Sahadi Fine Foods Inc

C C

UPDATE 9/2020: When the original Sahadi's reopened after the lockdown, they made some big changes to the store. It looks more like the Industry City store now. I know change is inevitable and they had to make adjustments for the COVID-19 situation. But, for me, they are removing the unique identity of their store and brand. The olive bar is gone, as well as most of the foods we used to be able to buy in bulk. It is in bags with their name on it. Olive bar remnants are in containers, $5, $5, $5 for everything. There was considerably more brine in the olives I bought than used to be. The toasted lavash is gone, maybe because they made all of those containers $5 each. It's really a hike from $3-$4 each. Bulk cocoa is gone. The bulk coffee is still there. Fruit and nuts can be had but many are in dispensers like Industry City. They still have the big jars which are so much better than the little bins in Industry City. Cheese department is still intact. The deli now looks like that in Industry City. The bakery looks the same. There is still 1 display rack that has actual Middle Eastern items. Last time there, I heard a man telling a manager that the soap he bought there for years was gone. I hope they are not going to try to be like Trader Joe. They have their own clientele, who will not switch to Sahadi's. TJ and WF customers are largely transplanted from Manhattan and are programmed to go to those stores, stand in those lines. One change I do like is that original Sahadi's is now open 7 days. And they still have one of the best selections of reasonably priced gourmet items. I have been going to the original Sahadi's for many years and still highly recommend it. This review is for the Industry City location only. I will NEVER go there again. To start, I don't care for the location being a long, windy walk from public trans, which is something they share with every other business in IC. It was cold the day I went too. But if I wanted Easter stuff, choose it myself and not rely on Mercato, that's where I had to go. Original store is closed to in-store shopping due to COVID-19. The IC store itself is airy and light and seems to have a lot more room than the original. The staff is nice and really wants to be helpful. They don't have everything the original does but they do have fresh fruit, veg and dairy. They didn't have cheese I usually get, not as many bulk items, only basmati rice (I wanted brown), no baking chocolate, no Easter stuff that I would not have to make myself, very little of the deli foods they are so well-known for. A lot of things don't have prices marked on them. So you have to walk the entire store, to the checkout, to find out how much something is. Bulk nuts were OK. Bulk fruit was not OK. Instead of jars, what fruit and candy they do have are in bins, like you see gelato or candy in. So, just like those items, adjacent varieties make their way into the bin you want. I had to soak one fruit in water and re-dry it to get the "extra" flavors out. Why did I buy it to start with? It's all there was a day or so before the holiday. The other fiasco was 3lb of another dried fruit that I have to figure how to disinfect, since I found hair, definitely not mine, in it. This store has a long way to go to get as good as the one on Atlantic Ave (go there!). They could call this one Sahdi's 'cause it's missing some things.

Dahiana P

They don’t pay to their employees. My mom has been calling this company to ask for the days that she worked there and they keep lying to her and they don’t want to pay her. Please be aware of this place

Kristian

They were OK before the pandemic and lost their magic.

Eric Rodriguez

Terribly customer service... Wanted to buy 2 pallets of product. The first time I called they were pretending they could not here me and then the second time I called they said that the could not sell me the product and would have to go buy from a different wholesaler who buys from them. Whats the point of having a company if your not going to sell might as well close the place.