Shaws

No wine beer or spirits for anyone with an out of state ID students should avoid this place the staff is absolutely horrifying and slow with no sense of urgency and can’t help to do anything except apologize for their meritocracy

This place is called Star Market these days, I’m not sure why Unilocal has not updated the name of this business.
This Star Market is in a convenient location for residents and employees of the Fenway and Longwood Medical Area.
Prices at this Star Market are ludicrous. In many instances, items under $ 4.00 at another Star Market — — less than 5 miles away — — are 50 cents to $ 1.00 more, per item, at this Star Market (33 Kilimarnock Street, Boston). Imagine, one Greek yogurt, $ 1.00 at another Star Market, less than 5 miles away, is 50 cents more at this Star Market. Cottage Cheese, $ 2.50 at a Star Market, less than 5 miles away, is $ 3.50, $ 1.00 more, at this Star Market. Bring ten items to the Cash Register, and you could easily get soaked for $ 5.00 to $ 10.00 more at this Star Market, than at another Star Market, less than 5 miles away. I don’t know about you, but I’d much prefer to contribute that $ 5.00 or $ 10.00 to the charity of my choice, then get hosed at the Star Market at 33 Kilmarnock Street.
I thought that when Target opened up across the street from this Star Market, that that may cause Star Market to adjust their prices to sanity, but no such luck, pricing at this Star Market is still in the realm of insanity.

Grabbed some General Tso’s chicken from the wing bar for a quick lunch. Disgusting, I had to throw it out. Still needing a quick lunch I returned to get an sub. Having picked up a a pre-​made Italian sub in the past from this store that contained lettuce and tomatoes better suited for a compost pile, I asked the deli guy to make me a fresh one. It looked great until he dumped a double fistful of jalapenos on it without asking. To save time and my money I threw it out in the store.

Before I review this location, I want to say something about Michelle K’s review below: anyone who doesn’t like a business because there are people from Saudi Arabia in the store really needs to look at their themselves and ask «why do I hate so much?». Of course, haters tend to blame everyone else, and for some odd reason, Unilocal said her review was OK when I flagged it (and she has two for this location). Anyhow…
Two great things about this location: Unbelievably nice girl at the bakery named Asiah (sp?) who makes you think you have just walked into a 5-​star bakery instead of perusing muffins on sale. If I had more time, I would have chatted with her all night.
Other great thing? Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns, a flavor I had not seen in at least 4 years, and that is probably a good thing as I would eat so many pints I would need cinnamon just to make my own buns look OK, but that is another story.

Nasty place with bad food, rude cashiers, called Star Market. Also lately this supermarket resembles Saudi Arabia with all those women in burkas, veils going with their husbands and ill-​mannered children to buy there. I feel no safe in this place. What happened to the nice Fenway???

There prices have increased alarmingly. Due to losing one whole isle to Booze & all the space lost to Starbucks, the product choice is awful. They are going to be hurting when Target opens up with a large food section. I cannot stand this store & I have lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. Many people I know I know in the neighborhood feel the same way.

I have always found this grocery store to be pretty good. It’s nicer than most and laid out fairly well. I just moved back to the area, and even 5 years ago when I was a student at BU I didn’t think it was THAT bad given its cumulative Unilocal rating.
Only thing is, I never know anymore whether it is Star Market or Shaw’s…

Love the new layout and the expansio. Of the bakery, salad and hot food bar. The new starbucks out back is awesome, I like that they have incorporated an outdoor seating section. The cashier service is much quicker now with extra check out stands.

What’s with the low rating? Reading the previous reviews, I’m under the impression this place has gone through renovations. I’m a tourist that was in need of ingredients to cook some meals at the place we were staying at. I was a little wary with the low ratings, but that went out the window when I decided to give this place a shot. It’s a nice looking grocery store with a starbucks inside as well. It’s well maintained too. It’s at a good location close to the surrounding colleges/​universities.

They have renovated this store and it is fantastic. The selection is top-​notch. I find things at this Shaw’s that I can’t find anywhere else within a 15 mile radius. The most surprising thing about the whole store is their susi chef. I’ve tried sushi at many restaurants in the city, as well as other Shaw’s in the surrounding area, and her’s is simply the best. Specifically, the crunchy shrimp tempura roll. I have never seen it anywhere else with fresh mango and avocado on top. It is delicious.

This is my go-​to grocery store in the Fenway area. In the last year they have done major renovations, including a starbucks, fish department, and liquor aisle.
I have been disappointed by the deli section more than once – shredded meat and items mislabeled and mispriced. Definitely check your items before you check out. It is getting four stars because of their customer service team, whom has fixed multiple pricing errors. Shout out to Michelle, who was awesome and attentive when I had an issue.
As other reviews have said, there is a lack of motivation from the employees to remove expired/​expiring food from the shelves. Lesson: always double check!
It will be interesting to see if they slash prices when the new Wegmans opens!

I think the low overall rating of this store should be reconsidered since their recent renovation. The store was remodeled within the last 2 months and looks significantly better. I have also noticed a vast improvement in the quality of produce and selection of healthy foods. TJs is still my favorite grocery store, but Shaws is great when I just need to make a quick trip.

Don’t be alarmed by the low rating! This place has recently been re-​done and is now amazing! There is even a Starbucks to keep you awake as you shop.
The place is clean and somehow, magically never gets packed. There is one thousand check-​out lanes so you surely won’t spend a lifetime in the check-​out lane.
Only way this place could get better is if it was a Trader Joes.

This place has made tremendous improvements in the store design and the variety of products in advance to the expected competition. However, the staff´s treatment, with the exception of a few folks, is just terrible… you can feel their roll-​the-​eye exasperation when you have to approach them with a question or problem.

This is actally one of the better super markets around. They are in the process of renovating and it is starting to look like a very high-​end grocery store with lots of options like a Starbucks and specialty section.
I have come here a few times because their prices are much cheaper than Whole Foods near my house and their alcohol is sometimes $ 2-​$ 3 cheaper than a packie.
The staff is also always very friendly and more than willing to help you find anything or answer questions.

While the renovations and they have been making are improving the quality of this store, they seem to still be missing the mark…
Pay by weight salad bar contains huge slices of everything —adding to the weight of my salad. I do not want 1 inch thick cucumbers and quarter of a peper on my salad. At least slice things thinly so when i add a lot, i feel like i’m getting more for my money.
They have recently added more prepared foods, such as a chicken wing bar a dinner bar full of fried chicken, fried onion rings, fried/​fatty, gross options. I saw more employees filling up their plates from these stations than customers.

This location sells expired food and KNOWS about it!
This is how my last shopping trip went:
Me: «excuse me, Mr. Worker, I found this package of bagels that expired two days ago.»
Worker: «That’s not my department.»
Me: «Ok, but could you ask someone to take care of the expired food on the shelves?»
Worker: «No, we don’t remove expired food on the shelves because then the shelves will look bad. The shelves have to look full.»
Me: «So, you’re saying that it’s better to give people expired food than to have empty shelves?»
Worker: «That’s what management does. I would do it differently.»
Me: «That’s disgusting.»
Worker: «Oh, that’s not even the grossest thing I’ve heard about this store.»
Umm, what IS the grossest thing??? I’m absolutely horrified.
Next, I went to the manager thinking that this worker was acting crazy and that the manager would do something about it. I explained the situation to a manager and the response was, «Oh, that’s not technically expired. We get a few days after the expiration date before the food turns bad.»
What the F%&%???
Never again.

Just mediocre at best. Produce and flowers pretty marginal. Seems like stuff is just old or low quality. Just bought some asparagus there 1 day ago, properly refrigerated it went to use and it was already bad. No wonder the chain is struggling. Serving bad food is not the way to climb out of your troubles. On the positive, it is open 24 hours, they eliminated those stupid frequent shopper cards and it is a good location. But can’t wait for new competition to move in.

It really is the most convenient grocery store in the Fenway area — so expect it to be a bit busy, and the recent renovation did clean the place up a lot — but expect picked over fruit and a hit or miss salad bar. Compared to other Shaws, this one is definitely not the best — but the staff is usually friendly, and I can find the basic office snacks when I get a chance to run over there.
Also — somehow they’ve managed to have a real parking lot. In this area, that is incredibly impressive.

This place is definitely undergoing some improvements.
Things were getting pretty hairy there for awhile, but they’ve done some renovations and are attempting to refresh the inside. My guess is that they’ll continue to make this place looks more fresh to make sure they can keep up with the Joneses (rumored incoming of Wegman’s).
They generally have things in stock that I am looking for, and the managers there are pretty helpful. I purchased some dried fruit that had clearly been there too long, and I brought it back and advised that they still have other product on the shelf that was expired (there was no expiration date). The next time I went back, they had gotten rid of the old product. I’m glad, 1 lb of dried peaches is 10 bux!
Salad bar is decent. it’s not Shaw’s Back Bay but it’s got a lot of the same decent stuff.