are overcharged, plus $5 for each item. Now I know why. I have no doubt they regularly overcharge customers and most probably don't even notice, particularly since they don't provide a receipt unless you ask. Corporate HQ or the state/city probably requires them to post this policy due to repeated complaints. Safeway was also prosecuted for price gouging on hand sanitizer early in the pandemic. CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS or watch carefully when they're ringing up your items. Checker #2 said he would give me a refund but then tried to make me pay a second time for the overcharged items. I asked about the overcharge policy. He refused to honor it and said talk to the manager. When the manager Greg came around, he said he would have to re-scan every single item I had purchased instead of just giving me a refund on the overcharged items. At this point a quick trip for a few items had become a 45 minute long ordeal. I pointed to the overcharge refund sign overhead and asked how it worked. Greg argued that the policy did not apply because it was not a scanner malfunction, but that the checker entered the wrong produce number for the corn. So it's okay to overcharge your customers by 600%+ as long it's due to human error?! Not to mention the deli item was over charged due to a scanner "malfunction." After putting up a stink he finally relented but was absolutely furious about it and did not give me the full amount I was owed. Greg is a tall, burly man who intentionally stepped into the personal space of a five foot tall woman to try to intimidate me. Checker #3, who looks like a bouncer, stood behind behind him to complete the thug scene and followed me out of the store into the dark parking lot when I left. All because I had the audacity to (1) ask that they honor their refund policy for overcharging me on nearly half the items I purchased and (2) speaking up because I did not appreciate being given the runaround. Checker #1 casually watched his manager and other staff deal with this situation caused by his sloppy "mistakes" (though overcharging seems to be their standard operating procedure)...and he didn't appear the least bit concerned about the problems he caused. It's clear from the manager on down, none of the staff here care to do their jobs with any degree of accuracy or worry about being held accountable for their mistakes or blatant price gouging. There is a palpable level of contempt for their customers. It makes me wonder about their attention to health codes, particularly because they did not have any hand sanitizer at the door on my way out. (I wanted to disinfect my hands after they gave me cash instead of refunding my credit card as initially requested.) Not good on a day when the governor reissued new COVID shut down orders for nearly the entire state. This was my first and last visit to the Solano Avenue Andronico's, and I have to say it was traumatizing. I will stick with Trader Joe's, where they do not overcharge or bully their customers, gladly issue refunds on any item, and take COVID precautions and food safety seriously. read more

Seems like a nice store good selection of gourmet foods and they have my favorite frozen crepes and fresh spinach flatbread which was a bonus as the crepes were on sale so i bought them all the bag of mini purple potatoes i got turned out to be rotten and moldy though read more

Shame on whomever works at the seafood counter! Ordered two pounds of Dungeness crab through Instacart and when I opened the bag I nearly barfed! It was AT LEAST 48 hours past the day it should have been thrown out, if not longer. There's no possible way the seafood counter-person couldn't tell it was bad. It REEKED. Threw it out hours ago and my kitchen is STILL hummin'! And the window is open!! Wow. read more

The deli makes delicious sandwiches. Condiments are always fresh. They use Boar's Head deli meats..Friendly staff. read more

Andronico's Community Markets - Turkey sandwich with havarti cheese 06.12.22 - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

Good selection, nice staff, and friendly environment. This place is much nicer than the 2 1/2 stars it has!

Ever since they were bought by Safeway, this place has been pretty much garbage. From lack of variety to many sullen or outright rude staff. There are a few cashiers that are friendly, but most act blatantly bothered by customers. What really gets me, and why I won't be back, is their decision to lock the door on the Solano side at night. There is no sign, no nothing to give customers a heads up that the door is locked. They also ignore you if you knock on the door. So apparently they EXPECT all customers to drive there, and to park in their creepy, dark parking lot. 99% of the time I go to this store, it is only because I am walking by on my way home. So no, I don't like walking a 1/2 block out of my way, through their unsupervised dark parking lot, to go in to the store. And I'm not the only one- I've seen other people coming from dinner at nearby restaurants try to go in through the Solano entrance, find the door locked, and turn around and leave. So I guess Andronico's doesn't want business after 10pm? Why stay open at all? Tonight was it for me, though, when I actually drove there for something on my way home, parked on Solano right in front of the door, and an employee inside saw me drive up, looked right at me, then locked the front door. I ran up to the door and knocked, and though he was 10ft away, he pretended not to hear me. Another employee did acknowledge me, said something to the guy who had locked the door, and then comes to tell me I have to go around to the back door. Yeah, how's that for customer service? There were NO customers waiting, and the guy who locked the door was literally standing at a closed check stand, looking at his phone. Suffice it to say, I did not go around to the back entrance. I went to another store. And I will not come back to this Andronico's. They clearly don't need or want the business. I did call when I got home, and the woman who answered claimed there was no manager on shift. I asked for whoever was in charge, and if it was the guy who locked the door in my face, and she said yes. His name is Matt. From what I see in these reviews, Matt and his coworker already have reputations for their crappy service. Why are they still there? read more

I've wanted to like this location but never more. Always weird service. I avoid some checkers like the plague. Today a checker had a sign that says she was closed but still helping customers check out. Why? Want to appear working only when you feel like it? We pointed it out and was given a nasty look. Don't bother with this location. Not much of a "community" market. read more

I'm regularly impressed with how poor some of the service people are. They clearly have no interest in customers who seem to be just an annoyance. I'm planning to start shopping elsewhere. read more

AVOID THIS STORE! Wow worst customer service ever! The employees all seem unhappy and could care less about you. Some might hurt their faces if they smiled once at you or god forbid murmured thank you! Not only at the front checkstand but also throughout the store - at the meat counter, etc. It's like helping you hurts them and being rude is what they think of as customer service. Shout-out to the manager who did help me out once. Tonight I actually witnessed a customer in a verbal altercation with two employees! Okay, the customer was getting a little out of control because he insisted the clerk rolled her eyes at him (she probably did; she's made brisk comments to me before)..BUT as the employees you should stay professional and not continue the conversation and stop the fighting! They did the opposite! Instead of just saying "ok, sir" and letting the customer walk out without escalating the situation, the employees continued to engage with this man and further bated him. SO UNPROFESSIONAL! One of the employees even yelled "you're banned!" as the man walked out. WTF?! Horrible environment and clearly a cultural problem going on at this store. In addition to the lack of customer service, the prices are crazy high and the produce section is tiny and features mostly organic so I feel like I'm forced to spend more to buy organic since the regular items are not always available. read more

I don't understand the negative reviews. I shop at all the neighborhood grocery stores often. Natural Grocery El Cerrito, Safeway Albany, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's. They all have their strengths. Traders Joes is my least favorite. The selection is so limited, and not very healthy, or fresh imo. Natural is good, but expensive. Safeway is perfectly right down the line. The best selection of just about everything and priced well. Andronico's is Safeway, so it gives you the Safeway basics plus the bonus of a community market feel. The customers, cashiers, baggers, deli, bakery. All of them, the friendliest have all been great every time I've shopped there. It does have a lot elderly customers. Despite the critical reviews, I'm sure most of them love this store. read more

I called customer service today on behalf of neighbors in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood adjacent to the market at the top of Solano Ave. I explained I was on the board of the TO Neighborhood Assoc. and many neighbors were asking if there was a plan to make dedicated senior hour(s) for neighbors to shop, given the restrictions placed on seniors to stay at home, except for grocery shopping, etc. Many of our senior neighbors shop at this market and have for many years. The woman I spoke to said we could shop at the Safeway down the street, in Albany, and they now have dedicated senior hours for shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic. I asked her if they would consider a similar senior hour and she hung up. Yes, she hung up on me. This person should not be working in customer service. I know these are trying times but really. read more

Great job with food on the hot counter, scorching hot & fresh. I prefer the new way food is prepackaged separately. Makes it super easy to know how much items will be, without the sticker shock from weighing after you've already chosen food. The manager work's hard to keep this store up to fine standard's. I have seen him in a few Safeway stores over the year's. He is always hands on, and leads by example. read more

Andronico's Community Markets - Enjoyed a great meal tonight. - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

OK, it's not just like the old Andronico's, I understand. The Safeway overlords will be gone soon, and we'll get our familiar friends back again...checkers, butchers, and so forth, unencumbered. I am very happy that they kept their wonderful staff. It's not their fault that Safeway is understaffing the registers. Truly. I hope the naysayers will understand that humans resist change, and this was a hard change for everyone, employees, customers, everyone. I intend to continue to shop here, because I care very much that we have decent grocery stores in our community, that are accessible to all. Not everyone has the time to bicycle to five or six specialty shops. These are stressful times. Let's be kind to our friends who have long worked at Andronico's, as they make the transition with us to the new store. Also...I've found that when I've requested that they bring back certain items, that I used to buy at the old Andronico's, those items have been back on the shelves, pronto. Let's be patient and kind. read more

I'm puzzled. We were checking out and the bagged just wasn't doing his job. He didn't put our items in our bags... just stood there with a puzzled look on his face. Kind of a creepy weird smile and wouldn't look anyone in the eye. If he has a disability, I feel really bad for giving this review but this review was solely based on his lack of help. read more

I really miss Andronicos but going to try to be objective. Pros-brands Andronicos didn't carry, such as Tampax. The deli is comparable. Flower section is comparable. They kept many of my favorite employees and brought along some new friendly faces. Cheese and olive selection is comparable. Price of meat is comparable. Cons- brands Andronicos carried and now I no longer see. I don't see as many local and organic brands as Andronicos carried. Longer lines. What is going on? You can't buy greens (arugula, spinach) in bulk. Tried the kind they sale in a plastic tub and it's awful. The ready to go food is the Safeway chef way. No more cheese sampling. All of the darn Safeway tags suggesting a discounted price for buying in bulk- these are tacky and everyone knows you can just buy the quantity you need for the same price. Andronicos carried a greater variety for healthier options. I'm now stuck between Quaker Oats and Quaker Oats Maple Syrup for my oatmeal choices. "Ethnic" food aisle is non existence. read more

So now we have two Safeways on the same street. I don't see much difference. What is the use of that? Safeway, please don't use your monopoly to take over Berkeley! It gets more depressing every time I go, which I do now only because of its proximity to my home. They didn't waste much time in moving the layout from the Andronico's way to the Safeway way, and many, many products I used to get at Andronico's they no longer carry. Safeway Community Markets = smaller Safeway store. They can't even be bothered to carry California-grown asparagus during asparagus season, which grows in the San Joaquin Valley, about 1.5 hours away. All from Mexico! Very disappointed by this Safeway monopoly... please go away! read more

I've been shopping in Berkeley since 1964, and this store, formerly one of the last Andronico's in the entire east bay - was unusually good. Now that store is gone. Comes a new one with a hip world conscious handle - 'Safeway Community Market'. This to be ignored, because the actual atmosphere is more like, 'Safeway'. As I was checking out, a bored male at the register tossed off every question I asked by saying, 'I don't know - I'm Safeway not Andronico's.' Ok, thanks for nothing - the old manager was always glad to see people and chatted in a friendly manner. I notice there are now reviews by people on this store, who like 'the decor', in Safeway (give me a break) and are glad that their 'whole family can get their flu shots here!' How depressing - one thing I like about Berkeley is that people don't actually do their food shopping on the basis of where they get medical care. And I am also not a big fan of workers who absently call me 'Ma'am' as if we're all subjects of an oppressive overlord - welcome to our new Safeway. The store still has a good range of foods, minus a few Andronico's specials, but it's like going to Sacramento to shop, and I could live without it. read more

Danny in the sandwich counter makes by far the greatest sandwiches on this planet! He should get a raise cause he's so talented