AJ’s Fine Foods

The bacon was good but the scrambled eggs were terrible! They were watery and barely edible. They tasted like powdered eggs and water were mixed in with regular eggs. I would not eat the scrambled eggs in any form.

Ordered some cakes last minute today. The service (James) was fantastic, everything done on time and absolutely perfect. The pistachio cake he recommended was TO DIE FOR! Definitely will return!

They have a beautiful produce section and their meat selection is one the best in CenPho, way better than Sprouts or Whole Foods in my opinion. This is my one stop shop for fresh food for summer grilling.
As a grocery store it’s lacking a lot everyday staples but they have a great selection of quality EVOO and balsamic. They have a great selection cheeses and wines and employees who are knowledgable in these.
It’s a great place for fresh food and specialty or unique items like spices or local BBQ sauce but don’t plan on crossing all the items off your regular grocery list here.

So here’s a funny thing. I decided to have a great Cinco de mayo with my girlfriend. I wanted to buy my protein at AJ’s because they have good quality. She bought all of the vegetables and accessories somewhere else. We got home and we prepped everything about two hours later we went to start to grill the meat. After opening the package it was so spoiled you could smell it through the package.
Here’s the funny part. I went to take it back and told the manager about it and how it could’ve been a serious health hazard. I happen to know because I went to culinary school. I was really nice about it. Also hoping they would take care of me somehow in this situation. If anything the manager looked a little annoyed but gave me my money back. The frustrating part is I had to go find dinner somewhere else and all that was given to me was my money back. I still payed for the shrimp we bought. All $ 4.50 wasn’t even discounted. I rarely do this. I just didn’t want anyone else to get sick, but after the managers response… So be it.

So impressed with their beer selection! I don’t see a lot of markets selling beer singles so this was like… beer heaven. Would definitely recommend!

This is probably the worst of the various AJs locations. The store is smaller in size than the other locations and has a proportionally smaller selection of products. I used to shop at this location quite frequently as I live in the neighborhood, but I’ve definitely cut back in recent months as other options have opened up nearby (e.g., Whole Foods).
The main problem with this location is what happens with smaller /​low-​volume stores: products sit around a lot longer. I’ve often found mold on some of the less mainstream produce (e.g., pineapples, apricots), I’ve on several occasions gotten packaged food that was expired, I find their baked desserts to have a dried-​out feel /​taste to them, and most of their «fresh» bread is hard or stale. I’ve actually started driving several miles out of my way to visit the 44^th street & Camelback location as that location doesn’t seem to suffer from those same problems.

Don’t forget to bring your attitude when you shop. Seems the staff is trained to be uppity snots. Rude is what this place is. Never had customer service like this. The deli people and the man serving the pizza were down right assholes. In a world full of people thinking they are better than others this place exudes rudeness. Keep your over priced crap and your fake ass employees!

I like to stop by here for coffee and desserts. I’ve had the tiramisu and lava cake and both are really good. As far as grocery shopping goes, it’s AJs so to me it’s overpriced. I can do most grocery shopping down the street at Frys or Trader Joes. The customer service is ok, they’re not always super friendly at the registers.

Their iced tea is amazing! Many flavor options at a great price, make sure to add an orange slice!

Not enough healthy selections, over priced, the one star is for the staff, the staff is nice.

one star is too many. I went to AJs for some soup. Turkey and rice sounded great as I was getting over the flu. I got home and started eating the soup and discovered it was full of little hard things I thought may be bones. upon closer inspection, I discovered they were NUTS which were NOT included in the description! l have a life-​threatening allergy to nuts which could have KILLED ME!!!
I called the store and they confirmed there were cashews in the soup. they agreed to refund my order (how nice) in lieu of almost killing me. Fortunately, I was smart enough to immediately induce vomiting (sorry for the graphic) but it was awful and I had several panic attacks throughout the day. The manager of course blamed the inexperience of a ‘new chef’ of their ‘fine food’! WHAT idiot chef puts nuts in soup and is not aware they can cause severe allergic reactions!!!
Finally, the manager did an ‘incident report’ by taking my name and address but said she couldn’t. find the proper form and would call me to follow up. She did call back once but i felt to ill to talk because my throat hurt from vomiting and I was traumatized. NO Further follow-​up because they probably know I could have sued them out of existence!!!
Just a warning if you eat here and have allergies. they hire idiots who lack important knowledge that could KILL someone. Thanks for your concern AJs!

Pros: great meat selection, decent wine selection (although the selection has been dwindling)
Cons: most everything else
A fundamental purpose of a grocery store is to provide fresh produce and bakery items. AJ’s fails at this nearly every time I go. Their bakery or refrigerated items are often moldy or expired. Even when I exercise vigilance, I seem to end up with something expired. Yesterday, I purchased a small pumpkin pie, and it turned out to be moldy! Virtually every time I go there, I have an experience like that. It’s happened with hummus, potatoes being green (a sign of poor quality and unsafe potatoes), eggs, and a few other items.
Also, I’ve purchased items that were *inadvertently* mispriced, like a pretzel roll marked for $ 5 instead of the normal price of $ 1.69.
When you go to a grocery store, you expect that the staff and management are ensuring that the food being sold is fresh and marked correctly. For such a small store, the rate of error at this AJ’s is unacceptable. I’ll be avoiding going back.

Really bad experience today. I ordered this chocolate coated strawberries 45 count and I end up getting this 32 tiny strawberries and 13 bigger strawberries costing me $ 2.49 each. They never displayed the strawberries upon delivery and I feel cheated and frustrated.

My favorite go to for lunch. Their salad bar beats any AJs salad bar out there. Always clean and friendly.

I’m going to give them their final star, because they’ve really stepped up their customer service, even after 8pm. They also have had some decent sales, especially on their private label items (their marinara sauce and bread are especially tasty).
I think the competitive pressure from Whole Foods is helping them improve. Besides sharpening their sale prices, they’re also calling out their nice selection of local brands (Goldwater’s, Tammie Coe, lots of others — look for the little state flag signs on the shelves). I’m also impressed they’ve kept such a nice selection of specialty brands like Monin syrups (including sugar free!) and speciality products like mochi ice cream. They even have small boxes of Hawaiian Host «Peppermint Macnut Crunch» in their Christmas display right now!
The store is going to get an expansion and remodel soon to compliment the remodeled Uptown Plaza too!

Twice in a row the person cutting my prosciutto has pressed it together into a ball of meat. Basically ruined. It’s one of 3 items I bought and I treated its bag like a carton of eggs. This is not the location to splurge on pricy cuts. Lame.

The more appropriate name should be AJ’s Fine prices. I’m known as a cheap skate to some, hey, it is what it is. This store is small but the great thing is I believe they are expanding to the space next to them. If your walking down a isle with a basket you will have to pullover to let the person coming pass at any place in the store.
Top notch customer service and the place is clean. They have everything just like your normal grocery store. They have a hot grill and they serve coffee. There is ample parking.

I ordered cupcakes for my bridal shower and our wedding cake from AJ’s. We worked with the manager, Jason Bird, who was absolutely amazing!!! He was so nice and helpful! Everything came out exactly the way to imagined. The taste was great and everyone loved them! Thanks AJ’s for making delicious cupcakes and a 3 tiered cake!!! We would definitely use you again!

It is a sweet tooth heaven!
Personally, I do not buy all of my groceries here as they can get bit expensive but I do visit AJ’s for many other things such as flowers, fruits&veggies and my all time favorite BAKERY!
The have an amazing selection of cakes, pastries, and any other sweets you may crave. For many different occasions I ordered cakes from Aj’s and it was never disappointment.
My all times favorite is their big fruit tart cake. It is dangerously delicious. Order it for your next event if you like fruit tarts and believe me, you will nor regret it.
Fruits and veggies selection is great. I love to go there for some of my seasonal fruits and veggies. They absolutely have great selection. Same goes for their flowers selection. From nice, fresh birds of paradise to Lilly, s to — you name it.
The staff is always nice and friendly as well. I am glad AJ’s is part of my neighborhood.

Well, there are two reasons to go to AJ’s: you have plenty of money to waste, or you’re looking for a certain product that’s not sold elsewhere. My friend and I came in for the latter the other day: me, for some of my favorite foaming bath, and she, for some flowers.
Avoid this store at ALL costs in the afternoon. It’s rich kid hell. A mob of Xavier girls fills the patio and coffee area, while even more clog up the lines inside.
My friend gave me said flowers because I was having a rough pain day. She handpicked the bouquet. The florist beheaded one of the flowers and impaled it with floral wire, and it was dead by the time I got home. The other flowers only lived for about a day. I was pretty surprised, because when I buy flowers at Trader Joe’s, they survive much longer.
I’m sad to say, AJ’s is phasing out the Fruits & Passions line. Well, now that Wal-​Mart carries Nathan’s Famous pickles and I won’t be able to buy my bath products here anymore, I don’t suppose I’ll have to stop by this place at all. What a shame.