These Are the Worst and Best Individual Grocery Stores in the U.S. in 2025

Whenever we ask users where they play our Solitaire games like Spider and FreeCell, we’re often surprised that they say grocery store lines. Since our goal at Solitaired is to create moments of fun, it got us curious: Which grocery stores provide the best experience across all of America? And which are on the opposite end—the ones with the most complaints and slowest lines?

To dig into these questions, Solitaired analyzed over 7 million Google reviews from 3,000 individual grocery stores across 100 cities to uncover which stand out in customer service, food, quality, prices, and yes, even the speed of checkout lines.

When life slows to the speed of molasses—like when you’re waiting in a long line—Solitaired can make those waits less tedious. Instead of just standing there, you can dip into a game of Solitaire, entertaining your mind during an otherwise monotonous trip. While we might not revolutionize the grocery shopping experience, we can offer a simple and straightforward escape, making your daily routine a bit more enjoyable.

Curious to find out which stores are America’s best? (And which are the worst?) Keep reading for the answer.

Key Takeaways

• Safeway on 40th St. in Washington, DC, is the worst grocery store overall.
• Mazzaro's Italian Market on 22nd Ave. in St. Petersburg, FL, is the best overall grocery store.
• Trader Joe's, Publix Super Market, and WinCo Foods are America’s favorite major grocery chains.
• King Soopers, Walmart, and Kroger are America’s least favorite major grocery chains.
• Eataly in Dallas, TX has the worst prices in the country.
• Between Desi District, Hello! India, Swadeshi Plaza, and a Kroger on MacArthur Blvd., Irving, TX, has multiple grocery stores with the worst lines and worst customer service.

At the Top Are Local Grocery Shops—And Trader Joe’s

Mazzaro's Italian Market on 22nd Ave. in St. Petersburg, FL, is the best overall grocery store based on customer star ratings. It’s one of two Florida markets in the top 3—the other being #2 Freshfields Farm in Orlando—and one of two Italian grocery stores—Glorioso's Italian Market in Milwaukee, WI, rounds out the top 3.

While Trader Joe’s only has one location in the top 10, the chain is otherwise dominant near the top—33 of the best 50 rated stores in America are Trader Joe’s. The brand, founded in 1967, is especially noteworthy for being a national chain, something claimed by no other store in the top 50.

By location, Corpus Christi, TX, Chula Vista, CA, and St. Petersburg, FL, have the highest average rated grocery stores in the country. Cincinnati, OH, is also notable for being the only city with two stores in the top 10.

On the flipside, Denver, CO, Aurora, CO, and Irving, TX, have the lowest average rated grocery stores in the U.S. Denver has a particularly downer shopping experience as 6 of the worst 50 grocery stores are located there—the most out of any city. Portland, OR, is second with 5 out of the worst 50.

By chain, Walmart and Safeway each have three of the worst 10 grocery stores in the country. Walmart’s mediocrity extends past the bottom 10, too, as 22 of the 50 worst rated stores are from the chain controlled by the Walton family.

These Grocery Stores Have the Worst Customer Experience

To understand the specific areas where grocery stores receive the most customer experience complaints, we analyzed 3,000 grocery stores for individual reviews of 3 stars or less. The keywords we looked for included “long line” and “unprofessional.”

To quantify our findings, the count of these keywords was calculated for each store and then divided by the total number of reviews, resulting in a "frequency of mentions per total reviews" percentage.

Here, Denver’s grocery store woes continue past just the overall rating. The city has the highest frequency of negative reviews about customer service, and 11 out of the 50 worst grocery stores for customer service are located in the city.

Irving, TX, is another notable city in these set of rankings. Between Desi District, Hello! India, Swadeshi Plaza, and a Kroger on MacArthur Blvd., the city just northwest of Dallas has multiple grocery stores with the worst lines and worst customer service. Irving also has the highest frequency of negative reviews about lines.

Individually, the already-mentioned Desi District in Irving has the highest frequency of negative reviews about lines at 8.97%. It’s followed by Eataly in nearby Dallas and Hello! India, another Irving location. For customer service, the TA Travel Center in Albuquerque, NM, has the highest frequency of negative reviews at 5.08%. Next comes a Kroger in Irving and then Tan A Supermarket in Richmond, VA.

It's important to consider these findings in the broader context of retail challenges. Understaffing, a common issue in retail, often contributes to long lines and subpar service. This is notable, especially when comparing these stores with the likes of Trader Joe's, which, despite similar economic pressures, consistently provides excellent service.

This contrast shows that great customer service is possible, even with these challenges. It also underscores how much store management and company rules can make or break the shopping experience.

These Grocery Stores Have the Worst Quality and Prices

To understand the stores with the worst quality and prices, we again analyzed 3,000 grocery stores for individual reviews of 3 stars or less. We searched for keywords such as “expired,” “expensive,” and more to gauge customer dissatisfaction regarding food quality and pricing.

Jersey City, NJ, is the worst city for both food quality and prices—it has the highest frequency of negative reviews in both categories. Nearby New York City also struggles as 6 of the 50 worst grocery stores for prices and 6 of the 50 worst for food quality hail from the Big Apple.

Where Do Your Favorite Chains Rank?

In an effort to rank the best and worst major grocery chains in the country, we compiled a list of 30 prominent U.S. grocery brands and, to ensure fairness, only considered individual stores that had garnered 1,000 or more reviews. By evaluating individual store ratings, an average rating for each major grocery chain was calculated, forming the basis for the rankings.

Unsurprisingly, with its dominance near the top of the overall rankings, at the top here is Trader Joe’s. We analyzed 118 stores of that chain, with it resulting in a 4.65 average star rating. Publix, known for its locations in Florida and the rest of the southeast, is second with an average rating of 4.50. In third spot is the employee-owned WinCo, which primarily resides in the western half of the U.S. It pulled off an average rating of 4.47.

On the other side of things, King Soopers—a Rocky Mountain chain with locations in Denver and Wyomng—has the worst average rating of 3.84. It’s followed by behemoth Walmart, which had 525 locations analyzed for a 3.95 average rating. Third is then a tie between mega grocery conglomerate Kroger (which owns the King Soopers brand) and El Super, a Mexican-owned chain with locations in the southwest U.S. Those two chains each averaged a 3.97 rating.

Include Solitaired in Your Next Grocery Run

Our study of grocery stores across the nation reveals that shopping can be a mixed bag. From great service at your favorite store to hassles of long lines at supermarkets you dread, each shopping trip can be unpredictable.

With these everyday frustrations in mind, Solitaired steps in with many appealing games. Pretend you’re stuck in line at Safeway or taking a less-than-ideal trip to Walmart. That’s where games like Pyramid, Mahjong, or TriPeaks step in. Instead of grumbling about the negatives, Solitaired gives you a chance to escape into a game, offering a piece of calm and a mental reset.

Methodology

In March 2025, we scraped Google reviews from the 100 most populated cities in the United States, focusing on the first 30 grocery store results in each city. This process resulted in a dataset encompassing 3,000 individual grocery store review pages.

To accurately gauge negative customer experiences, our analysis was limited to store reviews with a rating of 3 stars or less, ensuring a focus on critiques and areas for improvement.

Our data scrape targeted specific keywords, categorized to reflect distinct aspects of the shopping experience. In the “Price” category, we tracked the following terms: "expensive," "overpriced," "costly," and "price.” For the “Staff” category, we scraped: "rude," "unfriendly," "friendly," and "unprofessional.” The ”Food” category included "produce," "fresh," "expired," "food," and "out of date."

Additionally, for the “Line'” category we scraped for mentions of "long," "slow," "wait," "crowded," "packed," and "checkout" if the review also contained the word "line." This nuanced approach allowed us to specifically capture sentiments related to waiting times and checkout processes, further refining our understanding of customer dissatisfaction.

By focusing solely on individual Google reviews with ratings of 3 stars or less, our methodology ensured a concentrated analysis of negative feedback, providing valuable insights into the areas where grocery stores could enhance their customer service and overall shopping experience.