Market Basket

Reviews 4

A

A Private User

VALUE - Indeed, the prices are reasonable comparing to other grocery chains. FRESHNESS - since lots of produce warehouses for the Boston area are located in Chelsea, the freshness factor is another bonus. This is such a popular destination that everything is fresh since there is such a large turnover. DIVERSITY - . Chelsea and the other towns nearby, Everett, Revere, East Boston, Winthrop, have large ethnic groups, Jewish, French, Italian, Polish and other Europeans, Central and South American, Asian, all quite known for their cuisine and cooking skills. You can find anything you may wish for, like leeks, celeriac, chicken feet, pig feet, quails, snails, squids, different cuts of veal, beef suet, pickled ginger, nuoc mam, cafe with chicory root, you name it. It used to be hard to find the ingredients to make a pate but now I find everything right here and at prices that defies the competition. THE HELP: The help is courteous and, mostly latino and like most people, they do respond at the way you interact with them. A thank you and a smile cost nothing and people respond to you in kind. I will ask the attendants at the fish counter or at the deli, what they recommend or whats on sale and I always get a pleasant surprise for a good price! I got lobsters for $3.99 this summer and it was steamed at no extra charge while I was doing my shopping. It took 20 minutes and I didnt have to heat up my kitchen! At the bakery, the people are generous with suggestions. Lots of choices at all three departments. At the meat department, lots of choice for the individual or the large family. Just ask, they will cut something just for you or order something specific for you. The dairy, produce and frozen goods areas are so large, with so much choice.. The place is very clean and breakage is removed promptly. COFFEE SHOP - The new store has a nice coffee shop/dining area. They have sushi, 1/2 roasted chicken, and I saw the ad for a cheese burger with fries for $2.99, no typo, that was the price. They have regular and expresso shot based coffees and anything you buy there or at other departments in the store, you can eat there. BATHROOMS - near the dining area, they are large and cleaned regularly. Nice changing table for babies. I am lucky since I am able to do the shopping in the early morning when they are few people. I never have a problem but, even at that time, my wait for at the cash register is negligible but with more than 30 cash registers, I would think the wait wouldn’t be too bad even on the weekend. Shopping can be a chore but at this place, its fun.

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TO

Tom Murphy

Beyond awesome. Biggest, cleanest, CHEAPEST place to buy food in the United States. Proof of the "If you build it, they will come" premise: lots of customers but lots of store, too: there are 40-plus checkouts. Dirty little secret: it says they open at 7 am but... lets just say Ive gotten there at 6:30 in the morning on the weekends to do some recycling (before they open) and there are people, baskets groaning under the weight of the food theyve bought, leaving the store. When did they get there? BUT, its usually better to wait because they start stocking after 7 am, and by 7:30 or 8 am youre looking at the best of the fresh just set out that morning. Friendly, helpful employees who appear to love working there. Prices that average $10 a bag less for a weekly grocery order ($100 of food at Market Basket would cost you $140-150 for the same items at any other store) and who else has a Bosnian food aisle? Or better doughnuts than Vernas? Or a complete array of Santos? Or a florist shop where the flowers - roses, especially - cost $7.99 or $9.99 a dozen depending on the length of the stems and last a week? Not Whole Foods, where theyre $39.99. You get a half-gallon of milk for $1.69; 15 rolls of paper towels, a running special, for $9.99; MB brand canned soda 12-packs, when on sale, five for $10; great deals (better than any chain drugstore or Target) on vitamins, toothpaste, and personal care items; and an amazing variety of good meat if you know what to look for. If, on the other hand, you dont look for meat, plenty of vegan items, an awe-inspiring array of fresh produce and a huge selection of organic produce as well. Amazing in-store bakery (dangerously calorific, but terrific, too), a cafe, ready-made food to take home, fresh sushi with Spanish-speaking Asian sushi chefs - where do they find em?), and a sandwich shop. Awesome fresh fruit, whole and cut-up; and a full-service deli that always has a line. Theyll steam fresh lobsters for you and if you ask in advance, theyll make up lobster salad. There isnt much they dont sell there. And at prices thatll ruin you for any other supermarket, anywhere. I used to shop at the Somerville Market Basket and overlooked the cramped aisles, the constant (necessary, as they sell so much) restocking, and the free-for-all parking lot and still do if I need 12 items or less but for a weeks worth of groceries, the Chelsea Market Basket is without equal.

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A

A Private User

The new Chelsea Market Basket is a cavernous food land where you could stay for hours if you like grocery stores as I do. Huge deli, meat, and fish counters. Ridiculously huge bakery with very beautiful, inexpensive fancy and decorated cakes. I havent tried them so I cannot testify to their tastiness, but they sure look nice. One negative is that all the fresh bread seems to have too many ingredients, and I couldnt find any loaf without high fructose corn syrup. Very tasty, but not very healthy. Not too many organic options yet, but there are some, at least. Also, they do not seem to carry Nutella, which is pretty strange since they stock the more obscure Euro-Creme. The sushi chef is a happily enthusiastic salesman of all his creations, which look way, way better than usual supermarket sushi. Hes got gorgeous cuts of sashimi, super-fresh-looking avocado-wrapped specialty rolls, soft shell crab maki, plus all the expected fare! The sushi I got was very good. It can sometimes be hard to get an answer in English from staff, but I have only encountered friendly and polite employees, regardless of language. The store is extremely clean, especially considering its immense size. There could probably be a thousand shoppers in there, and you wont wait more than a couple minutes at checkout since there are so many registers. One thing I wish is that even though a minority of customers there are speaking English, couldnt Market Basket still use correct English on the signs hanging above the aisle? If they want to put signs in another language, Im all for it, but when the signs are in English, they should actually be correct. I just groan when I see the big aisle signs for "CAN MEAT" and "CAN FRUIT."

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JA

Jacqueline Rodriguez

Ive been coming here forever since it was originally DeMoulas. Throughout the years this location has spiraled down. Every so often I shop here and realize when I get home my fruits have mold or the milk goes bad after 3 days or so and they give you an attitude when you come in to change it. Ive witnessed employees being mistreated and talked down to by management and when you need a manager they always look like they hate your because your interrupting a minute of their time. Ive had an encounter with a manager Rene and he was unbelievably rude and talked down to me like and raised his voice and gave me attitude when I told him I was missing items from my bag and I had the receipt to prove it. Ive complained about him before to the site manager Bob Chawsey. Last week there was an incident where the employee had enough of being mistreated and was beaten, kicked and his pants were brought down to his knees as other employees/ management stood by and didnt intervene, and it was Rene (manager) who had beaten the young worker. I will never give my business to Market Basket again, they dont respect their workers and value the opinion or concerns of their customers. Dont waste your time coming here trying to save a few cents when you have Stop & Shop up the street and the lines arent wrapped around like MB.

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