Aldi

I’m trying to love this Aldi location, but it’s hard when every time I bring home produce it’s funky. It’s hard to check each piece when it’s pre-​bagged and I understand produce can fall through the cracks at any grocer but every single time I shop there, my produce is bad. I’ve contacted the company multiple times with no response. What is happening (or not happening) to spoil your produce so fast?

This is two reviews. I hit Aldi first then xcostcox next door.
Hint: Pick up carrots, onion and celery at Aldi then next door and pick up a rotisserie chicken for $ 5. Carve the chick while it’s hot. The meat falls of the bones. Toss the bones and skin in a pot with onion and celery tops for broth. There is nothing like homemade broth and the roasted skin makes it so yummy and rich (strain the bones and skim the grease!) Then you can make anything with the chicken meat: chicken salad, stir fry, or sandwiches for a crowd. If you make soup, dice carrots and celery and add rice or pasta and cook with the strained broth, but remember the meat is already cooked so add some only after your soup is cool.
I can hit both places, spend $ 50-​$ 60 total and have three awesome meals for 2 people all week or I can freeze a bunch of ready-​meals and soups.
Aldi: celery, carrots, bag ‘o onions, 2 packs of mushrooms, 3 zucchini, six small pears, bag of baby spinach, 4 avocados, box of pumpkin flax granola cereal, almond milk, regular milk, cheese, eggs, dishwasher tablets, 1 vanilla and 1 plain Greek yogurt cartons, potato chips, natural peanut butter, bread –total $ 40. Next door: hot roasted whole chicken, cold family size tray of ravioli in meat sauce total $ 20. Add a hot large everything pizza for an extra $ 10 at the counter on the way out.
Bring cash or your debit card to both places

I went to Aldi for the first time yesterday and was surprised to find such high quality organic produce at prices a lot cheaper than Whole Foods or Mariano’s, where I usually shop. Nowhere near the variety though. Lots of gluten free choices too. Mostly private branded products, but made by well known manufacturers. They have no full service deli or pre made meal counters and all their fresh meats and fish are prepackaged but everything is freshness guaranteed and labeled so. Nothing pretentious about this store like Whole Foods, but for sure, you will walk out of there with more than twice as many groceries for what you would spend elsewhere. They have fresh huge 16″ Take-​and-​Bake 4 Cheese pizzas for $ 4.99. They are awesome. Better than most pizza parlors. This place is definitely a stock up store. You’ll find all sorts of cool things there too like housewares, small appliance, tools and electronics at very reasonable prices. They call them special buys and once they’re gone they’re gone. They even sell electrical generators. Aldi definitely on my radar.

Just was in there and before I went I checked on the website to make sure they accept credit cards, which it said in fact they do.
Tried to check out and the lady looked at me like I was crazy trying to use a credit card and said people are have been starting rumors about it… Well looks like the rumors were started by your website. Such a waste of time. They should take it off their website if they don’t accept it. I won’t be coming back.

I shop at this location all the time and customer service is usually good. However my recent visit, I experienced very bad customer service. I asked an employee (side-​shaved hair) for an item, which she was stocking that area. She told me she had it but I had to wait. What made my experience worst was that the supervisor, stocking with her, didn’t assist me either. They were carrying on conversations.
Customer service would have it that one of them should of service the customer, and in a timely manner. After standing there and waiting for some time, I again asked her for the item, so I can purchase it, she finally did.
They need to be considerate of customer’s time and hopefully this unacceptable customer service won’t continue.

Wild salmon for under $ 5 a lb. Huge sockeye filets for under $ 8. This is a great place for frozen fish.

The good: cheap prices, bag-​free, easy access bike and car parking.
The not-​so-​good: the food products are low-​quality and highly processed, containing oodles of preservatives and other mystery ingredients. The food is inexpensive, but also very cheap. Unlike every other grocery store in the USA, Aldi’s displays their prices on the shelf *above* each product. I’ve witness this really bother lots of people as they feel they’re getting scammed at the register. Also, you are supporting a German corporation.
The stars go to the staff who, compared to Aldi’s Montrose location, and notably friendly and helpful.

Honestly what’s not to love about Aldi! They have everything super cheap!
This location is one of the better ones!

Typical Aldi, decent produce section for the basics, probably the cheapest milk around, enough parking. Not awesome prices for name brand packaged items. Bring your bags.

How to look like an Aldi regular: bring your own bags, and bring a quarter for the cart. Grab the weekly flyer on the way out. Also know that they don’t accept credit cards, only debit cards.
This Aldi has plenty of fresh produce, meat, and liquor. Know that for the most part the inventory stays the same, but on occasion they switch out stuff. Aldi is really starting to up their game, with lots of brand name items coming in all the time. And they recently started selling Coke brands, so I can get my Diet Coke fix for cheap!

Had a great experience here this past Sunday… and I try desperately to avoid grocery stores on the weekend.
As another reviewer (or many?) mentioned, it’s nice and quick. I was able to find my groceries and checkout in about 15 or 20 minutes, and I was delighted by the selection. I especially like the 85-​cent Greek yogurt, which is an item I always stock up, so it was nice to see a standard price that was lower than a dollar.
I also like that you definitely have to bring your own bags. Plastic bags are silly, anyway.
I am grateful to live so close so that I can consistently lower my grocery bill by coming here :-)
Tips:
— bring bags/​boxes
— bring a quarter for the shopping carts
— bring cash or a debit card

This is probably the fastest ALdi that you can get in and out of in a flash. I love their prices and quality of foods. Aldi is the place to go for a small budget.

A general review for all the aldi stores:
I am an aldi baby, born and raised on their product, and I fared the same as the jewel/​dominicks/​omni/​whole foods snobs. There’s nothing wrong with aldi groceries except that they usually only have two cashiers open. Hell I don’t even mind going on hunts for empty boxes.
People turn up their nose to aldi but whatever, I’m the 99% on a budget. So don’t even beg for my quarter when I return my cart to the chain gang.
I’ve noticed almost every aldi is getting a pretty nice makeover as well in the chicago area. Groceries are groceries, but if you got it like that then do your shopping all at Jewel.

This is my second option when my first option is apparently closed for remodeling. This store is bigger with wider aisles. They have the same products, pretty much. I just feel more comfortable in the one on Milwaukee.
Employees are friendly. Parking lot is a little crazy since this is near two, connected strip malls.
Mama Cozzi pizzas are good if you doctor them up.
Bike parking out front.

While I always shopped this location for Trader Joe’s, I only began visiting both TJ’s and ALDI after spending time in Germany and the Netherlands where TJ’s is a brand inside ALDI! How wild is that?
You have to take the elevator down from the TJ’s if you enter through the second floor parking garage entrance in the back. When you walk in you will find little baskets for shopping and carts (no deposit here like the 25 cent carts elsewhere). You have to bring your own bags or buy bags for a nominal amount. This is very customary everywhere in Europe and ALDI imported this practice to save money.
What can you get here? Well, on my visit today I bought a variety of things I can get up at TJ’s, but paid less downstairs at ALDI for them. Save money! Always a great day when I save $ 10.
Fresh foods: They had a variety of 3 – 4 types of hummus for amazing prices (I grabbed red pepper and garlic), and they had Greek yogurt in large containers and small single serve containers for 89 cents. They also had Kefir for $ 2.77 and a large Naked juice (only one type). I picked up some soy milk and they had almond milk as well for prices that were better than Whole Foods and TJ’s. I bought two bags of fresh spinach and broccoli as well. I grabbed a fresh mozzarella ball. I got some extra virgin olive oil for about $ 4.
Chocolates: I bought an Austrian chocolate bar (there are tons of imported chocolates to choose from). I also grabbed some hazelnut spread (think Nutella) for a steal. I have seen Kinder and other German brands here. The selection is pretty good and I would stick to the imported chocolates.
Lighter stuff: They have a light and fit brand and it is pretty good. Cheap egg beaters, turkey franks, ground turkey, turkey bacon, and sometimes cereals.
Sweet stuff: I have found some good fruit preserves here (look for the ones from Denmark and Germany since these have no high fructose corn sweetener).
Coffee: the medium German roasted coffee is pretty good and works well in my stove top espresso maker.
Brands? What Brands?: Overall, the «brands» were in-​house just like Trader Joe’s (these companies are owned by the same German family) so I bought a lot of things that looked like stuff from other places (other brands I mean), but saw some exotics as well: German potato pancakes and wiener schnitzel in the freezer section.
My usual ALDI is the one on Milwaukee Ave in Wicker Park and I shop there once a week, but it is closed for remodeling, but I think I will go here more because I can shop on floor one for ALDI goods, then shop on floor 2 for Trader Joe’s (this place would be heaven if there were a Whole Foods on the 3^rd floor!).
I saw a few reviews that seemed overly negative. Sure there will be poor folks buying stuff here using the Link Card some days and they do sell junk food here to be sure, but there are some great steals for those of you with health food and gourmet tastes for sure! They only take cash and Debit Cards, and you are forced to buy or bring your own bags (and bag your own stuff), but you can’t go wrong with the bargains here.
Do you have to feel guilty if you shop here? No way! Trader Joe’s is full of women in workout wear and the lot is full of expensive cars and ALDI is full of women in sweat pants who took the bus, but you see a greater mix of shoppers than you realize. On my shopping trip, I took two professional women who shop upstairs at TJ downstairs to ALDI and they were skeptical (I had to promise them imported chocolate), but when they took the time to look things over instead of freaking out because there were not a lot of people like them in there they actually bought just as much of the «better» stuff as I did. They took their blinders off and saw the deals!
There is nothing «trashy» about ALDI. It is your typical European grocery store — without Trader Joe’s as a house brand as it is in ALDI-​Netherlands. When you say Trader Joe’s in the Netherlands, people think you are talking about an ALDI brand.
So bring a quarter, a few recyclable bags, and a debit card and have some fun!

Hells to the yeah…
Cheap groceries to feed my expensive dining out bills… perfect.
They have everything here. Its a no frills grocery store where you have to bag your own groceries… totally fine with me to save a couple of dollars.
Also, its pretty much all generic, which totally doesnt bother me. I dont mind getting Mama Casa tomatoes instead of Dole!!!
Its ridiculous how cheap this place is… check it out, you will love it!!!
I «heard» that Trader Joes now owns the Aldi empire… not sure how true this is…

This store has been recently remodeled and is very nice on the inside.
There is a nice big parking lot but remember to bring a quarter with you because that is how much it costs to rent a shopping cart here. Now do not worry you will get the shopping cart back once you return it to the cart barn. The system is kind of funny and the only other place I have ever seen this is in Mexico City but if it keeps people from stealing carts then I am all for it.
This place has the best prices on eggs and milk plus they have pledges on all of those packages about not using growth hormone in the milk and the chickens being fed only grains. So that seems like a good selling point.
I am always stocking up on the veggies here. These prices are some of the lowest around the city. Bananas are always cheap here… sometimes as much as 40 cents cheaper per pound then the big store across the parking lot. If you have shopped here you will know who I am talking about.
The only think that is a hassle is that this place only takes cash or debit card. I just want to swipe my credit card and be done with it but if it keeps prices low then I am fine okay with having to carry cash to shop here.
I also highly recommend you check out there weekly products they sell. There are always some interesting things there and the prices are very low.

I used to live right at 3200 N Lincoln and I thought I was trapped with Whole Foods and Jewel robbing me blind. But then I discovered this Aldi and was able to get all of my basics for super cheap! Like $ 70 for an entire cart FULL of food and toiletries. On my first visit I bought a few of those large canvas bags and one of the large freezer bags to keep cold items, well, cold.
Things to stay away from?
* Cream cheese — it’s just weird. In fact, the bagels kind of are, too.
* Any and all canned foods, especially the soup!
* Pasta sauce, it’s just not good. I’ve never had to doctor a sauce so much. Worse than Ragu.
* Garbage bags that don’t have a pull string, for real.
* The booze. Convenient? Yes. Good? No.
* Some of their snacks and breakfast foods have almost twice as much sugar or sodium as the name brand they’re knocking off. You may want to double check that if you care about that sort of thing.
Things you wouldn’t expect?
* A decent selection of meat. I know, you’re thinking, «GROSS!!» but really, I got a frozen bag of all white meat chicken breasts that turned out the be the juiciest chicken I’ve ever had. I’ve also enjoyed the center cut pork chops and the box of steaks or burgers are all good. (Perfect if you’re having a barbecue!)
* I usually go to a farmer’s market for my produce, but if I’m in a pinch this will do. The produce isn’t top notch but these ones are safe: red or white onions, cloves of garlic, peppers, tomatoes, pineapples, bananas, and grapes. I admit, I wash the hell out of them before I eat them, but they’re fine, really.
* Amazing selection! I don’t think I’ve ever walked in to an Aldi and not been able to find what I was looking for.
I can’t really remember if it’s this store or another location, but I’m not entirely sure that they accept credit cards so make sure to have cash handy on you… just in case.

I understand these are challenging times, and pennies have to be pinched to meet budgets and keep afloat. But this store is a good example of why America is obese. It was very hard to find items that weren’t very high in fat or calories or full of chemicals I can’t even pronounce (Lots of baking supplies, junk food, etc.). I wasn’t expecting organic or natural items there, I know it is not that kind of a store, but I think I expected a bit more selection of middle of the road items.

The prices were good, and the cashiers were friendly, but I personally don’t think I would be able to shop here more than occasionally for party items or such.

I love this Aldi.
Well, I love all Aldis, but this is definitely the best one in the city. It’s clean, highly organized and everything is almost always in stock (with the exception of the fresh dairy and meat products that sell very quickly).
You can get all of your pantry and fridge staples at Aldi without breaking your bank. You’ll pay $ 70-​$ 80 here for an entire cart full of groceries and over $ 150 for the same thing at Jewel or Dominick’s.
This location is better than the one on Milwaukee or Cermak because it’s a bit more organized and there are less people here on the weekends. Many people have misconceptions about Aldi but, let me tell you, they’re definitely not true. The quality of the food is excellent and they have everything you need. If you want organic or specialty products, you’ll have to go to Trader Joe’s or something, but Aldi is your best bet for quality and price.
Things to note: bring your own bags (paper bags cost $.05 and plastic $.10), you’ll need a quarter to get a cart and they only accept debit or link cards (no credit).