Before I start with the review, let me say that I do not take writing a critical review lightly as I fully understand the impact of negative reviews (esp. for a small business). That said, here is my story.
We are new to the area and thus not familiar with the popular Indian Grocery stores. Google pointed Shital to be the close store w/ the avg. rating of 4-stars. So, I went there to get some fresh vegetables and a couple of other items. The initial impression of the store was that aisles & racks were tightly packed. Went to the fresh vegetable aisle. All vegetables were on top of a open refrigerator (much like Walmart). Initially, I did not think much of it until I saw okra (bhindi) that did not look fresh at all. It had black spots and seemed "withered". Other vegetables seemed old as well. Now, it was obvious why the vegetables were stored on top of a open refrigerator (which is unlike how most Indian grocery stores store their fresh vegetables): turnaround & restocking was infrequent. Next, I went to the frozen section to get garlic naans. I picked up a large pack of garlic naan. The naan is suppose to kept frozen until use. The naans in this packet felt soft and did not felt frozen. I figured that it might be one off, so I reached for another pack in the same area. Again, naans in the second package also seemed soft. I mentioned the fact to the person behind the counter who was likely the store owner. He said that it might be just that one packet. So, he went back and got another packet. This packet was also not fully frozen. This is alarming and a health hazard as the food that is suppose to be frozen is not actually frozen. I decided not to get naans. Though, I did get a couple of Indian snacks (namkeen). The price seemed a little on the high side, but I decided to go ahead and purchase the snacks as I figured that I would not be returning to this store in the future. During checkout, I was informed that I had to make a $15 minimum purchase to use the credit card otherwise there would be a $0.50 charge. My total (w/o the .50 charge) was around $13.80. It is shady when business owners decide to jack up the minimum purchase amount from the customary $10 to $15. Overall, the food quality/safety, price and overall experience was poor. I would suggest that patrons shop elsewhere for the Indian grocery needs. read more