Union Market

So expensive… but the overflowing baskets of gorgeous fruits and veggies, free cheese & olive samples and endless stream of jazz music just keeps me coming back! The adobo rotisserie chicken is really really good, they have an insane selection of yogurt, really good options for pastas, rice & beans and also a nice chilled beverage section if you’re thirsty after all that sampling: D

I admit, I go here more often than I should. It’s on the high-​end side as far as markets go, and everything costs a pretty penny.
And yet, I find myself here semi-​regularly. There always seems to be some kind of specialty item that I can’t resist. Whether it’s getting some fancy cheese, obscure brand of salad dressing, fresh fish, or non-​dairy dairy product (lactose free, coconut milk, almond milk), I always find my way to Union Market. Also, their hours are extremely work schedule friendly. 7am to 10pm? Take that, Key Foods!
This place is clean and well maintained. Maybe a little TOO well maintained. There always seems to be more workers than necessary milling about, trying to be helpful. Which, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate. But I like doing my grocery shopping without someone looking over my shoulder and possibly judging my dietary choices.
Also, I’m convinced that Union Market has a position called «Cheese section employee.» Every time I’ve gone here, and we’re talking a lot of times, there is always the one guy stacking and re-​stacking all of the cheeses. Like his job is to build little walls of cheese. Now I admire his dedication to this very specialized task, but just once, I’d like to browse the cheeses in peace and not have to constantly sidestep the cheese wall builder guy. I know, my life is so hard, right?

Nice selection but pricey. The women at the checkout are horrendous: snotty, unfriendly and downright obnoxious.

The staff is, 90% of the time, super nice. Today around 5:30, one of the deli guys had a meltdown because I didn’t respond fast enough as to whether I needed help. I’m sure they are stressed and maybe understaffed with the post Thanksgiving rush. So management should take care of it and hire enough people behind the deli counter or train staff on how to cope with stress during a rush, including gender dynamics. But its not ok to raise your voice at customers, especially regulars you know. Management and staff should find ways to cope, de-​stress, maybe learn from other neighbouring markets. This is a learning opportunity.

$ 7 for a loaf of stale bread!
I should really blame Caputo’s for closing before designated store hours.

Amazing organic food place, ckean and beatifull the fruits and vegetables are very fresh, good variety of pastas and cheeses.
Very good if you are here at brooklyn.

Expensive, but when it’s 8am and you need to buy sandwich supplies, they’re open. I mean, it’s clean and they have just about every organic this or that you want, if you’re willing to pay for it. Prices shouldn’t really be that surprising given the neighborhood, and yet…

Really good produce. I used to come here a bit more when my husband lived in the area, but since we relocated we don’t venture to this part of Brooklyn unless it’s to hit up the fish market. I was amazed at some of the things I saw, like how huge cantaloupes were. Very red tomatoes. Lots of organic produce. Not as much variety of brands/​selection as other mainstream supermarkets, but they offer good quality of what they have.
Their meats are awesome — we got four filet mignon pieces, and they were hearty, thick, and fresh looking. More expensive than some other spots, but well worth it based on how good it looked.
Lines move quickly because they have plenty of cashiers, and I think for the most part they are friendly. Haven’t had any bad experiences thus far.

I go here because it’s the closest market to me. We all know it’s expensive so I won’t dock it for that. Mostly good except for 2 things:
1) they are frequently out of items I need, such as almond milk, walnuts, chickpeas — not incredibly obscure ingredients…
2) the cashiers are not very nice
Pro tip: if organic vs. inorganic ain’t no thang to you, go to K & Y fruit & vegetable across the street and save on your produce.

Having gotten burned at a couple of ‘chain’ markets in the area, we go to Union Market whenever we’re shopping for meat, poultry, or fish. Price-​wise — it’s a bit upscale but the food selection is uniformly good if you are looking for a one-​stop shop as opposed to hitting a slew of specialty grocers. But this isn’t the place to find household staples like aluminum foil, cleansers, or sponges.
The staff is friendly and polite, unlike some of the surly folks behind the registers at other grocery stores. The one complaint I have has nothing to do with the store actually. Word of advice to parents who have to bring their ‘little darlings’ in… learn to park your stroller so it doesn’t block the aisles or leave it outside. Most of us didn’t do hurdles in high school and we’re not interested in mastering them in a grocery environment. And while you might enjoy little Caleb’s spirited romping, it doesn’t endear him to your fellow shoppers. So restrain him or leave him at home.

The Double/​adjacent doors to enter and no entry are just dumb and ineffective. Just fine, more of a spot to browse and find things you might want to locate and purchase elsewhere for less.
$ 2 Levelup credit for an overpriced chocolate bar:
Transaction Amount $ 2.17
Credit Applied — $ 2.00
Total Spent $ 0.17

Union Market has given back to the community by making a generous food donation to the P. S. 32 Spring Auction. As a parent of a child who attends this school, I wanted to say thank you!

Expensive, but I like the set up. Fish section was nasty and needed to be cleaned up, as well as the meat section. You can tell when items don’t move, probably because they are overpriced. The shelves were fully stocked, which I like to see. They also had a lot of different items and sell Raffetto’s products! The front end cashiers need to talk less about their personal lives and concentrate on their customers.

Prices are expensive. I will pay premium prices for their meat and seafood. The butchers are helpful, and you can select the pieces you want. I bought strip steaks, and asked to see the ones on the bottom. No problem. Delicious cuts of meat.

This is a nice clean looking market, I’ve gotten bakery items here before. However, I went in to grab a quick lunch and picked a delicious looking egg salad sandwich. Too bad when I went to eat it it was actually full of egg shells. As in– not just one bite, but pretty much every bite until I gave up because it was gross. The only crunch in my salad should’ve been the fresh lettuce, not the shell deposits.

Prices are a tad bit outrageous, but I really like the meat market (even though the pre packaged meat such as chicken and turkey usually have no prices) and the breat and cheese are great also. Usually if I’m in the area I get my staples at one of the regular grocers such as The Met, etc, but I always save my Meat, Cheeses and some of the veggies for this place.

Feel like coming to Union Market’s defense. It’s a lovely place to shop when you are looking for imported Italian cheese (amazing and fresh) floral and fine quality olive oil, sometimes Colavita just isn’t going to do on those $ 9 per pound heirloom tomatoes :)
Beautiful bread, great selection of coffee, and a respectable meat counter. The gentle sounds of Jazz washes over you and elevates a mundane shopping trip to a mini cultural inerlude.
Never felt any attitude what so ever, but maybe it’s because I’m friendly going in. Yes, fruits and veggies are pricey, but we all know that post Union Market the clever shopper gets their greens and unremarkable produce at bargain prices right across the street. WIN — WIN :)

Clean and doesn’t smell like cat pee.
For all the new kids in the hood, a lot of us have lived with the Met Food on Smith for a long time and when we finally get a proper upscale food shop… Praise Jeebus! I get my veg on here. I get my dairy on. I get my cereal on. I get my fancy oils and vinegars on.
Union Market: yay!
For those that say that the prices are high, do some comparisons. This whole area is pretty pricey (and I refuse to shop at the Trader Joe’s frozen food suburbia emporium).

This Union Market is larger and better laid out, as compared to the tiny aisles at the Park Slope/​7^th Ave. location, so it’s much easier to maneuver around and do your shopping. I normally visit the olive bar and buy my coffee here as well as a few other odds and ends. I give the lisa a. seal of approval to the Union Market olive oil [excellent deal at $ 8.99. Sometimes they have a buy one get one free offer] as well as the coffee [Park Slope or Prospect Park blends which are dark roasted] guacamole and salsas. The produce selection/​display is so inviting, if not a wee bit pricey, but you can still find some deals (hey, food costs have increasingly gone up over the past few months, so, it’s not necessarily the store’s fault). Excellent cheese selection too. Got a question about something? The staff will be more than happy to help. Nice cashiers too.
**One thing though, you have to time your visit, or else you’ll encounter the self-​entitled stroller brigade. Yea, it’s a *great* idea to bring your f*cking double wide/​all-​terrain trollers and then push other patrons out of the way as if you’re a VIP. Also, not a good idea to let your kids just run around and get in other shoppers’ way. Really? Come on now. Leave the children at home. Or, hey, teach them and yourself some manners and common sense.

This is a beautiful, clean, bright market. It has high ceilings, and a very nice selection of meat that was certainly overpriced. But at least the cheese prices were fair.
Or maybe the cheese prices just seemed fair, because their exorbitantness* is offset by the tons of free samples to be sampled. I can’t remember. Either way, I’m a sucker for samples.
I don’t think I could regularly shop here on my budget. But as soon as my get-​rich-​quick scheme** pans out, I will be able to buy all my groceries here. I probably still won’t, but you never know. You can’t predict the future.
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*This is not a word. But it should be.
**I’m not going to tell you what it is. This whole footnote is just a tease.