Customers Say These Are The 10 Most Overrated Foods From Costco

Costco's aisles are filled with bulk groceries for an impressive value. Whether you're browsing the deli, bakery, frozen foods aisle, or food court, you're guaranteed to find some of the store's noteworthy deals that have earned loyal fan bases online. But while some Costco foods rival homemade versions, not every Costco product deserves all the hype. Some products were once held in the highest regard, but fell from grace due to a noticeable decline in quality over time. Even some of Costco's most popular Kirkland products have been subject to this.

Other items boast inarguable savings and convenience, but lack the taste appeal to make them worth the purchase. And in some cases, there are just better options available. We scoured customer reviews, product ratings, and online threads to identify which Costco foods customers find completely overrated and overhyped, so you can think twice before adding them to your cart on your next grocery trip.

Costco's prepared meals section is legendary, and it's the best place to go in the warehouse if you need quick, ready-made meals for a party, meal prep, or to feed a hungry family when you're short on time. However, while prepared meals like the lasagna and stuffed bell peppers receive consistent praise, not every prepared meal is worth the purchase. The pinwheel sandwiches are decidedly overrated for their bland flavor, unexpected ingredients, and soggy texture.

One Redditor explained that despite looking delicious in the box, they are "always incredibly bland and/or full of unexpected flavors ( cranberry ?!) ... I forget about every 18 months or so and try again — just to be repulsed anew." Another customer also took issue with the cranberry cream cheese, which made the sandwich soggy. The pinwheels are made with just flatbread, chicken, Swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, and cranberry cream cheese, and cost just under $8 per pound. At this price, you might as well create your own pinwheels at home with your desired ingredients, or pick up one of Costco's better-value prepared meals.

Buying your chicken breast in bulk at Costco seems like an incredible value deal because you get between six and nine large breasts separated into three pouches, allowing you to freeze what you don't need and saving you several trips back and forth to the grocery store. However, these boneless, skinless chicken breasts don't taste as good as they look, and have become the source of great disappointment and disgust for many Costco members online.

The complaints range from the chicken being "woody," in which the chicken is extremely tough and chewy, to it being stringy and slimy. One customer described the experience of eating woody chicken on Reddit: "It squeaks and pops when you chew it. Naaaaasty." Shoppers are so fed up with the poor quality of the chicken that the product is simply not worth the savings, leading them to buy their chicken elsewhere or stick with strictly organic options at Costco. Another Redditor shared, "Organic and free range have less of those issues. It's expensive but so is throwing away multiple packs of cheaper chicken." It's safe to say this is one food to avoid in Costco's meat department.

Despite the Kirkland Signature lightly breaded chicken chunks costing a few dollars less than the popular name brand, Just Bare (also sold at the warehouse), customers say the product just isn't worth the savings when better options are available. One Redditor explained, "Yes they are cheaper but they are over [30%] by weight just breading." Another commenter described them as "a solid meh at best." A common customer complaint with this product is that they are overly salty to the point where they are actually unpleasant to eat.

The product has a measly 2.9-star rating on the Costco site, and customers lament the high sodium content. One commenter even claims that something must have changed because they used to rank the product right up alongside the Just Bare option, but recent batches have been nearly inedible due to the salt content. Thankfully, the Just Bare breaded chicken breast chunks are sold at the warehouse for just $2 more than the Kirkland brand, boast almost identical ingredients and macros, and have an impressive 4.8-star rating on the site.

Costco's muffins have been a mainstay of the bakery section since the '90s, earning notoriety for their enormous size, cakey texture, and impressive value. However, customers have noticed some disappointing changes to the size and quality of the muffins in recent years, and they claim the product has become one of the worst Costco bakery items. While many shoppers have fond memories of deliciously moist and flavorful almond poppyseed, blueberry, pumpkin, and chocolate chip muffins, the newer versions fall flat, being bland and dry.

Not to mention, the new muffins aren't at all the value meal they used to be. Shoppers recall the days when you got 12 giant muffins for just $9.99, but the new versions come with eight muffins for $6.99. Not only are you paying more per muffin, but the muffins themselves are smaller as well. Nostalgic fans long for the old muffins and claim the new ones simply sit forgotten in the freezer because they just don't hit the spot. In fact, one impassioned shopper even refuses to renew their Costco membership for this reason alone.

If you've ever taken a stroll through the Costco deli, you've no doubt come across the ready-to-bake chicken pot pie in the prepared meals section. The enormous pie is hard to miss and looks rather inviting, with fancy woven lattice crust strips that give the appearance of an old-school homemade pie. Plus, the pie is famously made with the Kirkland rotisserie chicken, also sold separately at the deli. However, Costco customers find this prepared meal to be overrated for several reasons.

Customers claim the pot pie is far too salty and has a bizarre flavor that tastes like a surplus of sage or thyme. With more than 800 milligrams of sodium per serving, it's not surprising that the salt takes over. Customers on Reddit wrote, "It's saltier than the sea" and "dry as dirt." Others take issue with the poor ratio of filling to crust, claiming the imbalance makes the pie almost inedible. A YouTube reviewer explained that there isn't enough gravy and that there's so much chicken it overtakes the pie.

The chicken bake was once king of the Costco food court, but in recent years, Costco shoppers have fallen out of love with this formerly beloved value meal, likely due to a production change. Customers assert that the Costco chicken bake's fall from grace is a result of the pockets no longer being made in-house. Instead, they apparently arrive frozen, resulting in a huge difference in taste and quality. Customers claim the new versions are "smaller, mealier, and taste like sh**." Another Redditor wrote, "The real chicken bake was a casualty of the pandemic. The current one is just a pale imposter."

A former employee confirmed that they used to roll out the dough fresh every morning, and now they come shipped in large frozen packs. Some of the main differences customers notice are that the bake has too much chicken, the sauce inside is "gloopy," and the herbs taste dried rather than fresh. The breading is soggy, and the so-called "gravy" inside tastes like cheap chicken soup. Plus, they appear to be smaller in size. One Redditor stated they're "nothing more than a glorified hot pocket."

The Kirkland Signature lobster bisque used to be a worthy alternative to more expensive restaurant versions of the meal, and actually had some loyal fans. According to customers online, the bisque was flavorful and creamy, with real chunks of lobster throughout. But now customers on Reddit claim the soup is "offensively bad" and nothing like it was back in the early days.

Shoppers complain about the thin, watery soup, which has little to no flavor, and perhaps most egregiously, there are almost no actual chunks of lobster, which should be the star of the show. One food reviewer explained that there is a strange, fishy quality to the soup, which is odd given the notable absence of actual lobster, and that the bisque itself is too salty, resulting in a bland overall flavor. Considering several customers have returned or simply tossed the bisque in the trash, it's not worth picking up.

Smoking your own pulled pork to achieve the right tenderness and smoky flavor can be laborious, so for some shoppers, it's worth buying pre-prepared. One customer on Reddit described the smoked pulled pork from Costco as "not the best I've ever had but really good for coming in a plastic bag." But while some customers are fine with mediocre, other shoppers claim the poor meat quality makes it far from worth it.

Customers find the meat to be full of fat, with greasy, gristle pieces that are nearly inedible. The fatty meat also has an unfavorable "springy" consistency, according to one TikTok meat reviewer. Another reviewer explained that at least a quarter of the meat was inedible due to the gristle and fat, and the rest of it was nothing to write home about either. To actually enjoy this meal, you'd have to carefully pick out all the nasty parts, eliminating the value and convenience of a prepared meal, so it's better to leave this one on the shelf.

It's no secret that the rotisserie chicken is one of Costco's cult classic items, and has earned notoriety as a respectable value meal, as it's been priced at $4.99 since 2009. For many years, customers had almost nothing but positive things to say about this bird. It gained high praise for its sheer size, value, and tender, juicy, and flavorful meat. However, recent reviews of the bird are mixed, and some customers have experienced quality consistency issues.

Many customers find the Costco rotisserie to be bland and flavorless, despite being pre-seasoned. However, defenders argue that the chicken is best used as an addition to your meals, so it takes on the flavors and seasonings of whatever you prepare. Other shoppers claim they have been let down by a quality decline, finding the newer chickens to have an unappealing, slimy skin and a chemically, almost metallic flavor. Costco members who are tired of the inconsistency recommend sticking with Costco's bone-in thighs, which are still affordably priced and can be seasoned to your preference.

When the combo pizza was removed from the food court menu in 2020, Costco shoppers were nothing short of devastated. To this day, customers beg the warehouse to return the supreme-style pie. However, with no word on when, or even if, the combo pizza will ever make a triumphant return, shoppers are left with two pizza options at the Costco food court: cheese and pepperoni. And the overwhelming consensus among members is that, despite the hype around the shocking size of each slice and the impressive price tag, the pizza itself is mediocre.

As one Redditor put it, "It's not great pizza. It's pizza that's good for $2." In other words, it's the value that earns so much praise, but the pizza itself isn't outstanding. A food reviewer on YouTube explains, "I think it's mediocre ... but even bad pizza is good." He continued, "It's criminally underbaked ... it's got cheese and a very average sauce." Costco members feel the pizza has become overrated due to all the hype around its impressive price point. Another commenter on Reddit wrote, "If you want good pizza, you're not going to Costco for it" — until or unless they bring back the beloved combo pie.