Wegmans — Local services in Westwood

By far the broadest selection of products among all the supermarkets in the area. The variety and scale can be somewhat overwhelming, especially as contrasted with the beautifully streamlined experience of shopping at Roche Bros. The quality, very broadly speaking, is good but not premium. There is clearly a concerted effort at Wegmans to avoid the sticker shock that can come with shopping at the higher-end supermarkets when one is operating on a tight budget, and they do an excellent job at this. Here is a store that has a decent version of almost everything, at prices that everyone can afford. Notably, here one can find many items that range from difficult to impossible to find at non-specialty stores: broccolini, endives, fresh peas, fennel, pomegranate, persimmon, year-round basil, Duxbury oysters, scallops, crab, king salmon, duck, rabbit, pancetta, guanciale, pork belly, goat, oxtail, hanger steak, prime rib, veal, asiago, gruyère, camembert, limburger, gorgonzola, stilton, St Agur, roquefort…

Granted, not everything is of excellent quality. Some of the produce is floppy (probably due in part to this year's difficult growing conditions) and some is bland (clearly grown in depleted soil using methods that maximize volume rather than flavor & nutrition). The coffee and tea selection is bafflingly bad, with no single-origin whole bean coffees or loose-leaf teas to be found at all (although they do have a few blends by Stumptown and Numi that will suffice in a pinch). The seafood department is quite good—not like a high-end seafood market, but broader and better than most supermarkets. The deli is also good—not as amazing as the Roche Bros deli, but more similar to that than to the wide array of mediocrity that is presented at most supermarkets. The store's own brand of products is generally middling: the produce and meats are serviceable but not exceptional; the cheeses look impressive but taste unremarkable; the eggs have pale yolks and bland flavor, which is especially frustrating because they don't stock any good brands of eggs; the teas and coffees are just terrible, although that's to be expected. For better or worse, to offer the utmost quality at any cost is definitely not part of their mission.

The wine department is, in my opinion, the crown jewel of the store. It's not only extremely impressive for a supermarket; it's better than most liquor stores. Every major wine-producing region is represented, and not just with a few wines, but with dozens. The curators of the wine selection are evidently knowledgeable and thoughtful, taking care to not simply procure some random cheap bottle to check a box for each grape variety grown by each region (as many liquor stores seem to do), but to actually offer a wide swath of the various styles that each region produces, procuring vintages that are tasteful but not extravagant, thereby providing not only a broad selection to suit any taste but also excellent value for the asking price. To top it off, the wine department is staffed by knowledgeable and helpful sommeliers who can provide tasteful recommendations for a specific occasion or food pairing.

For someone with an effectively limitless grocery budget but very limited time, who is looking for a streamlined shopping experience in a store where absolutely everything is of very high quality, I would generally recommend Roche Bros over Wegmans. But for someone whose grocery shopping is operating within a tightly or moderately limited budget, who wants to do all their shopping at one store where they can count on finding everything they need at a decent quality and a great price, I know of no better place than Wegmans to buy groceries. If you have a car, Wegmans beats Shaw's or Stop & Shop in every way; it's absolutely worth a...

when they first opened a couple years ago, everything was great: clean, abundant selections on products including organics and gluten free choices, family friendly (ex. kids dining area, step stool at bathroom sink), decent choices on ready-made/cooked food bar including sushi...best yet - large beer and wine section!

so it is sad to see that this place has gone downhill from those glorious times.

most of what was noticed during grand opening times, i now find little trace of: umbrellas on rainy days, cashiers coming out of their aisle looking to ring you up, etc.

to be fair, they still carry a good variety of food within each category, and the location is convenient, so i'd still shop there. but a few times in recent history, i would come across situations where one might not feel like a valuable patron.

the guy behind the sushi counter looks very miserable. couple times now i got there in the 5-6pm time frame, he never looked up from what he was doing. a customer has been standing there quietly for the last 10 min, in hopes to catch his eyes, in vain. i can live without their sushi nowadays, custom order or not. it isn't the same as before anymore.

other quality issues: couple times more i got their organic peaches, batch in a wooden box or just picked from the pile. both times, peaches were brown from the inside when i was ready to eat. same thing with organic lemon - few days on the counter, some got rotten with green dusty mold. they weren't even on sale, so really wasn't expecting this to happen.

also noticed their pricings on prepped/cooked produce items are a bit...high. i get it you need to cover overhead, but it's more than a little bit higher than if you were to prep and cook it yourself. it's double the price and half the amount kind of pricey. but it's a good thing so now i won't be tempted.

check out lines used to be very efficient, now it's more or less the same as Shaws - more shoppers than cashiers, resulting in longer wait. couple times i got help packing my bags, i'd wonder if they ever received the most basic training, common sense almost, on Packing 101.

get it together! you're...

Ever since this place opened near us, we shop there weekly. The quality of the vegetables and the food are good while not expensive. Better than other local supermarkets. Not the best but good for what you pay. Their coffee is also very good and their prepared food is excellent.

I also love shopping there with instacart where I just choose what I need and go stop in the area they have for pickups and they bring the shopping right out to the car. For those that argue that they like to check their own vegetables, I say, do that but just choose all the stuff you do not need to check like paper/plastic products, sodas and other things you may need on a weekly basis but dont need to check and just choose your own vegetables. But I will mention that we have shopped vegetables many times and they have never selected bad quality ones and once they even messaged me on the app to tell me that the normal variety did not look that good and if I wanted to substitute with their organic that cost only a few dollars more but looked a lot better. Of course that depends on the person selecting your vegetables, but its nice to know those shoppers are part of their team.

Another thing I love about this place is their large cafe area where you can eat their prepared food at. We even host our board game meetups there twice a month on Thursdays and it great. You can eat there before you start gaming and when you are done around 930ish go shopping for anything you need at home like milk, etc.

They even have a wine and beer section if you ever need for a visit to friends but I think that section may have slightly different hours. I would check those if i were planning on going there...