Food Basics

This store has changed like most grocery stores across the city, now there is more self checkouts than anything, workers dont seem as happy and well overall a once great place is getting bad.

Good location. Good prices. However, can you please have management clean the underground parking lot and the stairs going to the store? It is extremely dirty and it stinks.

Smells like actual poo poo by the dairy, and caught some employees literally bullying a younger employee who was clearly still learning and doing his best to help- a lady with an actual Karen haircut so not surprising. Her constant nagging slowed the employees down and a lot of the shoppers very uncomfortable as we all struggled through the one open line… Poo poo attitude and poo poo smells. Good sales this week tho!

I have loved coming here for the last 7yrs. The staff are always so helpful and friendly! (Especially during the pandemic when they were in such a tough spot!) And superior quality on items such as grapefruit. I’ve bought these at some of the more pricey stores in the neighborhood and had them go bad within days. Thank you for your great service!

Just a request to management… Can you please be more consistent with your plant based/vegan/vegetarian options. I fell in love with Not Milk and then suddenly you guys stopped carrying it. The same thing has happened with a number of other items over the last few years: Mother Raw Caesar salad dressing, hemp hearts, Gardein fish-free Golden Filets and Oasis Health Break Grapefruit, Blackberry and Hibiscus juice are just a few such items.

Always check the date on your food here cause it's either expired the next day or it's moldey the next day

Good customer service and Friendly Staff. Medium size supermarket in Pape Avenue, East York.

Used to love this location, but they’ve put in self scans. Only one till open on Saturdays at 1pm to help customers. I have a full buggy and don’t want to fumble with the tiny self scan areas. Thinking of shopping elsewhere, even tough the next closest grocery store is more expensive and further away.

I had my Husband go in at this location and it was fully stocked.
Superior customer Service from Cathy on Sunday.
The manager Cathy or Kathy was beyond excellent in having my Husband make a quick exchange.
Thanks for the best customer service ever.
The corporate office must know about Cathy and must be rewarded with a higher position. Sad, that these big corporate companies FAIL to awknoledge employees of this caliber.
Cathy is one that must be awknoledged!

As everyone is entitled to their own opinions.anyone who has ANY negatively about this store is not dealing with a full deck. Some people will complain about anything and bad vibes about this store in my unbiased mean machine opinion are completely unfounded. I have continual amazement at the low prices, freshness and availability in this store. In a wheelchair everyone treats me with respect and offers help at any given moment. If you have any complaints, take another look because you're very wrong and at 67 years old I have seen it all.

Last minute needed a replacement for Turkey Pepperoni I’d bought earlier in the day. When I arrived the store was closed, but an employee at the front cleaning was kind enough to get the manager. He asked what I needed and kindly went to get the replacement no questions asked despite it being 40 minutes past closing time. Told me his name was Rusland (might be spelled incorrectly), and I thank him for his assistance. Excellent customer service!

Overall good, but they always seem to run out of the Cedar Phoenicia Rose Water when I am there. I also kind of get the creeps when there, and I feel unwelcome by the staff. I don't know what it is.

So I went to a Lebanese Grocery Store in the East of Toronto. Not only do they have my rose water, I feel right at home!

Food basics was so good because I have been there before since I used to go with my dad back then from Donlands to Pape.

They never have any special on this location.may be only few items.not all of them which they advertise for it.one of the worst store food basic is running

First time at this location and I was pleasantly surprised at how CLEAN and organized the store is. Well stocked with a good assortment of fresh produce, meats and dairy. Bakery area is a bit disorganized but well stocked. Staff is helpful and friendly.

This place is a piece of s**t. The manager or supervisor whoever she was because she didn't even know her own position, needs to go get some extra training. Never again.

As all Food Basics, this is not a top-tier supermarket. Food Basics only exist in low-income areas downtown so you have to keep in mind that the standard won't be the same as in more expensive stores.
The young man with the buzzcut who stocks the shelves is amazing. He offered to help me when he saw me having a trouble deciding on a product. He offered to help look through all of them to find which ones are gluten free, which I deeply appreciated. I wouldn't have even had the attention span to do that myself lol. I also regularly see him assisting other customers.

But one thing that aggravates me, WHAT IS UP WITH THE LOCKING CARTS? There is an underground parking lot, but when you try to take the cart out of the store to go down into the lot, the wheels will lock. Quite an embarrassing situation I went through, my carts wheels fully locked as it was stuck in the exit door while others couldn't get out of the store. I had to abandon the cart and carry an entire cartful of groceries down the stairs in multiple trips. A better system needs to be thought of since this is preventing customers from doing larger grocery trips.

I'm done with this store. Was just attacked by a screaming woman inside the store's lineup to the registers. She yelled that I got in in front of her in line. Not wanting to fight with a random stranger, I immediately let her go in first, but she kept screaming and verbally abusing me in front of the whole store, regardless. I was hurt and shaken up, so when I finally got to the register, I asked to speak with a manager. A long haired guy in store uniform approached, and I explained that I was just verbally abused by this woman, who was still in the process of checking out. Without pausing for a second, he immediately said that there is nothing they can do. I proceeded to point out that she is still here, and if they have cameras, they could review what had happened literally minutes ago. He repeated again that there is nothing they can do and that I should have just let her in, which I immediately did! But it did not stop the abuse! Still in shock, and dismayed by his utter lack of caring, I said that if I can't feel safe shopping at Food Basics, I would have to go to other shops, to which the Food Basics employee has replied "There are plenty of other shops in Toronto". I think his last line sums up perfectly how much Food Basics cares about it's customers.

Edit: After leaving this review, the store manager did call to apologize, so giving them credit for that.

Great neighborhood grocer with competitive prices. Never too busy. Convenient parking available.

Affordable, fresh produce, grocery and everything in between ate available in wide selection I love this store for my food stuff

Not stocked well and found a tag that was left for Swanson dinners from September 30th took it up cause the policy is if you find a tag and it's out of date you get it for free well the cashier denied me that policy and I felt the right to that if I found what was written to be if you found an outdated ticket tag

Good customer service is always here.
If you need something, they will get it for you!
Highly Recommended

Best Regards,
George

Very clean, constantly sanitizing
Has hand disinfectant at entrance, seems everyone keeps their distance (most comply) i would recommend basics on Pape Ave just 1 block north of cosburn ave on the west side, Enjoy

I like the store, it's two blocks away and I know where all the deals are-fruit, meat, bread, etc.

We live nearby and used to do 90% of our grocery shopping here, except for high end items, which Food Basics doesn't have. Lately though, the store has been steadily deteriorating. Many discounted Flyer items are never in stock, we literally dropped by every day hoping to buy something that was advertised front page on the flyer, but was never there, although pricier alternatives were aplenty. A lot of other things went up in price and are often mislabeled to surprise you at the register. Bakery items are defrosted and stale.

I really hope the store owners wake up and get things back in order. This used to be a great store and we miss doing our shopping close to home.

Usually service is great at this location however I was quite disappointed in yesterday's visit with the customer service when I was there around 1 pm ish. I feel like during these times everyone should be kind to each other, I've been especially nice and compassionate towards people on the front lines including grocery workers. I understand it's not easy working during a pandemic. Yesterday I was served by a young man in his early 20's with brown hair, sort of long with a pony tail to check out my groceries. I said a warm hello and he asked if I needed any bags. I said I was good for bags as I brought my own. He looked at me and asked me to repeat what I said and i replied with a no thank you. When the transition was over, I patiently waited for my receipt when he literally threw it on the conveyor belt and looked away. It landed close to him (hard to throw paper) so I had to reach over towards him to get it. I was kinda shocked and wanted to say something to management however I decided to leave and pick my battles. It's unfortunately left a bad taste in my mouth as I feel like I should be more forgiving of behavior like this- maybe he was distracted, maybe he thought I left, or maybe he just didn't care. I've never had any issues with the staff except this individual however even one employee can change how someone feels about a business.

Stopped by this Food Basics the other day while in the neighbourhood and their produce section was well stocked with items I needed.

I just wanted to thank one of the staff who patiently helped me to checkout. My credit card wasn't working and I had to call my sister to bring it for me almost at closing time. I didn't ask the cashier's name but I just wanted to appreciate her help tonight ️

Good location to shop but one thing to note is that none of the no name products are there in this store.

"Medina, " a part timer cashier is a cheerful and fast worker. I wish she is there more often. Always a pleasure served by her, unlike some that are surly, which I can sometimes see why, many of the customers there are quite high maintenance.

Convenient location to do your groceries. Steps to a bus stop and a few minutes away from the subway station.

Stopped by on way home to grab some treats for my hubby. A nice gentleman, younger than me, slightly husky, dark curly hair and facial hair was working in the dairy department and helped me out to find said treats for my hubby. He even came by where he directed me to go to make sure I found what I was looking for. I inquired with my cashier and she said his name might have been Justin. Thank you very much! You were a big help and went beyond the norms of customer service. If management wishes to find out exactly if it was Justin, I was in there the date of this review looking for pistachios.

This is a combination of many places at Gerald square visit there and by the time you leave all your worries are gone.

Nice big store with a lot of groceries. Good prices. Every week they send flyers to the neghbourhood with their sales items.
Good staff and very helpful.

Greatest quality raspberries ever seen and yet the cheapest price. Asparagus 60% cheaper than all other stores. Very neat.

Very nice staff. Always cheerful and helpful! They have a lot of Eastern European items as well as Greek.

This is a ver convenient store, with underground parking, great in winter and cool summer. Good selection, very competitive prices - staff are very nice and helpful. Usually have the flyer items in stock.

It's a Food Basics, so I'm not expecting perfection by any means, but the store is always filthy and you'll often find rotting produce on the shelves. The staff simply don't care and it shows but you really can't beat the prices when compared to Sobey's or Metro.

Bad service and what's the point of having cashiers if they don't bag your groceries. Might as well get a self checkout put in and safe money on wages

The manager is no good. He should be fired for the stuff he pulls. I shop there and did deliveries there and this new guy is no manager. No customer service skills and treats people like second class citizens. Sad that Metro hired a guy like that.

Rarely Do I Not Find What I'm looking For, The Staff Is Always So Polite & It's Steps Away From My House. What More Could You Ask For.

Good for the price Not too much of a variety. The meat is usually good. Sales on a weekend, that is nice.

The best super market in Canada. I wish you guys start online purchasing and deliver them like Walmart.

New management & assistants. Prefer the other good people who were there. They managed the store flawlessly with gusto. They were transfer to other stores to increase the sales in other locals. The remaining staff of shelvers merchandisers remain same. And they are great friendly bunch of folks.

Its everything you need in a discount grocery store. Produce and meat are good and fresh, and everything else is available. Same staff for years which I appreciate. They're always courteous and helpful.