Pickles & Pies Food Market & Deli — Restaurant in New York

On December 16th, 2022 at approximately 2:50am, I entered Pickles & Pies Food Market & Deli to purchase a bottle of Poland Spring water priced at $2.25 USD and an Ensure Nutrition Shake priced at $2.25 for a total of $4.50 USD.

When I placed my items for purchase on the store counter, the employee immediately asked me, “EBT?”. I replied, “Excuse me?”. The employee repeats his question “EBT?”, referring to the Electronic Benefit Transfer card or more commonly know as Food Stamps, a public assistance program that helps human beings provide food and water for themselves and families. Although anyone, regardless of race or gender, who meets the qualifications to receive EBT benefits such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Program) can have an EBT card, his wrongly and racially-prejudice assumption that I, a young African-American college senior, would be paying for my items totaling $4.50 USD with an EBT card is in fact racial profiling.

I was completely in shock that the employee automatically assumed that the method of payment I would use was an EBT card so I the asked him, “Why would you assume that I was paying with EBT?”. The employee responded “No, no, no.” I proceeded to ask, “Do you ask every customer that shops here if they are using an EBT card?” The employee responded, “No.” I then asked, “If you do not ask every customer that shops here if they are using an EBT card, what made you ask me if I was?” The employee stated at me with a very blank expression. I proceeded to ask, “Is it because I am Black?” The employee said “Sorry, sorry, here’s your change.”

As an Afro-American studies and Criminology major at one of the top collegiate institutions in the world, I study racism, racial injustice and racial prejudice as it pertains to the Black community and those of Color. I am well aware of the microaggressions toward the Black community expressed by others daily, however the employees actions were deplorable,...

Worst deli I’ve ever been to - waited an hour just to order because the deli was prioritizing mobile orders and only took the orders of the people actually in the deli every 10 minutes. Once we finally ordered, they lost our order ticket and didn’t say anything until we asked for an update on our food 15 minutes later, and even after we ordered for a second time they still forgot to make our food and didn’t make our sandwiches until we asked for a third time. We also tried to order a smoothie at the line, were told to go up to the cashier for that, and when we did the man told us that we had to get back in the line (AT THE BACK, after we had already been there an hour) in order to get our smoothie because the other worker was mistaken. When we asked if he could just put the order in for us (since we literally had already ordered it, and were following their own instructions) the worker was very rude and acted as if we were being ridiculous for not wanting to wait another hour just for the smoothie we already ordered. When we expressed that we were not happy about the wait and service and asked if we could speak with a manager, we were very rudely dismissed by management who came over and immediately spoke over us, never let us get a word in before he just dismissed and brushed us off very rudely. We tried to explain but he would rudely interrupt us the moment we said anything, before he just walked away from us.

And after everything, they got my sandwich wrong (I literally only asked for three ingredients). Would rate 0 stars if I could, there was absolutely nothing redeemable about this place - the service, the staff, the products,...

I originally left Pickles and Pies a five-star review because I genuinely enjoyed their food and service. However, after today’s visit, I feel it’s only fair to revise my review based on my recent experience.

I placed my order of cheesesteak fries and clearly requested only meat, cheese, and fries—no onions or peppers. Unfortunately, the dish came loaded with both. I live all the way up on Beach 81st Street and don’t drive, so going back to Beach 116th just to get the order corrected is not convenient at all especially when I got home at 2:00 p.m. and got back there at 3:10 p.m. just to get the order corrected so it took an hour just to get back there. That doesn't include going all the way back home again. Their menu says they deliver and they didn't even offer.

When I originally called to report the issue, the only resolution offered was to return in person for a remake, which really doesn’t help when you do not live close by and you're already home. They apologized, which I appreciate, but when you’re spending $60 on food for three people, you expect the order to be right or at least for the resolution to feel a little more accommodating.

Great food matters—but so does getting it right and making things right when a mistake happens. This time, unfortunately, it...