Publix

I know, I know, it’s Publix. Why am I reviewing a Publix?
Well, mainly I’m reviewing this little café inside Publix. The other day I was here and grabbed a quick coffee before I noticed — wait, what is that on the menu?
Cuban coffee?
Colada?
Cortadito?
Heck yes! Publix is based in Florida, and their locations down there are full of delicious treats like empanadas, relleno de papa and yuca. Here they’ve managed to bring a few of those Latin influenced items along — you can find empanada discos, tostones and pulpa de fruta in the freezer section.
Anyways, there’s Cuban coffee here, and guava and cream cheese pastries, another South Florida/​Island favorite. So stop in and grab a Cortadito and guava and cream cheese «turnover» and you can almost hope that when you walk out the door you’ll see Palm trees and be a short drive from the beach :-)

I grew up with Publix, so I know what it means for «shopping to be a pleasure». At this location? Farthest thing from the truth. Publix is known for their subs. Clearly, their deli workers aren’t aware of that, or were not informed of that when signing on for their position. They have an amazing tomato mozzarella sub ADVERTISED on their sub menu. Yet… NO ONE knows how to make, or even wants to make it. It requires them to (wait for it.) LEAVE the deli area, and get fresh basil, a roll from the bakery, fresh mozzarella, and a tomato from produce. Then, assemble. Not only do they fumble around and try to convince you not to order it, then they have to search for the book, and you have to physically walk them through it and tell them how to make the sub. Again, the sub that is advertised right above their head. Turkey creek has been much nicer about this clearly difficult task, but Northshore is horrible about it, and if you dare to order one over the phone, it’s NEVER correct, or– they just decide not to make it and tell you they are missing an item. Um? Improvise? I’ve written them, complained to the manager, and exchanged twitter convo’s with the HR peeps– but nothing seems to change their attitudes. They do not make «shopping a pleasure», hence why I have returned to Kroger.

I’m disappointed in this Publix. We used to shop all the time at Publix when we lived outside of Nashville. It was cheap, high quality, and nice. Naturally we were excited to hear they were coming to Knoxville. I finally shipped at this location this weekend and I am utterly shocked. Low quality produce, outrageously expensive prices on everything, and it seemed like all the employees scattered away as soon as I came near them. I’m not used to this experience at a Publix. After that experience, I’ll be heading back to Kroger Marketplace. It is worth the extra miles.

Wow, everyone here is so friendly. From the bakery, to the manager, to the cashier. You always feel welcome here and the bakery is pretty awesome! They know what Customer Service is.

We go over to this Publix grocery as often as we can from Maryville. The store is very open, airy, with wide aisles, gorgeous produce and a nice selection of cheeses, a deli that offers free samples before you buy… very friendly employees everywhere. The pastries look awesome, but I’ve resisted trying that so far !! Sometimes they offer free ice cream samples… actually there are samples being offerred all over the store. The seafood and meat counters in the back offer very fresh looking products. I was pleased to see a varied selection in the international foods area.
I do think a lot of their regular prices are higher than say Kroger or Walmart, but when they offer Buy 1Get 1Free, it is economical to shop here. Economy cannot always be paramount for us… because we do like some of the finer things, and this store offers the best in the area so far. I like the fact that they insist on carrying your groceries to your vehicle and loading them into the car for you. Nice touch !

I was so excited for Publix to come to town as we always shop there when we are in Florida. They have an awesome selection of everything, bakery, deli, meat and the one of the best gourmet cheese selections around. They have samples all the time which is nice when you are walking around. The customer service is always great and the staff is very willing to help. I love going to publix but it won’t replace my regular weekly grocery shopping at Kroger. Publix overall prices are higher and no fuel points.

Went on a Sunday evening around dinner time. The store was not too terribly busy as I had expected. The grocery section is very nice. Publix carries several items that some of the other local chains have cut out of their inventory and prices were a little better on most items than I expected. With that said I will talk about the deli/​bakery side of the store. OMG! I was overwhelmed by the bakery items and huge selection. Knoxville is not a place you can find a good bakery. Publix has everything-​cakes, pies, tres leche cake, cannolis, turnovers, cookies, cream puffs, tarts, mini cheesecakes… it goes on and on. I took home a mini éclair (to die for), a cream puff (not Schmidt’s in Columbus but where else can you get a cream puff in Ktown?), and a piece of chocolate ganache cake. I need to go back for some full size eclairs!!!
They also have a sandwich area which my mother’s coworkers rave about. There is an Asian hot bar which I have also heard good things about. There is a coffee/​gelato bar but I was disappointed that it is Ciao Bella gelato which you can buy in many stores. There is also a nice seafood and sushi section in the back. They were giving samples of sushi but I have never been brave to try sushi and I was stuffed from late lunch at Chuys.
Pretty amazing selection. I can’t wait to go back and try some more stuff. I’m glad Knoxville has finally gotten an upscale gourmet store that does more than make you have a card for specials. Once again it’s a shame that we can’t have the big wine aisle that so many of the other Publix stores have.

It’s only been open two days so there’s not much to rate yet. Staff was very friendly, bagger insisted on loading our car in the pouring rain. All the checkouts were open, and there were free samples everywhere! Lots of reasons to go back… free 1^st bday cake with purchase of larger cake (awesome!), some chix and meat upfront in cooler for people who need to pop in just for meat. Great fruit selection. It was very nice. Can’t wait to compare pricing.

I was dumb enough to go today (Sunday) after church let out. I’ve never seen so many people in a grocery store and waiting in lines for the free samples. I didn’t really get to try out the bakery/​deli area which publix is known for so can’t comment on that.
The staff is super nice, almost too nice if that is possible. I also like that you don’t need a plus card or whatever to get the sale price. They had a bunch of stuff that was buy 1 get 1 free but other things were expensive compare to other grocery chains.
I also feel that when other stores move in to the Northshore TC it’ll be better, but traffic might become a small issue.
It’s a welcomed addition to the grocery store market in Knoxville.