The Wegmans Beef Product That One Shopper Called '$20 Shoe Leather'

On the whole, many agree that Wegmans is a superb grocery store. We've discussed the tremendous quality of its bakery — just look at our list of the best Wegmans bakery items, hands down — and we agree with many shoppers that the selection, quality, and atmosphere are all top-notch. No grocery store is exempt from a few misses when it comes to private-label goods, however, and that includes Wegmans. We previously mentioned its house-brand frozen coconut shrimp with bad reviews, for example. Another disappointment we came across was Wegmans's corned beef brisket, which seems to have let down almost every customer who has taken the time to review it.

"Worst corned beef I've ever had in my life. Cooked exactly as directed, and was almost inedible. Like chewing a piece of rubber. We pick Wegmans products because it's a brand that we are supposed to trust. I spent $20 on this piece of garbage," one review on its product page moaned. "Awful," another summed up. "Tough. Almost inedible. Very fatty too. Worst product I've ever purchased from Wegmans." 

One upset customer even dubbed the product "$20 shoe leather" and went on to elaborate: "Cooked in my slow cooker, came [o]ut like an old shoe." Indeed, many reviewers mentioned the $20 price point and felt like the cost was a rip-off. Yet, as of this writing, Wegmans was actually charging almost $33 for a three-pound package.

It's interesting to note that the official cooking instructions from Wegmans for its corned beef brisket are to either simmer the meat in water on the stovetop for up to three hours or to submerge it in a slow cooker on high for four hours. This flies in the face of conventional wisdom that brisket calls for a "low and slow" cook, whether braising, smoking, or stewing. The crockpot instructions seem especially egregious to our eyes — why not set the cooker to low and let the brisket break down in its juices for around eight or 10 hours? It's notable that, in the reviews for the brisket, some of the (scattered) positive comments mentioned that they let the meat go much longer than the instructions directed. On the other hand, even some folks who took the time to slow-cook the beef still reported that they ended up with unpalatable rubbery brisket.

It can be hard to judge the merits of a food product from shopper reviews, since folks who set aside time to write a review are usually either thrilled or irate without much gray area in between. What's clear, however, is that there is a disproportionate contingent of brisket buyers who have exactly the same complaint about this corned beef. That causes us to perk up and give a little more credence to the gripes. Cooking the brisket for longer might be a possible fix, but we're leery about spending north of 30 bucks on meat that we might not be able to salvage even with lengthy cooking.