This Dallas Grocery Store Has the Worst Prices in U.S. (But For a Good Reason?)

POV: There’s a long line at the store checkout. What’s the first thing you do? Pull your phone out, of course, because that candy isn’t going to crush itself.

The popular app platform, Solitaired, knows this about its customers, so it scraped data from over 7 million Google reviews of 3,000 grocery stores in 100 cities to glean insight into the best and worst grocery stores in America. The rankings are based on ratings, the number of reviews and keywords used in reviews.

Solitared went beyond just store brands to the individual store level. For instance, they called out the Safeway on 40th Street in Washington D.C., as the overall worst grocery store in the U.S. Opposite of that, Mazzaro’s Italian Market on 22nd Avenue in St. Petersburg, Florida, takes the cake for the best in the country.

Dallas had some standout stores, although not always in a good way, but Irving really takes the cake, with negative reviews about lines, prices and customer service: Desi District, Hello! India, Swadeshi Plaza and the Kroger on MacArthur Boulevard all catch a bit of shade here.

Here’s a breakdown of what Solitaired found.

Worst Prices in the Country

Eataly in Dallas ranks first on the list of worst prices for all grocery stores in America. Well, yeah. No one is going to Eataly because they’re on a budget; instead, we’re going to purposely blow our budget. On cheese. That’s part of the charm of the Italian specialty grocery store at NorthPark. Also, it’s important to note that Eataly has a 4.3-star average rating from 2,950 Google reviews. So saying they have the “worst prices” is like saying Luka is bad at defense: that might be true, but we don’t care. That’s not the point.

Worst in Customer Service

For this category, Solitaired looked at 3,000 grocery stores with reviews of 3 stars or less and a high frequency of the phrases “long line” and “unprofessional.”

The Kroger on MacArthur Boulevard in Irving has one of the highest percentages of mentions for bad customer service in the country, falling second only to a travel center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ouch. The Walmart Neighborhood Market on Collins in Arlington was 35th on the list. 

Worst Lines in the Country

Five (five!) of the 10 stores with the worst lines in the whole entire country are here in North Texas. The No. 1 worst line is at Desi District on Riverside Drive in Irving, according to this data set, which sort of has us scratching our heads. It’s more of a restaurant with a market as a side hustle. So, we’re tossing this one based on a technicality.

Eataly on N. Central Expressway is second in the nation for long lines. We guess these shoppers have never been to a Central Market on a Sunday. We’ve never experienced long lines here either; we scan our cheese quite quickly at the self-checkout.

Third is Hello! India on Regent Boulevard in Irving. Swadeshi Plaza on MacArthur is fourth. In the whole country, 3 of 4 grocery stores with the worst lines are in Irving. Feels like the author of this data set just hates Irving.

Worst Food Quality and Prices

Subzi Mandi in Garland on Buckingham Road in Garland is third in the nation in terms of worst food quality and prices. Oasis International Market at 6150 Independence Parkway in Plano ranks eighth in the nation. OK, Solitared, if you say so.

Best Major Grocery Store Chains

For an overall look at the best and worst grocery chains in the country, the team at Solitaired made a list of the 30 most prominent grocery stores and looked at only those with 1,000 or more reviews. Unsurprisingly, Trader Joe’s takes the top prize, with Publix (with stores in the southeastern U.S.) second, WinCo Foods is third, and H-E-B fourth.

European discount grocer, ALDI, is fifth on the list, with the Asian-centric H-Mart seventh and Sprouts ninth.

The Worst Grocery Stores

King Sooper of the Rocky Mountain region ranked as the worst grocery store in the U.S., with Walmart in second and Kroger third.