Every Gristedes I've ever been in is gross; I, like most other people, avoid them as best as possible, but sometimes it's impractical. Every time I go in one I feel like I'm in at the roulette wheel of food-borne illness.

Owner John Catsimatidis recently visited the Roosevelt Island store and promised improvements. Hopefully he'll extend that promise to the rest of his stores, many of which are simply gross and use questionable (or clearly unsafe) food handling and storage practices.

The Roosevelt Islander has a detailed account:

Gristedes is the only supermarket on Roosevelt Island. It has been the subject of contstant complaints by residents over a long period of time including outdated grocery items on the shelf, exorbitant prices, dirty aisles and pigeons walking around the store among others. Readers of this 2007 post asking whether the increased competition from the new Roosevelt Island Duane Reade would improve the quality of service at Gristedes commented:

* Gristedes has always been a major disappointment long before I moved to Roosevelt Island. Their stores are by far the most disgusting, confusing and over priced grocery stores in NYC.
* The only time I set foot into our Gristedes is when I really need something that I don't have at home or ran out of.
* Does Gristede's deliberately try to stock the worst possible produce that it can get? There's a reason why Fresh Direct chose Roosevelt Island as its pilot. If that store didn't get a fantastic break on the rent, it would have been out of business long ago.