Our Aldi Product Hall of Shame: 10 of the Worst Items We’ve Ever Seen

Image by Сергей Корчанов from Pixabay

EDITOR’S NOTE: Like all posts on Aldi Reviewer, this piece is the opinion of its respective authors. Also like all posts, comments are welcome, although we ask users to be mindful of our Community Guidelines.

I happen to like most of what Aldi sells. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, repeatedly, by the quality of the grocer’s food. I’ve also found some of its limited-time non-food items to often be better than I might expect, including things I bought more than a decade ago that I still use today.

No company bats a thousand when it comes to products, though. No one. Aldi is no different. Some Aldi products, both in the food and non-food departments, have ended up as duds.

Not to be confused with the “aisle of shame,” here is our Aldi Hall of Shame: 10 of the worst products we’ve ever had to deal with from Aldi. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Easy Home Cordless Stick Vacuum (2022)

We had high hopes for this vacuum, which we bought to replace another Aldi vacuum we’d bought years before. Alas, this wasn’t the one: it was DOA, failing to do anything but blink a light at us. We had no choice but to return it. Still one of the greatest disappointments we’ve ever had over an Aldi purchase.

Kung Pao Broccoli (2019)

Here’s what we said: “We’ve had kung pao sauce before and this product bears no resemblance to anything with that name that we’ve had. Instead, this broccoli is a bland, peppery disappointment. None of our testers made it past a single bite. Consider us highly disappointed.” To this day, we’re mystified how this made it through quality control.

Gardenline PRO Series Thumb Control Adjustable Nozzle (2018)

This sure looked promising. Sturdy build quality, at least on the surface. Ergonomic handle. Adjustable spray. And, best of all, controls that didn’t involve pulling a trigger.

The problem? It stopped working after a month. Even worse? Unlike same model that was sold at other stores, the Aldi version didn’t come with a warranty.

The End of the Good Tikka Masala (2019)

For a time, Aldi sold the best store-bought tikka masala we’d ever had. We’d tried other jarred tikka sauces, including several well-known brands, and almost none of them came close.

And then, Aldi phased it out. Most of the time, when Aldi tweaks its products, it does so for the better, introducing an improved version. This was the opposite: then and later, every replacement Aldi stocked — and the store has gone through a lot of tweaks on the tikka front — has proven inferior to this hallowed original.

Adventuridge Portable Campfire (2022)

Some products have problems. This portable campfire was a special kind of disastrous. It was nearly impossible to get lit. Once we managed to do so, it decided to boil over 30 minutes into use. And don’t even get us started on the ants. We’ll never buy one of these ever again.

Crane Ladies’ Swimsuit (2022)

Ill-fitting bra cups? Strike one. Too tight around the posterior and too short in the abdomen? Strike two. A potentially see-through yellow section. Yeah, that’s definitely a strikeout.

Bauhn Accessories Radio Alarm Clock (2017)

Aldi doesn’t have a great track record with alarm clocks, like with this wireless charging model that users had trouble with. But for us, nothing surpassed the indignity that was the Bauhn radio clock from 2017. The saddest part was that it did keep time and otherwise do what it was supposed to. It even had some bells and whistles, like a USB port.

The problem? The control layout was stupefyingly bad, making simple operations difficult to perform without consulting the manual. The array of buttons on the top, along with other assorted controls, made this thing a sort of self-contained electronic labyrinth. This was most apparent late one night when someone accidentally turned on the alarm, it went off in the middle of the night, and we spent several fruitless minutes in the dark trying to turn it off before finally just giving up and unplugging the thing. We replaced it shortly thereafter.

Handheld Steam Cleaner (2018)

Years ago, we tried out a steam cleaner from Aldi. It proved very effective … at making a lot of noise and kicking up a lot of steam. When it came to cleaning things? Not so much, unless you count toothpaste on the mirror. We returned it.

Huntington Home 10-Tier Shoe Tower (2021)

Shoes rest at an angle on the bars.

A shoe tower really has one job: to hold shoes. That’s it. If a tower fails at that, it fails at everything.

This tower could not hold shoes. Because the shoes sat at an angle, the shoes regularly slid off the tower. After months of frustration, we gave up and replaced it with something better.

Gardenline Cleveland Select Pear Tree (2019)

In 2019, Aldi sold a tree. Cool, right? Except the tree was a non-native tree that is so invasive that some states have banned it entirely. Like other ornamental pear trees, such as the Bradford Pear, these trees grow quickly, spread like weeds, and crowd out native life. The Cleveland Pear is at least more durable than the brittle Bradford Pear, but as trees go this was a poor option. The good news is that Aldi didn’t sell it after that year, to the best of our knowledge.

Cat and Dog Advent Calendars (2020-2021)

This story, at least, has a redemption arc.

In 2020 and again in 2021, Aldi sold Advent calendars for cats and dogs. They had problems, though: our cat hated the 2020 version, and our resident dog had trouble chewing the 2021 one. What’s more, in 2021, another shoe dropped: Aldi recalled both of the calendars over concerns about choking. We can’t say we were all that surprised.

The good news is that Aldi learned, and in 2022 the treats got better: the cat calendar especially but also the dog calendar to a certain extent. Most importantly, no one seems to be choking on them anymore.

Do you have an infamous Aldi product you think belongs in the Hall of Shame? Tell us about it in the comments. Just remember our Community Guidelines.