Whole Foods Market

I absolutely LOVE this Whole Foods!

My favorites include:

The Chicken Quesadilla Wedges-they are colossal in size and stuffed with grilled chunks of chicken breast and with several types of red and green peppers, and sealed together with a perfect cheese! Portions are huge and easy to reheat in the microwave or oven.

MY NEWEST FIND AND LOVE-is their Version of Mexican Street Corn on the Cob! or Elote!
Grilled perfectly and coated with cilantro, feta cheese, lime, sour cream, spices, and vegan mayonnaise! They carefully wrap it so that all of the toppings stay in place. Super delicious.

Also the tart pastries..6 for $10.00 mix and match.

Already I cannot wait to return for more of EVERYTHING.....

I like this Whole Foods location - I just don't love it.

It's fantastic that they offer complimentary parking. There is nothing worse than trying to walk home with groceries. It's small and compact but it does the trick. Just a quick elevator ride up to the store.

Wow! The elevator doors opened to a ton of people! There was no capacity limits which made me uncomfortable. I waited a couple minutes until the crowds moved along.

Once inside, they were busy but I was able to avoid the congestion by staying alert. All departments were fully stocked so I was happy about that.

Once it was time to check out, I was met but a tired looking, surly young guy. No eye contact and no greeting. I had to ask him if he was open. He just blinked at me. So I started putting my things on the counter. I bagged my own items without any offer to assist. He shoved my receipt at me with no thank you or goodbye!

What is going on in the supermarkets lately?! I know the job can't be easy and I appreciate the staff very much, but I know many people that would appreciate the opportunity to have a job. With so many supermarkets in the area, I would suggest that management address safety and courtesy issues immediately. I will be going to a different market next time because of the negative experience and I'm sure others might feel the same way...

I came here to nosh after the Art Walk in River North. I like this WF, it's been around a long time, and I like to sit and eat from the hot/cold bar. We had good stuff here, and it's so close to public transportation.

I can't speak to long lines as I am only here on Friday evening, but there are aisles that could be wider.

The context: March 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic. Your narrator: an ER doctor working on the frontline, trying to enjoy her day off.

A staff yelled and gestured at me with the push of his arm: "Hey, can you respect the 6 feet distance please?!" I was about 4 feet from him, and 3 feet from a customer on the other side. So unless I dive into the freezer in front of me, nope I can't maintain 6 feet. Also sir, you just breathed onto the pack of smoked salmon I'm about to pick up and purchase, do you plan to wipe that down for me? Didn't think so. I called customer service later about the incident. I was told they "only" allow a max of 75 customers at a time to maintain the social distance. Clearly this tiny location can't accommodate 6 ft radius x 75 people + all the shelf space. Time to reduce the max number of customers.

A few minutes later, I saw a fellow customer wearing a N95 mask, fully bearded (fyi any beard is equivalent to breaking the mask seal and allowing aerosolized particles in). I really wanted to guilt him into donating his masks to my hospital.. instead, I wrote this yelp review.

I've been a huge fan of their mixed berry & cream cake for years despite size shrinkage and the outrageous +30% increase in price over the years.

I had purchased the cake at a different location last month for the first time and was extremely disappointed at the quality. The middle of the cake barely had any fruit or custard.

I returned to the Gold Coast location and purchased one there. It was made the way I had expected and as always it brightened up my not so great day. Definitely recommend giving this cake a try

today I went into the Whole Foods market in river north, Chicago.
usually the portion they serve for the entree ($12 meal) is sufficient but this new Asian looking guy gave me half of what they usually serve. it felt like he needed more training . I am not happy with this service today .

I've given this Whole Foods way too many chances, living nearby for as long as I have. Spoiler: I will return at some point, out of convenience, living a life of hypocrisy...

This is such a bad example of Whole Foods. The hot bar is still a letdown, featuring overcooked proteins galore. I walked through the seafood section, and while I realize seafood has a certain smell and am a fan of it myself (the food, not the smell), this was more intense than usual and frankly a bit nauseating in its intensity.

I bought a poke bowl and it was pretty bad. The tuna had started to turn almost brown. I also think there was a hair in it? It made me gag. Note to self: Get poke bowls at specialty chains (e.g. ASAP Poke) or similar full-service restaurants.

The hot bar now has those frustrating, difficult to close takeout boxes - ones that do not keep liquid or sauce inside very well, I'd imagine. Caveat emptor!

This Whole Foods is very neat, well-stocked, and truly, has most everything most Whole Foods have including a great hot bar, a cute little baked goods area, and a nice deli and wine department.

Today, when I walked in, it smelled wonderful, like someone was baking the most delicious chocolate cake ever.

I scanned the produce section and could see that all the gorgeous, colorful goods were skillfully arranged in great plenty.

Both the seafood and meat cases were filled with perfect, fresh, quality-looking cuts of meat. The bowls in the deli cases, too, were brimming with delicious-looking concoctions.

The cashiers here have always been polite and today was no different. Mine gave me a cheerful "hello" and smiled kindly.

The only issues with this store is it is sooooo teeny weeny. If you have the slightest hint of claustrophobic tendencies then you may want to go somewhere else to grab your kombucha tea and pea-based protein powder.

But if you like to rub elbows and shoulders with other hurried shoppers--yes, most people here are very, very busy, rushed people--you will love this place! But you must be patient here. No zooming through the aisles at breakneck pace. And you will definitely be saying "pardon me" a lot.

Also, as for seating, there's a long row of stool seats facing the window and just a few tables off in the corner near the bathrooms. I'd say if you want to grab a quick, healthy lunch and eat in it's fine, but not a great place to linger, and most definitely not a good place to do any work on your laptop.

In short:

--Good selection (for its size)
--Well stocked
--Polite employees
--Clean bathrooms
But..
--Extremely cramped, tiny store

First time here in this branch of Whole Foods Market and there is a complementary parking. The place is a bit small but it was super clean. There were a lot of nice products. I went to the hot bar section and the foods looks good so I decided to try one and it really is good and the staff in there was nice and friendly. The seafood section has a lot of different kinds of seafood all are looking so fresh and I decided to buy the salmon. They also have a nice wine department, meat section and deli products. I could see that everything is well stocked. I got a pretty much good items in my cart when I decided to go to the cashier. The cashier in there unfortunately did not greet me or anything and did not even bother to put eye contact on me and for me it was a bit rude as a customer. But other than having this rude cashier, my first time in this branch is still great and I got a lot of items in reasonable prices.

When the new store on State opening?
Can you please bring back the vegan chicken salad and also keep the vegan tuna salad consistently in stock?
Thanks, WF.