Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace — Local services in Ramsey

When I lived in NJ, I was a loyal customer at Uncle Giuseppe's. The quality & selection always kept me coming back. Life has since taken me back to NYC, where I'm currently undergoing treatment at MSK. These days, small & simple things bring me happiness & I've been dreaming about Uncle Giuseppe's chicken Francese meatballs. So, this past Saturday, I was determined to make the trip. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Walking through the doors, I was instantly transported back. The Italian music quickly brought me back to Italy. The store was immaculate, just as I remembered-clean, well-stocked, filled with all of the Easter traditions. Panettone & Chocolate Filled Easter Eggs. Olives: Gorgonzola-stuffed, prosciutto-stuffed, & oil-cured. All expertly selected. Prepared Foods: Chicken Francese meatballs, eggplant meatballs, & ricotta rice balls. Sauces: Marinara & Francese sauce. Cheeses: A 5-year-aged Black Diamond cheddar & a Merlot cheese that I couldn't resist. Bakery: A twisted sesame semolina loaf that looked perfect. A Treat: A bag of assorted hard Italian candies for a little nostalgia. To top it off, I stopped at the espresso bar for an iced Italian skinny girl latte. The barista was a gem-warm, friendly, & determined to get my latte just right. It tasted like a liquid rainbow cookie. Bliss.

As I drove home, my mouth watered thinking of the meal I had been craving for so long. I envisioned a plate of comfort that would transport me back to the flavors of my childhood. But sadly, that's not what I got. The Disappointment: Chicken Francese Meatballs: This was the star I had driven all that way for, but they fell flat. The meatballs were squeezed into a small container, losing their signature round shape.
They lacked flavor & moisture, leaving me grateful l had picked up a container of Francese sauce to salvage them. Even with the sauce, they barely earned 1 stars. Eggplant Meatballs: Where do I begin? Dry. Dry. Dry. Completely devoid of flavor. They tasted like they had been made in a hurry, with no seasoning or love. Ricotta Rice Balls (Arancini): As someone who's made arancini hundreds of times, I can confidently say these were a disaster. The rice was undercooked-crunchy & the breadcrumbs tasted greasy. The inside lacked the creamy, cheesy goodness that makes arancini a delight. Instead, it tasted like lower-quality ingredients rushed together, fried in oil that wasn't hot enough, causing them to absorb the oil instead of developing that signature crispy coating. Marinara Sauce: It was fine. If you're in a pinch, it'll do. But nothing remarkable. Francese Sauce: Where was the lemon? Instead, I got a sauce full of clumps, almost as if flour had been hastily added to thicken it. It tasted more like an afterthought than the bright, silky sauce it should have been. The Silver Linings: What Didn't Disappoint & made me smile The cheeses were fantastic-creamy, fresh, & full of nutty flavor & the sesame twist semolina bread? Perfection. Crispy on the outside, soft and airy on the inside, & absolutely divine dipped in EVOO & balsamic. Despite my best efforts to savor each bite, I couldn't hide my disappointment. Even my husband, who's used to me making everything from scratch, took one taste & gently suggested that maybe-just maybe-l should stick to homemade going forward. I promised I wouldn't be making this pilgrimage for prepared foods again. What Happened to Uncle Giuseppe's? I don't know what went wrong, but something has changed. The flavors that once made me a loyal customer have vanished, replaced by bland, uninspired offerings. I was heartbroken -not just for the disappointing meal, but for the lost opportunity to enjoy something I had looked forward to so deeply. For now, l'll have to rely on my own kitchen to bring me that sense of comfort I was so desperately craving. Uncle Giuseppe's, I hope one day you'll return to the quality that once made you great. But until then, I'll be keeping my promises...

I used to love this place but after moving, it's just too far to go regularly. My parents came up from Florida for a visit and my step father Alfredo is all about Italian everything! He has to go to Uncke Giuseppe's at least twice every time he's here. Once to load up on everything he wants to cook or eat while he's here visiting and once more so he can load up on what he's going to take back to Florida. They flew in on a Friday and we went on Saturday but got thrown off schedule a little and ended up getting there about 2 hours before they closed. We were so underwhelmed. My wife who works & has family not too far from here comes here more often than me. She saw the disappointment on our faces and says, I should have said something before we got here but their quality has dropped ever since they started opening new locations. One of pops favorite things in there hot food bar. It was there, but they was no hot food there. It was proportioned food in plastic to go containers. Weird thing is, they weren't refrigerated. It's a hot food bar that was turned off with plastic containers of food just stacked four and five high, not hot, not cold, just room temperature and just sitting there. The deli is usually a wonderland of Italian favorites, pre-made sandwiches & other specialties. All the sandwiches were gone. Pops got some kind of sausage broccoli Rabe panini the last time he was here and he couldn't wait to get another one. They weren't there anymore so he asked an employee behind the deli counter and they were very nice, the gentleman said, just tell me what was in it and I'll make you one. Problem was, my pops had no idea what else was in the sandwich, there was no menu of their sandwiches and the guy was new and he didn't know what the sandwich was. He asked another coworker who said sorry, before my time. My parents were here last Christmas, it wasn't that long ago. I have a sneaking suspicion that most of the best employees were cherry-picked to work at the new stores and never trained up the people who took their place? So much of the store seems now like they are more focused on Uncle Giuseppe as a brand of prepackaged foods instead of being the Italian marketplace wonderland they once were. It's a shame. We still got a few soups & other odds and ends like cheese. The soups were good but the cheese was almost completely molded over 3 days after we brought it home. It's not the kind of cheese that's supposed to have mold. It's a Black Truffle White Cheddar. I'm attaching photo's. Pop's who used to work in an Italian deli says, "that only happens when the blade they use isn't cleaned properly or the cheese is cross contaminated with something moldy. I thought it just wasn't stored at the right temperature like the food sitting out up front? This place just isn't the same high quality place it used to be. I'm getting a refund on...

Used to be good; when I went over the holidays there were a few concerns. First, it seems like they hire "a lot" of unskilled workers to make their "Italian specialty" foods. Listen, some Italian specialty shops in NJ still bring in Italians to ensure authenticity. The fact that they think "anyone" can make artisan style specialty foods is concerning and the quality has definitely gone down. I used to use thier spicy sauage they make for stuffing at Thanksgiving; when I bought it this year it tased like someone had dumped a bottle of hot sauce on the sauage; the fat & grizle content was also significantly higher. IT was borderline unedible; I couldn't believe how bad it was. Their fresh mozzarella also seems to have taken a hit. The last two times I was there I experienced the following; (1st visit) 4 "deli-workers" crammed into a tiny room that house machinery that has to be kept sanitary; the second time there were at least 7 people (it was standing room only); on my way out I noticed that the manager had cleared the room and seemed to be inspecting it. People, literally, wait in line at the holidays for the fresh mozzarella. It just does not taste the same. This is a skill that takes time to master. If this store wants to continue to charge a premium (which they do) for their "artisan" Italian specialities then they need to return to producing artisan level Italian specialties. I don't want to see 6 people in a tiny room where sanitary conditions matter because you're making a fresh "dairy" product, anywhere, ever. The fact that U.G seems to think this is OK is somewhat confusing. I now visit either Jerry's Homemade in Englewood or Piccolo's Gastonomia in Ridgefield Park; they both have authentic Italian speciality foods. I'd rather support these small business owners that are doing things the right way. I'm just not willing to risk the "quality-control" issues that I believe are plaguing Uncle...