Andronico’s Market

I started out going to the Andronico’s in Berkeley way back when. They always carried lots of European snack foods that I couldnt find elsewhere. Besides the smallest Whole Foods in the world, the near downtown PA area never had a solid grocery store besides this place. Too bad they closed. I have to go to Los Altos or somewhere else to score my Waffeletten!

I have shoped at the Andronico’s in Los Altos several time in the past. I have found the whole gestalt of their operation, pricing and selection offers very little value for what you’re really getting. If you want expensive organic fruit and vegatables, then Whole Foods is the way to go. If you want high quality prepared foods then Draegers is the way to go. Andronicos is expensive and doesn’t offer these things.
Once when I had the flue I bought their chicken soup. It was so salty and peppery that I had to bring it back. I went to Whole foods and found a great chicken soup.

I’ve been to Andronico’s perhaps a half-​dozen times since rewriting my review (someone deleted my original) in 2009. Spoiled food (rice pudding among other things), tasteless stuffed pasta (for $ 10.99 no less), and crabby, complaining staff at the checkout line. This place used to be SWARMING with customers and nice staff happy to help. I realize that times have changed but it’s my choice to stop shopping at this store.

I’m on a weston-​price type diet and it’s the only place on the penninsula I can get (almost) everything: unpasteurized-​FRESH dairy and grass fed meat and organic/​free range chicken all under one roof.
They even have potato chips cooked in olive oil or avocado oil.
The only thing I can’t get there is grassfed butter.

I bought a cheesecake topped with kiwis, blueberrys, mandarin oranges, etc. for V-​day. Valentines day not Victory-​day. It looked great. Then I tried the fruit. Some were moldy. Unfortunately, I find this out half-​way. I proceed to vomit for the next half-​hour and then sleep the next 11. They have good sandwiches but stay away from the bakery.

Let’s start with the positive:
Easy in/​out access to the parking lot
Attached to Stanford campus = fast bike grocery trip, in theory
Down to business:
Have you been in here midday?
You could waste an entire lunch hour, grow a full head of gray hair, AND get an upset stomach from the amount of out-​of-​code product stocked here.
The lines can get out of control at the registers and the sandwich counter. Enough so that I have filled up a basket on multiple occasions and ended up walking out with nothing because it was not worth the wait.
Yet again, product past its shelf life. Seriously. You need to manage your inventory. Yesterday I was in the dairy section and went to buy some cottage cheese, picked up MULTIPLE containers that had «Best By» dates of November 24. This took place December 1. NOT okay.
I have seen this many times on many products here.
Shop at your own risk.
Waste your own time.
My recommendations:
Produce & Dairy from Sigona’s at Stanford Mall.
Trader Joe’s or Safeway near by for grocery.
JJ & F Food Store, Tootsie’s or anywhere on campus for Sandwiches
I’ve hit my tipping point. I’m out.

The World According to Noelle
Allergic Girl’s Guide to Life
There are three things I love about Andronico’s Market:
1. Specialty cheeses
2. Hot deli
3. Desserts
They have a great selection of specialty cheeses. They variety of already desserts (cookies, cakes and pies) are great especially when you’re looking for something to take to a party or when you have last minute guests over at your home. The hot deli has some amazing already made foods– free range turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Once when I was short on time– we dropped in and picked up dinner & dessert here at Andronico’s. The turkey dinner that they have is overpriced but extremely delicious. The other parts of the grocery store– the meat department, produce– veggies & fruits are just okay and nothing special. One look around and you’ll realize how ‘dated’ this grocery store looks. For the price point you’re better off going to Whole Foods– better selection and around the same price point or cheaper on certain items.
Noelle’s Notes
Great free range turkey!

I loved it back in the day but now it seems like they are slipping. Once i was browsing the fridge selection of desserts, and found one molded and told one of the staff of the situation … they seemed pretty apathetic.
They have a great variety of items that you won’t find elsewhere. I appreciate their salad bar, soups, and sandwiches that are made there on site.

Whoa, it’s 2010 and I haven’t yet written a review of my favorite grocery store on EARTH? Why is it so awesomesauce?
1) They have BOTH the the snobby healthy stuff and the non-​snobby non-​healthy stuff. It drives me nuts to go to a «natural» foods store to get my aged gouda and then not be able to get golden grahams. Andronico’s solves the problem, and doesn’t gouge you on the commoners’ items (cough cough M**** S****‘s).
2) In 2002, I cooked steak about 50 times over a few months as I attempted to find the best meat and best preparation style. In the end there were several stores contending for the honor of tastiest meat (including Schaub’s and Mollie Stone’s) but Andronico’s most consistently had the richest USDA prime beef. They also have American Kobe beef quite often and I don’t know of any other grocer that does. Note that the beef I (and probably you) like is the tasty kind, not the sustainable, healthy grass fed kind like from Whole Foods. But I think they have grass fed beef sometimes. In any event, see point 1. And they also usually have at least one of the tasty beef items on sale for prices competitive with Safeway.
3) Selection: this is the only place I know of that has multiple offerings of aged gouda and gruyère, USDA prime beef, turkey (and vegetarian) bacon, pork bacon, slab bacon, port varietals and dark chocolate ice creams. It’s like food heaven.
4) I totally don’t get peoples’ bitching about prices. This place is cheaper than whole foods for the snobby items (ever shopped for aged cheese?), fairly priced for the items that they carry exclusively (they could charge double what they do for Kobe beef or Beemster Master’s or even some of the more highly rated wines), and non-​gouging for my favorite slummy items like mac and cheese. But indeed if you are not shopping for the finer things you’ll definitely save a buck or two by going to one of the Safeways nearby and buying the club card items.
5) The service is pretty great.

No more 15% discount for Stanford affiliates. Boo. 5% everyday for Stanford affiliates and all students (at any school).
Now that the discount is even smaller (and the mark-​up is pretty high), I’ll only come for grocery emergencies on my way home from work.

I love this market. I guess it’s more upscale version of Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. My rave is for the deli. They have the best spicy salami, and they know how to make a mean sandwich.

Three generations of family-​owned market experience, eight Bay Area locations (four in Berkeley alone), and a history that goes all the way back to 1929: it adds up to a top-​quality operation with some very fine products and some expert staffers who can cater to the specialized tastes of its middle and upper-​income clients.
Apparently two Andronicos (in Walnut Creek and Danville) shut down in 2006, but otherwise this operation seems quite solid. This Palo Alto branch opened in 1997 and is in a great location in the Stanford Shopping Center, although I suspect that it will not be thrilled that a Trader Joe’s just opened up nearby in the Town and Country Village on Embarcadero and El Camino.
Personally, I really loved this place, even though it took me more than a year of living in the PA area to finally discover it. I came on a recommendation to pick up a bottle of Aglianico del Vulture (Re Manfredi) and ended up leaving with this plus a prosecco (Carpenè Malvolti) for New Year’s eve and a selection of meats from their excellent deli: some thinly-​sliced Fra’Mani rosemary uncured ham, jamón serrano, and their superb house-​made roast beef. I also picked up an Acme Bread Co. pain au levain and a La Boulange brioche from the bakery section as well.
So, it was like getting a little bit of the best of Italy, Berkeley, and San Francisco, and all in Palo Alto! Needless to say, I will not be coming here for my daily shopping needs, but I will return for such divine specialty items when I have something special to celebrate or just want to treat myself, my wife, and our friends to some memorable meals.

This place reminds me of Mollie Stone’s — only I don’t like it. Atmosphere? Prices? Staff? Customers? Lighting?
I don’t know what it is… but it’s just not for me…

Andronico’s is a great market, but especially the people, they are my family. I miss Kris! Maria and Jose in the deli, and Martha is slow, but makes a mean sandwich! Mr. «Big» aka Alex, you make me laugh, and cutie-​pie Luke and his fine twin brother! My Sofia man, and I am blanking out on your name (ETHAN)-just promoted-«to do everything now! Carolyn is the bomb, OK then, the samples are not coming out as much, but when they do, WOW, you buy it! The cheeses, the meats, the fruit! What a marketing concept. Also, the meats that are marked down are a deal, keep it coming ENRIQUE! Yeah, and you know the zone machines keep demagnitizing my credit cards!
Love you all, great service, too high prices, but good specials!!! Great produce and seafood and meats!

Fine… call me a cheap bastard, go ahead!
I just can’t justify going here to do any real grocery shopping for what they charge… my mom would smack me upside my head if she ever saw me shopping here.
But… if you just need a couple of things from the produce aisle, it’s a good place to go. They have really fresh produce, and the selection to match.

Andronico’s has a good place in my heart, and I would rank this location higher than their location in Los Altos mainly because it’s massive in comparison.
They have a solid deli counter, with good sandwiches, even if they are a bit expensive. Their bakery counter is again, very solid, and I’m a big fan of their Adult Brownies. I don’t like chocolate all that much, but I like this version of chocolate. I also like their selection of cold drinks. A good variety of froo-​froo drinks (tons of iced teas, almost juice drinks, etc.) and a good selection of high end beers. If I need a funky cracker, or I don’t want to deal with the pretention of Whole Foods earth mother-​ness, I go here. I can get my perogies, a decent steak cut, and very good produce without plowing through a mile of tofu-​related meatlike products.

A sandwich at Andronico’s costs, bare minimum, $ 6.99. That ain’t ballin’ to me.
Having gotten that issue out of the way, here are my main concerns with the sandwich counter:
1. It takes forever for you to place your order initially.
2. Once said order has been placed, it’s like that scene in Love Actually, where Alan Rickman is trying to buy a present for his maybe-​future mistress as his wife slowly approaches, and the salesperson puts every tiny detail into wrapping the gift in the most time consuming, intricate, infuriating way possible.
3. Once said order has been executed, you pay said price.
That all being said, they make a damn good sandwich.

I expect superior yummies when I shop at fru fru stores like this.
I really liked their sushi. Grocery stores are giving sushi bars a run for their money. It might be the chefs they hire. I had great spicy tuna rolls for lunch here.
What didn’t meet my expectations was the sandwich. The lady behind the counter was so scatterbrained. We asked for Turkey with muenster but she couldn’t get the cheese package open so we opted for provolone instead. She added provolone AND muenster AND some gross wasabi mustard. We asked for spicy brown and got that other stuff. All in all it made for one weird tasting sandwich. I ate the turkey inside and tossed the bread. What a waste of money.
I guess I might come back for more sushi on my next visit to Nordy’s. You can bring your lunch over and sit outside on the tables near the coffee bar. The sun hits this patio perfectly at noon. (inbetween crate and barrel and nordys)

I like Andronico’s but it is VERY expensive at this location – to the tune of ridiculous.
I like the large cheese selection and the deli. It does have an extensive selection of good gourmet products.
However, I did once get a deli worker give me Prosciutto with the rind still on.

The world’s snottiest checkout clerk works here. Gives you MAJOR stink eye for looking at the magazines while waiting for you to have the pleasure of having her ring up your expensive groceries. Why is she the only checkout person available when I go… everytime? Its like some bad Twilight Zone episode where I am stuck in an Andronico’s time loop with her and the multitudes of double strollers and blue haired crankyassed women who frequent this place.
Food is good… but jeesh. I’m not inclined to pay this kind of money for stink eye.