First time at this Whole Foods, in the college town of Santa Cruz. Afternoon visit. The ready to eat food bar looked tired and empty. Average produce section. Maybe a little understaffed. Not the same as the Plano store. But checkout was quick and friendly. Good parking.
Adrienne A.
I enjoy this Whole Foods. They have the best price out of the other places I've been to in the area on brand (Pristine grain free small breed and Nutro that comes in the individual containers) of dog food my dog likes. I got him Rachel ray puppy food before, but he choked on it twice, and simply doesn't like it. He will eat it, but he wants pretty much anything else first. The pristine he really enjoys. I get him the beef one not the chicken one. There's car chargers here. The juice bar is down right now, but the smoothie bar is still going. For whatever reason you have to pay for your smoothie first, not at the same time as your groceries (or having a choice) like I'm used to. I don't appreciate having to do all the extra run around, but whatever I'm happy to have the smoothie. I usually get my smoothies other places anyway. This store seems really well stocked. Generally helpful awesome staff. I like how if they are cleaning the women's restroom they turn the men's into unisex, so I can still use the restroom. I really enjoy washing my hands over sanitizer, and not having to wait to go to the restroom.
Food A.
Although WF is walking distance to my house, I'm going to avoid shopping here for as long as I can. Here's why, I was standing in line waiting to be waived in (during covid19) the employee out front looked like she hated her job and wasn't doing her job. After several people exit, she didnt waive me in. The other lady next to her wiping down the cart even said "people came out" I finally said can I go in and she just looked at me. At the register, WF is still allowing reusable bags which is a health risk and spread of covid19 to both its employee and customer. Safeway and other markets are providing free grocery bags. The girl at the register was not knowledgable about e-gift cards. Apparently she never saw one before. A lot of retailers offer electronic giftcards sent through email. The receiver could print or show gift card on their phone to the cashier to be scan. I printed mine out and this girl had to ask the staff next to her, "do we take this." That staff said "read the the giftcard," in which she did and followed the instructions. By the way, I hate giftcards, electronic or otherwise. Just give cash so you're not binding the receiver to a store like wholefoods. I'm annoyed by this whole experience. I'm going to keep my shopping business to safeway or shoppers corners and avoid shopping at whole foods.
Acacia K.
All Whole Food stores I visit are always very clean and tidy. They have a wide selection of items. It appears to me their prices have come down a little since Amazon bought them. I don't find them as high priced as people speak of them being. Always enjoy speaking with customer service and staff in general. I find them happy.
Ivan M.
I usually love Whole Foods, Service has always been great. The reason I'm giving it 2 stars today it's because considering the Covid-19 epidemic, very few cashiers/workers were wearing gloves. I asked my cashier and elderly man named Phil, why he wasn't wearing gloves. (BTW if I had noticed it before he started ringing me up I would have gone to another cashier.) He told me that it was not mandated by the company to wear gloves and he didn't like the way they felt. I was wearing gloves BTW. I went to the management desk and I asked why are they not mandating gloves. There were 2 people at the desk, an older lady and an Asian gentleman, all they did was stare at me as if they've been caught doing something wrong and got absolutely no answer from either one. they looked at each other and then me and didn't know what to say. "People need to wear gloves" I said. It should be enforced. I finally walked out and left with no answer whatsoever. Please be a responsible company and mandate all workers to wear at least gloves until this is over. This elderly guy could get very sick and possibly die. Do you understand that? Thank You
Luke S.
More like Whole Foods & whole vitamins. I bought vitamin D for the first time at this store. Apparently vitamin D is suppose to make you happy or something. I decided to try it out, it's a lot cheaper than buying alcohol. I always see foods that have "vitamin D" in the nutrition facts, but then it says it has zero vitamin D in the actual food...what!? That's like if I opened a coffee shop, but didn't have any coffee to sell. Are they just letting people know vitamin D is a thing? It's like they are advertising for vitamin D on foods that don't have any vitamin D. I was looking for some Vitamin D, so I decided to go straight to the source and purchase vitamin D itself. I assumed a vitamin D bottle wouldn't have zero vitamin D in the nutrition facts and I was happy to find out my assumption was correct. I'm glad Whole Foods was able to also provide me with whole vitamins.
Odie O.
This smaller location had all the hot food eaten up or put away by 9pm so there was very little to choose from but the creme brûlée did not have a burnt caramel crust which was sad and the cashier turned it over so it all fell out of the bowl oh well didn't need the calories anyways
Dennis S.
I really should grocery shop and cook at home, BUT, the hot food here is so good. The convenience and healthy options are why I come often for dinner instead of cooking. Now for my wife and I, we usually end up spending about $30 each time we come here to get dinner. Nonetheless, the price is ultimately worth it in my eyes.
Chef M.
Advertised pizza discount for prime members. Bought 4 slices. No discount at register. Complained to WFM online. Got nothing but static. The too many emails, too many photos of receipts, and forget it. This review is simply a personal reminder not to renew Prime. Crap all over a place for not honoring a discount on THEIR app at THEIR register. Update - bought an organic rotisserie chicken. Dry as a bone. Brittle wings. Near inedible. Had to piece it into a curry to eat. Not the first substandard roti from that particular Whole Foods. Never going back. Never. Staff of Life is right across the street dudes. Get your s... together before corporate visits. Or do they s. Too?
Very disinterested staff at the juice bar, not very friendly or communicative. The Soquel location is right next to my house but I'd rather drive to the 41st location to get anything. I've given it a couple of tries and the quality of service remains the same.
Cayden M.
The food and everything I bought here tonight at 6:55was great but the employees are a little suspicious. While purchasing my food with my debit card, the card reader had told me to remove my card because the purchase was completed. But the cashier told me to insert the card again because "I pulled the card out a second too soon." So I did the same thing again and the purchase was complete again. (Side note: I received a wink for the cashier after the second time I put my card in)I then got a notification on my phone while leaving the store saying my two purchases had been refunded and it was only supposed to be one purchase. She ended up getting me to charge my card twice. I did not receive a receipt except for the one on my phone from my bank account. If you guys go to this location just watch out for the light blue long curly hair employee, she's trying to get those sales in... Also I'm a college student, so not someone who looks like they can spare some extra money, whole foods is already expensive enough. But I get it I would probably be desperate for some extra money if I was 27 working in a grocery store.
carrie k.
Whole Foods, you're slipping. Your hot food bar is just nose-diving. Never again. Today I bought rice and teriyaki chicken. Should be ok, right? The chicken didn't look dried out as it usually does. I wasn't paying attention to the rice, thought it was Japanese sticky rice. This was purchased at 1:00 pm, so should have been pretty good right? Wrong. The proper ratio of rice to water is 1:1. This was closer to 1:2.5. The rice was inedible, more like paste. Chicken was mostly fatty. I do know you have someone come by and pour water in all the trays and mix it around, but thought getting rice this early would avoid that pitfall. Unless you do it to get twice as much rice. So, I'm out a good $6 and have no lunch otherwise, so thanks for that. Yesterday I was in and put in my Prime number on a $70 load of groceries. No saving at all. The time previous I bought $148 worth and got back something 13 cents. Most times I don't see any savings. The most I've had so far is $1.00.
Manny M.
I was petitioning out here in front of this store like any regular legal petitioner and i was constantly harrassed by the management for just exercising my first amendment right. They even have a sign out front that says petitioning is allowed. Anyhow the manager in the picture had me arrested. I dont know why she didnt like me but she didnt. Other petioners at this store were allowed to set up a table and I was arrested because she lied and said I harrassed her. How am i harrassing a store manager whos inside the store. Anyhow it makes no sense that in santa cruz my right to petition was stopped and treated as criminal because of a managers opinion, they basically took her word over mine. And i thought Santa cruz was about equal rights smh
Melissa H.
Whole Foods I do often refer to as Whole Paycheck and for good reason - I could happily blow my entire paycheck on so many amazing items and - it's expensive. If you buy just product or 365 products you will likely be okay but who can hold back from hitting up the bakery and the hot food and sushi selection?! This Whole Foods is convenient to where we live and we frequent it typically once or more a week for basics and a quick dinner of pizza for the kids (their favorite is the pepperoni although sometimes it can be a little spicy) and we grab sushi and some pre-made salads. I walked out this time with a bag full of groceries for around $60 which is normal. I've been to many Whole Foods across the country while traveling (I love the consistency!) but this one is certainly smaller and lacking compared to others and even the store in Capitola. There are usually homeless campers outside and a lot of reported theft from Rite Aid next door so there is a different vibe that other locations.
First time at this Whole Foods, in the college town of Santa Cruz. Afternoon visit. The ready to eat food bar looked tired and empty. Average produce section. Maybe a little understaffed. Not the same as the Plano store. But checkout was quick and friendly. Good parking.
I enjoy this Whole Foods. They have the best price out of the other places I've been to in the area on brand (Pristine grain free small breed and Nutro that comes in the individual containers) of dog food my dog likes. I got him Rachel ray puppy food before, but he choked on it twice, and simply doesn't like it. He will eat it, but he wants pretty much anything else first. The pristine he really enjoys. I get him the beef one not the chicken one. There's car chargers here. The juice bar is down right now, but the smoothie bar is still going. For whatever reason you have to pay for your smoothie first, not at the same time as your groceries (or having a choice) like I'm used to. I don't appreciate having to do all the extra run around, but whatever I'm happy to have the smoothie. I usually get my smoothies other places anyway. This store seems really well stocked. Generally helpful awesome staff. I like how if they are cleaning the women's restroom they turn the men's into unisex, so I can still use the restroom. I really enjoy washing my hands over sanitizer, and not having to wait to go to the restroom.
Although WF is walking distance to my house, I'm going to avoid shopping here for as long as I can. Here's why, I was standing in line waiting to be waived in (during covid19) the employee out front looked like she hated her job and wasn't doing her job. After several people exit, she didnt waive me in. The other lady next to her wiping down the cart even said "people came out" I finally said can I go in and she just looked at me. At the register, WF is still allowing reusable bags which is a health risk and spread of covid19 to both its employee and customer. Safeway and other markets are providing free grocery bags. The girl at the register was not knowledgable about e-gift cards. Apparently she never saw one before. A lot of retailers offer electronic giftcards sent through email. The receiver could print or show gift card on their phone to the cashier to be scan. I printed mine out and this girl had to ask the staff next to her, "do we take this." That staff said "read the the giftcard," in which she did and followed the instructions. By the way, I hate giftcards, electronic or otherwise. Just give cash so you're not binding the receiver to a store like wholefoods. I'm annoyed by this whole experience. I'm going to keep my shopping business to safeway or shoppers corners and avoid shopping at whole foods.
All Whole Food stores I visit are always very clean and tidy. They have a wide selection of items. It appears to me their prices have come down a little since Amazon bought them. I don't find them as high priced as people speak of them being. Always enjoy speaking with customer service and staff in general. I find them happy.
I usually love Whole Foods, Service has always been great. The reason I'm giving it 2 stars today it's because considering the Covid-19 epidemic, very few cashiers/workers were wearing gloves. I asked my cashier and elderly man named Phil, why he wasn't wearing gloves. (BTW if I had noticed it before he started ringing me up I would have gone to another cashier.) He told me that it was not mandated by the company to wear gloves and he didn't like the way they felt. I was wearing gloves BTW. I went to the management desk and I asked why are they not mandating gloves. There were 2 people at the desk, an older lady and an Asian gentleman, all they did was stare at me as if they've been caught doing something wrong and got absolutely no answer from either one. they looked at each other and then me and didn't know what to say. "People need to wear gloves" I said. It should be enforced. I finally walked out and left with no answer whatsoever. Please be a responsible company and mandate all workers to wear at least gloves until this is over. This elderly guy could get very sick and possibly die. Do you understand that? Thank You
More like Whole Foods & whole vitamins. I bought vitamin D for the first time at this store. Apparently vitamin D is suppose to make you happy or something. I decided to try it out, it's a lot cheaper than buying alcohol. I always see foods that have "vitamin D" in the nutrition facts, but then it says it has zero vitamin D in the actual food...what!? That's like if I opened a coffee shop, but didn't have any coffee to sell. Are they just letting people know vitamin D is a thing? It's like they are advertising for vitamin D on foods that don't have any vitamin D. I was looking for some Vitamin D, so I decided to go straight to the source and purchase vitamin D itself. I assumed a vitamin D bottle wouldn't have zero vitamin D in the nutrition facts and I was happy to find out my assumption was correct. I'm glad Whole Foods was able to also provide me with whole vitamins.
This smaller location had all the hot food eaten up or put away by 9pm so there was very little to choose from but the creme brûlée did not have a burnt caramel crust which was sad and the cashier turned it over so it all fell out of the bowl oh well didn't need the calories anyways
I really should grocery shop and cook at home, BUT, the hot food here is so good. The convenience and healthy options are why I come often for dinner instead of cooking. Now for my wife and I, we usually end up spending about $30 each time we come here to get dinner. Nonetheless, the price is ultimately worth it in my eyes.
Advertised pizza discount for prime members. Bought 4 slices. No discount at register. Complained to WFM online. Got nothing but static. The too many emails, too many photos of receipts, and forget it. This review is simply a personal reminder not to renew Prime. Crap all over a place for not honoring a discount on THEIR app at THEIR register. Update - bought an organic rotisserie chicken. Dry as a bone. Brittle wings. Near inedible. Had to piece it into a curry to eat. Not the first substandard roti from that particular Whole Foods. Never going back. Never. Staff of Life is right across the street dudes. Get your s... together before corporate visits. Or do they s. Too?
Really bitter coffee.
Restaurantji Recommends
Very disinterested staff at the juice bar, not very friendly or communicative. The Soquel location is right next to my house but I'd rather drive to the 41st location to get anything. I've given it a couple of tries and the quality of service remains the same.
The food and everything I bought here tonight at 6:55was great but the employees are a little suspicious. While purchasing my food with my debit card, the card reader had told me to remove my card because the purchase was completed. But the cashier told me to insert the card again because "I pulled the card out a second too soon." So I did the same thing again and the purchase was complete again. (Side note: I received a wink for the cashier after the second time I put my card in)I then got a notification on my phone while leaving the store saying my two purchases had been refunded and it was only supposed to be one purchase. She ended up getting me to charge my card twice. I did not receive a receipt except for the one on my phone from my bank account. If you guys go to this location just watch out for the light blue long curly hair employee, she's trying to get those sales in... Also I'm a college student, so not someone who looks like they can spare some extra money, whole foods is already expensive enough. But I get it I would probably be desperate for some extra money if I was 27 working in a grocery store.
Whole Foods, you're slipping. Your hot food bar is just nose-diving. Never again. Today I bought rice and teriyaki chicken. Should be ok, right? The chicken didn't look dried out as it usually does. I wasn't paying attention to the rice, thought it was Japanese sticky rice. This was purchased at 1:00 pm, so should have been pretty good right? Wrong. The proper ratio of rice to water is 1:1. This was closer to 1:2.5. The rice was inedible, more like paste. Chicken was mostly fatty. I do know you have someone come by and pour water in all the trays and mix it around, but thought getting rice this early would avoid that pitfall. Unless you do it to get twice as much rice. So, I'm out a good $6 and have no lunch otherwise, so thanks for that. Yesterday I was in and put in my Prime number on a $70 load of groceries. No saving at all. The time previous I bought $148 worth and got back something 13 cents. Most times I don't see any savings. The most I've had so far is $1.00.
I was petitioning out here in front of this store like any regular legal petitioner and i was constantly harrassed by the management for just exercising my first amendment right. They even have a sign out front that says petitioning is allowed. Anyhow the manager in the picture had me arrested. I dont know why she didnt like me but she didnt. Other petioners at this store were allowed to set up a table and I was arrested because she lied and said I harrassed her. How am i harrassing a store manager whos inside the store. Anyhow it makes no sense that in santa cruz my right to petition was stopped and treated as criminal because of a managers opinion, they basically took her word over mine. And i thought Santa cruz was about equal rights smh
Whole Foods I do often refer to as Whole Paycheck and for good reason - I could happily blow my entire paycheck on so many amazing items and - it's expensive. If you buy just product or 365 products you will likely be okay but who can hold back from hitting up the bakery and the hot food and sushi selection?! This Whole Foods is convenient to where we live and we frequent it typically once or more a week for basics and a quick dinner of pizza for the kids (their favorite is the pepperoni although sometimes it can be a little spicy) and we grab sushi and some pre-made salads. I walked out this time with a bag full of groceries for around $60 which is normal. I've been to many Whole Foods across the country while traveling (I love the consistency!) but this one is certainly smaller and lacking compared to others and even the store in Capitola. There are usually homeless campers outside and a lot of reported theft from Rite Aid next door so there is a different vibe that other locations.