Dominick's

I don't know what it is with Dominick's, but the ones I frequent hardly ever have cell service inside. How can I compare prices with my app when I can't get any service?

I think you can find a better selection and wider variety of things if you go to Mariano's across the street. Especially if you're on a gluten diet or anything very particular like that.

Dominick's recently underwent a big redesign just about when the Jewel opened nearby. Sure it looks much nicer but it didn't address any of the problems. This store is really tiny and it seems that they added a few bunk aisles of housewares and toiletries and got rid of some food products. No more plochmans mustard or pastorellis pizza sauce both of which are great. They also seem to be really lacking in fat free or lighter options. I've also noticed that since there is limited room for inventory, you better check dates. This is certainly not a cheap option either. They have parking off of Washington and a Starbucks off of Madison.

Finer foods my a$$. This store is overly complicated for no obvious reason, has outrageous prices (although the location accounts for most of this), surly cashiers and a sad, sad selection of everything but frozen pizza and cheese.

When checking out, I did not have my savings card and couldn't remember the phone number I had when I initially got my Dominick's card over 10 years ago and the disgustingly smug cashier told me I needed to solicit other customers in line to use their card if I wanted to get the savings. Luckily, a nice couple heard my plight and gave her the same 'WTF' look and graciously let me use their card.

The cashier then proceeded to take an inappropriate amount of time bagging my groceries because the couple let me use their card. I offered to help her and she told me, 'I GOT IT.' Ok, sorry, I was just trying to make the line move faster and offered to help you even though you made it perfectly clear you would not do the same for me. (Do unto others as you would have done unto you) She failed her Golden Rule class, obviously.

Screw you Dominick's. Never ever shopping at this store again, even though I now live in the neighborhood I am going back to my old hood grocery stores.

Oh, Dominick's. When I walk through your aisles, I feel like one of those women in a bubble bath commercial, submerged in soothing bubbles, rose petals and candles surrounding the tub, and two warm slices of cucumber over my weary eyes.

Hallelujah.

See, I used to work for Chicago Public Radio, whose offices are situated smack dab in the middle of Navy Pier. I've written more than once about the unsuitable lunch options on Navy Pier, and won't bore you with another diatribe.

Now I work for WCIU, The U (U'z Got It!). We're located in a part of Chicago called Lunch Heaven, right across the street from the Big D. Dominick's.

Do you know what Dominick's has? It has fresh foods! Fruits, vegetables... snacks in boxes, sandwich meats, frozen things, warm things, plastic cups of things, and drinks that come in bottles and cans. And Dominick's hasn't sworn allegiance to any one brand. Whereas Navy Pier's beverages all come in bright blue Pepsi cups, Dominick's let's you choose from a ridiculous pool of drinks.

Do you know how I get to Dominick's? I walk outside and cross the street! Unlike Navy Pier, whose lunch options forced you to walk through seventeen miles of fat, sweaty, unyielding tourists, I can just hop out the door and across the street.

This is what I can do now when I get hungry: I can close my eyes and imagine any food in the entire universe. Then I can walk across the street to Dominick's and get it. Suppose I want corn pops covered in canned yams for lunch. Dominick's! Suppose I want a burrito covered in those white nougat candies with the jelly beans in them. Dominick's! Suppose I want a salami sandwich with a side of fresh pineapple and 1/4 pound of three bean salad. Dominick's! If I want to eat only kiwi and star fruit for a week? Dominick's!

About the only thing I can't get at Dominick's is the thick skin of depression that came with eating McDonald's, Connie's Pizza, and Build-a-Bear for lunch every single day, and the shin splints from playing dodge-a-pirate every time I walked up the pier.

The world is new! We are all young again. Change has come. Hallelujah.

Stores like these make me damn-near homicidal.

They run out of carts. Today there was literally not a single cart available and I had to get a ton of stuff, so I dragged a heavy basket around the store, eventually carrying stuff in my arms as well. They don't have enough of a selection for me--and it seems like sometimes they only have expensive brands in a category. Example: I was looking for French onion dip today and they only had Dean's (no store brand) and only a big size. Only one option for chip dip?! Oh, the humanity.

They seem to put things in nonsensical places, or at least different places than I usually find them in other stores. The same dip was located by the cream cheese, in a totally different case than the sour cream, which is where I was looking for it. There's no staff to ask for help finding things, I spend twice as long wandering around than necessary. There were no prices on several things.

Checkout lines are ridiculous. They need more Uscans, especially if they can't open more lanes at their busiest times.

One high point, and the reason for the second star, was this one time I bought wine and there was a worker there who offered his help and suggestions and got me some nice wine.

Do Peapod instead. So worth it.

This grocery store is great if you buy normal staples and are not looking for fresh fruits and veggies. I even worry that the cooler has items that have been sitting on a shelf and just returned. The check out area never has enough tellers, the ATM swiper doesn't really work right the first go around, and they never have enough carts. The self check-out lanes are often broken or the person monitoring them is off in la-la land.

It is fun to see the security trap people in the revolving doors or chase them down Halsted.

Unless this place is super convenient or your last resort, don't bother.

Small, cramped, horrible selection, long check-out lines.

I would gladly drive twice as far to get to a better supermarket, this place has barely a better selection than a Walgreens grocery section.

Maybe it is because I haven't really been grocery shopping that much since moving back from California, but the produce section here was downright shameful; no selection aside from the basics (apples, bananas, lettuce, etc).

The store is also laid out in a way that just doesn't make sense. Unless you've been shopping here on a regular basis, don't expect to easily find ANYTHING.

This Dominicks is sweet!
The parking garage is enormous and you feel safe(you don't feel like you going to get hijack when loading your groceries in your car) and it very bright.

Their sales are amazing produce is great alot to choose from Seafood is always fresh.fresh meat and dairy product too.

Really needs to open up more checkout lines, because the lines can get very long.Finally you make it to the cashier and they are super nice and they ask if you need help to your car. That's a A+ in my book.

The Store can get pretty insane but the shelves are always stock and on special days they have free samples of food.

Overall,Just a great place for grocery shopping!

How to disguise an upgrade as a downgrade 101

While I am in love with the new produce department here, the rest of the recent remodel has made this store almost unshoppable. Aisles are half the width, the bread and pastry department in the front is hard to shop (let alone enter since the entrance is so close to the entrance to the store and {especially in winter} people get backed up trying to get a cart, unzip their coats, their babies, etc.)

The liquor department has also been reconfigured and is now in the aisle near the luncheon meats, further reducing the space for people and carts. They have also moved the "10 items or less" check outs to the other end of the cash registers and increased the maximum number of items to 15. Last Saturday night, they were the only lanes open and the lines waiting for registers to open were ridiculously long.

The produce section is very pretty and the variety of produce, especially seasonal, is fantastic ... but again, traffic flow is impeded by the vast number of people and the unclear entrances and exits to the department. In the last several weeks, it has been hard to find a cart in the cart corral leaving people to wander the store looking for one or for an employee to gather carts.

Lastly, the smaller center aisles have also meant that they no longer sell all of the products they once did (this was a problem when they first opened and didn't have a good variety), now we are back to square one. The store doesn't carry my favorite WICKLES PICKLES any longer (instead they sell the inferior-quality Mt. Olive) and I (being a guy) wandered around for a long time looking for replacement filters for my Brita water pitcher before I finally asked and was told that they were a "special order item". Really!? OK! I guess I'll get my replacement filters at Walgreen's.

I feel terrible taking away 1 1/2 stars from this Dominick's, but overhauling the store and leaving only an improved produce section isn't going to cut it.

Poor, poor Dominick's. I hate to write this review. It's like kicking a man when he's down.

Ever since Mariano's opened up across the street, Dominick's has been trying to get their act together with awkward sample tables, updated displays, and extra, friendlier employees.

Too little, too late! You should have tried to garner customer loyalty and satisfaction back when you had no competition in the West Loop.

I wonder how much longer they will last. This location would make a GREAT Whole Foods! Just saying....