Anissa Mae
Google
I was staying in the area for a week and was so excited to find this little gourmet market so close to my Airbnb. They have fantastic sandwiches, delicious soups, and a great selection of high-quality, prepared foods — truly a gem when it comes to what they offer. But what absolutely ruined the experience, day after day, was the staff.
Every single time I went in — and I mean every day during my week-long stay — I was treated like an inconvenience. The women working behind the counter were consistently rude, dismissive, and acted like it was a personal burden to acknowledge or help me. The vibe was cold and unwelcoming from the moment you walked in.
It was completely unclear how to order anything from the prepared foods case. There was no one manning the station most of the time, and when I asked if someone could help me, it felt like I’d interrupted something sacred. The eye rolls. The sighs. The general air of ugh, why are you even here? It was beyond uncomfortable — and not once did anyone attempt to offer basic courtesy or customer service. I wasn’t asking for the world — just to buy food they’re selling.
The cherry on top came when I asked for the gazpacho — which was delicious, by the way — in a larger plastic container, because the ones they had out were laughably shallow and not even close to a normal soup portion. The response? I was told, straight-faced, that “the lids weren’t fitting properly today.” I’m sorry, what? That’s quite possibly the dumbest excuse I’ve ever heard — just say you don’t want to deal with it. It was so transparently lazy and condescending that I genuinely had to stop myself from laughing.
The reality is, their food is excellent. The market itself is well-stocked, with beautifully made products and gourmet items that are hard to find elsewhere. But I won’t give them another dime. No food is good enough to justify being treated like you’re an annoyance just for wanting to make a purchase. It’s called hospitality for a reason — and if every single person I interacted with over the course of seven days had the same attitude, the issue isn’t one rude employee. It’s the culture.
If the owners care at all about staying in business, they need to clean house and bring in staff who actually understand what it means to work in a customer-facing role. Until then, good luck surviving on good soup and bad vibes.