Star Grocery

I will go out of my way to shop at Star. Can't afford the meat department's sandwiches and avoid the wine selection, but always find the grocery items I need and am consistently happy with the quality. My latest discovery are the spices...fresh, organic and reasonable. Treat yourself!

You're paying for that Mayberry look and feel grocery store. I read positive reviews about the sandwiches and looked forward to giving it a try. I got the Fat Albert Sandwich, it may have been Albert but it was not fat. I've renamed it, Thin Albert, and at $18.00 per sandwich, buy the meat by the pound and make your own.

I learned about Star Grocery due to their sandwiches, and I must say that was one of my most enjoyable discoveries when I lived in the Bay Area. This is a market, so you can get your grocery supplies; while I cannot comment on pricing, they did offer a wide selection of your standard food goods.

Now on to the sandwiches: I would definitely recommend checking the menu online and seeing what sandwiches are offered on which day (I've also called their store number before to get this information). There are some amazing combinations on sale, though the one that I remember as I write this is the Brian Allen (which came with turkey, arugula, cheddar, and hot coppa). I will definitely need to get a sandwich the next time I'm in Berkeley or Oakland!

Great locally owned gourmet market. Their sandwiches at the deli counter are famously good.

Having worked all my life, I can appreciate Nick' s being an introduction, albeit to some of the underprivileged of the Berkeley hills. They often are polite and clever and no doubt go onto greater things.
My beef is with one girl in particular (long hair, talk.) No one has taught her the rules of service, perhaps. Or perhaps she cries onto daddy's and begs him not to go down to common people again
She is haughty, never meets your eye, and does as little as possible. She is pathetically rude, in fact. And this isn't just me. I saw her treat dozens of customers with the same disdain. Get rid of her!

Star Grocery is awesome! They have coffee. They have nice fresh produce, interesting international cuisine, a bulk section, & a butcher shop.

I happen to be a vegan a pretty strict vegetarian yet the sandwich menu is mostly meat so is non-veg yet they do have a sandwich you can have by leaving off the cheese with portobello mushrooms, eggplant, roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, arugula, balsamic vinegar, & E.V.O.O. (extra virgin olive oil) that looks mighty tasty.

Definitely check it out if in the area!

High quality food, very friendly employees and customers, no crushing crowds

The best independent grocery in the Berkeley area. Also, great wine selection--and some bargain wines. The meat department which is separately owned has high quality beef, chicken, pork and fish. They also make big sandwiches which are not cheap but probably would feed two people (unless you're on one of the Cal sports teams). Produce section always has interesting vegetables. Fruit tends to be expensive. Enjoy your visit! Oh, and an amazing cheese section--including fromager d'affinité.

"Run up to the Star Grocery and get a half-gallon of milk and a loaf of sourdough" was a common directive in my house growing up. (And a 25 cent Hershey's chocolate bar for me and my dad would find its way into the bag as well)

And probably lots of kids in the Elmwood neighborhood beginning in 1922 would do the same for generations if their parents didn't do their weekly shopping there. The Star Grocery located at the intersection of Claremont Avenue and the Uplands is a Elmwood/Rockridge institution that every neighborhood should have but no longer do.

No, Star Grocery is not Safeway, or Whole Foods, or Trader Joe's. No scanners, no self-checkouts, no floral shop, and no Starbucks, but they do have a dispenser of free coffee you pump yourself. What Star Grocery lacks in volume it makes up in quality. Lots of gourmet offerings especially when it comes to wine, beer, cheeses, meats, bulk foods and sundries.

It's got an especially large liquor selection (my mom used to tell me it was for the old neighbor ladies who'd shuffle in late afternoon for their evening tipple) and in the rear of the store you'll find Star Meats (separate business, see my review) that's been around as nearly as long as Star Grocery and puts the overrated Verbrugge on College to shame. (Try their giant sandwiches, expensive but worth the price.)

The Star Grocery reflects Berkeley's character in many ways. Founded by Greek immigrants Ike and Nick Pappas, the family would deliver groceries to the neighborhood and during the Great Depression extended credit to dozens of families and wrote off presumably thousands of dollars. You can still get credit at the store today, writing down your order on a carbon-paper pad.

Standing in line you'll find lots of liberal-leaning editorial cartoons from the New Yorker and the windows are usually plastered with similarly gentry liberal admonitions, but also local artists and neighborhood pictures. You'll find the Cal Band stopping by during Big Game week and many Berkeley High students and Cal students got their first jobs ringing up groceries at the Star.

If you want a bright new grocery store, go to the Safeway down the street. Star Grocery's decor hasn't changed much since the 1950s. The linoleum floors could use a little TLC and most of the light fixtures and signage hail from the 1940s it seems. (Not a bad thing).

The Star Grocery knows what it's got and now offers a line of blue and gold T-shirts and coffee mugs for its loyal customers (like me). Say hi to Ike's son Nick Pappas too when you go, he's usually behind one of the registers (as he has been forever) a little older and little grayer than I remember. The Star Grocery hasn't changed in nearly 100 years. Hopefully it stays that way.

Great place!! We go there almost every day. There employees are so kind and hard working. They have all the food when you want it! It is my favorite local store. Recommend. Give it a try!! ;)