Just like Chad below said, the deli service sucks. E went in there last night wanting to buy some of their chicken strips. One oblivious guy washing dishes. We stand there waiting. Another employee--some big dude--saunters by and we ask him if the deli is open. He gives us the local "move your eye brows up and down" to say yes. Then he takes off his apron and walks away. What a bunch of scrubs. Now I know why I never shopped at Safeway despite the fact that I live 3 minutes away. No worry, Safeway, I won't be back to bother your workers. read more

Safeway super markets have a great presence in Hawaii. Some of the neighborhood market have been upgraded to flagship stores akin to their Mainland counterpart, Pavillion or Von's, in California. But, there are still some older and smaller stores around. This Aiea neighborhood store is older and is conveniently located in the Waimalu Plaza in Central O'ahu. It is surrounded by other stores such as Shiroma Wine and More (SWAM), City Mill Home Improvement, Office Depot, Starbucks Cafe, Jamba Juice and Paesano Italiano Ristorante. This Safeway keeps good inventory, maintains good storage controls, has clean and orderly shelves, and very helpful workers. I have stopped here to just pick up a few food staples and have ended up purchasing a whole cartload of food or products. Thankfully, I am a Safeway Club member and appreciate the $0.10 - 0.40/gallon gasoline discounts that are awarded with every $100 spend in-store. Speaking of very helpful staff... recently, while roaming the store's freezer section in search of phyllo dough for an upcoming culinary project, I just couldn't seem to find it in stock. A staff member happened to be walking by and offered to help me. I asked whether or not they stocked this item. He cheerful answered and quickly pointed to one of the freezers that I had passed, opened it and brought out a box. Wow! I was thinking that they just didn't have it and I'd have to go to another market to get it...apparently, the manufacturer had changed the packaging which is why I missed it. I brought my cart to the checkout and started unloading the products onto the conveyor belt...Cheryl, the cashier, commented about how nice it was to see someone arrange the items for easy bagging. She brightened my day even more by informing me that my purchases had gained bonus gasoline discount rewards. Along with good inventory practices, friendly and helpful workers, gasoline discounts and electronic coupons, I am glad to do my food marketing here. #313 read more

These people who work there are amazing! Best service store is clean awesome customer service I'm so glad this is my neighborhood store love you guys read more

How many Safeways can YOU think of that sell poi and fresh shoyu poke? (This question directed at mainland readers only.) The correct answer is: all of the Safeways in Hawaii. Mad props for catering to the what the locals, (and kama'ainas living on the mainland) love to eat. Also, if you are looking for a nice spot to have a long cell-phone chat, the parking lot here will do, but I can think of about fourteen other more comfortable places than this. read more

Safeway Poke = $11/pd; Foodland Poke = $6.00/pd --- how come? Safeway holds true to the local fisherman here in Hawaii, they only buy their fish from local producers. On the other hand, Foodland's poke comes from the People's Republic of China, or the Philippines. Since we all don't like communist produced fish, I think we should all eat Safeway Poke and pay the premium pricing. There's a definite taste difference as well, the Poke from Safeway has much more flavor and doesn't taste like Co2 (fyi - they put Co2 in raw fish to make the flesh look more pink, which indicates freshness.) Foodland tries to mask their crappy tasting poke with a lot of shoyu, salt or other seasoning. As far as groceries go, they have a good selection, they beat Walmart/Sam's Club with shear variety and customer service. And I've always appreciated how they support local agriculture by selling their products. read more

I just moved in area and this is the worst Safeway I have ever went too. Staff has no aloha, no smile and some very rude. They don't like too help and very lazy. I will start driving too my old town and go too salt lake Safeway where they r very friendly and slow my dog too go in there too:) read more

Your evil brothers Pali Safeway and Hawaii Kai Safeway are giving you a bad name. Redeem yourself!!! Let me just say, when I walked in to Aiea (Waimalu) Safeway, I wasn't expecting much. After my previous run-ins with other locations, I expected them to all be the same. I first walk in, and the girl bagging groceries says hi to me. I turn around. Me? You're saying hi to me??? I think she may have actually waved. I feel like I'm in a Foodland commercial. I walk to the meat section, and guess what. They actually have ground beef. Shocker!! Even more of a shocker, they have value packs! Sweet!! I pick one out, and notice that there's a buy one get one free sticker on it. WHAAAAAT?!?!? BOGO beef? Never heard of it. Just in case, I take an extra 4 lbs and add it to my cart. I go over to the freezer section, and stock up on frozen pizzas. I notice that there are signs up - buy 6 lean cuisine items, get a free 6-pack of water and Skinny Cow ice cream. Get those too. I go to check out, fully expecting no customer service at all, but was pleasantly surprised. My cashier, Keith, was very helpful and pleasant. I asked him about the beef, and he said "Let's check!". The second one rang up free, yay for me! I finished checking out and took a look at my receipt afterwards. The Skinny Cow did not ring up free. I went back in, and Keith went over to check the signs and immediately did a refund for me, no hassle at all. Very friendly, well stocked shelves, efficient deli workers. My favorite Safeway! read more

OK Safeway, you have high expectations to live up to. You are the one constant wherever I travel. When in doubt, I should always be able to go to Safeway and find whatever I need. I can NEVER find anything here. Why are your health snacks in a random display at the end of an aisle instead of having their own section in an aisle? This Safeway probably has the smallest selection I've ever seen. Don't bother asking an employee here. They probably have never heard of it. Don't even bother using their deli. I ordered a sandwich platter. When I came to pick it up, they had no recollection of it, but the order form was sitting with all the others! They didn't lose anything; I guess they forgot to look over at their order forms all day. I have had better luck with the Times across the street, not the one by aiea heights, the one on kaahumanu. read more

This is a great store friendly employees, has a lot of what you need and then some. Also fast check out service at good prices. Love it. read more

See all

Pit stop on the way to a family dinner. I was bringing the obligatory poke. Safeway's poke is my favorite! I love the avocado & spicy kind. And I want to second Ikaika on the fresh, local fish. You live on an island in the middle of the pacific and you're going to eat fish from China? They have a bakery in house with various cakes and baked goods. Mmm, caake.. What was I talking about? Oh yeah.. Nice deli department, good selection of cheese.. but I'd still go just for the poke. read more

The meat section of Safeway is always stocked with nice cuts of meat. Planning a BBQ? Get your meats here. The deli section is also well stocked. I like their tofu salad and think that it is pretty good. The dressing they have for it is very tasty too. Oh, before I forget, beware of the bakery. When that fresh bread comes out of the oven, you'll be tempted to buy them all!! read more

This is more a complaint about the corporation of Safeway. There was an issue with the computers and registers that did not allow the employees to ring up anyone for over 20 minutes and counting as I am waiting still to be able to check out. The corporation needs to have a back up procedure that allows employees to ring up customers manually. I called the customer service line and asked if there were procedures to allow this to happen. The customer service agent did not know much and said I could call back when a supervisor was available. However, that is poor customer service as well. You would think that the appropriate way to handle a call that needs the attention of the supervisor would be to take the customer's information down and have the supervisor call the customer. Therefore, I asked for the customer service agent to do exactly that. He did and we will see if I get a call from a supervisor. read more

Normally I would give 3-4 stars, but bcz today is Fri I'm giving only 2. Fridays is always $5.00 Friday and they should know how busy it'll be bcz it always is. Today I went to the Waimalu store and there were ONLY 2 lines that were open and the lines went down the aisle. I walked right out of the store and saw a bunch of people walk out too. read more

Wandering around this Safeway, killing time before dinner, I notice the store is bright and clean! The shelves are fully stocked and neat. And as I wander aimlessly thru the store, a clerk walking past asks if I need assistance-wonderful customer service! Wish I lived closer so that I could shop here. It's obvious that the staff here take pride in their work and their store! Woo hoo! read more

7/23/21 went to get $5 deals and some other things as I am a frequent shopper as I go every week and spend a lot of money. Went to Bernadette as she was finishing up a customer with only 2 cauliflower to ring up. I looked for the divider stick but couldn't find it so I put my groceries on her belt and ad I was unloading my cart didn't notice she was ringing my stuff along with the 2 cauliflower till the customer said "those are NOT mine!" So I looked up and told her it was my groceries.. she was visibly irritated as she had to void my items and call Michael the Mgt on duty. She told me I should use the divider and her tone of voice sounded harsh and rude. Told her I couldn't see or find it as my vision is not the greatest. Gave my safeway phone number to get discounts and asked Bernadette if it registered and she said to look at the screen ! I don't know where to look but Michael was bagging for me and reassured me my phone number was in already. Then Bernadette said if I can put the divider in the front of the belt and since her tone and demeanor was rude I said " it's your job! Just walk around and put it yourself" she said nothing and when she gave me the receipt she did not say thank you so I just said " you're welcome!!" As a hint that she should thank her customers. I talked to Michael and said you should talk to her as she was so rude with her tone of voice, and her sour non smiling face and she was very rude to me and first time a cashier Treated me like dirt, and no thank you what so ever... very unpleasant experience! As I walked out the door I turned to look at her again and she was glaring at me with the "stink eye" probably because Michael told her I said she was RUDE! If she hates her job and don't like customer contact or can give good customer, pleasant and courteous service maybe she is not an asset to Safeway and she will cause customers to go to other markets where the cashiers are pleasant, respectful, courteous, and helpful and Safeway will lose sales! Customer service is so vital nowadays and competitive so you need cashiers who know customer service is vital.. too bad Bernadette does not know this. I will continue shopping at Safeway and will go to her again to see if her bad attitude has changed and write a follow up yelp next time.i truly hope the store director Tracie Martin will read this and make the necessary adjustments. Michael was friendly as usual so no problem with him as I know him as like I said I frequent Safeway every week. He has never talked down to me and was respectful and genuinely helpful if I had an issue with something. Something Bernadette should learn from him! read more

Friendly service and great fresh food! This is easily becoming one of my favorite Safeways on the island. This Safeway still manages to stay humble and have great customer service unlike other Safeways I have frequented in the past. How do they do it? They must have a great manager or human resources department. I'm always greeted with a friendly hello! It really helps when all your employees are having a great day and want to share that with you. One of the employees was so eager to help me find tortilla shells when I couldn't find them last week! How nice! I stop by here almost every Tuesday on my way home from work. Tuesday seems to be the morning when all the fresh new items are stocked. I can always find parking. The lot is huge and isn't really shared with a bunch of other businesses. There are only a few other stores in this area. Keep it up, Waimalu Safeway. You're doing a great job! read more

I like location even though they need a LOT of improvement in basic Customer Service! The lines are usually long but what gets me is the fact that THEY DON'T ANSWER THEIR PHONES!!! I called trying to get the deli and it got reverted back twice then I finally got someone from customer service who answered and directed me back to deli which didn't answer the phone. I got bounced back over 10x and still no answer at Customer Service nor the Deli! Here is my proof... read more

Safeway - Example of your wait time+ for someone to answer the phone which no one ever did... Very sad and unfortunate! - Grocery Near Me - Aiea, Hawaii

Pretty pissed off right now. The poke section is so disappointing. The guy at the counter literally just gave me a rice bowl. Yes, rice bowl and not a poke bowl. read more

Safeway - My rice bowl.. Aka "poke" bowl. - Grocery Near Me - Aiea, Hawaii

Thank you to Mark in the bakery department for helping me select a cake for my son's first birthday! He spent almost 30 min with me and was extremely pleasant and helpful. He was unable to find a picture of the cake I chose, but assured me it would be beautiful. I ordered the finding Nemo cake. When I picked the cake up, Mark was there and appeared excited to show me. He said "take a look because I want to make sure you're happy with it." Thanks Mark for the great customer service. read more

Safeway - Nemo cake! - Grocery Near Me - Aiea, Hawaii

Big shout out to Susan at the floral department. You're AWESOME!!! I placed a floral bouquet order this past Friday for Mother's Day . I now live in Chandler, Arizona and my mom still lives in Pearl City. She went above and beyond to take my order and have it ready so my brother could pick it up and deliver it to my mom today. Mahalo to the management team there too, who helped make my first Mother's Day away from my mom special. read more

Safeway is great and all but I've found times to be much cheaper. Even with the Safeway sales, I just come here because it's closer. Make sure to get a safeway card so you can use up their deals. It'll save you money. Customer service is always great at this location though. No complaints. read more

Judith was soooo wonderful!!!! We were looking for some purple roses for Valentine's Day for the little that my man mentors. She noticed that they were a little on the sad side. We told her that those were the best purple ones we could find. Without missing a beat she offered to go in the back and find us some better ones and if there weren't any purple ones, she'd find something better than what we had. She found some gorgeous purple roses in the fridge for u in the back. She was so awesome and everyone deserves to know. read more

Safeway....neighborhood market. This might be the one of the last Safeways that need renovation. Unlike the other Safeways on the island, this one cant compare to them. read more

1 stars for the customer service from a front cashier named Bernadette, if I could give zero I would but safeway has a wide selection of groceries so let's give them that. But the rating is solely for the cashier whom clearly doesn't like her job as she wears it in her face. And her demeanor... came in with a coupon clipped from their app. She rings up the items tells me it doesnt work, I shown her that I clipped it , she continues to tell me well it ain't working ... it's not the first time any shopper has came across this annoying nuisance of their app and couponing .. instead of asking for help from someone like a manager , she tells me next time I need to print it out ?? As if she doesn't believe me .. ok whatever , I'm still being calm and collected I say ok then I will put some of my groceries back, she yanks it away from my hands and says give me that! As she gave it to her bagger to put it away. . Um at that point I was thinking " you are not the only person here that can give attitude " but I kept it classy and went on with my day.. but hey safeway ... call your company corporate or whatever whoever in charge of the app and coupons kus it never works ! And your employees tells us all the time the system doesn't work! And Bernadette , please be patient and nice as you are in customer service ! read more

I would give them negative stars if I could. Had to give them one star to post but they don't deserve it at all. DO NOT GO TO WAIMALU Safeway. Cashier was a girl with purple hair who was slow and did not listen. My father gave her his birthday for the beer. I helped her to pack because she tried to give us two bags after my dad just told her only one bag I had to tell her AGAIN ONLY ONE BAG. I figured if she cannot follow simple orders like that then she cannot pack the shopping. I touched the 6 pack of beer to pack and she talked to me like I AM A CHILD!! She made a big deal treated me like I was 16. I'm 21 years old and provided her with my ID. She got on the phone and proceeded to call out a manager. The manager DID NOT LISTEN TO US AT ALL. EVEN WHEN MY DAD SAID I PROVIDED THE GIRL WITH A BIRTHDAY FOLLOWING THEIR SO CALL POLICY. I SHOWED THE MANAGER MY ID TOO. HE IS SHORT WITH CURLY DARK HAIR AND BROWN EYES. HE WAS NOT WEARING A NAME TAG. BOYCOTT THIS SAFEWAY. MANAGER IS USELESS GOOD FOR NOTHING JERK. read more

This is my neighborhood Safeway store, and thus is the one I frequent the most. Most of the time, the employees here are great. There is also a decent selection of products here normally at decent prices. However, just as with the Pearl City Foodland, the Waimalu Safeway is one of the smaller locations that could definitely use an expansion and/or renovation. The overall selection also isn't as great as other Safeway locations. This location, though, will continue to be my regular location as long as I live in Pearl City. Of course, it's great that SWAM is located right across the parking lot! read more

Why the heck would someone write a review of a Safeway?!?! Because i love the people that work here. They're way to friendly for what they get paid and what they do, but i guess when you live in hawaii, every day is a holiday. So, in the end, i guess this is more about the people than the actual store...but living here in san jose, i can also recommend some Safeways NOT to go to just because the people would rather not work there and they practically let you know it...so i guess there is something to be said about customer service to make an often uneventful shopping trip into a pleasant one. Oh, and try the Spicy Ahi Poke...no matter what i go there for, i always walk out with at least half a pound of this scrumptious treat to eat for myself :-P Happy Eating! read more

Once in a while...I escape outside of my hood to Safeway Waimalu. My husband likes the chicken strips from the deli so it's a quick dinner when I'm too lazy to cook. One thing that I've noticed lately is that the quality of the meats and vegetables are horrible. We went to this location a couple of days ago...and while perusing through the meat aisle...I saw 2 trays of BROWN discolored ground beef...disgusting. 3 stars cause I do love their deli and bakery...(their french bread is baked fresh every day!). And the service is always friendly. read more

Kinda stuck between a 3 and 4 star rating, a lot of times the shelves are not stocked. And the veggie and fruit department needs an upgrade. The bakery department is awesome! Awesome job to Shona! Deli department is ok, poke depatment needs to have things ready earlier in the morning. Usually they are late getting all the poke out. They would probably have more sales if poke was ready for the morning crowd to take to work for lunch. Overall customer service is ok. Annette is an awesome cashier! read more

Not good today! Customer Service should be at the window! Many times they are not there but usually right around the corner BUT not today! A manager had to call her and then it took her 10 minutes to get to the window! Not good customer service! This needs to be improved for sure! read more

I ordered my daughter's birthday cake from the Safeway bakery. "Frozen" themed, half sheet, butter cream, white cake with strawberry filling. The presentation was okay, nothing wowing. The only reason we knew it was a "Frozen" themed cake was because they put a little Disney topper on it. However, it tasted great!!! The bakery has a variety of cake fillings to choose from. Overall, I was very pleased. read more

Safeway - Frozen themed birthday cake - Grocery Near Me - Aiea, Hawaii

I'm never shopping at Safeway again! I went to pick my preordered turkey meal for Christmas and they lost my order and all they could say was " uh, sorry but we all out". I know you all out now, that's why I ordered it last month!!! I wish I could give less than one star!! read more

Tried the 5-day guarantee roses to pass out on stage at a show. We bought two dozen at 10:00 am. Half were completely wilted by 5:00 pm. Couldn't use them. Buyer beware! read more

Safeway - Grocery Near Me - Aiea, Hawaii

I've always liked the made to order sandwiches at the Safeway deli in Waimalu so I took my wife there to take out a couple of sandwiches. i told her how good the Italian sandwich was the last time I've had it so we each ordered one. Regular price for a 6 inch sandwich is $6.99, but if you order a full sandwich it is only $11.99. The only difference between my half and hers was that I had extra onions and she had none. While we were eating my wife removed her prosciutto because it was too fatty. In a short time later I started feeling ill, bloated and burping. When we got home about 4 hours later I felt much worse, throwing up, diarrhea, and stomach pain. The sandwich was the only thing I ate that day and my wife was fine. Went to bed early and felt better but not great the next morning. Don't know if I would go back and order another sandwich there but if I do it will be a while. read more

Very disappointed with Safeway. I've shopped there for years and never had a problem . Today I asked for a rain check an ribs that were on sale. I was told that Safeway isn't giving out rain checks since the Covid 19. I find that terrible since all the grocery stores have been doing a great business since then because of people cooking at home more now. As far as I'm concerned, it's really taking advantage of their customers. read more

Nice, simple and convenient location. Everything seem organized and orderly. I like their $5 Friday's. Their poke is delicious and so are many other items. read more

The checkout lines are always so long here. The management obviously has no clue what is going on. Long lines at the deli counter as well!!! I really try to avoid this place if at all possible. read more

Safeway Aiea, one of the very few supermarkets that offer fresh baked, warm bread!!! We love the sourdough. Please do not ever stop this service because it is soooo difficult to find fresh baked bread in Hawaii. read more

Absolutely the worst grocery store customer service experience I have ever had in the entire state of Hawaii. The shelves are never stocked well, the employees never smile, the deli help doesn't listen and has a lackluster attitude and seem completely indifferent to all the people waiting in line. The cashier overcharged me and when I complained gave me a refund and still shorted me the change and looked at me strange when I pointed out that it was still wrong. Tried to call to speak with the manager to explain what a poor job they're doing of managing their store and all I got was a random loop of their automated system over and over again. I hope the manager of the store reads this review and gets off his butt and does his job. You are doing a very poor job of managing this location. I wish I could chalk this up as perhaps a bad day, however, it seems to be the norm for the store... Poor customer service, low stock on shelves, low morale and extremely poor management. I get better service at the self-serve gas station. Very disappointed... I think I'll take my business elsewhere. read more

Absolutely petrifying. I came in with my daughter and she was doing absolutely nothing. We were walking down the soda isle, when one of the employees came in and started screaming at my daughter. Next thing you know she's crying and breaking down. Never coming to this Safeway ever again read more