European Gourmet & Deli — Local services in Herndon

This store is similar to many other grocery style stores which basically " import " specific foreign culture foods and products, and most of them are small businesses. As far as I have got experience by visiting many of them in Northern Virginia and Maryland, most of them have lack of US standard stores i.e. level of costumer service, and they suffer from below average management, and many times low quality or out dated foods and other products. It doesn't matter, Russian, Turkish, Persian/Afghan, Arabic, Indian ..., all are almost the same. Saying that, if you go to any of them, you should bring your level of expectation down. About this store, I saw the same thing that I explained. Their costumer service is ok, you should search around inside of the store to find something you may like, but try not to touch things as much as possible. The store staff do not like it! Store is clean enough as you can expect from a small local business. In this store, you can find deli meats which are unique and belongs to the eastern Europe, I tried and found few of them really good. Almost some freshly baked and cooked Russian foods are available, though I have not tried them. (I thought first ask a Russian friend before try anything) Also check the product date and expiration on any food you want to buy. Careful that some of them do not have a clear date, so you have to rely on your chance and natural...

Very disappointing experience. I bought products in their "pharmacy", Но-шпа (drotaverin) and valerian root tincture. Unfortunately, I did not check the packages at the store. Later, already at home, I figured out that protective seals were broken on both packages. Но-шпа box - which is supposed to be glued - was opened and resealed with sticky tape for some reason. The plastic cap on the tincture bottle was open as well, it didn't even have a plastic ring which is a part of the protective seal. The tincture smells like Valerian root but I'm not going to try it. Especially taking into consideration that the English translation does not match the initial Russian description. Russian instructions said to take the tincture orally, while the sticker with English translation said "for external use only". I suspect that they substituted ethanol alcohol (initial ingredient of the tincture) with cheap...

I missed Russian sausage and ice cream. Being the closest store I could reach for Russian gourmet food, I was not welcomed and cared by some of the staff there. I usually have to wait at least a couple of mins before I could get a little bit attention and I am advised not to open the fridge before I know which ice cream to buy. Some of the items are expired and you should always keep an eye on the expiration date. Be very aware of the expiration dates of the chocolate boxes. You won't be surprised if you open the box and find the chocolate that does not age well. Interestingly, I bought an expired beverage one time and it tasted sour. I returned to the store only to have the staff told me that I was just not used to the Russian taste. Please do not judge my taste with an expired product!

I still hope they can do better at the Russian gourmet by improving the...