QFC

This QFC in Ballard has a parking garage that always has a lot of parking when I’ve been here on a weekend evening.
Employees are friendly and offer to help.
It’s a really big store compared to most grocery stores in the area, and they have a good variety of brands.
QFC is one of the most expensive grocery chains in WA so I don’t frequent it often, but when I’m in this neighborhood, I shop here.

This store gets one star, based upon two days in a row of insanely subpar guest service. Ready? Here’s why.
Saturday, I walk in, cheese section. Woman attendant is putting out a Antipasto salad sample that looks good. Being a vegetarian, it looks great and I want to try it.
Act 1 Cheese Section, ACTION!
Me: «What’s in it?»
Her: «Artichokes, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Olive Oil»
Me (taking a sample): «Thanks!»
Huge bite of pepperoni. Ugh. I return.
Me: «You know, some people can’t eat this, you may want to mention all of what’s in it.»
Her (not politely): «You should have asked what’s in it.»
Me: «Yeah well, I did, you said nothing about pepperoni.»
Her (huge sigh, throwing it back at me): «I can’t remember everything.»
Zero apology. Acted like it’s my fault. I don’t care that I accidentally ate something, I should have been more inquisitive, but her inept response is the focus.
Dena, the (awesome) store manager apologized about it and immediately took responsibility.
Next day, Sunday evening. I thought I would ignore the incident and give them another shot.
Produce section. Scene opens with my looking at produce, searching for mint. Bald attendant with huge earrings and tattoos gracing his neck pushes between me and products. He stands in front of me.
Me: «Excuse me sir, where is the mint?»
Him (turns around): «Hmmm…the mint is…»
3^rd party comes up behind the man, interrupting. I’m assuming he knows the produce attendant. Fake punches him in the back.
3^rd party customer: «HEEEEYYYY SEAHAWKS!!! WE DID IT MAN, WE GOT EM!»
They continue having a conversation about the football game, the attendant forgets that he is on the clock and has a conversation about the day’s football game, as though at a bar. I stand and wait for them to finish, not wanting to interrupt, maybe it’s a family member or something. I wait and I wait. 60 seconds later they’re still at it and the attendant never turns around. So I leave.
Five minutes later, As I’m leaving the store, they’re still involved so I return to the jovial conversation and say:
Me: «Thanks for answering my question man, I appreciate it!»
Him (glaring at me as though it’s my fault): «What the he… what are you talking about?»
I walk away, listening to him shout at me from across the store like any proper hoodlum. I turn around and he’s still shouting. The best part is, I have no doubt he left the exchange feeling as though I was the jerk. A simple question gone awry.
QFC guest service in action, as instructed by the inmates from C Block. Great job QFC, keep hiring quality!
I’m bailing. Trader Joes and Safeway are just as easily accessible.

This grocery store is expensive and I’m not entirely sure why. Is it because this chain of grocery stores is just more expensive in general? Is food in general just more expensive in Washington? In Seattle? Is it more expensive just because of the neighborhood? Is it some combination of all of the above? I didn’t go to any other grocery stores during my time in Seattle, so I couldn’t test most of my hypotheses, but I was consistently shocked by how much more expensive regular items were here than in my local grocery stores in Texas.
Claussen pickles? Two dollars more here than in Texas.
Prosciutto wrapped mozzarella? Three dollars more expensive here than in Texas.
Deli items? Two-​three dollars more expensive per item.
Deodorant? Three dollars more expensive.
Some items were the same price, like Luna bars or this one chia seed drink I like from Mamma Chia, but everything else had a mark-​up. Some of this stuff was at a Whole Foods level of price mark-​up, except this isn’t Whole Foods. This is just a chain grocery store.
We went here because it was only a three minute walk from our friend’s apartment complex and because we needed breakfast foods and snacks for hiking, but I would have preferred somewhere cheaper. I know that most people shop here because it’s convenient, but I am so glad I got to return home to my beloved H-​E-​B and their low prices.
The one cool thing was that they sell liquor in the grocery store. Yes, dear fellow Texans, in other states they are not backwards and you can buy liquor in a grocery store. How crazy is that?

Helpful for purchasing food for lunch. Enough parking to get in and out.
It’s a bit too big for me to feel comfortable but it has all you need.(And a whole lot more)

Love this store. Great organic produce section. Great prices on wild-​caught fish. Today I was there and saw this man who had a gun strapped to his side and shopping next to me. I felt really unsafe. I won’t be going back there.

This review is for the Starbucks in house… they are the best «Barista’s» in the business. I recommend them to friends and get my coffee here when in town. I judge other Starbucks by their service and attention to detail. On a personal note, thanks Maria & Kabrina for your friendship.

Not seeing what my neighbors are… I don’t know if I’m jaded from having lived near the University Village QFC before living in Ballard, but I think this might be the worst QFC in the city.
They have minimal selection all-​around (which likely has to do with how small it is), the staff are all either unhelpful or busy scowling/​gossiping, and their perishable food items are stocked in such a way that everything is ‘Manager Special — Expiring” on a two week swing. Don’t even get me started on their lackluster deli and meat section.
I’ll keep going here because the alternatives are Safeway (even worse), Fred Meyer on Leary (too far) and Ballard Market (too expensive)… but, meh.

I’m a pescaterian who buys a lot of fish here.
The other day I bought a whole coho salmon — they fileted it for me — that turned out to taste funky. Not spoiled per se, but kind of like low tide on a July afternoon, or maybe chewing on some dock pilings. Anyway, I called and said I had $ 32 worth of funky fish; they told me to just bring in the receipt. They had a bigger salmon all filleted for me when I came in, and this one tastes dandy. As for the nasty fish, my dog is really pleased with it.
The staff is always really helpful here.

The reason why I’m giving this store one star is because the Boars Head Deli. Sucks. Big time. You charge me 50 extra cents, I remind you over and over to put my darn avocado on my sandwich and you remember to charge me but can’t remember to put a sandwich with cheese, meet, avocado, and bread together. Really? That many ingredients and you can’t figure it out? The young girls working their are ALWAYS gossping and look like I’m bothering them to order a sandwich. They obviously are all still in high school and could care less about their job considering the poor customer service as well as the fact that they have more important things to do then to make me a sandwich. haha.
BUT, besides that the store is great. A lot of homeless people in the section where people can sit to eat, and the tables are always dirty and it sucks sometimes that when I order food I want to eat right away every table is dirty or taken over by homeless people and their luggage.
The cheese section is great, they always give nice samples. Everything else is pretty good. It’s got like everything in it which is nice to get all my shopping done in one place. Love the steaks there. But I definitely won’t be paying 8 $ for a sandwich that is made incorrectly. EVERY TIME I ORDER FROM THERE.

Get a Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcake. Trust me.

If you are able to pull yourself from the amazing restuarants in Ballard long enough to cook at home, this is your spot. It has great deals, amazing produce, delish sushi, nice staff, 24hr open and never any wait for check out.
The wine/​booze selection is pretty stellar. I am still blown away by the Capitol Hill’s selection, but it is still quite good. There’s a super friendly wine guy who hangs out and gives AWESOME advice on well-​priced vino, but he’s my little precious and I’m not sharing him. I like the cooler to drunk your booze in while you shop so any wine can be chilled appropriately for dinner at home.
At the risk of sounding like a cheapskate, during lunch QFC has SAMPLES. It’s like Costco in there, I swear. My defining 5-​star moment was when a deli guy approached me with a tray blue-​cheese stuffed dates to try. Seriously guy? I work too close to this place during lunch for this to be healthy.

It’s ginormous! This is a big QFC. I’ve recently started swinging by here as I’m taking my workout buddy back to his place in Ballard.
The facilities are clean, well lit and well stocked (even at the time of night we shop).
The other night we were looking around in the deli section and even though they were closed the guy behind the counter, who was cleaning up and getting ready to leave, still hooked up us with some goodies from behind the counter. He could have said no and we would have been understanding but instead he supplied us with the delicious food we desired. A plus to you, man!
Bottom line is this is a grocery store. It’s a nice grocery store but it isn’t going to do anything amazing like teach you how to make an origami triceratops or rebuild an engine.
I’m a fan.

I really like this location, I think the people are friendly, the store is clean, and the aisles are easy to maneuver through.

Like this store a lot.
But just after five p. m.
Teenage staff party!

So glad that QFC is like 3 blocks from my new residence. This one is smaller than the one I was used to on the bottom of QA, but I absolutely LOVE the layout of this one.
Very easy to navigate and everything was organized so well. It is known that the «healthier» food is on the perimeter of grocery stores — this one was set up perfectly so, that I only had to do one little circle around and I was done.
I’m so glad this one is also open 24 hours. The parking garage is a little tight and hard to maneuver but I’m sure its just a matter of getting used to. I have never been this excited about a grocery store.

I live above this QFC so I go there probably 5 – 6 times a week. It’s pretty standard, clean, well lit, good selection and all that.
The reason it gets 5 stars from me is what happened to me one time in December. I had gone to a holiday party for work at a restaurant nearby. Everyone from my office proceeded to get totally hammered at dinner, myself included. Hey it’s been a stressful year, don’t judge us. We finished up the night at a bar, which is where my memory of the night’s events get pretty hazy.
What I have been able to piece together from my brown out state is that I left my coat (with apt keys in the pocket) in the bar so I could not get into my apt building. I must have fallen on my phone, possibly while running because it was wiped of all my numbers when I finally found my apt. Also I had a broken toe (which I found out about the next day when I couldn’t walk without limping).
Anyway, since I couldn’t get in to my apt and had no phone contacts, I decided to wander into my friendly neighborhood QFC (which is open 24 hours) and plop down in one of the comfy chairs by the fireplace. Yes, this is the area where the bums usually hang. I positioned my chair directly in front of the fireplace, soaking up all of that sweet QFC heat. I woke up 8 hours later, with people working on laptops sipping Starbucks all around me. I then wobbled home on my broken toe and had the maintenance man let me in so I could shower before going to work to see if I had gotten fired or something. I hadn’t, yay!
Props to you, QFC, for recognizing that I was a loyal customer who was clearly in a rough state. I appreciate you not waking me up to kick me out. Also, those chairs are very comfortable, I might sleep in one again someday just for fun.
My one gripe about this place is that they don’t have blankets to use when you want to sleep there. I had to use a newspaper to cover myself, which was kind of embarrassing.

I was so excited to see the QFC open just a few blocks down, literally right when we moved into the neighborhood. I’ve always found QFC to have a higher quality and selection than Safeway. I know that people say it’s way more expensive, but I really think it depends on what you’re buying. I have found that when I need just a few simple things, QFC seems ridiculous, like I can’t leave without dropping $ 20. Strange… (brew)…
They do have great seafood and meat, and always, always something on a good sale. Some notables that I’ve picked up here: $ 5 /​lb for NY steak. $ 5 /​lb for crab legs. Pretty great.
The produce always looks amazing, but is way expensive, like, way expensive. I think avocados last time I went were $ 3 each. I head to Top Banana for the produce. It’s not as pretty as QFC’s, but a fraction of the price ($.69 for the avocado).
Pretty great customer service, too. Everyone is pretty friendly and tries to be helpful. Good stuff. A special shout out to Aaron, who is on rad (prehistoric) checker.
Check out the sales, but for cheaper mainstays, try Fred Meyer just down the road a mile or so.

The newly remodeled QFC is far superior to the old one. The inside is clean and easy to navigate. The garage is easy to get in and out of and has plenty of open spots.
The wine selection is quite large, as is the floral department. I also appreciated the fact that the produce department was very expansive and there are lots of organic fruits and veggies.
I would probably give this location 4 stars if it weren’t for the fact that I went to buy gelato on one of the warmest days of the spring… but there was absolutely no gelato to be found. I even had a coupon, but was unable to use it. It was pretty disappointing!

In spite of the fact Unilocal lists this as Closed, if you want to get technical, yes, the old QFC store with the address of 2237 NW 58^th St. did close a couple of years ago; however, the new store that replaced it is on the same property, only the address and phone has changed to:
5700 24^th Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98 107
(206) 297‑2150

Well, I guess I lied when I said I wouldn’t visit any other QFCs besides the one in U Village. But you’ll forgive me right? It was new, shiny, only three blocks away, and had some amazing deals because of the grand reopening! How could I pass up deals like $ 0.99/dozen large AA eggs, $ 1.49/4pk muffins, and $ 0.69/12oz frozen veggies? Prices which are supposed to be good for another two or three weeks as of this writing.
What’s more is that the store is nice, bright and clean, the staff are friendly, and the underground parking lot is convenient: in fact, the stairs and elevators take you straight into the store itself. Though one thing I found a bit unusual was that they had four or five employees working an almost empty lot when I went in Thursday night, only to have them all disappear when I came back out half an hour later. Eerie.