Cermak Fresh Market

Was highly disappointed! The produce is not so fresh and there was such an odd smell coming from the meat department. I refused to buy meat there. The cashiers are very rude.

Great selections, very fresh produce and meat and most of all wonderful prices! Isidrio was the guy that checked us out and he was very friendly and helpful. This place is clean and well organized.

CFM makes grocery shopping fun again. My weekly groceries from CFM cost 30% less than what I used to foolishly pay at Trader Joe’s. High-​quality, beautifully arranged produce and a friendly, knowledgeable staff — especially at the butcher shop! CFM is a must-​try!

On my first visit, I was encouraged by the beautiful lay out of the produce and the low prices.
However, after looking around, some of the products offered like the bakery goods and prepared items seemed mid-​range and not very exciting. I still was willing to give the place a try by purchasing a package of warm shredded beef tamales and Japanese Spring rolls with the rest of my purchases.
My shopping experience totally deteriorated when the blue haired female cashier waited on me. She didn’t lift a finger to help me. Asked me to lift up 24 bottle package of water onto the conveyor in the cramped check out aisle so she could scan it… REALLY? … You can’t walk around with your gun?! Are you crippled?
In the end, she decides to walk around and scan it. It wasn’t busy either.
10 cents for each bag here… How petty! … You mean you can’t provide a basic bag to customers without charge??? She really wanted to get that point out first off! I asked for a separate bag for the warm tamales, so they are not placed with the cold Spring rolls…
I get to the car, she doesn’t charge me for the tamales and doesn’t add them on! What a ditz! I wanted to buy those! I wanted them!
I guess between the blue hair and the many tongue and body piercings she had going on, her brain waves malfunctioned.
Such is the fact I received very poor service here on my first visit. The spring rolls were good but not worth the effort to return only to be made to feel like a 2^nd class citizen!
DISAPPOINTED!

Prices on fresh food here are astonishingly low compared to the bigger chain stores. All fall, they have had Michigan Honey Crisp Apples for $.99/​lb or even $.79/​lb while Jewel has them «on sale» for $ 2.99/lb down from a regular price of $ 3.99/lb. Many other items in produce and meat are similar.

This is one of the rare big grocery stores that don’t completely rob you, so I like shopping here. Imagine my delight when I first discovered it and saw that they have a ton of eastern European food! This is where I go when I want to stock up on euro cream (it’s ten times better than Nutella, I highly recommend it), get some cevapi, feta cheese and prosciutto. They have a better bread selection than most big chain stores. And their ice cream is surprisingly really good (I never would have though I’d say that for a grocery store).
There’s never a shortage of carts or parking spots so I’m very much settled to this being my go to grocery store!
Also– major respect for not robbing people blindly. The delicious yellow tomatoes I’m obsessed with are 3 dollars cheaper here than in Mariano’s– same brand and weight.

My visit here was more like late spring/​early summer going on almost half a year ago, but unfortunately my experience didn’t want to make me write it up quickly. And any visit where a place feels forgettable, of course will always IMO fall on the low priority of me wanting to write a review quickly.
Anyway, the prices are laughably bad here (heck, vs. even the new Tony’s on Lincoln). I noticed other flaws here such as the produce not looking as good as I was hoping it’d be, and some of the other cases (i.e. bakery, meat) looked ho-​hum and average to me. I did sample something in the bakery (forget what it was), and sadly it tasted average to me. Lone good thing that I liked from my trip was that I decided to get one of the fruit juices (and my mom also did), and we split those juices between each other and liked both of them. Dmitri P’s review from December 2014 of this location, sums up a lot of the flaws I noticed from my 1^st visit pretty well.
I wish the beer selection was a little better, since it seemed to skew towards American macros and the main foreign macro beers. Though there were a handful of local micros in the selection, such as Revolution and Goose Island. And I guess this place could potentially come in handy, if I struck out trying to find a certain beer at other stores?
I’d be up for giving Cermak another chance, but I hope they’ve stepped up their game a little more since then. I worry it will not have improved that much if any little bit, and that this would’ve been a better conversion turning it into Mariano’s. Also will say I’m not surprised Mariano’s passed on this location, due to building their own at Touhy/​McCormick. Wish they’d kept the outdoor seats I recall the café area had when this was Dominick’s, since I noticed those were no more, and the door to that former outside seating area had become an emergency exit. :(

Wish I could give this store 3 ½ stars. I was here about a week ago for a sale that I’d heard about from a coworker. I was wowed by the produce section and really impressed by the international flair that this store has-​more items than any other store I’ve shopped at in Chicago. I was there around lunch time and there was a pretty decent buffet set up with Latino and Chinese selections, it smelled great but I did not taste anything. Purchased a 2-​steak sale pack, cooked it simple on the grill to medium rare, and it tasted pretty grisly. Maybe I got a bad batch, but it makes me wonder about the supplier. Think I’ll give this place another try soon.

Super clean store. Best Cermak in the city. The isles were well lit and spacious. Butchers were friendly and they had huge selection of different cuts of meats. I am so glad they are in my neighborhood.

I love this grocery store! It has a great selection of produce and at great prices. You won’t find many organic or Whole Foods-​esque selections, but they try with their fancy cheeses. I don’t buy boxed stuff like cereal, granola bars, etc., but I do get fruits, veggies, tortillas, some meat, and dairy products. Cashiers are mostly pleasant and quick, and they have a large parking lot.

Best grocery store to shop at. What ever you need for food and drink items you will find it here. Go and check it out your self. You will not going to be disappointed.

WARNING to all shoppers.
The quality of their produce is so bad that I really believe it is dangerous. Here is just a 1 example. Last week they had avocados for 39 cents each and we bought 50 of them because we try to eat those healthy little bastards with every meal. When you peel them they look perfect but I swear less than 10 minutes later they turn black and you can actually watch them change into that dangerous color. This is not normal. I dont know where they came from or how they have been kept/​treated but this is a health risk. I was thinking about calling city inspection. We took advantage of their 10 cent sales many times and their oranges, lemons, tomatoes were similar. They look good from outside but they have no taste and change color too fast which makes it dangerous. I would never buy produce here again. And please be caucious about this because they could make you very sick or even more serious health risks. Think about it they are selling you the produce at the low price but they might be putting your health in danger.

Clean, brightly lit, aisles wide enough: a pleasant store to shop in. Selection is very good, especially ethnic food relevant to the neighborhood, which is heavily Indian and Pakistani, plus Hispanic and others of course; which for me is nice because I’m learning how to cook Indian these days. Not only dry ingredients like the many Indian pulses, grains, flours, and spices but also a wide variety of interesting fruit and vegetables at very good prices. I’ve shopped here five times now and everything’s been fresh — except one apple (in a batch of half a dozen) that looked fine but when I got home and ate it I found it had probably been frozen. Ditto one mango once (out of two) — but otherwise everything fine.
Meat quality is very good, prices OK to good. Prices on things like cereal, snacks etc. are high compared to other stores in the neighborhood.
The deli is excellent, wide selection of good products, and friendly staff. The cheese area is the weak part: fairly wide selection but not very interesting stuff while at the same time prices are very high.
There’s a largish wine section, but not very good. The fresh bakery is big on garishly decorated cakes etc. but weak on fresh breadstuffs.
I think Cermak’s makes its money on margins on luxury food — that they certainly do tempt me with.
One very nice point: I didn’t see my favorite coffee on my first visit a few days after they opened, so I went and saw the manager, who made a note of it and a week later the pretty obscure Hispanic brand was on the shelf, and at a good price, too.

Happy again. I went here the other day and Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast was like $ 1.49/lb and they had Carnitas that was like dirt cheap and delicious! I think it was something like $ 2.99 and for you Carnitas fiends you know it’s easily $ 5/​lb usually.
Then they have these Chuchurros that are amazing. They are huge, chewy and thick just like I like my women… Ok wait. That came out weird.
Anyway I will be back. They could expand their beer selection a little I suppose but so far so good. Back on my good list and worth walking to. Next time I get a pic of those Chuchurros. If you’re not sure what I mean, it’s basically fried pork sticks.

This place definitely LOOKS a lot better than some other Dominick’s conversions that I’ve seen (I’m looking at you, Northfield Mariano’s). But IS it better? Not really.
The produce is slightly more expensive than Mariano’s, though of comparable quality. They sell fresh juices such as orange, carrot-​orange, beet-​carrot-​apple, and pineapple-​orange-​papaya (yum). Many of the packaged foods skew ethnic (a wide variety, not just Mexican and Eastern European), which is fine, but not items for which I typically shop.
But the dealbreaker for me is the bakery – there are no fresh baked goods in the morning. You open at 7, and by 7:15 there are still no baked items out? Massive fail. If you can’t sell me a bagel for my morning commute, there is absolutely no reason for me to stop by. I tried again a week later around 7:20 and they were just putting out some muffins but nothing else yet. Adiós.

I was surprised by some of the complaints here but I guess I can see how that might be — Cermak is definitely more of a world-​foods place than a Mariano’s, there’s really no comparison between the two. I personally was really wowed by the store and shop there weekly now to load up on fresh veggies (MASSIVE selection of produce and so many things I’ve never seen before I need to Google them constantly), basics (nice cheese selection, lots of local eggs), and wine. I would say the prices do vary, but I’ve found the produce pricing to be quite competitive with my local Jewell but with higher quality/​selection.
I had originally shopped at the Cermak out in Naperville and grew to like the funky vibe of the place. Maybe it’s not for everyone, and you probably won’t find as many «American» products as in a Jewell. But you will find lots of culinary adventures and so many new tastes and packages. I wish they had cooking lessons so I could figure out how to use some of the items.
Oh, and they did open up a hot bar for food that is pretty good, and cheap for a nice lunch. Not as high quality or variety as Whole Foods but it’ll do. I usually get the tilapia and some sides. They also started serving fresh tacos, but I haven’t tried them yet.
If this was my only neighborhood market, I can see that it might not meet everyone’s needs, but I am finding it to be great for my needs because I’m mostly focused on fresh foods and very little meat consumption.

This is the place to go for fresh, reasonably priced produce. They may not cater to the upscale, organic crowd, but that’s fine by me.
The store was bright, clean, and well kept. Both times I’ve been there has been a hands-​on manager keeping the staff focused and working, which I appreciate. It’s clear they’re still getting their legs on a store this size, but I like that they’re trying to improve.
Meat can be expensive, but it can also be very cheap if you watch for the specials. That’s true for a lot of the items here — if you go in wanting exactly one thing you’ll pay a lot, but if you’re flexible you can find very good prices on «close-​enough» items.
I also appreciate the very nice mix of ethnic foods. It’s nice having those available at my «usual» store when I want to try out something new, rather than making a side-​trip to a smaller ethnic store.
For cheap packaged goods, we still go to Target. For cheap whole foods, this is our place now.

Maybe I’m not seeing what others see, but I went to Cermak today for the first time and saw a clean, bright, beautiful grocery store.
Prices are decent — but I consider myself a smart shopper & usually stick to whole ingredients (like veggies, dried beans/​grains, etc). Broccoli was on sale for 49 cents/​pound and I bought 3 lbs of onions for 99 cents. I did buy 2 boxes of cereal for my boyfriend, on sale for $ 1.99/box. Like any grocery store, prices vary and you have to look for specials. I got out of the store for less than $ 30 including tons of veggies, milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, & dried beans, rice, pasta & quinoa to stock my pantry.
There was a musty smell back near the meat counter, but there is a big selection. I don’t eat a lot of meat so I’m not as familiar with meat prices, but as far as I could tell it seemed comparable to other stores.
They also have a big deli/​prepared foods area along with a bakery.
The store was very busy but it is still big enough to move around, even with a shopping cart, which is great because they do have a lot of cool ingredients that are fun to look at. I saw a lot of employees stocking/​cleaning and they seemed available for questions if needed. They also had a lot of registers open and I barely waited in line, which is a lot better than Jewel. There is ample parking, too.
The only thing I noticed is that Cermak hasn’t updated their website yet to include the weekly circulars for this location. I usually like to check the sales online before shopping.
Overall, though, they must be doing something right because the store was hopping & the parking lot was pretty packed.

I was hoping for months that after being closed for a year, someone would replace the expensive yet aesthetically pleasing former Dominick’s with a grocery that would offer ANY reason for me to make frequent visits since it’s in my neighborhood.
Um, no.
The main difference is that it is no longer aesthetically pleasing. At least the former Dominick’s had the Starbucks, sushi bar, fantastic baked goods section, great beer/​liquor, SOME specials of interest…
Ridiculous prices – $ 6 jar of mayo, $ 5 cereal (the «small» box), $ 10 Home Run Inn Pizzas, Yoplait single servings on special for 80 cents (marked down from 89 cents, oh THANK YOU Cermak’s) just for starters. Even higher than Mariano’s. At least if I shop Mariano’s there’s jazz playing in the background, enticing lighting and brands I’ve heard of.
Nothing special about the produce or the meat shop. They had some nice lemons, though. Didn’t see any beef, chicken or pork that I would buy.
I kinda felt bad that I made a snarky remark to a very good friend of mine who told me about this store coming to the neighborhood and I replied very negatively something like «oh, great, this will be a food-​deserty blown-​out version of their smaller stores except they will have more room for bulk pinto beans and humongous pyramids of Eastern European crackers and spring water».
Nailed it.
I suppose there is a demand for ethnic foods, but the «bulk» orientation of them makes me think that there is little benefit to ethnic food buyers unless they are running restaurants.
And further, I wonder exactly what international foods market segment they are appealing to that didn’t already have local access to this sort of assortment at lower prices in their neighborhood already.
And if they want to stay open long-​term, I suppose they’d better keep the prices as high as they are, otherwise I cannot imagine that they can make money there. Savvy shoppers are going to figure this out quickly and just go back to Aldi or Mariano’s.
VERY disappointed. I can’t imagine that this is going to last very long.

Love that there is a closer grocery store and that it breaks the mold of something like Jewel/​Dominicks. Great selection of Indian/​Pakistani, Greek/​Mediterranean (great Olive Oil selection and solid pricing there), Asian and your standards.
Expansive vegetable department that is nicely displayed, well priced and good quality.
Good selection on the meat department, but pricing at times is VERY HIGH and others are just about where it should be. Lamb chops are VERY expensive. Rotisserie chicken is priced about average, steak/​beef a tad on the higher side (but really nicely butchered) and pork pricing is spot on with the seeming average in Chicago. Even picked up some loin-​on spare-​ribs that i’m doing a rather long sous-​vide cook.
The dairy department … $ 10 for a gallon of organic milk? I get it that it’s expensive, but $ 10? Pricing on dairy and specialty is on-​par with Whole Paycheck as are the wines/​beer.
I appreciate what they are trying to do and I look forward to great things from here, but I’d like to see their pricing get just a bit more in line than floating somewhere between Jewel/​Whole Foods. I absolutely believe in supporting local business and i’ll be checking in on them soon.