Smart & Final

Has great deals and a variety of items. Ashley was the cashier and she made a very rude comment about my son and cursed when she was bagging my groceries. Very unprofessional. For the most part they have great employees and deals. Just this one incident ruined today’s experience.

We are big fans of Smart and Final. Being owners of Onnys Thai requires us to pick up food from time to time. For the amount of food choices and produce that we sometimes require we know we can rely on Smart and Final to have what our needs are.
Additionally the staff is very friendly and will always open up a new lane if they see anyone waiting in a line. We highly recommend Smart and Final not even for being a restaurant owner but for a typical family as they really have great deals on groceries and top notch service.

My mother finds great deals on avocados and portobello mushrooms on sale. Their avocados are really the best. .creamy and good tasting and when on sale, just perfect for snacking or breakfast. I find it to be a hit or miss kinda place.

This is a great grocery store! The best thing here, are the prices, the tidiness of the store, the short lines and the friendly service. Also, surprisingly, their products in stock!
Smart and final is not as common as Von’s or Ralph’s or Albertson’s (by the way, why are they all named the same way?) It is not as comprehensive as your regular grocers, but you’ll be surprised how you manage to get everything you need for a couple of meals here! They don’t have everything and don’t carry a lot of brands of one item, but they have one or two brands of many items which, when you think about it, is really what you need, unless you’re a very specific shopper. They have a good selection of produce which even includes few varieties of berries and even organic bananas!
And this is the BEST PLACE to get your party going or send your hungry kids off to school. They have two aisles of disposable dinner ware and containers (paper, hard plastic, styrofoam) for you to choose from for dirt cheap prices. I was so happy to find the small styrofoam cups I need for liquid nitrogen at work haha!
I love this store. It’s right off the freeway too! Please stay in business.

Smart & Final offers very competitive prices on grocery items such as eggs, milk, butter and water under their First Street brand. Their ad’s don’t always offer the best prices for other items I am interested in (12 packs of soda for example). They do offer 24 packs of Mexican Coke & Pepsi if you prefer the glass bottles. The store is located conveniently off San Marcos blvd and right near the 78 freeway. I will come back for their First Street items.

Today is the first time I came in here to actually shop, not just grab mass quantities for a party. I needed something in between Costco and Sprouts or a regular grocery mart so I came in. I was surprised to learn it doesn’t all come in mass quantity. I never knew I had a choice here on what I wanted to buy in single item and what my family would go through faster. The prices are on par with the regular markets, and you don’t need the membership card. I am a fan. This location was cool also due to having produce.

I like this store. I really do. Its very large and has a lot of variety. They always have a good produce selection and the prices on meat are fair.
I only have a a couple issues with this store in particular. They usually only have 2 checkers at the front at all times. I usually go here in the evening as do most when they get off of work, so you would think that the staff would accommodate. Unfortunately, there is just not the staff to meet the needs in the whole store. If you are looking for an item in particular, you will not be able to find someone to help with that… Just walk up and down every aisle:)
So expect to wait in line… and its usually long as people who shop here like bulk, and the arts are usually full. The OTHER negative is the lighting outside of this store. As a female, I like for a store to be well lit at nighttime and this one, unfortunately at nighttime has none of their lights on. I was thinking last night, as I walked to my car, how dangerous it is to be in the dark night, hands full of groceries, and no lights…
They can definitely afford to hire a couple more checkers at night and to power up those lights on the building.

Ordered bulk items for a wedding party and the assistant manager, Hao, was very helpful and a man of his word, as our items were availble for pick-​up on the date he said it would be ready. Thank you for making this so easy for us!

Good store, large variety, super sized to include fruits and veggies.
Pretty clean and plenty of stock.
Some good prices on sale items.

some items are cheaper but not all. small selection but I am okay with that. the store layout seems kinda of od, hard to locate things. the prices do not show per unit pricing (ie how much does one ounce cost) making it very hard to compare prices. I called today to see if the chicken they sell has been treated with hormones in particular grown homones or antibiotics … they simply did not know and I think were surprised some one would call with such a question… i just want to know what I am eating and they should know what they are selling.

Another new discovery thanks to my dad. Smart & Final is a great place to shop for bargains, particularly if you’re a seasoned shopper and know what a good deal looks like. Some things at Smart & Final are great buys while others are just sub par.
They usually carry ground pork, which is a huge plus for my dad (it can be so hard to find!). Average-​priced produce, inexpensive dairy and a good selection. I’m a fan!

It’s been two years since my last review so I felt it needed an update.
I have to say, they haven’t really improved on customer service but I have to upgrade my initial review because they have made some cosmetic changes to the store which makes it look a lot more updated. Their produce section actually looks official rather than an after thought. No organics but it’s nicely stocked and it’s no longer in the back. It’s new home is to the left as you enter the store where the janitorial items once were. You can’t miss it.
They did not acquire new square footage but with the new redesign, it does seem larger. The new layout makes a lot more sense and is easy to navigate. I wonder if their customer service handbook will soon get a make over as well?
P. S.Smart & Final — I suggest stocking shelves BEFORE you open. The dozens of employees stocking the shelves on Monday (around 11am) blocking all the aisles with their carts stacked so high with broken down cardboard boxes makes it difficult to maneuver through the aisles. It was certainly not pleasant nor safe for customers.

They recently reorganized the place since I last shopped here. It is still the best place to find my cooking needs, buying a large pack of breath mints, and other things.

This is by far the best Smart & Final that I’ve been to. They have more vegetables & meats to choose from.

This is gonna sound funny, but I only come to Smart & Final for condiment supplies such as ketchup/​mustard/​mayonnaise whenever I have a cook-​out.
That and party trays.

what impressed me are the Tradewinds and First Street brands they carry. very good quality and not too expensive

I hit Smart N Final whenever I’m making a bunch of stuff in larger quantities. Their prices are sometimes cheaper then Costco or equivalent. I like that I no longer have to scan a card to get a discount! I always forget lil cards!
Great place for party supplies as well. Large trays with lids, Jell-​0 shot cups. I also found Larger bags of Jell-​o so I didn’t have to buy a bunch of lil boxes and I could make Jell-​o shots in ONE shot! ;-)
People at the checkout are also very friendly.

I come here to get my yeast on. Huge blocks of Active Dry Yeast and also SAF instant yeast for awesome prices, far better than grocery stores if you do a lot of bread baking. This is my baking yeast pit stop. Seriously, if you do a lot of bread baking, shopping for yeast @ grocery store = epic fail city. You get about 20 times the quantity for about twice the cost– and Red Star/​SAF are better brands IMHO than Fleishmann’s and other grocery store brand.
I also come here for the overripe banans on discount to make banana bread with.
It is a bit like Costco here, except without the non-​food related items. They’re also carrying more higher end brands like King Arthur Flour– which is good :) I’m really picky about my flour, and King Arthur is one of my very favorite brands in terms of quality– so I’m very happy to see that SF finally carries KA flour.
Checkout can be a bit slow, since people tend to have gynormous amounts in their shopping carts, a la Costco.

The «People’s Costco.» You don’t need a membership. It’s also rather clean and organized.
The beauty of SNF is that you have the luxury of a regular grocery store, but you can get them in bulk too — but in smaller quantities, crate size — and not wheeled out to your car on a pallet. For this reason, I go to SNF if I’m looking for a regular item, or alcohol for that matter. LOL
Sure, it lacks electronics, DVDS, furniture, backyard items, but SNF does have pinatas (at some locations)? And cool Chinese zodiac paper dinner placemats? Regardless, it’s a nice alternative since it’s smaller in scale and you don’t have to fight the Costco crowds.
Though if SNF had $ 1.62 dogs (tax included), I’d consider forgoing my Costco membership.
PS. You can also get a Quart of Naked Juice — Green Machine for $ 5.00. A quart is an elusive size for Naked Juice. Think about it.