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8 reviews for Fairway Market
8 reviews in English
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Review from Emma W.
Victoria, BC
1/2/2012
Decent prices, good selection. The produce section is great but the butcher selections are inconsistent.
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Review from Original E.
Toronto, ON
9/7/2011
Bada bing, bada boom: go in, find what I need, and get out :)
This is Victoria's answer to TNT (Asian Super Market Chain)... Mostly Asian products, but also a good variety of European goods.
English pasties, Portuguese tarts, rice wrapped in banana leaves, the mix is there: groceries are also quite versatile.
They also have a cafeteria style resto with hot and cold foods. Service is friendly, but I hate to say that it's silly. It's like having hobbits high on pipe-weed serving you, lol.
http://www.youtube.com... -
Review from Dan D.
Victoria, BC
Updated - 12/14/2009
Damn. I have to say that Fairway is improving. I enjoyed hating it, but they've done a bit of a reno inside and the place looks noticeably better.
More importantly, the staff seem to have gotten some training and are getting friendlier. Not Thrifty's friendly. Not Nova Scotia friendly. But definitely trending in the right direction.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/11/2009
Well, it's cheap. And it is a grocery store, so how bad can it be?
And it's handy to where I live,… Read more »
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Review from Patrick R.
Victoria, BC
6/17/2009
For anyone shopping for Groceries on a budget, Fairway Markets are a lifesaver. Their prices undercut the other major grocery chains by a decent margin. Though this often comes at the cost of product quality.
For regular grocery items, it is very hard to go wrong. All brands are standardized but still sell for less than the other chain. The savings margins are a little thinner here, but every little bit helps. The same applies to the dairy case, you won't save much, but you won't sacrifice quality either.
The departments are where Fairway really differentiates itself. The meat and seafood department is quite inexpensive, but I've always been a little frightened of what they have out and have never bought anything any more perishable than a ham nugget.
Produce suffers from this problem a little as well, but it is well worth a look as you can save an enormous percentage and the selection is often impressive. Just be aware that what you buy won't last very long, so buy in small lots.
The Deli is not bad and the cold cuts are actually quite good.
The Bakery is quite impressive with a lot of goods to choose from. I personally must note that they have very good Red Bean Buns and packs of Chocolate Chip Cookies that actually taste like Chocolate Chip Cookies are supposed to taste.
Fairway's also make themselves unique by having one of the largest Asian food sections you can find without making a trip to T&T (is there one in Victoria?). There is both a separate aisle dedicated to grocery items as well as specialty selections in their departments (like the Red Bean Buns I mentioned above)
Most of this review is generalized to all Fairway Markets as I have seen little change from store to store, however since I picked the Quadra location to review, I will mention the feature that makes it different.
The Quadra location sports a large take-away chinese food counter, with both an ' a la carte' menu as well as fast-food style warming trays. Sadly, I must recommend avoiding it. I got a quick take away "3 item dinner" and the food tasted absolutely vile. Every item, including the noodles, which should be a safe bet, had a very odd taste which lingered in the mouth. In the end I couldn't finish. The "A la carte" may be better, but it is the same kitchen so I'm reluctant to try.
Overall, its a great place to shop. You can save a good deal and make some real good finds. You just need a little patience. -
Review from Antonia W.
Toronto, ON
8/19/2010
Well, I guess I should write a review since I come here at least once a week to get groceries!!!! They are generally cheaper than most of the other grocery chains here (safeway, save-on, thrifty's) and although there's a Thrifty's right up the street from me, I find myself driving the extra 2 mins to go to Fairway.
Their fruits and veggies are really fresh, probably because the turnover is so high. I like the variety in their fruit and veggie section as well for the asian greens.
Their seafood section is pretty good and I usually buy black cod and halibut from here. I also get salmon fillets here over other stores like Save-On because they don't remove the skin and I really do love perfectly pan-frying my fish and eating the crunchy skin!
Meat section is also really good... but yeah, if you're looking for organic or non-hormone injected beef or anything like that, you won't be finding that kind of stuff here. You will find a lot of different cuts of beef here though.
I've had their chinese hot food and there's not much to say about that. Not crazy delicious, but they sure do give a lot of it!! I tried their new steamed buns that they've had for a couple months now. Toooo much bread for very little filling, especially on their chicken bun. I won't be buying that again.
To end on a good note, the staff at cash have generally been pretty nice. No complaints here. -
Review from Beth C.
Victoria, BC
5/14/2010
Good things first:
-lots of Chinese staff and clientele, so a really extensive variety of Asian foods and produce.
-the salad bar. It's actually really good.
-bulk section is half decent
-produce is usually fresh
-prices are typically reasonable.
the bads:
-they either need to be more thorough in the interview process, or train their staff better. When I shop most other places (Thrifty's, Safeway, Save-on) the staff are friendly, helpful, or at least coherent. I very often at Fairway encounter someone blindingly incompetent, outright hostile, or some mix thereof. I told a staff member that the salad bar was out of some things and could use some attention once (there was a piece of chicken in the cottage cheese, etc. etc.) and she looked at me, slack-jawed and sort of mumbled "mmmk" and I said "should I tell someone, or will you?" and she literally shrugged and said "whatever, I guess I can". I guarantee you she didn't. I just always get the impression the staff there doesn't care about the customers or the store at all.
-other than the really impressive Asian variety, they're lacking a lot of selection and items.
-sometimes their meat seems a little on the sketchy/not so fresh side -
Review from tania t.
Victoria, BC
9/23/2011
We live locally and go here often to shop - lov the freshness of the produce and availability of Asian produce. USED to love getting take out here but the quality has seriously dropped off the ;ast 3 or 4 times. Beef Chow Fun was my favourite - no not so much. Delicate, tasty cuts of meat and veggies has been replaced with large chunks of carrot, peppers and strong sweet or tangy sauces. Won't be buying meals from here again until I hear the quality improves - sorry to say.
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Review from Morgan W.
Victoria, BC
10/15/2009
Great place for cheap produce and essentials. Meat section is okay but not great. Items in the meat/seafood section to avoid: pork ribs and mussels, but by all means, fill up on chicken feet! But seriously, I'm here every Monday. Tip: ask the young guys in the produce department to get new stock out of the back. The old guys just laugh in your face.
Listed in: My Neighborhood
