Seafood City Supermarket - Scarborough — Local services in Toronto

Just opened last week. I've heard it's quite busy on the weekends with lines to get in due to COVID19 capacity restrictions however we went on a Monday morning and it wasn't too busy. The lady helping us at the cash register advised us that there is an online reservation system in case we wanted to avoid the lines in the future. Now the store itself, I haven't come across a Seafood City location before and it's quite nice. There's a good balance in there are many cooked food options, the grill is just to the right after entry which has many staples of Filipino cuisine. Some I didn't know were foods that were part of the cuisine however eager to try. The next area moving counter-clockwise is an area called Crispy town that has many different fried foods from calimari, to pork rinds and many more. Moving on next to that is Noodle street where you can order different kinds of noodle dishes from soup to soup-less. This cooked food area surrounds the produce section as well as some Filipino desserts dotted along the front near the entrance. The rear and left most area of the store is where most of the frozen goods are kept. The area to the left has many fish options which can be hand picked, then requested to be cleaned and gutted for cooking. There are also in this meat market area chicken, beef and pork in various cuts where you'll need to request a ticket for assistance from the staff as like most supermarkets. And all in between this is aisles on aisles of varying goods from everyday cooking essentials to snacks. I took a few photos to illustrate this. What even surprised me was an area that appeared to cater to "Balikbayan" boxes with boxes and packing materials. I think there is a bakery area that is to open too but not until March. Last thing to note as I haven't seen this in any other store before is staff members walking around to advise of social distancing due to the COVID19 pandemic, nice touch. All in all great experience and will...

I'm quite disappointed with this grocery store and I will lay them out in points:

The prepared food is not consistent, we ordered pansit palabok last week and it was very tasty, today, April 15/21 we ordered it again. It was anemic, is the palabok pansit suppose to be sweet? I think not but I could be wrong. The store should have a master recipe that everyone follows and not to everyone cooking to make their own.

Last week, we came into the store at about 5:30 pm and headed to the prepared food section. We ordered caldereta and not knowing but it was almost empty, it only had 3 pieces of beef and the rest were potatoes!!! The server didn't even say anything, he could have told us and we could have decided whether we want to continue with the order or not.

Last week we ordered kare-kare, we were given mostly string beans!!!

Today when my spouse went back to the cooked food area to ask for some toppings because honest to goodness, the pansit palabok was so bland, basically it didn't have any of the tinapa or chicaron on top. The girl employee started raising her voice at my spouse. Don't they know that customers are always correct??? There's no need to raise her voice!

The snacks there go quickly, however the store does not replenish them with the same brand. They should always replenish what's been sold.

Last week, I saw a family who brought their dog into the store, which violated the Health and Safety law. We asked two of the store clerks if dogs are allowed to be brought into the store. Guess what??? none of them knew the answer to our question. It's common sense, you're selling food!!!

The employees of this store did not get proper training, I think they should all get training or get re-trained!!!

VERY VERY...

Glad to have the Seafood City in Scarborough! We live nearby and going to this store gives a positive vibes amidst the pandemic. But with my husband's experience gave a different perspective about the store and the people managing. My husband used to work in the store but quit few days after opening. He had the approval from management to do a video about the store (which they knew) as they will use his material for marketing purposes but he was prevented. I came to the store with my husband to shop, being excited we came again the next day and he was doing/recording video as a customer (no longer a staff) but was prevented by a lady manager. I wanted to speak to the lady manager but can't find her so I talked to the store manager and he was apologetic. I wanted to share this experience as it is not proper for a manager to do such thing if she knew my husband already being a former staff and was at the store as a customer with me. I wanted to shop more and order take out food but my husband's excitement about doing a vlog was dampened by this incident. Day before we shopped there, I saw a teenager recording a video around the whole store and there are videos in youtube now about the Seafood City, even a vlogger uploaded the grand opening with people lined outside and the vlogger went inside freely before the opening. This incident is a disrespect to us being a customer and worst making my husband feel frustrated/disappointed specially at this time. Being in the same culture is a surprise and my husband who is Canadian, born here, he does not understand those underlying attitude of pulling others down. Hope this will enlighten management of this incident and not let customers experience this...