Great store, rude service!
Zabar's is an amazing store that is a true institution in New York City. However, I just had an experience of such insultingly bad customer service that I will never go back again, and I am a lifelong customer. I think the problem is that because Zabar's is so popular and successful the management feels they can be exempt from proper customer service. In my case, I was waiting at the fish counter for 10 minutes, and there was only one customer being served during this time. I was the next person with my number ready in hand, and during this time the four men behind the counter did not acknowledge I was there. No eye contact as each one went about their task. Then a woman with no number walks up to the counter and gets served immediately. When I protested, they were indifferent, like they had abandoned the system of having a number to get served and replaced it with arbitrarily picking customers they wanted to serve, while ignoring the ones they didn't want to serve. That is honestly how it looked to me. I went to the manager and explained this, and he went and talked to the fish counter guys but it didn't look like anyone was interested in remedying the situation. I guess they thought I was being unreasonable for wanting to be served in the proper order. So I said I won't be going back and left, and no one tried to stop me or even apologize. I am astounded that a lifelong customer like myself could be treated this way! In the future, I'll be doing my shopping elsewhere.
By DSK