Royal Blue Grocery

Absolutely terrible service. We live in the building. This is our neighborhood grocery go-​to store and we were treated terribly. We arrived at 11:50 (didn’t know about the midnight closing) went to grab a sandwich and asked for the exact name of the sandwich that was labeled in the cooler. She argued that they didn’t have it, even though it was right in front of me. Instead of politely telling me that they close at midnight she was curt, rude and just kept saying you have two minutes. You have one minute. Needless to say, the selection is great and the food was perfect. The service, attitude and treatment was abysmal. Hope you hire better staff. We were there Friday night March 18, 2016.

Updating my review based on a polite message from the owner and another visit today:
— They DO carry plain Greek yogurt (in the same cooler as the White Mountain Bulgarian); however, it was out of stock when I had visited last month. It was in-​stock today; $ 2.50 for the small Fage 7 oz cups.
— They do have a tablet POS that accepts NFC payments. I believe this was not up when I visited last month, though I am not 100% sure.
— I did not mention this in my first review, but I am dismayed that the pricing of some items is unclear. E.g. for the raspberries and blackberries, I can’t find pricing info anywhere.
— I almost bought a lettuce + a little bit of olives, cheese, onion salad for $ 7 (similar w/​chicken for $ 7.50) before realizing that similar salads down the street at Trader Joe’s cost $ 3.50−4.

I can get burnt out on burgers pretty easily, but this place is always a favorite and I enjoy even when I’m not on the mood for it.
Only available on Wednesdays, it is busy for lunch. That said, the line does move fast. The bread is delicious, the patty juicy, and the burger alone is big and filling.
The employees are always nice and friendly.

Hiked down to the location furthest from the office to have a cheeseburger on their burger wednesdays. Needless to say, it was worth the hike. They are $ 5 (probably the cheapest thing I have ever bought there lol) and fantastic! The bun they put it on is really good too. The only tip I would give is to go early! We arrived there around 11:45 and the place wasn’t packed, but about 5 minutes later you could barely manuever around the store.

I finally am compelled to break down and write a Royal review…
First, my rating is almost exclusively based on two things: incredible consistency in hipster, condescending staff as well as «c’mon that’s a little steep» for… everything in the store. I totally understand they gotta pay the rent in this urban locale and I’m sure it’s a hard business to run, but hiring polite, Austin friendly staff is still a cultural value in our town even if it’s just at a grocery store (hello, this is why whole foods was extremely successful at selling epensive quality products… their staff embodies their product.) I just don’t get how hard it is to be nice to people regardless of how many tattoos they have or don’t have.
The quality and unique selection here make it extremely awesome. It is of course the most convenient place for all us downtowners to grab a six pack or emergency blue bell. I really do feel bad knocking this place because my heart wants to love it but I finally had to express my concern over their uninviting staff so hopefully things might change.

This is my favorite Royal Blue out of all. I have grown to love their morning brews. Friendly staff is a plus.

Royal Blue is primarily a high end convenience store with a limited prepared food menu.
They have the typical deli case items (sandwiches, salads, etc). They also have cold pizza that they heat up. The other choice is a pre-​prepared sandwich that they cook on a panini press, which I opted for. I got the veggie grilled cheese and I was pleasantly surprise, it sufficed for lunch and was fairly tasty.
With their limited menu, I have little reason to come back and try other foods, but it was a nice break during the day.

If anyone with money and intelligence combined could figure out how to operate a store in College Station, home of Texas A&M University that wins a football game now and then, like this. It would work.
Very condensed selection of excellence from wine to local craft beer, local foods, fresh made sandwiches (this is the kitchen hub for all locations).
Nothing short of excellent.

I love my Royal Blue! It’s got great prepared foods… not an extensive offering… but what they have is good. For a small bodega, it has a good selection of foods, wine and beer. Ask for a glass when you buy and sit outside on one of the several sidewalk tables. Most of all, the staff is amazing and friendly.

Love Royal Blue cause i work next door, easy and most important loved their costumer service, always super nice people.

This place always has anything you need. Like today, I needed I buy a small lock for a locker. Was thinking about the item, and looked up — there it was! Though I wonder if they even knew they sold that…

It’s just what I need now that I’ve moved to downtown proper. It’s more like a Brooklyn bodega, but with a little more style, substance, and space. I don’t really need an HEB for most of my shopping, I just need an item or two. I’m already walking by anyway, so it’s an easy stop.
They’ve also got a decent selection of café style food, if you want to hang out and eat, and you totally should because it’s nice and comfortable.
Yes, it’s expensive. But you pay a cost for convenience. I’m ok with it.

Once upon a time, a Unilocaler was making corned beef and cabbage for a St. Patty’s Day dinner party. And once upon a time, the young Unilocaler forgot about the horseradish sauce! Unwilling to drive to the nearest grocery store in the city limits because of SXSW craziness, the Unilocaler walked over to the Royal Blue Grocery off of Nueces to find horseradish. To the store associate’s surprise, they were all out of the other necessary ingredient: Mayonnaise! The associate got creative and packaged up some mayonnaise for this young Unilocaler since they make sandwiches in the back. So helpful!
Woo hoo for the adorablest and awesomest «convenience store» downtown Austin. Every time I’ve stepped into a RBG, the staff has been excellent. I live off of Rainey Street and I’m so pumped for the new location to open up.
Also, their drip pecan coffee is the jam.

Here here! The current reining duchess is reviewing so listen up! Royal Blue is what it is. Should you do all all your grocery shopping here? No. But if you live downtown and need one thing this is where you go. Especially if you forgot dog food or need a dessert to take home or a bottle of wine or a lunch sandwich. Then yes, this is your place. Friendly staff. Convenience. Cute patio seating. Love.

So thankful you are downstairs. Love how convenient you are and how many cool products you carry. :-)

My hubby and I were visiting from L.A. We went to the 7 – 11 next door (which doubles as a homeless center apparently) and quickly left, remembering that we had walked past Royal Blue earlier in the day. So we went next door to experience this «trendy» Austin convenience store. It was cool when you walk in. Great décor but «normal» products on the shelf. Pretty cool. We arrived at 11pm (they close at midnight) and saw that the guy had just pulled a plate load (and I mean literally like 7 stacks of hand-​made sandwiches) out of the refrig. I asked if he could heat one up for me and he responded unceremoniously «No». Uh, ok. There was no explanation, just «No». I asked if they were closed and he said, again, «No». Mr. Monosyllabic was having nothing of anything resembling customer service. No, no, no.
I finally got him to «graciously» give us one of the sandwiches cold, picked up some chicken salad from the refrigerated section, and a blackberry crumble bar at the cash register. We took it back to the hotel and ate it all. The food was delicious.
So, given that Austin has delicious food at every corner, I am going to have to give this place two stars as I really have experienced better.
So, Mr. «No», work on your customer service a little… no, make that a lot… and you guys might bet a better rating. After all, customer service is FREE.

I miss Royal Blue Grocery with a passion, just like I miss Austin =(.
I used to hit up RBG after working out at my friend’s crib to grab a good pop or one of jeni’s spendid ice creams, it was a must to cool down. They have a lot of goodies that are local to Austin, along with beer and wine if you need something to sip on. You can also heat up any food you bought and enjoy it outside on one of their many tables. I used to sit on those chairs watching people as they passed by, I’m sort of a creep.
The ladies and gents were always nice behind the counter and assisted you if you ever needed help!

RBG makes me want to move into the 360 building. It would be just like living in New York City! Hmmm, I want to cook X, oops I just ran out of Y, darn the dogs are out of food. No problem let me run down stairs to RBG. They have one of everything!
Well I do live within walking distance but I usually stop here on the drive home to pick up a little something. You pay for connivence and I am A-​OK with that. I can park right out front, grab some groceries and be back in my car before I would have even found a parking spot at Whole Foods.

This Austin-​centric grocery store, though it does not offer a lot of produce, is awesome in all aspects. Yes, it is PRICEY, but the quality of local sourcing is awesome. Perhaps we should start using the word local-​saurus. Quick tidbit: We love being and eating and buying local. We love dinosaurs. We prize locality. We prize dinosaurs. Can we start calling ourselves local-​sauruses? local-​sauri?
The Mary Louise brownie, the most Austin brownie not actually containing… stuff, was $ 5.50. That is absolutely, absolutely, outrageous. Heck, if you are so progressive and willing to make the world a better place by shopping local, what do you think about taking that $ 5.50 you spend a day on a brownie, saving that money over 2 years, taking your ~$ 4000, buying $ 500 of Betty Crocker brownie mix, hiring 10 laborers for 1 day for $ 200 to bake the brownies, and spending $ 3300 to fly to Africa to feed the Africans with American-​local brownies?
Anyway… lots of local sourcing here. And… 7AM-​12AM for a LOCAL grocery store? You got a competition on your hands, Wheatsville. Good thing RBG doesn’t have the word Co-​op in its name… or else you would be FINISHED, RBG. Finished, I tell ya! Alas, you are good to me.
Wow; this post contains nothing but cynical, random, assorted, and terrible thoughts. I apologize, Unilocalers.

RBG how do I love you? Let me count the ways!
1. You provide a means of drinking great beer and wine while waiting in the long lines during events.
2. You gladly recycle my trash.
3. You provide healthy yummy food and I swear you are multiplying like bunnies all over down town.
Seriously what is not to love here.