Safeway

Would recommend heading towards Mathilda and going to that grocery store. Lines are long here, often 7+ deep and they don’t open extra lanes.

This Safeway cares about the community and has graciously donated food and flowers to different Cherry Chase School events, including Diwali. Thank you, Safeway, for recognizing diversity. All of the employees are friendly and helpful, with a few random exceptions.

Don’t ever buy from this Safeway food court. The Chinese food looks disgusting. I bought the fried chicken and was that a mistake. Salty and the rancid oil. I just throw the food in trash if u call that food

Husband stops in after work on a Friday night after a long week looking for a quick fix for dinner. He see’s that the $ 5 special is the rotisserie chicken, he gets to the self-​serve register, does not have the ‘club card’ on him, tries two phone numbers, neither works. Ask the clerk to put through the discount, clerk refuses and tells him he has to complete a new club card form. Husband asked guy in back of him could he swipe his card… the guy actually said NO… like it’s costing him anything… he did not feel ‘comfortable’ doing it… What? Give me a break, no patience for people like that, what ever happened to random acts of kindness!!. Anway Husband left the chicken and walked out… it’s not the $ 3 it is the principle.
Note to Safeway Managment, we have a LOT of choices in this area and Amazon Fresh is coming, time to start paying attention and training your people to make a LITTLE effort, and if you actually trained your clerk to mandate that a customer complete a form to get the discount on one item, that is truly idiotic and horrible customer service.

While I’m a regular at this Safeway, I must say that their are staff is very friendly and the are open ²⁴⁄₇ for those last minute errands or groceries you forgot your last time around.
Also, the greens and fruits section looks always fresh, and have great deals on Fridays. Plus, Western Union is available.
Keep it up everyone!

Solid Safeway compared to all the others I go to. Mid-​large size and everything is stocked, at least when I went just before 8 pm on a Thursday night.
Service:
–Efficient when I go (weekday evenings or early morning before 9 am)
–Friendly cashiers. They greet you and say hello. Baggers ask if you need help to your car
–Open 24 hours, which is great!
Products:
–In stock and fresh produce
Bernardo Safeway is definitely significantly better than the out-​dated small Safeway near Santana Row/​Valley Fair, but not as huge and sparkling as the Safeway on 160 East El Camino (near Sunnyvale 24 hour fitness super sport)

I really liked it here. Thought it was going to be much more expensive than it was. Cheaper than whole foods more variety than Walmart found the prices to be very reasonable. If it’s your first time shopping there you need to get a members card because I saved 20 dollars by getting one. Most items were stocked and it was pretty clean. Has a full deli meat section bakery grocery and florist department which is great. This will definitely be my go to grocery store.

I absolutely LOVE this Safeway!!! I live in San Jose and have to shop at Midtown Sateway which I DREAD going to there are alway’s weird people selling tamales and homeless and it is alway’s a challenge to get a cart let alone get the quality of vegetables and fruits that this Safeway carry’s. I can not say enough about the stock people the cashiers and the management. I now know where everything is in two Safeway’s!!! I grew up in Cherry Chase when all we had was Littleman’s in that location and a Wilshire Gas Station!!! It is a great location and everyone is VERYNICE and the parking lot is clean and you feel safe anytime of day or night plus Starbucks!!!

There’s something always a little off about Safeway. Every store has its unique level of «special-​ness» to it.
So far, I haven’t found it yet at this place.
It’s open 24 hours which is a huge plus! Pretty well stocked, clean, nice employees, and you’re always able to find a shopping cart when you need it.
When the rest of the shopping plaza shuts down, it can get downright creepy in the parking lot. Luckily, it’s not hard to find a spot right out front so you don’t have to walk in the dark all by yourself for too long.

First of all, what is with ALL the Safeways? Why is there one on every block? It’s like a Starbucks down here.
Weird parking lot, not crowded, but if it was it would be a nightmare to get out of.
Door tried to kill me once, but that’s for another time.
it’s the closest market, so I’m there probably 2 times a week. I’ve been going in there about 6 weeks, yet I still don’t have any familiarity with any of the people who work there. Nor do I see any of the same people shopping. It’s like a brand new store every time which is strange. They are nice though.
Prices pretty good I think. I like the Deli, and produce dept.
It’s a store, what else can I say? :)

This Safeway… is awesome and yet not, all at the same time.
This location of Safeway in particular tends to have a ton of my probiotic drink choices and they always have my packets of Corned Beef, which other locations rarely stock. Huge pluses and always make for a good Sugar Butter Flour side trip.
My biggest issue is their bag situation. They tend to never have bags at Self Checkout, and the bags they have at the front don’t have handles.
I get they want you to purchase a plastic bag so they can make a buck fifty on it, but still, have options people will want to use.
The service tends to be better than at The Alameda location, but the outside is dirty and dingy looking. It’s just not a Safeway that if they didn’t have what I wanted in stock, I’d stop into.
But they always have what I want and the cashiers are always super fast and friendly.
Thus, 4 stars.

I’ve been to this place a couple times. There’s nothing special about this place. As long as they have what I need, I’m a happy camper.

I really appreciate buying Craft beers at a reasonable price! I don’t like waiting in a long line to purchase them. It seems the self check out stands have replaced some of the checkers, but when I look around I still see plenty of Safeway employees milling about?! All Safeway’s needs to pay attention to lines getting long & react quickly before customer frustration sets in!

Decent store, but it could be improved in several areas.
I’ve been shopping here for years and I have never had a major problem. However, there have been minor problems along the way like the lack of cashiers and the long lines. I now use the self-​checkout line, but even that can get backed up from time to time. I assume this store is trying to save money by having less people work, but it really annoys the customers — the people who keep the store in business — when we aren’t satisfied while we’re in the store and when we leave the store.
I do recommend shopping at this location, just make sure you find then right time to shop, or your quick run for milk and bread will turn into a 1 – 2 hour trip.

I live less than a 2 minute walk to this Safeway, so even though it is the biggest shitshow of a grocery store I have ever encountered, I still come here 3 – 4 times every week because its just so convenient. I usually shop after 9 and buy only a few things, including booze, so I have to wait in the mile long line while Judy, the mysterious and inscrutable Asian lady that lots of other reviews mentioned, scans items at a terrifyingly slow speed. The shelves are always poorly stocked, the meat department is horrific, and the workers are so unhelpful and incompetent that shopping there is always a pretty depressing experience. As I said, its just too convenient to boycott, but I think I might live next to the worst Safeway in America.

It’s funny what people will give positive or negative reviews to. Cake, soup and the age of the exterior and interior of a store are pretty petty, and it’s probably why Safeway is still in business, since we seem to turn a blind eye to the awfulness that is Safeway’s service. And not only this one. To a store, virtually every one I’ve been in has among the worst customer service I’ve experienced on any level, bar very few.
The Bernardo store deserves outstanding recognition as being the second worst Safeway I’ve been in. First is the old store on Old San Francisco and Wolfe, which was put down like a old rabid dog some time ago when the new shiny flagship store was installed on El Camino next to Petco. The Wolfe store was actually frightening, with uncleaned pastry displays where spilled matter was left to congeal and putrefy under cakes and cookies. The Bernardo store is getting to that point. Seriously. Look under the racks the cake slices sit on next time you’re in there. It’s horrifying.
Talking about poorly kept facilities, I can count at least three occasions now where this store has lost the use of their appliances– the milk refrigerators in the back were down one day, the produce and egg/​dairy refrigerator another and all the freezers yet another time before I stopped shopping here. Do not use the bathroom if you value your sanity, or at least sanitize yourself fully thereafter. It’s always disgusting.
Safeway’s meat selection in general always sucks, across all stores, so I won’t beat this one up there, but this store’s produce always seems to be a problem. Some things inexplicably are just not in stock, and on random days. I’m not sure if it’s ad related, because I generally don’t pay attention to those, but they could be out of bananas on a Monday, out of potatoes (yes) on a Thursday. I don’t know how they do levels at a Safeway, but I’d like to think you’d almost never run out of things like that. It’s not kale or tomatillos for gods sake. Nothing quite so disheartening as going in to do a full shop and finding a staple like potatoes out of stock.
Let’s keep going on, shall we? There is some burnout that works in the meat department who on the numerous occasions I had been into the store before I decided to give up on Safeway all together loudly and cheerfully engaged in some rap session with a coworker where emphatic and very audible cursing was going on. I’m no prude, but I do have a sense of decorum. The time and place for the dreaded «F word» is not ten feet from the clientele with your work buddies. I observed this more than a couple occasions.
Onto the manager or supervisor that apparently CANNOT WAIT to be off the floor to start his break. He is constantly harried and needs to GET OUT OF THERE to start his break or go home. Either Safeway has unions sitting on their shoulder ready to kill over unpaid time or he’s just lazy. Your call.
Asian lady who rings up things so painfully slowly that a line forms all the way into produce. Ahh, what can I say? I see you working, I choose ANY OTHER LINE. If I have alcohol and you’re the only stand open? I leave and go to Lucky down the street. I’ve seen her wonderingly stare at packages like she’s never before seen Kraft cheese in the middle of checking out. Adding to the weirdness– clear plastic gloves omnipresent.
Two doofuses that will have inappropriate conversations with each other while working separate checkouts. I was there one day to overhear them denigrate a customer that had just left, a regular by appearances, that upset one of these clowns because the man had brought $ 300 worth of groceries to be rung. It was apparently all too much for him and it took ever so long. I’m sorry if adding money to your company’s coffers so you can be paid is interfering with you wanting to shoot the breeze with your pal.
Do NOT go into any Safeway after 9PM. After wondering why it always takes a fly’s lifespan to get checked out at night at any Safeway, I discovered from a friend that Safeway’s secret shoppers don’t go in after 9, so managers pull all the non-​essential (i.e., stockers for Safeway. Screw you, paying night customer) help from the schedule, leaving one checker, who generally happens to be the Asian lady from above at this particular location. You will be stranded in a 20 person deep line with no hope of salvation. If you have to get one item, forget it and find a 7 – 11 if they’re likely to have it, unless you really want to stand in line for 30 minutes for your six pack of Sammy.
I really can’t say enough about how bad the service is here. It’s excruciating and, even more, frustrating, since we Americans are so motivated by the wrong things sometimes that this is allowed to go on. My only alternatives are places like Sprouts, which lacks a lot of things Safeway might carry and at better prices, Trader Joe’s, which lacks even more, or Lucky, which is marginally better than Safeway at some things, much worse at others.

I tried one of Safeways’s Signature soups, the clam chowder:
The soups are made daily, and are available for self-​serve in a kiosk near the deli. The clam chowder was remarkably good; great clam-​flavor to the cream broth, and about an equal amount of clams vs potatoes. $ 2.29 for a small (10 ounce) is a great price. It’s very heavy: as it cooled, it started to congeal; I’m sure it has a large dosage of saturated fat.
The tres leche cake from the Bakery department is really good ($ 2.50):
In fact, it’s even tastier than it looks, and you’ll have a difficult time if you attempt to eat only half of it.

This place still looks like the 70s from the outside. The clientele are lets say much older than your average. However inside, its been remodeled to match most of the Safeway standard and they have most things you need want in a grocery store. My biggest win in the shopping world is self check out and theyve got that. No more waiting for coupon clippers, check righters and just straight bumbleheads. Scan, scan, outtahere!

I have been shopping here for many years – grocery store closest to my house. And in the past, I was impressed with the genuine sale prices that came around. But every few years, things deteriorate further, steadily downward.
Here’s what’s wrong:
–They have items on big sales for «Five Dollar Fridays.» I get in there early Friday afternoon, and look for the few things I really want. Most of the time, I cannot find them. So I ask, and the staff will say they do not know about such a sale item. Well, I got smarter – now I bring my printed sale circular, and show them. So they cannot say there is no such thing on sale, now they say they must be all sold out already.
Recently, I went in for raw shrimp, advertised for $ 5/​pound. None there. The guy behind the fish counter said they had them yesterday (when they were like $ 16/​pound), but none today. Can I have a rain check? No. When will you get more in? Probably Monday (when the sale price is no longer good). Well, that is just a fraudulent business practice, as far as I am concerned! This happens over and over, with all kinds of products.
–As others have said, there is often only one checker working. Long lines, loooong wait. No baggers working, either, so you bag your own groceries, or throw them naked into your cart if you forgot the bags (again).
BUT, management says, there are these nifty self-​check outs. I hate those things! First I have been milling around in their store forever, trying to find things they are not keeping in stock, waiting for an eternity in line, and now they want me to fumble around with all my items, while a drone-​voiced machine bleats at me that I did not scan the item right, and I set it down in the wrong place, and. .. I am certain all of this is because they just do not want to pay the wages of the checkers, and they want to con all of us into thinking it is somehow really cool to check ourselves out. I have seen older folks with arthritis and low vision, and young moms with squealing babies and rambunctious toddlers trying to work these self-​check outs, and it is not a happy scene.
Look, Safeway, these are negative directions with respect to customers. Here’s how it feels to me: I have to bag my own groceries, you want me to serve as my own check out clerk. What’s next? I expect pretty soon you are going to tell me I have to come in and stock my own shelves!
–More minor issues. Much of the time after dark you have to dodge panhandlers and scary looking intoxicated people crowding the entrance, and during the day you often have to deal with endless fundraiser pleas (I do give to charity, but don’t think it is a good idea to give cash to people on the street, especially groups I have never heard of). And when you get up to the cash register, they try to make you donate to causes picked by Safeway, as part of your paying for your items. It is uncomfortable. I cannot even imagine pressing people who patronize my business for donations to my favorite charities.
The sound ambiance is awful! The default setting is the cheesiest sort of elevator music – Barry Manilow type stuff, really aggravating, sappy tunes you hated when they were first out, umpteen years ago, that are even worse this time around. And this ‘music’ is frequently interrupted by loud employee code messages. Over and over and over, until you want to scream. «Floral Department, 2 — 0 — 1, Floral Department, 2 — 0 — 1, Floral Department, 2 — 0 — 1.» I want to rush over to Floral and say «look, I don’t know what a 2−0−1 is, but let me take care of it for you so I don’t have to keep hearing about it!!» And then we return to the silken tones of Barry. I need an air-​sick bag!
There are some nice employees there, but I am really coming to hate shopping at this store! More and more I buy as much as I can at Costco, Smart and Final, and the little produce market a block down the street (same shopping center as CVS). If I was having a good day, it ruins it to come in here, and if a bad day was in progress, stopping in here takes it to rock bottom.
Just found some independent support for part of my argument. In today’s Wall Street Journal: human grocery checkers are superior in all ways to self-​checkout machines operated by customers. And this is not from a hatred of machines – as with the WSJ writer, I favor ATMs over tellers.

Maybe this will make ROTD!
Came here for wellfargo one day
People were nice and its convenient that they have a mercahnt line!