It's hard to dress up this "Pig" past a certain extent (that line would have worked better if this was the Piggly Wiggly I was reviewing...), but categorically:
Location: 3 out of 5
Marginally out of the way for me from the 3rd ward, but due to the fact that East Pointe has discrete hours, the 24-hour convenience that this location offers offsets that inconvenience. The parking lot is large, ample, and is shared by neighboring stores such as Jimmy Johns and a chain haircut place.
Selection of produce: 4 out of 5
Maybe not as bad as other people make it out to seem, depending on what day and time of the week that you go. If you go early enough on a Sunday morning/early afternoon, you'll hit the sweet spot where the stock people are replenishing fruits and veggies, and that is your time to strike! The variety of apples is quasi mind boggling, and they likely have 95% of the produce that you'll ever need or run into in a cookbook, sans the hoity toity veggie/vegan ones that require you to use Level 5 pocket composted algae based rhizomes. In other words, you'll find chard (two varieties), fennel, root veggies, legumes, onions ("cellared" and "fresh"), tofu, salad kits, beets, parsnips, etc.
Selection of meat/seafood products: 3 out of 5
Nothing here will blow your mind. It's not El Rey or Cermak where you'll find a boon of traditionally ethnic meat products/cuts, but you'll find what you need for eh, 75 - 80% of your meat needs. Notably, they don't carry any type of shank (lamb or beef) but again, that's not something that I use every single day. Ground meat, various cuts of steak, chicken, pork, etc. I don't understand how chicken pricing works, but last week I was able to find 10 pound bags of leg quarters at 49 cents a pound, which is basically a steal.
The seafood selection is not quite as robust as say, Whole Foods or Metro Market, but you will be able to find fresh salmon (low bar, I know) as well as the frozen fillets that you almost expect to see in grocery stores these days, e.g., swai and tilapia.
Willingness to help of staff: 4 out of 5
You know, I actually didn't encounter any negativity, snide remarks, or laziness from the staff at this store. Now, this doesn't mean that they were right or were able to help me out in the end, but I should note that the Sunday morning/afternoon staff are at least friendly and willing to take a look /ask others if they don't know the answer to something. FYI, this store doesn't appear to carry prepared pesto, but they do carry the herb paste in the produce section that you can just tailor to your own pesto recipe.
Hot bar/salad bar/deli Items: 4 out of 5
Again, this might be restricted temporally (not temporarily), but Sunday mornings things look fresh, hot (if they need to be), and cold (if they need to be). The salad bar is usually in decent shape without cross contamination or food all over the counter, and if you're a fan of roasted or fried hot chicken, by golly they have them ready to go or imminently ready to go for you.
Checkout efficiency: 3 out of 5 (depending on who it is)
I rarely use the self checkout lanes anymore since the majority of what I purchase is produce and I don't have the time to memorize all of the codes I usually use (well, I do have the time, but if people there know it off the top of their heads, there's no real point, I guess), and it's always a game to see which person I should go to for my checkout needs. For example, there are some really good/quick cashiers who know ALL the codes to the produce, but they end up with the super slow pokes, e.g., "I forgot something, I have some coupons, I'm going to pay in pennies, I can't find my checkbook, etc." and there are some slower cashiers that attract all the guys with 1 or 2 items where there's no need to converse. The possibilities and permutations are mind boggling indeed!!! In other words, total crapshoot sometimes and once in awhile, I'm out of there lickity split, and other times, it's a slow slow process and I take it for what it is, which is that everyone regardless of gender, age, culture, slowness, etc. needs to eat and buy groceries, and I'm not more important than the next person in line when it comes to basic needs.
Overall: 4 out of 5
Realistically, a 3.5 star review, but you could do quite worse for one of these larger chains and I do round up on reviews. As a note, they do have the bulk bins here with grains and candy, as well as a little section that's devoted to the Spanish speaking population. You'll find their starch items as well as some prepared sauces/marinades that are tasty! read more