Costco’s popular offerings like the $1.50 hot dog combo and $1.99 pizza slices are always available at the food courts in the United States, but American shoppers tend to be wildly envious of the unique foods and beverages available at food courts in other countries. Recently, Costco members in the States have been experiencing a fresh wave of food court menu envy after the retailer debuted another exciting new offering that they don’t have access to.
Late last month, a Costco shopper spotted a new California Crab Roll on the menu at a warehouse food court in downtown Vancouver, Canada, and shared a photo of their discovery on Reddit. Though the food court menu didn’t include a description for the item, it appears to include all of the classic California Roll elements: crab, cucumber, and avocado encased in seaweed and rice.
While some Canadian Costco shoppers were delighted to see a new food court option, those in the United States had a decidedly negative reaction to the news. Many voiced frustration that Costco continues to update its global food court menus with enticing options—such as the California Crab Roll—that hardly ever make their way to America.
“That’s not fair I wish we had California Rolls,” one shopper commented on the post.
“I will say this until the day I die. Costco U.S. has the worst food court selections,” another wrote.
Costco’s price tag of $9.99 CAD on the new food court option was another point of dissatisfaction. While this equates to $7.41 in American dollars, some shoppers still viewed the California Crab Roll as too pricey for what they were getting.
“Terrible deal for a crappy version of the most basic sushi roll out there,” a Redditor lamented.
“Enough for one person for sure. Taste was ok. For $10, I’d rather have six hotdogs,” another said.
This isn’t the only Costco food court item to face serious backlash lately. The retailer added a new chicken and bacon sandwich (920 calories) to its American food court menus over the summer that shoppers decried as “dry” and too high in calories. As was the case with the California Crab Roll launch, the sandwich had shoppers lamenting that Costco hasn’t created anything all that innovative for its food court menus in the States recently.
“It’s like they don’t even try with our U.S. food court anymore,” one shopper commented on a Reddit thread about the new sandwich.
Zoe Strozewski