Starsky Fine Foods — Local services in Mississauga

This is a miracle post, dedicated to The Store Manager of this Starsky's Fine Foods location: Mr. Espedito Ariganello.

It is a recounting of my experience searching for a pair of sunglasses which belonged to a very dear family member of mine...

Which, Mr. Espedito Ariganello, a person who has very important tasks and duties to do- Helped me find: After searching for nearly 1 hour.

I recently had a most wonderful experience shopping at Starksy's Fine Foods. My family and I have been shopping at Starksy's for the past 2 years. They have a wonderful selection of produce, meats, and cheeses.

After reaching my car on my shopping trip last week, I noticed that my sunglasses were missing... After checking my car, I went back inside the store to ask at Customer Service to find out if anyone had found my sunglasses. They are very important to me, because they belonged to a family member of mine.

After speaking with costumer service, and their mentioning that nobody had turned in the sunglasses, I grew very worried.

I entered the store floor, and began to comb the isles, I even reached out to a store member in the cheese department. He was standing with his colleague in the cheese department, and recognized me, as I had recently purchased some cheeses from him.

He told me that he would help me look for my glasses!

Now, which store employee, in any store** has ever said that to any of you ?!!! Nobody. What a kind employee.

He led me to the front of the store, and I asked him if he knew if I could ask the Store Manager if he could look at the security tape to see where I dropped the glasses.

Customer Service called the store manager, and he came to meet with me. The Store Manager's name is Espedito Ariganello.

Mr. Espedito Ariganello was a very well-mannered and helpful young gentleman.

Despite my frantic and worrying nature, Mr. Espedito calmly walked through the store with me, visiting the isles I had visited during my shopping trip.

After this, he viewed my receipt, and then looked up my check out activity to see if he could find me wearing my glasses or not.

After having to view my check out activity in slow motion several times, and even pausing it to zoom in, he was able to confirm that I was wearing the glasses around my neck during the check out.

After this, he even accompanied me to my vehicle! He carried his portable security device, and was trying to pull up the activity of me walking outside the store with my cart, to see if I had dropped the glasses anywhere in the process.

We finally got to my car, and I opened the door for him, to show him that I did not have the glasses in the car. I finally started going through my bags again, as he had suggested my glasses could have fallen off during the process of bagging my groceries.

To a miracle surprise, Mr. Espedito Ariganello was correct! My glasses had fallen off inside a bag that had been double bagged. On the inside of the outer bag!!!!!!!!!! What are the chances??????

I thanked him and apologized profusely, as I felt terrible for taking up so much of his time. I offered to pay him for helping me find my glasses.

He refused! I even followed him back into the store and went to the Customer Service desk. I said "Excuse me, the store manager just helped me find my glasses... They were in MY CAR in the back, hidden in a bag. Could I please pay a donation towards the store" And the Customer Service member said they did not have that option.

I repeatedly offered to pay him money for helping me find my glasses. Because they are priceless for me. And he repeatedly declined and said "I'm glad I was able to help you"

I said "But how can I repay you? You were so kind and helpful to me"

He just smiled and said, "It's okay, it's important you got your glasses. Happy Easter"

Just incredible!

God bless Mr. Espedito Ariganello.

I hope all the people who read this review, and other people in the world, can aspire to be more empathetic, helpful, and compassionate like Mr. Ariganello.

Thank you very much for your time and kindness,...

A Horrible Christmas Experience – Rotten Carp from Starsky Fine Foods

I usually don’t write reviews, but I felt compelled to share my disastrous experience with Starsky Fine Foods this Christmas. I decided to buy a fresh carp for our holiday dinner, thinking it would be a special treat. Boy, was I wrong. I went to the store Christmas Eve morning, and the fish looked fine in the display—shiny scales, clear eyes, everything seemed fresh. I trusted the store’s reputation and figured it would be perfect for our Christmas meal. On my way home in the car there was a foul smell. I got home from grocery shopping, I excitedly unpacked the fish to start preparing it, and an awful, pungent odor came from it. It smelled like something had been left out in the sun for days. Upon inspection, the fish was completely rotten. The flesh was slimy and discolored, the gills were off, and the inside was fully blacked. At first, I thought it was a bad batch, but then I realized the worst part: this wasn’t just a small issue—this ruined our entire Christmas dinner. We were hosting family, and I had to scramble to find a last-minute replacement for the main dish, which wasn’t easy on Christmas Eve. What really gets me is that this was sold as "fresh," and no one at the store seemed to notice that the fish was already spoiled. The fish was clearly old and improperly handled. I went back to the store an hour later to bring the fish back for a refund where the manager Exposito did not believe my claim of it being bad with the obvious stench. The lack of professionalism and basic customer service left me feeling completely unimportant. It was clear no one at the store was trained to handle issues like this properly, especially on Christmas, when you’d expect some level of understanding and efficiency. This whole ordeal just made a bad situation even worse. I’ve been a loyal customer to Starsky Fine Foods for years, but this experience has completely soured my trust in their quality control. Not only was the carp a disaster, but the whole situation left us stressed, embarrassed, and scrambling on what was supposed to be a joyful holiday. As a retired Canadian food inspector, I’ve seen my fair share of questionable products over the years, but I have never encountered such a blatantly spoiled fish at a grocery store before. In my professional career, I was trained to spot the smallest signs of contamination or improper handling, and I can confidently say that the carp I bought from Starsky Fine Foods would have been immediately rejected under any inspection. The condition of the fish—slimy, discolored, with an unbearable odor—was not just a minor issue; it was an absolute violation of basic food safety standards. For a store to pass this off as "fresh" is beyond negligent. It's one thing to have a bad product slip through the cracks, but to have something so obviously spoiled make it to the shelves is inexcusable. As someone who has spent decades ensuring food safety, this was truly shocking. The fact that it was sold as "fresh" and wasn’t immediately pulled from the shelf raises serious questions about the store’s quality control. It’s no wonder my Christmas...

However there are many good products in this store and sometimes really a good choice of European food, but there are still many turn offs. It is hit or miss. Mostly good: meat deli (sausages). Hit or miss: cheese. Be very careful with prepacked cheese (I never buy it now as found once that only first layer of cheese was ok, the rest were uneatable parts or just simply out of date pieces). Interesting, that when I told about it to the department manager - she did not have any reaction, even did not apologize. Service - mostly good, however some workers could be very rude to you (and some cashiers too). Never saw that in other grocery stores where I go. And - just recently - was VERY strange service (where we are - in the Soviet Union in 90s? When everything was in deficit?). I wanted to buy some smoked salmon, and there were quite a lot of pieces. The salesperson tried to give me parts from tail (which I do not like and cannot eat now after my dental problem, this part is not soft). When I asked her to give me some pieces from other part on the tray (which was easy to do, there were lots of pieces) - guess what - the salesperson told me that she CANNOT DO that. WHAT? I came tired after work and did not argue, I just did not buy what I wanted. But what was that? Since when a salesperson refuses to give a customer wanted pieces from the full tray? She CANNOT? This was nonsense (happened just yesterday evening) - I even could not believe it first. Prepared food - it depends on date. Hit or miss. Sometimes ok, but sometimes SO much salt there (and you can find it only after purchasing). Sometimes just not tasty at all (unfortunately, had some cases). Workers start cleaning the staff early indeed - I agree with the previous observer - also experienced that. If it is 30 min before closing - you will find empty shelves because the workers removed everything from there. Quality of vegetables/fruit. I found that should be very careful with that - quite often the quality is not good (berries are tasteless somehow), same about lettice (not fresh). But I work very close to that store and like European food - that is why come here, but lessons learnt. And - almost forgot - again, just from yesterday shopping - the chocolate candies there were not all fresh. Seems they are there for a long time. Too bad. And beware - the policy in this store that you can return any bad food only within 24 hours after purchase. With gas price and our busy time - who really will do that? Thank you and I wish you all having a good experience...