Aldi Aisle Of Shame: Can The Discount Savoritz Artisan Crisps Compete With Upscale Brands?

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big fan of Aldi. From my favorite Specially Selected breads to Aldi produce items worth every penny, this private label retailer keeps my home well stocked. It's this love that made me a great candidate for this weekly column centered around the Aldi Aisle of Shame. Each week, I'll be highlighting items that catch my attention, for better or for worse. 

The lucky item that I picked during a recent shopping excursion was the Savoritz Artisan Crisps. These are premium, gourmet crackers loaded with interesting ingredient combinations that are dupes of similar upscale brands. Although I don't personally understand the draw of these flavor combinations, people seem to enjoy them. One person on Reddit discussed the fig and black sesame option, exclaiming, "If you haven't tried these, you need to! Fruity crackers may sound gross, but I assure you they aren't!" A video review on TikTok also had only great things to say about the taste. With so much positive discussion about these crisps online, I had to try them for myself.

When I picked some boxes up to look at the ingredients, I discovered that the packaging was so thin it created noticeable issues. A concerning amount of stocked boxes were buckled, bulging, or even cracked open on one side. A single box was so damaged that it dropped crumbs when I grabbed it.

You only want to put out the best products if you're entertaining guests, but I saw that the weak packaging led to quite a few broken crackers. This means you might need to buy two boxes to come up with the same number of "perfect" crisps, which makes these less of a good value compared to the upscale brands being duped. The large size of the outer packaging could also be considered misleading about the number of crisps you get in each box. If you're snacking alone and perfection isn't important, it may make sense to purchase this cheaper option if the packaging is in good shape or only mildly damaged.

All of these crackers were crispy to the point of being a bit too hard for my preferences. However, even with the flavors I didn't enjoy, I appreciated the textural complexity offered by the bits of fruit and other ingredients throughout. 

Much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed the cranberry and sea salt option. The combination of sweet and salty was quite good and well balanced, and the crisps emanated a pleasant tangy fruit scent when the package was opened. I wouldn't buy them again, but I'd definitely eat them if offered. 

The fig and black sesame flavor wasn't anything special. Honestly, I didn't taste much black sesame at all, so the flavor was predominantly sweet, fruity, and starchy. As for the raisin and rosemary flavor? I found it downright disgusting, as I imagined I would, and hated the combination of sweet and earthy passionately. Besides hating the combination, this last flavor also felt unbalanced, with the rosemary being so strong that it overpowered the raisin.

Although I was feeling a bit put off by these flavor combinations at first, they did end up being better than I'd originally imagined, but they didn't blow my mind. Combine their general mediocrity with the packaging issue resulting in a lot of broken crisps, and I'd say it's best to skip these in lieu of a name brand option if you're into this kind of thing.