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Roche Bros
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
16 reviews for Roche Bros
This review is for their delivery service (I haven't been to the store). It's similar to Stop n Shop's Peapod model that lets you shop online and choose a delivery time window, but there are a few reasons I choose it over Peapod:
1. The quality of meat and fish at Roche Bros is far better than that of Stop n Shop.
2. They allow you to specify the weight of your meats and produce and supply a field with each item for you to write a note, like how you want your meat cut.
3. You can get same day delivery - as soon as four hours - while the fastest you can get Peapod is next day. However, Roche Bros offers fewer time windows.
4. The delivery charge is $9.95, same as Peapod, but the key here is that Roche Bros has a no tipping policy, while Peapod expects you to tip.
5. Supporting a community grocer over a nationwide chain.
They give you a free apple pie with first delivery, which is cute, but unfortunately the pie was inedibly saccharine. Don't buy their baked goods, I guess.
The selection is pretty good here. 4 stars
Encountered possibly the worlds most retarded bagger. 1 star
(watch out for the guy who stuffs your leafy veggies to the bottom of the bag, then reaches for a bottle filled with liquid... if you got this guy make sure all your stuff is in a bag with a handle... or you may have a glass bottle in a veggie bag... seriously.)
Customer Service, due to glass bottle in handless veggie bag I got vinegar on my shoes, hands and car. They replaced the item with a smile and a sorry. 4 stars.
Also the veggies don't seem to last nearly as long as the produce I get at Whole Foods... which leads me to believe it is not as fresh. 3 stars.
Woot for a good grocery store.
It seems that grocery stores generally fall into 2 categories:
1.) Super expensive, earth muffiny groceries that may be healthy for you, but you can't afford it. See Whole Food.
2.) Grocery stores that just make you want to cry because they lack selection and quality and can at times be run down. They have deals! But at what price? See Market Basket, Stop N Shop etc...
Well here is a 3rd category that Roche Bros. in West Roxbury falls into.
1.) Quality stuff, but not specialty stuff. It's got some healthy options, but also has some "normal" options. The prices aren't sky high, but perhaps a tad higher than what you'd pay at Shaw's or Stop N Shop. I'd throw Trader Joe's into this bucket too.
This Roche Bros. was a pleasant surprise. The only other Roche Bros. I had been to was in Quincy and it didn't wow me. One big thing that I gauge my grocery store reviews on is: produce. Do they have selection? Are they fresh? Is there organic options? Are the prices fair?" The answer is yes to all of the above for Roche Bros.
Their butcher shop and seafood shop are a bit pricey, so we steered clear of that and got pre packaged meat. But they do have a whole section of prepared foods with even a little area of chairs and tables for you to eat. The bakery is pretty large with a good selection, although it is simply grocery store quality baked goods.
We found a great selection and we even found some sales and specials going on. We have been here several times now and are pleased, although it hurts our wallet a bit more than Shaw's so we come maybe once or twice a month.
I don't see many Roche Bros around, so it is good to have this option in West Roxbury.
I would come here for the produce. A little pricey but it is better than Shaws and most definitely better than Stop and Shop. The employees seem quite professional too. Don't really come for the basic items that you can get elsewhere cheaper.
I agree with all the positives listed by other people. I have to say, though... I hate the crowd that shops there. There is something so viciously obnoxious about those arrogant frosted bob bourgeois soccer moms with their completely spoiled karate, tap dance and ballet class brittanys and jakes and their repressed homosexual husbands hogging the aisles with the noses on their bitter faces up in the air like some kind of warped dr. seuss characters. What the hell is it with the middle class? They are so nauseatingly smuggly superior WHY? because they own the right car???
And some of the prepared foods can be a little salty.
This a great grocery store and worth paying a few cents more on some grocery items. They have great, fresh produce and the seafood is from Foley's which I knew from a Newport chef, it's the best suppliers out there.
They have also a "cafe" area where you can get comfort food (Rotisserie and the fixings, sushi, pasta, deli sandwiches and sides) which is great if you are having dinner for one or want to impress someone without cooking. They have a wicked large bakery and butcher shops as well.
Also, on holidays, especially this past easter, I was able to order honey baked ham! Rather than driving an extra 15 minutes on Route 1 - yay!
They also have catering which my family has ordered for graduations, birthday parties and communions.
They still have baggers bring your shopping carts to your car and help you load the turnk, great for parents lugging children and the elderly. This grocery store caters to the community which is great and I would rather spend my money here than the corporate chains.
A West Roxbury institution, Roche Brothers has the unenviable task of competing with a number of other supermarkets in the area, as well as with higher-end grocers and specialty retailers. Yet it consistently beats its rivals in price, service, and quality and does so while remaining independently run and focused on a small geographical area. How it manages to pull off such a feat is at worst impressive and at best miraculous.
I've shopped at each store in the chain at least twice and to review it I selected the location with which I'm the most familiar - the one in West Roxbury. Located just off of Center Street, it offers a huge deli with a number of specialty smoked meats and cheeses from overseas. If one wants a better deli in the area, he or she would have to visit Harvard Avenue in Brookline. Roche Brothers has also created probably the best in-store prepared food section of any supermarket chain in the area, and the West Roxbury store's operation is the best in the chain. Its only drawback is the line that forms around lunchtime and dinner. The sheer variety of its offerings has to be seen to be believed.
The bakery section is comparable in variety and price to other supermarkets in the area and is noteworthy for its seasonal selections. Rather underrated is the produce department. As a former produce department worker in another store I looked down on Roche's selection...but since this location has been opened the variety has increased tremendously.
The best part of the store, though, is its meat department. Roche Brothers has always been known for a strong meat section and that has only improved with time. For freshness and overall quality the department rivals or, in some cases, outdistances higher-end grocers or specialty butchers, and does so at a reasonable price. Even lower cuts of meat, such as flank steaks or London Broil are of restaurant quality. Rather underrated is the store's fish department. A tip: Scallops and haddock are two of the better offerings among a host of good ones. Get 'em.
Both the paper goods and health and beauty sections are very good, but not great, simply because of their limited selection. There is no wine or beer section, but that's expected in Massachusetts. Most who shop at Roche's, though, are more interested in food than anything else.
Service is moderately fast and very courteous...employees will help bring your groceries to the car if you'd like. Notice also the presence of managers on the floor. This is a store where management is serious about the details and that's reassuring. When freshness and quality matter, Roche Brothers wins every time. I've heard some of my West Roxbury friends refer to it as the 'Cathedral of Food.' Well organized, with high quality meats and produce, it's worthy of that title.
It is hard to find a decent grocery store nowadays. Stop and Shop and Shaws have gone way down hill and the selection and prices have turned them into a discount store of sorts. It is nice to see a family owned small chain supermarket still in existence. Hopefully it won't get bought out. The selection here is phenomenal and the prices although a bit high are competitive and for what you get, it is worth it. They even have a butcher counter where you can get fresh cuts of meat or even gourmet burgers and shish kabobs. There is no book aisle or toy aisle or wasted aisles. It is straight forward supermarket with a helpful staff and a great produce department to boot. Worth it!!
I like Roche Brothers fine, but there are a few negatives that keep me from going back regularly. First though, let's go through the positives. They're a small local chain, not a behemoth like Stop and Shop or Shaw's. They have some specialty items, saving the trip to Whole Foods. Their produce is reliably fresh, and the workers are relatively friendly and appropriate. The prices as well are decent.
But, it makes me uncomfortable when they try to bring my groceries to the car. I got it. The parking lot is a nightmare, it's really small and doubles as a meeting place for the local chapter of Morons in a Lexus. That carries over to the store, where the aisles are cluttered with carts that are stopped in the middle, barring your passage. It's like a way more cluttered Russo's with less fantastic items. But if you aren't upset by chaos, you'll do fine here. If I can't make it to Russo's, I might stop here, but it's kind of tantrum inducing.
If this place wasn't so darned close to my house, I wouldn't come here. The prices on all produce are on par with Whole Foods, conventionally grown or organic, and the selection is just as vast, but it's different, and missing a lot of key veggies for me (endives and cheap arugola). Russo's is cheaper, and whenever applicable, fresher, has a better bakery, better prepared foods, cheaper prices on the same cheeses (though roche bro's cheese prices are usually a little lower than WF's), AND you can try the cheeses there. The ones at roche bro's seems like they're put in a standard supermarket display, even if the selection is much better than any stop and shop.
Roche Bro's is kind of a strange middle ground between specialty/gourmet/health freak oriented market, and a plain ol' stop and shop. While it has a little more stuff than stop and shop, you're forced to pay WF prices, but without the kind of selection they have.
Of course, the regular supermarket selection of non-perishable goods, like hostess cupcakes or whatever, are pretty much the same price as regular supermarkets, plus or minus a few cents depending on the product in question.
OMG Yum!!!
This is one of the few places I can find POM juice in pomegranite/cherry.
They have real sushi that actually looks good, as well as lots of cheeses. I love goat cheese and they always have a wonderful selection to choose from.
I found Tzatziki sauce. It's actually pretty good without having to go to a good Greek restaurant.
It's always clean and bright and the prices are great. I can't go in without coming out with 12 things I wasn't planning to buy but looked too good to pass up.
one of my favorite places to do my shopping. They are CLEAN have FRESH food and TASTY prepared foods (mmmmm sushi!)
They make you feel like you are at a whole foods without the snobby 'tude and high prices. I think they are actually quite cheap.
personal favorites...
all fish/seafood
egg and potato salad
sushi
garlic bread sticks
butternut squash side dish
oh! and the best thing about this place is that they treat you like a super star and carry your groceries out for you, put them in your car and won't accept tips!!!
It's definitely the best grocery store in the area. It may be a little more expensive than Shaws or Stop and Shop, but on the other hand, they have much better produce and even better fish!
Sure, the groceries are a bit more expensive here, however, the produce is amazing, as is the meat and cheese selection. The people are friendly and the store is extremely clean, and to me, that is worth the extra money. Roche Bros and and Trader joes are my stores from now on.
I go to Roche Bros at least once a week, sometimes more. It helps that it's right down the street from work. But honestly, their sushi is fantastic, they make great sandwiches and all of the pre-made foods I have tried have been very good (better than Whole Foods, in my opinion). They usually have some pretty good sales as well so I don't find myself paying through the nose for regular grocery shopping. I also love the feel of the hometown grocer's.
This is the place to come if you dont know what else to do with your money. The groceries cost twice as much as stop and shop. customer service is good thanks to the scores of immigrants who work for roche bros. most people leave a tip at this grocery store. when I worked here they told us to step it up as there would be people driving 50K cars who shop at this place. By the way their sushi is horible, and is what u expect from a grocery store. I regret having worked for roche bros, unapreciating sons of b
