Tony’s Finer Foods

What a beautiful store.
What nice produce.
Those prepared foods look really tasty.
That’s the cheapest price I’ve seen for that ANYWHERE.
The baked goods look amazing.
These are all the thoughts that went through my head when stepping into Tony’s Finer Foods this past Saturday evening. Low prices, great looking food and a huge selection?
SIGN ME THE HELL UP!
Only problem is this place is about 4 towns away from where I live and I’m probably not going to drive all the way to get here. But if I ever find myself out this way again and in need of groceries, I would absolutely make it a point to shop here.

This place is suppose to hold the highest of standards in fresh produce. Not so much! Most of the veggies look fresh but dig deeper into the veggie and fruit piles and their is old, bruised and moldy fruit and veggies. Most workers there dont smile or have a friendly demeanor. Cleanliness needs to be enforced.

Great prices, great quality produce also at great prices. Foreign/​European foods are a pretty good selection, mostly Polish, Indian. Foreign foods aisle is my favorite. Oh and that Malaysia paratha bread in the freezer section is serious competition to the roti at a certain do-​it-​yourself stirfry restaurant. One issue, because I guess its hard to be a perfect grocery store. I buy San Pellegrino lemon mineral water regularly. Every single time – and I actually mean every time – there are expired 6 packs in front and I have to go to the back of the shelf for unexpired items. Which means they are purposely putting outdated stuff on the shelf, in front, instead of tossing it or sending it back. Often, I’ve taken the only 2 unexpired 6 packs on the shelf. So be sure to check your dates! Otherwise I’ve had great experiences with the floor staff especially produce guys. Very helpful.

Lefas Olive oil. The best. Buy it and try the Taste of Tradition

Fresh meats, amazing deli, the produce is perfect and has so much variety from tomatoes to poblanos to fresh jack fruit! Never disappoints and even though it’s a big store, they still have that family feel, the deli team gives you a slice of meat, people say hello. You can’t beat the prices!

What can I say about Tony’s?
The selection is huge.
The store is always packed.
The level of cleanliness varies by the time of day.
The level of service is average.
The parking lot is sufficient
The workers are average
The cashiers are usually high schoolers
The organic section is tiny tiny tiny
They have tons of pita bread
They have a a huge bakery
They sell lots of foreign foods too
My father Inlaw likes this place (that doesn’t matter to you though)
I personally don’t like coming here because there are some weird dudes who shop here who will hit on you in a grocery store. It’s gross and not flattering at all.
Also if you look even slightly Latino, people will automatically speak to you in Spanish. That may sound slightly racist to you but I swear I’m not trying to be. It’s just a fact. They don’t ask and they just assume.
Anyhoooooo, if you have reached the end of this review then you probably have labeled me as a racist and have already started contemplating what to message me or how to insult me.

Not impressed with the customer service from the «managers» here at all. Parking lot has garbage blowing around all of the time. selection is decent, but prices are not all that great.
Only stop here because it is close to where I work.

This store gets pretty hectic at times, and is known for its massive line/​wait at the deli counter. The parking lot can get kind of crazy too. I lucked out to be prevented from entering the lot by two cars that were blocking the entrance because they were having a little conversation– RUDE. It’s a store with good produce and great prices so, I understand why it can be crazy.
I MUCH prefer the Tony’s in Countryside, but in a pinch, it saved the day. Their house-​made guacamole is the
, which is what I stopped in for, and was not disappointed with. It is going to run you $ 6 for a larger tub though.
They have a few self-​check out lanes, and friendly staff.

Second time here. I usually go out of my way for better service. I’m always at whole foods but I don’t drive so it’s a hassle on the bus (live in Cicero) the first time here was fine, I was just upset that the bagger put my watermelons on top of my bananas and when I got home they where squished! Today I got great service for three gentleman one answered my question about buying in bulk another even brought me an item I couldn’t find he went out of his way while he was busy. I’m sad I didn’t catch their names but I hope I see them again. I am very impressed with my bagger. I kindly asked him if he can bag a few items a certain way and I apologized for being picky I just told him what happened last time. He kept saying it was no problem at all and I felt sooooo comfortable. I will come back. I hope he sees this ^_^

I am very disappointed not with the deli department at Tony’s at North Riverside, There for 7 minutes and not one of the 4 ladies walking back and forth would tend to me as a customer. what a slap to my face! Totally dissatisfied

This is the only place that I would do my grocery shopping at. This is a very large grocery store and i am so happy that they have a big selection of everything. The veggies and fruits here are fresh and affordable, and they have a great selection of Asian and Mexican veggies and fruits along with condiments and canned goods. The deli section is amazing and they have so many options for cold cuts and cheeses. Tip: grab a number for the deli when you first come in since it takes them a bit to call your number. There’s also an olive bar next to the deli next to the bakery, which always has fresh and nommy breads and pastries. Tony’s also has an extensive meat/​poultry section with some awesome pre-​seasoned items like taco meat and buffalo wings. I have always been able to find everything I was looking for here, and I tend to cook with more ethic/​diverse ingredients. The lines can get ridiculous but they try to move them at a good pace.
+1 olive bar & amazing deli
+1 fresh squeezed OJ
+1 freshly house made guacamole
+1 having an Asian veggie & fruit section with fresh items
+1 extensive meat & poultry selection
Again, this is the only place I grocery shop at, and I will continue to be a loyal customer.

This is only for the cashiers, otherwise the store is great. I was there this morning and the cashier couldn’t bother to say ‘hi’ or thank you at the end. Totally silent. The bag boy was delightful, the butcher was great, fruits and vegetables all stocked and tidy but when you have to give your money to someone who doesn’t care about their behavior, it’s the final impression left with customer, and it’s just odd.
Then I went to Meijer and as always, had a great experience with the cashier and her effort to be pleasant — the contrast is so hard to miss. Come on Tony’s — it’s an easy fix, get the cashiers to care about the business and the people paying their hard earned cash — this is customer service and should be important for every business

Update:
Someone from the store contacted me with this message:
«Hi Alex, we are very sorry this happened with your order. That is not the way we handle catering. Customer service is our TOP priority. We have addressed this with the clerk that took your order, as well as the store manager. We are very sorry for the inconvenience that we may have caused you. We would like to offer you a $ 20 gift card to make up for the mishap and inconvenience. Please message me back with a good time and day we can have it ready for you at the location of your choosing.
Thanks»
Unfortunately I don’t live in the Chicago area so I’m not able to stop by and receive the gift card. I definitely appreciate them reaching out to contact me (even if it might be only in the hopes I improve my rating of the store). As I said before their croissant sandwich platter was pretty good. Maybe they are improving the ordering process/​educating their staff about the options. All in all I would possibly try it again.

This is easily my favorite grocery store in the area. Beats out walmart and ultra foods easily. It is large, has an excellent produce selection and the prices are pretty great. A few of my favorite things that make it stand out are the excellent butcher counter (try the pre-​mixed fajitas!), the wide variety of hispanic foods, a wide selection of sausages, and an excellent bakery counter (a custom birthday cake was like $ 6!!). Sometimes it gets a bit busy, but the lines generally move fast and they have a person bagging your groceries for you at the same time.

Tony’s «Super» grocery store clearly beats their other locations. I hope their new Countryside location on Joliet road (prior Dominick’s) turns out like this one.
The freshness and unique assortment of produce is better than most grocery stores in the Chicago area with exception to some of the new larger Mariano’s.
While I was waiting for my number to be called for my deli picks there was a store employee handing out free samples of fresh hot soup. I tried a couple of them but my favorite was the potato with bacon. The deli had some great sales including name brand meat and cheese along with a number of Tony’s branded items. The deli employee who was assisting me was very careful to ask what thickness I liked each item and brought a sample over to approve before completing the order. Great personal details.
I found the fresh fish department to be amazing. No fishy smell, full sized fish length filets, and fish steaks cut to your desired thickness. Impressive.
The bakery section had a huge variety of items. Many pastries were $.79 each for small and $ 1.49 each for large. The assortment of at least twelve cannoli was very inventive and sold by the pound. I ended up with a few small pastries and two large eclairs. The richness and freshness were great across the board.
I couldn’t do a review of this store and not include the two aisles of international products. The aisles are long and have national flags hanging over them. While there are large sections of Spanish, Italian, and UK products I was impressed with the decent selection of Indian and Middle Eastern products.
The bakery bread and traditional plastic covered loaves areas seemed smaller than normal and it’s clear bread isn’t one of their focus areas.
The parking lot was full of ads blowing all over and most of the carts had a used ad in them. Some focus needs to be paid to carts and parking lot cleanliness.

I love going to Tony’s. They have everything I need.
I love the deli and the fact that they have Boar’s Head meats.
I love their produce selection and how diverse it is. I recently discovered Jack Fruit here. Had never tasted it before and would never have seen it at Cermak Produce.
They have a bakery here and they bake their own breads. They also have a lot of cakes and cookies.
Parking is easy to find. They always have good specials.
I also like that they have an Asian grocery section, a section of Italian foods and a section of Latin foods. Whenever I’m feeling adventurous, I always go to one of these sections and pick a random thing to try.

This grocery store shines for two reasons:
1. EXCELLENT selection of produce, reasonably priced
2. Great international selections
The deli bar is also noteworthy for its selection, as is the excellent Italian desert section. (Warning: The line at the deli bar is so long, you should bring a book.)
CONS:
* Crowded, claustrophobic, packed on weekends.
* While the west end of the store (produce, deli, international) is top notch, things get a bit more depressing as you move towards the east end of the store (meat, dry goods, frozen food, packaged bread, lotto tickets).
For some basic packaged goods, Meijer is still better. But overall Tony’s is a far better experience — especially if you value good fruits and vegetables.

I like this place certainly more than Jewel. Better selection, prices, just a little difficult to get to because of the mad traffic on Harlem ave.- but closer than Caputo’s in Elmwood Park with what I think is comparable selection.
A chain, but as had been said before by another Unilocaler, a local chain. Love the deli, produce selection. Since I love to cook I enjoy the variety they have of foods both ethnic and regular, but even when I don’t feel like cooking their deli has enough ready made items to keep me happy.
EDIT-​Went there yesterday. I like how they locally source some of the items. I especially liked how I got chicken and jalapeño tamales made on the south side of Chicago, also calzone at the deli. Paired with the instore prepared Pica De Gallo was a perfect match! Don’t think they even know what ‘calzone’ is at Jewel, but with places like Tony’s around, who cares?
My fav. place to shop for food.-EDIT.

Store review
How could I have not known you were just around the corner. I have been stuck buying groceries at Target, Aldi, and Jewel without any good inexpensive grocery store until now. I found out about this location through a coworker at Loyola and was very happy to find it only 3 miles away. Although it is slightly out of the way home in the city, it is worth the occasional trip to stock up on ethnic produce. The sale items for fruit and vegetables cannot be beat. You have also endless aisles of frozen food from indian to polish food. Finally you can’t beat the deli selection and usda choice steaks at 5 – 6 dollar per pound. I will be back, I just wish it was closer to the city.
Pros– inexpensive produce, large selection
Cons– significant traffic on harlem trying to get back ton 290
Hidden deals-​Check out the weekly ad to get the best savings on produce

really good sales, good selection of pretty much everything I need when going grocery shopping. but going here on the weekends tests one’s patience. I almost put everything back one Saturday cause the line snaked all the way to the back of the store… then I realized that the line was for self-​checkout and the regular registers were not that bad.
Between Tony’s and Pete’s I’d have to say Pete’s wins by a thread. Good to have options for fresh produce!