Seriously the rudest blonde woman I have ever met works here. No thank you no have a nice day. I felt like she was mad I didn’t buy more. I will never be back. Hope this place closes down. It’s an expired store with angry unhappy owners
Natasha S.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Los Angeles, CA
I was super exited to go to this store, and experiance a small part of Ukraine. Unfortunately this place has to be renamed to Russia deli or eastern european deli, but not Ukraina deli. It has nothing Ukrainian in it: two kids’ books and that’s all — the rest is Russian stuff: tshirts, hats, flags etc. Really disappointing. Please change the name, don’t offense Ukrainian cuisine and culture.
Andrew G.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Diego, CA
Bad. Really really bad. It looks like the place for money laundering. No selection. No service. Old bread and salads. Why does it have 4 star rating I have no idea
Jerry P.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Santa Monica, CA
This is another Ukrainian market, with most of the staff from Ukraine. Their candies and chocolates are what I usually buy, great for gifts or family socials, but they also have a wide variety of other products, such as frozen varinyky.
Irina Y.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Los Angeles, CA
If you do not be poisoned do not go there!!! We bought Easter eggs and beet salad last year — they were tainted. We bought Easter eggs and beet salad in 2013 — they were tainted again. Our handicapped mother ate little bit of them before we realized that they smelled so bad and she got terrible diarrhea .for few days. After that she got urinal infection. She was very sick almost 2 months and went to hospital for treatment. Business owner(Olga?) is without shame. She sells deli not only expired but tainted, that beet salad called vinaigrette was boiled? to eliminate bad smell. Once we bought pirogy and they cracked when box was open .How many years they were in her frizer??? The deli does not have expiration date. They sell deli until it ends. There is not Soviet Union, she can sell poisoned food in Odessa not in The United States to poison American people. We also shared this with everyone we know and also asked our friends & family to boycott Urainian Deli too & now thru Unilocal hope to share it further.
Stacy K.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Santa Monica, CA
Normal serves, but you can buy old products. One week ago we bought sausages on the advice of a saleswoman, she said that the sausages are fresh, everyone is buying. Brought it home, started to cook dinner. Sausages was with bad smell. This is not the first time. Don’t buy perishables(food with short live time), buy products in sealed package and check the expiration date.
Hank K.
Rating des Ortes: 5 La Habra, CA
What a fun little Ukrainian Deli Experience! The little Russian lady behind the counter was so helpful and kind offering us free samples of the cheeses and chocolates and sunflower candy and telling us what her favorrites were. Inexpensive too — the little chocolates are priced by the pound too so we were able to get a marvelous sampling for about 3 dollars! Im glad we decided to stop in as we were walking by!
Randy B.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Westlake Village, CA
A nice little shop — with the keyword«little». In the refrigerated case, fresh meats and sausages, and a few cheeses and pickled fish items to choose. On the shelves, bottled goods(jams, picked items), and gifts — all from the homeland. In addition, they have a small amount of frozen items(various dumplings), baked breads, and cookies. The service is friendly but not overly helpful, and for the basic items — this store will do the trick.
Joe K.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Venice, CA
Just went here for the first time. Everything you need from a Russian store on the West-side. Everything else is miles away. Got your basics: bread, sausages, cheese, pelmeni, fish, pickles etc. Prices are affordable: Got about a week’s worth of Russian food for under $ 50. The clerk wasn’t mean like someone mentioned, but is the typical Russian store owner. She’s not going to go out of her way for customer service or ask you how your day went, but I saw her chatting amicably with another customer. Anyway, I wasn’t let down by this little deli, it had everything you really needed for a reasonable price(as expensive as good American products at Whole Foods).
J B.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Santa Monica, CA
If you’ve ever stood in line for a ticket at a Moscow metro station at five in the morning and dealt with a scowling babooshka, you probably know that Russians – and by extension, Ukrainians – are not widely known for exchanging pleasantries. The very concept of smiling was punishable by death for 40 years. If others have complained about the level of service at this store, it is because they are either: A. American, and thus ignorant B. Russian, and thus incapable of exchanging pleasantries, as I’ve explained. Do not let the scowling babushkas dissuade you. This place has an aura all its own. Yes, it’s expensive compared to the stores along Pico. And yes, the selection is limited, although compared to a Soviet commissary, it’s rife. But the carrot salad, the kale, even the black breads are worth every dime. Irena, who’s actually not a babooshka, despite her countenance, explained that the Stolichnaya rye arrives on Friday, and the Borodinsky on Saturday. I prefer Saturday’s, if only because you can use it to break into your home, the sourdough leaven weighing a good six or seven pounds and actually resembling a football. I also buy kvass, which is like Coca-Cola, but burns, and cold potato salad, which is admittedly something a Russian would never buy but still tastes remarkable. Also recommended are Ukrainian chocolate and jarred eggplant salads, which are kind of like the communist equivalent of salsa. Plus they have matryoshkas. Did I mention the matryoshkas?
Alex C.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Davis, CA
I’d recommend the polish deli across the street instead — the meats there are better and they have a larger selection of products. Also, this really shouldn’t be called«ukraina deli» as the place is owned by Russians who are not particularly fond of Ukrainians. Has a decent selection of products, but you’d be better off across the street
Anya W.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Miami, FL
Natasha is a freaking b**Tch. Dont even come to the store. Perhaps if you’re American you won’t know the difference. But this person is extremely sneaky and mean souled. Will smile in your face but watch your receipt and check every item before you go. I’ve had incidents many times! Store: Low variety, no hot deli, basically nothing to buy there Prices: super overpriced!!! 4 times the prices of anywhere else. I recommend for all of you great Russian Food lovers a store in Encino called Rasputin! P.S:Yes, her Olivie salad is probably the only worthy item on the menu
John P.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Santa Monica, CA
I grew up in Alberta, Canada, where there is a massive community of Ukrainians. I’m so used to hand made perogies from old grandmas, pinched to perfection, with the perfect dough recipe. Occasionally we couldn’t get these hand made ones so we would have to get the machine made from Costco. Ewww, they tasted so bad compared to the real thing. We would try to hide the bad taste with extra sour cream, butter and sauteed onions. Then I move to Santa Monica and after living here for years I discovered this place. Their frozen machine made perogies taste just like the old grandmas hand made perfection. I can’t believe it! This Christmas the family came to visit and I had them taste the perogies, my tastebuds were confirmed, everyone couldn’t believe they were machine made! Also gotta love the poppyseed bread. It’s weird this place is called Ukraina Deli(Ukraine Deli), because it seems to be owned by Russians. At least that’s what they speak to eachother right in front of me, and they think I don’t know it, but the jokes on them, I speak Ukrainian! The old lady is always rude, but in a funny, authentic, eastern european way. I still love it because of the great quality food, good selection and fair prices. It’s hard to find this kind of deli and this one is one of my favs.
Judi S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Orange County, CA
I was ignorant to the fact that such a thing as a Russian deli existed in Santa Monica, of all places, until my friend pointed it out to me while walking to breakfast the other day. Upon review of Joan S. ‘s photo, after remaining in business for the past four years, their window dressing is amazingly almost exactly the same. To the left of the front door, you’ll still find all the colorful nesting dolls you’d ever want. I’m not really into Russian foodstuffs, but if it were, I feel this place would be #1 on my list. And yes, if you were wondering, they do sell a few different varieties of caviar here… including a fresh deli version.
Ewa M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Los Angeles, CA
Man oh man, this is when you know you are in multiethnic LA when there is an Ukrainian Deli next to Polish deli, next to you name it. Ukraina Deli has an awesome location on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica. It’s a really small store with many staple Eastern European foods, like sausages, herring, pickles, cheeses, butter and bread. There is also dry food section with sweets and snacks from across the ocean. During many church Holidays, including Easter and Christmas this store is a busy location, as it is one of the few stores that carry authentic hard to find foods, including different types of smoked fish and herring, poppyseed pie and good kind of deli meats. Come in and enjoy!
Shelley H.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Los Angeles, CA
I can’t believe no one’s reviewed this awesome little deli yet! It’s got this unassuming storefront that’s easy to miss, but once inside, you feel like you’re transported back to that charming grocery store on the streets of Kiev(insert eastern europe city of choice here). They don’t have a lot of stuff, but they have a good variety of grocery items(meats, dry goods, prepared foods, snacks, frozen stuff, etc). I’m looking forward to my meal of black bread or «ration» as the lady at the store called it, smoked trout, pickles, and eggplant spread.