Pats Marketplace — Attraction in Town of Islip

I have shopped here for years. But an odd thing happened today. I bought a pound of cooked shrimp ($17), and when I unwrapped it at home, the shrimp were slimy and smelled awful. I took them back and went into the manager’s office. The two managers were totally uninterested that they sold me bad shellfish and pointed me to the customer service desk. A barely conscious kid in his 20s or so took the bag of shrimp and tossed it in the garbage, also totally not interested in the real issue - that they are selling rotten seafood. He refunded my money. When the customer service guy tossed the rotten shrimp I suggested he remove the other shrimp or at least inspect it. No response and he did nothing.

I went back to the fish counter and asked if the larger cooked shrimp (in a different bay than the ones I originally bought) were fresh, letting the clerk know what had happened (there was a different man on duty earlier). The young man said yes, and to his credit went to the walk-in refrigerator and brought out a fresher bag of shrimp just so I'd know they were okay. He let me inspect one, and it was fine - no slime or rotten smell - so I bought them.

Here's the really surprising thing: No one - not the managers or customer service person - APOLOGIZED. I would have expected them to jump up in a panic and run over to the seafood department to see what was happening! I guess the reason for their nonchalance was that I was probably not the only person returning rotten seafood today.

Kind of a surreal experience. I guess I'll stick to buying desserts from their excellent bakery, but skip the seafood, meat and deli...

When this store opened, I couldn't get enough of it.. Produce, meat, deli - all fantastic departments. But over time, the store really has gone downhill. The staff behind the deli counter are dirty, indifferent, obnoxious - not all, but far too many for my liking. I've gotten prepared sandwiches, and salads from the deli counter with hair in them. Once is one time too many - four or five - that's indicative of a problem with the store, staff and management.

Yesterday I went in for a loaf of bread. Their bread is amazing, I believe it comes from Brooklyn. Almost every loaf of bread that I picked up was soggy.. I've never seen that before in that store. I finally found a good, crisp loaf of bread. As I walked by the bakery counter and got to the end, near a door leading to the back, the smell of urine was overwhelming. Reminded me of a corner of the subway platform where no one ever ventures to. Absolutely disgusting.

I don't know what happened to this store, but I very rarely go in. When I do, overall, the store just feels dirty. The only department left that I have any faith in is the meat department. Management doesn't seem to care, since the store is pretty much packed all the time.

By the way, I'm not the ONLY person that's found hair...

This cashier in east Islip was very rude. My husband and I were waiting on the cashier line and my husband made a joke to me about no matter what line he chooses he always picks the line that takes a while because there are issues. There was a price check and then a couple had taken a while looking for the exact amount of cash to pay so the time we waited in this line that we chose took a while and about 10 other customers came and went on the other line. So she heard my husband make the joke to me and very loudly started complaining to the gentleman in front of us and the manager who came for the price check that she hates people because they are always complaining and are rude. She began being overly polite to the gentleman in front of us and then when we got to our turn she was tossing our items through and giving dirty looks. The fact of the matter is we did not complain at all and actually were laughing because it’s typical of our luck. We could have moved to a different line but didn’t and waited because it wasn’t a big deal but funny. We didn’t say anything to anyone. She was very rude and inappropriate she clearly should not be in service and may be more suited to work...