Wholesome Choice Market

Category:	Grocery Store
Address:	18040 Culver Dr, Irvine, CA 92612, USA
Phone:	+1 949-551-4111
Site:	wholesomechoice.com
Rating:	4
Working:	8AM–11PM 8AM–11PM 8AM–11PM 8AM–11PM 8AM–11PM 8AM–11PM 8AM–11PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

A Private User

I am a San Diego resident and I was a potential customer to Wholesome Choice for a quit some time until Saturday August 7, 2010. which I made a trip to Irwin to visit a friend and at the same time purchase everything I need from Wholesome Choice Market including Snagak Bread. I was online for the Sangak bread for about 20 Minutes then they told us that we have to wait for at least 25 more minutes because they are running out of dough, so since we had other purchases to do we went around the store and after lunch we went back to purchase our Sangak. When we arrived the line was full, I even asked the guy behind the Furness if he has any "already made" Sangak he said “yes we have some, but they are already been ordered before”, so we stayed at the end of the line and as soon as it was our turn they told us we are running out of dough again and we need to wait for 25 more minute. So, we did. I even let an American Lady who was behind us to go ahead of us because she was in a hurry , so when it was our turn to get our bread the guy standing by the door said you were not here before therefore you are not going to get the bread. So, I asked the manager to resolve the issue and he said the same thing. I have been in the U.S for passed 35 years, and I have never been humiliated as I was in your store, the intent of this e-mail is to give you a heads up, if you keep up the same treatment, I am sure you are not going to survive in this competitive environment you definitely lost me as potential customer, and so, my friends who are a couple blocks from you, and believe me the list is continuing to grow. I am sending this exact e-mail to my friends in Irvine and to Better Business Bureau as well. Good luck

Phil Osborn

The sales flyer for the local store at Culver & Michealson started showing up with the OC Register a few months ago. The prices were great! They handilly undercut their direct competition, Sprouts, especially in the items that I typically bought from Sprouts, such as fresh fruits and veggies and trail mixes and nuts. And the store, which obviously caters to a largley Persian clientel was well stocked with all manner of interesting food. Unfortunately, the trail mixes always seemed damp, like someone had added moisture, and had a kind of dank odor. The store itself was not especially clean, either, although certainly better than the typical grocery in downtown Santa Ana, such as the often filthy Food-4-Less. The great prices lasted until checkout. With each of my 4 or 5 visits to the store, there was an overage on the receipt, typically several dollars on an order of less than $20. I caught all of them, which embarrassed the store personnel and held everyone up for 5 minutes to correct the error and give me a refund. E.g., $2.49/lb Yogurt trail mix would show on the receipt as another trail mix at twice the price. Or $.49/lb apples would show as "Persian Apples" at $2.49/lb. During the most recent visit, I also witnessed a couple in front of me in line getting apparently ripped off for about $5, at least. They were charged $2.49 each for several packages of baby carrots that the woman complained were listed in the ad and on the shelf at $.99. But she didnt want to make trouble.

Cezar Lucki

PROS: Incredibly fresh and yummy prepared hot food. I love the Indian, Persian, Greek/Turkish, and Soup bar. The asian bar is pretty good too but not as good as Panda Express or Sam Woos. Sangakh is amazingly good hot and freshly made. And the selection of Russian/Polish/Hungarian/Bulgarian/Jewish food is amazing but highly overpriced (e.g. sledzie, kielbasa, etc). And i love the rotisserie chicken. The pastries are out of this world good!!!!! The creme brulee and tiramisu!!! OMG so good!!! The only CONS: 1. I wish the chicken and meats were certified organic, hormone free, and humanely raised. Organic produce is extremely limited. And there are no non-GMO veggies/fruits. I have found Strauss milk, Labne , yogurts that are hormone free, and a select few free range organic eggs. Also watch out for the Oils. I bought cold pressed Olive and Avocado oil thinking its 100% accurate. When i got home i read the label closer and found that its mixed with horrible Oils like Canola or Soybean oils which are GMO and pesticide infested evil oils. 2. Extremely crowded during lunch time and 5:30-7:30pm. Forget the shopping cart!!! The isles are extremely narrow!! 3. PLASTIC PLASTIC STYROFOAM PLASTIC and NOOOOOO PAPER BAGS!!!! Bring your own paper or reusable bag and leave a smaller print on this planet :-)

Sujal Ligal

its a nice place to buy your day to day stuffs but i m still giving this place only 1 star because of my experience with the manager.so i m from newjersey and i was trying to buy some liquors from there and when the cashier asked for my id I gave him my newjersey liscence and than this guy called the manager for some reason and they both said that my liscence is fake...the manager asked me to get out of the store and he said he is not going to give me the liquors that i was buying. i also told him to call the cops and make me go to jail if my liscence is fake and than he just want me to leave and than i left the store..i came back in few minutes and showed him my passports and my green card and asked him if i could buy the liquors now and than he still denied to give me the stuffs that i want to buy. he even asked me if i was from mexico which i think was racist. so as per my experience i would say the manager is really unprofessional and had full of egos and he is a joker since he dont know what he is doing and what his job is.he violeted my rights of buying goods from the store even if i showed him the proof of my age and that i m a legal resident of united states of america.

Ramin Azima

I liked wholesome choice Supermarket very much, offering large verity of grocery and different foods. I am living in Santa Monica, but since they are pioneer to bake “Sangak “ bread in their Market, I became their customer and anytime visiting OC, I stop by to do my grocery and pickup delicious Persian food. On Saturday afternoon, I was around and stop by to do grocery and dinner. One of my favorite foods is Shawarma , which they have one of the best in town, make a long story short, got my stuff and shawarma and drove back home. While I was enjoying delicious shawrma and Sangak bread, I notice a piece of metal in my month, lucky not swallow it, it was a piece of dish scrubber or BBQ brush bristle. I was lucky not swallow it; otherwise I end up to emergency room and operation, not going back to there.

A Private User

Just like your mom, you have to know what items to get at what locations. You dont go to Wholesome Choice to get soda and chips! Go for the produce and the meat, and youll see the price is far less that the big American chains. Pita bread, for instance, is an item you need to buy here, not at Trader Joes. Toilet paper you buy at Costco. Nuts you buy in bulk at Henrys. Outside of grocery items, Wholesome Choice has the hot foods section that really serves decent quality foods at reasonable prices. Overall the place is above average for its role. Regarding the discrimination issue, I can totally see that happening, it happens to me even, and Im Persian. You have to be aggressive, not polite and meek. Good luck and good eating.