Ideal Food Basket of Fort Lauderdale — Local services in Fort Lauderdale

I have been supporting this store for over 5 years. Since I have been shopping there, I have yet to see a friendly or kind face. (One exception, see below.) When I shop there I say, smile and then say, Good morning or afternoon in English and Buenos dias or buenos tardes en Espanol. The cashiers don't respond to either greeting. They actually treat me like I'm not there while they're taking my payment. I've concluded that they don't like people of African ascent, although many of them have a black grandmother or great grandmother. THESE PEOPLE NEED SOME CULTURAL-SENSITIVITY TRAINING. I've never seen a Black, Asian or Caucasian person working there in 5 years. There were 2 Muslim women there, but their presence was short-lived. This is the United States of America. It is a diverse country, especially South Florida. I'D RATHER PAY MORE and get respect and thanks for my support. They recently increased their product line to bring in more organic and better quality local produce. I wholeheartedly supported that effort. I referred some of my farmer-distributor colleagues to this location as a possible point of sale for their products.

I strongly suggest that the owners of this market provide cultural sensitivity training for their employees. It may currently seem like their 90%-Latino customer base will be sufficient. Times are changing and if they are unable to fully engage all of their income sources, as business people they will become obsolete. Or maybe an ICE raid might take you guys out! LOL. That would be ironic!

One exception: Daniel in Produce. He's the reason that I still shop there. My husband thinks...

I stopped buying chicken from Publix because Ideal has the best prices for chicken breast...plus the chicken is tender and huge. Unfortunately something has happened lately to the quality. The last 2 times I purchased chicken breasts, they were oddly hard, like cutting into frozen...but they weren't frozen. They didn't smell bad so I cooked them anyway. My entire family spit it out. It was like eating rubber. Then it happened again a week later. I don't know if they changed their distributor, but they better change back because this chicken is disgusting.

I've also been noticing that the expiration dates on many products are expired or close to expiring....especially in the candy and frozen sections. When chocolate is a month or two from expiring, it doesn't mean it's still good. It means it's a year old. Yuck! You literally have to check the dates on everything you buy from this store now.

Then there's the elevated prices on things like butter, eggs, orange juice, bacon and ice cream. I really don't see how anyone on a budget can afford to do their weekly shopping here.

Management needs to stop flirting with the grouchy cashiers and worry more about the quality of their products and...

The place is really clean and well organized. They even have a fresh products section. If you walk around I'm pretty sure you can literally find everything you need. I went there hoping to find some Venezuelan cheese (Quesso Palmita - PalmiUsa) ... Unfortunately they don't have it so I have to keep driving all the way to Miami at the Tropical market for it... Overall the personal is friendly and the store is once again I say it, very clean. I didn't got yet to see the restrooms but I will one day and if anything wrong I'll come back and update my review. So far I have a nice impression about this market. Everytime I'm going there, I leave buying something and I'm still hoping that one day they'll carry my favorite cheese... Parking situation is pretty tuff around there as there is a bunch of people coming to shop there but with a little patience you will definitely find a place to park your vechicle. Overall there is a good place for grocery shopping and I highly...