This is conveniently located near the Marriott Courtyard where we stayed. We arrived at night, and just wanted to grab some quick food to eat. We went there around 9:30ish and most of the hot food had been cleared up, but there were still a number of good choices at the counter. All is all, Whole Foods is a great place to shop and this Whole Foods is no exception. Plenty of choices of good organic food.
H S.
What a disappointing downturn in the last 2 to 3 years. I used to go to Whole Foods instead of Trader Joe's because there were so many things that I could find there but not at Trader Joe's. It's the exact opposite now. Beware the way they mark their produce. The price signs are not necessarily next to the correct items so you really have to look at the sticker on the produce to confirm what you are buying. And read the price signs carefully so you can tell if you are paying three dollars for a single apple or for a pound of apples. The only reason I go to Whole Foods now is if I am craving Iggy's.
Ren T.
It's been a while since I've been to this location. It seems like their grocery department has gotten smaller (and their booze section larger). Bought grapes that looked ok in the bag, but were not that great when I brought them home. The biggest issue with this trip was with the deli. They had one person for the deli and prepared foods so it took a while to get helped (even though there was one person ahead of me). When I was finally helped, I order .5 lbs of prosciutto. The person was having a hard time slicing it and never showed me a "sample" (don't know if that is still being done with Covid). She ended up slicing 2/3 of a pound and asked me if a little over was ok (I think that's more than a little)... not the end of the world, but when I got home, I saw how poorly it was sliced. Each slice had varying thickness within the slice and the thickest parts were so thick, they had the same red color as unsliced prosciutto.
Jenny R.
Though the staff is great i will say this and it's clean and used to be my happy place, just know someonewas fired for wearing a blacklives matter shirt and that's just disappointing
Natalie Nguyen
I had high hopes for this place but the latte they gave me was molten lava. I've never been served coffee so hot. Normal lattes are served using a machine for the espresso which is at a medium high temperature but the one they gave me was like if they using boiling water to make it. Usually adding the milk to the espresso cools down the latte but I'm guessing they poured boiling oat milk in my drink cause it wasn't cooled in any way possible. It took an hour and the ice cold winter of Boston to cool it down to warm enough to drink.
Mark M.
What a beautiful store. So many wines, and cheeses. Lots of space here as it's so big, it doesn't feel cluttered at all. Look out for the Prime member specials; great savings. Their ground beef is ground up every single day, so if you want fresh, this is the place to get it. The dairy section has dozens of different brands of milk. Staff are really friendly here, it's quite impressive!
Grace Y.
I come to this Whole Foods all the time to grocery shop. The selection is good and the prices are pretty good too, especially the Prime Deal items. However the quality of the meat and produce have gone down since the Amazon acquisition and often I have to return meat after getting home because it has gone bad.
Amy C.
Healthy grocery market. I work nearby so I go there for lunch most of the time. Love the hot bar and the salad bar, there are a lot of options!
Brian S.
BROWN HAMBURGER MEAT! I've been to this Whole Foods many times. I purchase meat from the butcher shop regularly. For the first time i bought a couple pre-formed patties. Much to my disgust; when i got them home and cut them in half to make smaller patties. To my surprise they were completely brown inside with a small layer of fresh beef on the outside. This is an appalling business practice, and i would never expect it from Whole Foods with the premium prices that i pay. The department of health should fine them, and the manager of the Whole Foods and the butcher shop should be suspended. If this is happening what else is are they hiding because this was done on purpose! Shameful
P. J.
I'm adding my voice to the chorus of those lamenting that this Whole Foods has gone downhill recently.First, this location used to have about 16 different types of Allegro whole bean coffee in bins. Now they offer only about 8. They got rid of some excellent coffees such as Mexican. Why? Second, I tried to buy matzoh recently. The only thing this location carried was Yehuda "matzoh-style squares," which are not real matzoh. They can not be used at a seder, and they simply don't handle like real matzoh in things like matzoh brei. Why doesn't this WF offer real matzoh? Hmmm. I'll bet Jews in this area weren't too happy about this.It may be worth it to drive out to the Wegman's in Northborough and give them my business.
As with any Whole Foods there is a fine selection of everything. Thier wine slection is good. Would recommend.
Lindsay D.
A fun place to shop, but not for the faint of wallet. (That would be me). But by some cosmic irony, I ended up becoming very familiar with this Whole Foods. ("I am fortune's fool!") So, here are my notions on the place.First point: The Amazon takeover. A corporate dementor, Amazon is slowly breathing the personality out of Whole Foods. The place has gone from "Would you like a sample?" to "Are you a Prime member?" Hell, I'll take a crazed hippie wildly wielding toothpicks over a minute-long wait for someone to scan their phone and save twenty-six cents on their $100 order. Second point: The prices. This place is expensive. It's the elephant in the room; you can't get around it. However, the "365" house brand is affordable. The Prime deals CAN be decent but they're few and far between.Now don't get me wrong. This store runs like a well-oiled machine and each department has something to offer. Read on!Floral: If you're in a DIY mood, they can make you a stunning, one-of-a-kind bouquet. You can choose your own flowers and/or seek the advice of the florist. There are also plenty of premade bouquets and roses here are cheaper than anywhere else around.The produce: Pretty good, but not as amazing as it's talked up to be.Coffee Bar: Yummy, and often overlooked. As a coffee non-enthusiast, I was skeptical, but they wowed me!Hot Bar: An exciting, expensive crapshoot. Try a little bit of everything. Hot soups: Fantastic. There are usually four or five kinds, and they're all quite satisfying. I'm obsessed with the tomato parmesan, and the clam chowder is great too.Sushi: Huge variety and super fresh (wicked-fast turnover rate).Salad Bar: Nice variety of fresh veggies and toppings, including tuna salad, chicken salad, pasta salad, and much more. Their finely-chopped dark artisan lettuce is super tender and forms a lush basis for your salad. Conspicuously absent, however, is basic shredded cheese (cheddar, Colby jack, what have you). Usually the only cheese options are Parmesan and feta. Super weird. Cheese lovers lament!Bakery: Hit and miss. As a cookie lover, I'm REALLY sad to say that I'm not a fan of the cookie bar. Many of the offerings are dry and lacking in flavor. But there are great picks to make up for it. I love their chocolate chip scones, their perfectly sweet 'n tart cranberry pie at Thanksgiving, and their pumpkin gobs (that's "whoopie pie" in Pittsburghese). For a special event, you can pick up a gorgeous cake or some fantastic cannoli (I prefer it to Mike's. Can I say that)?Seafood: Nice selection and sustainably caught. The smoked salmon salad is to die for.Meat: Nice butcher counter-style service, but it will cost you a pretty penny. At Thanksgiving, there's an option to "reserve" fresh turkeys. By all accounts, they're great turkeys. But why not just sell them in a more...uh...normal way? It's dizzying to see how neurotic certain customers get about securing their designer turkeys. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think Mr. Gobbles arrives VIP (Very Important Poultry) the day before Thanksgiving on Farmer Jones' chuckwagon and gets plucked in the back of the Whole Foods Meat Department. Or does he (?!)Dry grocery: Great options, impeccably organized, and well-staffed with folks eager to help you find obscure items. Fantastic variety for cooking up international cuisine. Wine: Impressive assortment and options for every price point. Starting with the beloved three-buck-Chuck that people buy by the cartload!Beer: The beer section here, while quirky and fun, always reminds me of that South Park episode where downtrodden Stuart and wealthy Gerald try to bond on a fishing trip. Stuart brings a 24-pack of cheap beer and offers Gerald a can. Nah, Gerald has his own. "It's a microbrew sampler from Aspen with six different beers from local microbreweries!" Yeah. It's that kind of beer. The atmosphere: Super upbeat, from the employees, to the déc
F F.
Could you please knead the dough when you make bread? The bread has way too many holes. And it's getting worse with the year. This is just so basic.
Hillary B.
This used to be such a nice market. It is awful now. The produce looks terrible; the carrots are limp. No more preserved lemons to be found. When I asked for the Bell & Evans chickens, the guy at the butcher counter lied to me, telling me the chickens he had were Bell & Evans. I think they have neglected this store because it is in a racially integrated neighborhood. They are more focused on the Fresh Pond market in the white part of town. River Street is a C store now.
Patricia I.
This is an ok whole foods. The fish department is not very helpful and has the unusual pricing policy of charging more for Atlantic salmon depending on what part of the salmon they are selling: one price for a piece cut from the tail etc & a higher price for center cut. Other Whole Foods, such as Alewife, charge the same price for all the Atlantic Salmon - namely the lower price. If you ask for a piece that is center cut, River Street always insists on the higher price, or worse, just ignore the customer's request and cut a piece of tail. For a store of this caliber, this kind of service is inappropriate. Take home lesson: if you want to buy Atlantic Salmon don't buy it at Whole Food River Street. The fish department at the Alewife store is terrific and the staff very helpful.
This is conveniently located near the Marriott Courtyard where we stayed. We arrived at night, and just wanted to grab some quick food to eat. We went there around 9:30ish and most of the hot food had been cleared up, but there were still a number of good choices at the counter. All is all, Whole Foods is a great place to shop and this Whole Foods is no exception. Plenty of choices of good organic food.
What a disappointing downturn in the last 2 to 3 years. I used to go to Whole Foods instead of Trader Joe's because there were so many things that I could find there but not at Trader Joe's. It's the exact opposite now. Beware the way they mark their produce. The price signs are not necessarily next to the correct items so you really have to look at the sticker on the produce to confirm what you are buying. And read the price signs carefully so you can tell if you are paying three dollars for a single apple or for a pound of apples. The only reason I go to Whole Foods now is if I am craving Iggy's.
It's been a while since I've been to this location. It seems like their grocery department has gotten smaller (and their booze section larger). Bought grapes that looked ok in the bag, but were not that great when I brought them home. The biggest issue with this trip was with the deli. They had one person for the deli and prepared foods so it took a while to get helped (even though there was one person ahead of me). When I was finally helped, I order .5 lbs of prosciutto. The person was having a hard time slicing it and never showed me a "sample" (don't know if that is still being done with Covid). She ended up slicing 2/3 of a pound and asked me if a little over was ok (I think that's more than a little)... not the end of the world, but when I got home, I saw how poorly it was sliced. Each slice had varying thickness within the slice and the thickest parts were so thick, they had the same red color as unsliced prosciutto.
Though the staff is great i will say this and it's clean and used to be my happy place, just know someonewas fired for wearing a blacklives matter shirt and that's just disappointing
I had high hopes for this place but the latte they gave me was molten lava. I've never been served coffee so hot. Normal lattes are served using a machine for the espresso which is at a medium high temperature but the one they gave me was like if they using boiling water to make it. Usually adding the milk to the espresso cools down the latte but I'm guessing they poured boiling oat milk in my drink cause it wasn't cooled in any way possible. It took an hour and the ice cold winter of Boston to cool it down to warm enough to drink.
What a beautiful store. So many wines, and cheeses. Lots of space here as it's so big, it doesn't feel cluttered at all. Look out for the Prime member specials; great savings. Their ground beef is ground up every single day, so if you want fresh, this is the place to get it. The dairy section has dozens of different brands of milk. Staff are really friendly here, it's quite impressive!
I come to this Whole Foods all the time to grocery shop. The selection is good and the prices are pretty good too, especially the Prime Deal items. However the quality of the meat and produce have gone down since the Amazon acquisition and often I have to return meat after getting home because it has gone bad.
Healthy grocery market. I work nearby so I go there for lunch most of the time. Love the hot bar and the salad bar, there are a lot of options!
BROWN HAMBURGER MEAT! I've been to this Whole Foods many times. I purchase meat from the butcher shop regularly. For the first time i bought a couple pre-formed patties. Much to my disgust; when i got them home and cut them in half to make smaller patties. To my surprise they were completely brown inside with a small layer of fresh beef on the outside. This is an appalling business practice, and i would never expect it from Whole Foods with the premium prices that i pay. The department of health should fine them, and the manager of the Whole Foods and the butcher shop should be suspended. If this is happening what else is are they hiding because this was done on purpose! Shameful
I'm adding my voice to the chorus of those lamenting that this Whole Foods has gone downhill recently.First, this location used to have about 16 different types of Allegro whole bean coffee in bins. Now they offer only about 8. They got rid of some excellent coffees such as Mexican. Why? Second, I tried to buy matzoh recently. The only thing this location carried was Yehuda "matzoh-style squares," which are not real matzoh. They can not be used at a seder, and they simply don't handle like real matzoh in things like matzoh brei. Why doesn't this WF offer real matzoh? Hmmm. I'll bet Jews in this area weren't too happy about this.It may be worth it to drive out to the Wegman's in Northborough and give them my business.
Restaurantji Recommends
As with any Whole Foods there is a fine selection of everything. Thier wine slection is good. Would recommend.
A fun place to shop, but not for the faint of wallet. (That would be me). But by some cosmic irony, I ended up becoming very familiar with this Whole Foods. ("I am fortune's fool!") So, here are my notions on the place.First point: The Amazon takeover. A corporate dementor, Amazon is slowly breathing the personality out of Whole Foods. The place has gone from "Would you like a sample?" to "Are you a Prime member?" Hell, I'll take a crazed hippie wildly wielding toothpicks over a minute-long wait for someone to scan their phone and save twenty-six cents on their $100 order. Second point: The prices. This place is expensive. It's the elephant in the room; you can't get around it. However, the "365" house brand is affordable. The Prime deals CAN be decent but they're few and far between.Now don't get me wrong. This store runs like a well-oiled machine and each department has something to offer. Read on!Floral: If you're in a DIY mood, they can make you a stunning, one-of-a-kind bouquet. You can choose your own flowers and/or seek the advice of the florist. There are also plenty of premade bouquets and roses here are cheaper than anywhere else around.The produce: Pretty good, but not as amazing as it's talked up to be.Coffee Bar: Yummy, and often overlooked. As a coffee non-enthusiast, I was skeptical, but they wowed me!Hot Bar: An exciting, expensive crapshoot. Try a little bit of everything. Hot soups: Fantastic. There are usually four or five kinds, and they're all quite satisfying. I'm obsessed with the tomato parmesan, and the clam chowder is great too.Sushi: Huge variety and super fresh (wicked-fast turnover rate).Salad Bar: Nice variety of fresh veggies and toppings, including tuna salad, chicken salad, pasta salad, and much more. Their finely-chopped dark artisan lettuce is super tender and forms a lush basis for your salad. Conspicuously absent, however, is basic shredded cheese (cheddar, Colby jack, what have you). Usually the only cheese options are Parmesan and feta. Super weird. Cheese lovers lament!Bakery: Hit and miss. As a cookie lover, I'm REALLY sad to say that I'm not a fan of the cookie bar. Many of the offerings are dry and lacking in flavor. But there are great picks to make up for it. I love their chocolate chip scones, their perfectly sweet 'n tart cranberry pie at Thanksgiving, and their pumpkin gobs (that's "whoopie pie" in Pittsburghese). For a special event, you can pick up a gorgeous cake or some fantastic cannoli (I prefer it to Mike's. Can I say that)?Seafood: Nice selection and sustainably caught. The smoked salmon salad is to die for.Meat: Nice butcher counter-style service, but it will cost you a pretty penny. At Thanksgiving, there's an option to "reserve" fresh turkeys. By all accounts, they're great turkeys. But why not just sell them in a more...uh...normal way? It's dizzying to see how neurotic certain customers get about securing their designer turkeys. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think Mr. Gobbles arrives VIP (Very Important Poultry) the day before Thanksgiving on Farmer Jones' chuckwagon and gets plucked in the back of the Whole Foods Meat Department. Or does he (?!)Dry grocery: Great options, impeccably organized, and well-staffed with folks eager to help you find obscure items. Fantastic variety for cooking up international cuisine. Wine: Impressive assortment and options for every price point. Starting with the beloved three-buck-Chuck that people buy by the cartload!Beer: The beer section here, while quirky and fun, always reminds me of that South Park episode where downtrodden Stuart and wealthy Gerald try to bond on a fishing trip. Stuart brings a 24-pack of cheap beer and offers Gerald a can. Nah, Gerald has his own. "It's a microbrew sampler from Aspen with six different beers from local microbreweries!" Yeah. It's that kind of beer. The atmosphere: Super upbeat, from the employees, to the déc
Could you please knead the dough when you make bread? The bread has way too many holes. And it's getting worse with the year. This is just so basic.
This used to be such a nice market. It is awful now. The produce looks terrible; the carrots are limp. No more preserved lemons to be found. When I asked for the Bell & Evans chickens, the guy at the butcher counter lied to me, telling me the chickens he had were Bell & Evans. I think they have neglected this store because it is in a racially integrated neighborhood. They are more focused on the Fresh Pond market in the white part of town. River Street is a C store now.
This is an ok whole foods. The fish department is not very helpful and has the unusual pricing policy of charging more for Atlantic salmon depending on what part of the salmon they are selling: one price for a piece cut from the tail etc & a higher price for center cut. Other Whole Foods, such as Alewife, charge the same price for all the Atlantic Salmon - namely the lower price. If you ask for a piece that is center cut, River Street always insists on the higher price, or worse, just ignore the customer's request and cut a piece of tail. For a store of this caliber, this kind of service is inappropriate. Take home lesson: if you want to buy Atlantic Salmon don't buy it at Whole Food River Street. The fish department at the Alewife store is terrific and the staff very helpful.