El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company

Astrid Broberg

Our favorite neighborhood store..has all that we need and super friendly people working..the Annex is super too

Lindsay M.

Does the management here not pay a living wage to their cashiers? Or is the manager horrible or something? There has to be *some* reason that the cashiers at the grocery (not the annex) are SO cold and unfriendly. (This is only in reference to the cashiers at the grocery store — the folks at the butcher counter, and everyone at the annex, is friendly). The cashiers are SO cold that every time I visit, I vow never to go back. But it’s a long drive to the next place that sells pastured meat (Magnani’s in Berkeley. Giovanni’s, if you only had a butcher counter!, I would never leave El Cerrito OR visit ECNG again!). Anyway. Great selection of meat, pretty good selection of organic vegetables (Giovanni’s is far cheaper and Whole Foods has better variety), BUT — high prices, and workers who make you angry at yourself for having patronized the place, because surely if you had any self regard, you’d have driven the extra ten minutes to spend your money where people can actually say “hello” and “goodbye” in reply.

H Jacobsen

Great selection in the original Grocery store all the good ORGANIC basics, great bulk section etc.. The added value/ prepared food building next door is another story, it's for those with Six figure incomes or for an occasional treat but at $350 for a quiche I was left with my jaw dropped...then the price was corrected to $35 still a bit pricy;-) for an 8" pie and the veggie model just wasn't that special- wouldn't buy it again.The carrot cake loaf slice was also a bit dry and was not very flavorful either for $5. I would eat a just deserts carrot cake over it any day at a fraction of the cost. Crab cakes were pretty good but I think the garlic green beans were the best I have from there as of yet, perfect crispness. Love that they produce all their own power! & provide biodegradable bags that won't stay intact for over a century. Kudos! PS- I bet your ex employee A. Payne circa 2006 would bake circles around who ever is doing your current work.

James K

Well, I quite liked this place! (5/5 green stars) I can definitely see how business owners become frustrated (enraged, even) by certain online reviews. El Cerrito Natural Grocery seems to receive more than its fair share of unreasonably whingey reviews. Wah, there are nuts in some pastries! Wah, there’s gluten in the thing I bought without looking at the ingredients list! Wah, regular parkers park in the electric car spot! If there’s a regular car parked at the charging station you would think it’s more reasonable to blame that driver rather than give the store one star. Anyhoo, I dropped in for just a coffee and pastry and found it to be a fairly pleasant spot to do some writing – there’s no WiFi by the way. Good mix of people inside, having coffee, lunch or a beer. It’s not a place that I would have ever considered coming for a beer but they have an interesting selection in their fridge and will provide glasses. My latte was better than I had expected – the foam was dense, almost like a flat white, and considering that they use organic milk it was not expensive at $3.25 for a medium. Similarly, my hot cross bun was $2 even though it was made from organic ingredients. So I’m not sure that the complaints about prices are warranted. Wah! I’m giving them 5/5 “green stars” for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons: • The Natural Grocery Co. uses 100% green power and does a good job at waste minimization. • They are employee-owned and if you look them up on Glassdoor it looks like employees are pretty happy. E.g., they are offered good health benefits after working there for 60 days and after 5 years they get stock in their company. • They use local organic butter, milk, cream and eggs in their bakery. • Their mission is to use local, organic / sustainable ingredients and they have partnerships with the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) and FishWise, amongst others. • Their beer selection is heavily represented by local brewers such as Fort Point and the East Brother Beer Co. • Their coffee is from Equal Exchange, pioneers of the direct trade movement and a great cooperative company. The majority of their coffee is shade-grown and some is certified organic. Interested in writing green star reviews? If so, contact me! (greenstarsproject)