Smart & Final Extra!

I stopped in to Smart & Final today, 12-13 and was having so much trouble with the online app. Andrea and Michelle were so helpful. Couldn't have gotten through it without them. Thanks ladies!! I love this store. I stopped going to Walmart because it is so busy and no one to help you ever. So to wrap it up. Try Smart Final! Great store and the nicest staff.

Honestly it has been too many instances where I feel a very prejudice vibe from the cashiers here... today I literally watched this short haired blonde girl smile at a man in front of me in the line, who said nothing to her, (rude if you ask me) and then when it came time for me to check out her face went cold, even when I smiled. Its truly a disgusting feeling to feel prejudged when you just want to shop and be treated the same as everyone else. It's been about 5 instances I can think of where I got this cold/ rude customer service, and I hardly come here for this reason. Seriously work on it! It's absolutely ridiculous that your workers are behaving this way In 2024. Diversity training is very much needed.

I come here often since I live close and haven't really had any issues with this place. Always clean, I can mostly find what I'm looking for, love the bulk meat or large meat options here. My only gripe is I wish prime grade beef was available. Other than that it's a good grocery store.

I just shopped at the Tierrasanta Smart & Final store. I asked for help from
Carlos and found him to go above and beyond for me. He was polite and most helpful. Thank you Carlos!!!

This store's bathroom is actually top tier quality. The toilet paper was soft and the bathroom was clean. Very impressed by the cleanliness. If you ever need a quick bathroom break, then come here.

I wish this store was stocked better but the alcohol section is decent so I included that in my rating scale.

I don't understand the negative reviews. This place is great! I've never had a problem getting out quickly and their prices are good.

Smart & Final opened in the old Vons location. It's apparently very exciting for everyone in the area. So exciting that they kind of acted like little monsters without manners.

It's still a smallish store. They closed off one of the entrances and it looks really odd now as the outside tables are still over there. They have put in a new set of doors dedicated as an exit only. I don't foresee this working too well. People in this neighborhood have been used to going in and out of the same doors for years, you know that saying. I watched the old dogs, and they weren't picking up that new trick too well as they got aggressively grumpy with the exiting shoppers.

Smart & Final touts itself as selling organic produce. I had trouble finding it. I'm sure it's there though. They also have all those bins of bulk items, which frankly scare me as I watch people reach in with their hands, ew. They had a few deals. Just not anything I was interested in specifically. I think the eggs for $.99 a dozen were a good deal for some, I prefer cage free organic eggs though.

They have a bakery section, but it's worth noting that nothing sold there is actually fresh. It's all items from other retailers. Same with their deli. They don't prepare anything onsite, other than their rotisserie chickens (I think).

The bottom line on this store is that pretty much the majority of everything sold here is not fresh or especially healthy. If you're ok with that, then you can pick and choose to find the few items worth buying.

We go early to avoid other shoppers in this Omicron period. There aren't any lines at this hour, but quite often, the checker on the one lane that's open is semi-busy doing something else and not paying attention to customers. There's one checker with a Russian/Eastern European accent who seems to deliberately ignore customers as long as she can (even if she sees us), then acts like she's doing you a big favor by checking you out. If you ask her about a specific grocery item, the answer's always a shrug and "I don't know". When I worked in retail, I was taught that the answer should be "I don't know but I'll find out". That's good customer service.

The pandemic has been hard on everyone, I get that, but I sometimes think that's being used as an excuse for mediocre manners and poor service.

I disagree about the comment on poor selection of produce. They actually have a fairly decent selection of organic stuff. My only beef is that often, their organic lettuce and cucumbers are already starting to deteriorate. I don't mind cosmetic flaws, but when romaine lettuce is browning and cukes start to wrinkle and collapse (i.e. rot), it's time to take 'em off the shelf.

The old Vons that was here has been bought and converted into a Smart & Final Extra store. It is kind of a weird large space now that doesn't seem to be as well stocked as when it was Vons. When I was here for the holidays I didn't realize it had changed owners when I went in with family, but I noticed something was off about it as we were walking out. That's when they told me it was a Smart & Final now. It'll take some getting used to, but I'm glad there's still a place to get grocery items in this shopping center.

It would be really helpful and beneficial to those who don't know that "Smart & Final Extra" is a grocery store if they changed their name to "Smart & Final Grocery!"