Whole Foods Market

Reviews 5

TI

Timothy Ward

Ill be a bit unorthodox here, but lets start with the cons - or shall I say con: The prices are a bit steep. Now (since there are so many!) on to the pros: As soon as you walk up to the entrance youre greeted by beautiful, healthy plants like herbs, colorful, flowering gift-sized plants, orchids, etc. As you walk through the double automatic sliding glass doors, there are always plenty of shopping carts. When you walk through another set of double doors and youre greeted by the incredibly diverse produce department. Off to one side is a floral department which is filled with eye-catching floral displays for purchase and in the morning the department is usually last where you can has a floral arrangement made custom for you while you wait. No its for the rest of the story there a very large section of holistic of vitamins and alternatives to Western medicine, with a large number of Staff always at hand for any questions one may have. There are compartments for almost any kind of food or drink that you can possibly imagine including more common departments you would find in a grocery store like a Deli, Meat department, Fish department, etc. There is a large area - setup which is somewhat like a salad bar where you scoop up how much you want and pay by weight or volume - of freshly prepared delicacies for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans alike. There is an upscale-looking café/cafeteria where you can sit and eat food youve just purchased; meet with friends, coworkers, or even an interview; relax and unwind while listening to live music... and even get a quick ten to sixty minute hand massage at the massage chairs right in the café. The staff at this location is very knowledgeable, they all appear to really enjoy their jobs, which we all know makes a huge difference when it comes to any retail-type situation, and checkout itself is such a breeze. The traffic in the area can be a bit rough to deal with just because of what roads intersect/pass by this location during the majority of the day, but in this instance any traffic you may have to face in order to get to this shopping strip will be well worth your while!

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A Private User

From the extensive selection of fresh produce, great cheeses, exclusive wines and a wide variety of prepared items that are ready to eat, this Whole Foods Market is always our first stop when we get to Orlando! During our last visit, several of the employees educated us about their new Healthy Eating Initiative that is apparently backed by accredited Doctors and Nutritionists who teach you how to select and integrate healthy ingredients into our diet in order to optimize health and well-being. We love to cook, but our knowledge of many fresh items was limited, mainly because we did not know how to properly incorporate them into our diet. When we were educated by the employees about how to prepare nutritionally dense vegetables and fruits that are not only healthy, but tasted wonderful, it changed our attitude about our personal diet. Who knew that kale could taste so good? I though it was a hard to cook and tasteless vegetable, then we tasted a locally selected recipe that was prepared during a demo they were doing in the produce section. This is a great store to shop because they have implemented innovative programs that demonstrated to us that they genuinely care about what we are consuming and how it effects our well-being. I am glad to see that this store is still upholding their original vision to keep us, the environment and the community healthy by providing us with fresh, responsibly harvested and healthy products. I wish that our Whole Foods in Pennsylvania had such educated, friendly and helpful employees like this location; we cannot wait to come back when the Harry Potter theme park opens in the summer!

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A Private User

I have a love/hate relationship with Whole Foods. Im vegan and they have lots of foods that I can buy. They have great things like pre-packaged organic fresh stir fry veggies in the fresh vegetable section. But I hate that those stir fry veggies costs about $8 for a portion that will make a single plate of food. I love their vegan friendly chocolate chip cookies that are yummy. But I hate that they cost $2 each. See where this is going? They have some decent prices on some things, especially when they are on sale. If you are vegan/vegetarian like myself, you could easily save more money just going to a restaurant. Thats the dilemma. Now lets talk about the store. Its very clean, well laid out and has a very nice deli and ice cream/gelato bar. Their motto is to only have healthy food, so some things like trans fats and foods loaded with preservatives are not carried. That doesnt mean they have no junk food at all. On the junk food side, they have some high quality chocolates, truffles, potato chips, etc. They also carry hard to find items in their deli like faux chicken salad, vegetable wraps, falafel, hummus, and even a few raw foods. To note, a friend was with me and he was buying 10 bottles of a drink he liked. The cashier told us that their policy is if you buy a dozen or more, you would get a 10% discount. Thats not unusual, but thought I would mention this for people who buy in volume.

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Michael Henson

I am a Whole Foods aficionado. In every city I visit, I will stop at their Whole Foods (if they have one). When traveling, Whole Foods is a great alternative (and healthier) to going to a restaurant. First a word about prices, Whole Foods is the Mercedes of groceries stores, dont come here is you are looking for a 49 cent can corn or jumbo pack to toilet paper. They dont carry either of the items, they carry high quality organic and specialty foods. If you want the 49 cent can of corn, keep driving a half mile further down Turkey Lake Rd to the Super Walmart. This is my local Whole Foods that I shop at weekly to pick up key items (i.e. meats, fish, cheeses and vegetables). I found that buying fish and meats at the counter is better since I get exactly the amount I need and at a superior quality than normal grocery stores. The prepared food counters is amazing at this location always fresh, unbelievably large and busy. And to top it all off, this location has a bar in the store where you can get a beer, glass of wine and/or a quick bite to eat. Why only 4 and not 5 stars? I have seen one better (i.e. in El Segundo, CA), and I am jealous of that locations size and additional food options.

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Daria Zalewska

I went to the Whole Foods food bars for lunch on 8/29/15 around 12pm with my 2 young children. I thought it would be a great place to take them because of the healthy food options and the fact that there were so many different options, everyone would be able to find something. My older son got peas, corn and soup. I got a few cold items such as tauboule, greek salad, and bbq tofu. For my younger son I got french fries, 2 meatballs and a piece of mojito chicken. We also got 2 chocolate chip cookies from the bakery. Well the food was pretty good, BUT then 2 hours later I felt nauseous and terrible. I kept feeling like I was going to throw up. This lasted the rest of the day and into the next day. I am attributing it to food poisoning from something I ate there. My younger son did not eat anything for dinner that night and had diarrhea this morning. My older son was fine. I will never eat there again. Something was contaminated from the food bar and I will never risk my or my childrens health again. I have always been weary about eating from buffets, but I thought "well its Whole Foods, Im sure they know how to keep hot food hot and cold food cold". Apparently not! Very disappointed with them.

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