Were I back on the West Coast or even in Western NYS where there are Wegmans stores I probably would rate this a two. But, for Albany it's at the top of the food chain (pun intended) as we live in an area dominated by Price Chopper, which is plain awful. Whole Foods caters to upper income and educated people and that is evident from the multitude of self absorbed Karens and Kens who block the aisles and invade your personal space while shopping, and who let their children yell and misbehave (telling them to lower their voices and to keep out of others' way might warp their development, apparently.) Also Whole Foods has an evident large clientele of people who order through WF personal shoppers who are indifferent to shopping customers and will aggressively get in your way and muscle you out of theirs. Staff are continually stocking shelves and they, too, are indifferent to shoppers' comfort. It makes for a claustrophobic experience and the rudeness can make you very grumpy. The bakery, the deli, and the cheese section are the best thing about this store. Also the seafood, for the Albany area, is better than average (I would NEVER buy seafood in Price Chopper...) You can get some esoteric ingredients (for example, this is the only store where I've been able to find hazelnuts in the area, not that those are exotic.) The shrink wrapped poultry is pretty frightening and the jumbo packs seem like something you'd find at Costco (though this time I found chicken breasts in normally packaged smaller containers.) I did find decent chicken breakfast sausage at the Butcher Counter. The other meat looks good, but not eating most meat I am not a good judge. The produce section is hit or miss; I often need to make a trip to Price Chopper or Hannaford en route home based on what I could find at Whole Foods (e.g. it seems they are usually out of Italian parsley.) Most of the fruit is hard as a rock and rots before it ripens (so I'd recommend Price Chopper over WF.) My recommendation would be that if you need an array of artisanal cheeses, or good bread/pastry (as the pastry section of Price Chopper is absolutely awful) and want a good deli selection this is worth the stop (they have great vegan options as well as vegetarian.) This is a periodic stop store. It's too bad Albany doesn't have something better.
Brooke A.
This is the place to go if you are looking for vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian options. I came to this location on vacation and was shocked to see ONLY vegan and fat free options. I was looking for a basic box of Mac and Cheese to make with some steaks I had bought and was told there are no brand name boxes, only vegan cheese options (at over $5 a box). The food is overpriced and in small quantities, but I guess that's what you get for going to a grocery store.
Tone Y.
I'm giving 1 star for this particular matter. Very upset you guys are selling bad food(chicken) we see that it has been double wrapped for this reason! NOT GOOD!! Either check your employee's for this or your supplier! People don't have money to waste nor in this time should this ve happening. Fix this a.s.a.p or prepare for food inspections to take place! I like you guys but this is terrible.
Christina B.
Okay first thing is first it's very clean and well organized! They have a thing called "kids club" I didn't know about and they have a little station with snacks, treats and stickers for the kiddos kept my son happy and busy while I shopped. There was a young man Billy, and women (I didn't catch her name) and they were so pleasant and helped me find the chocolate bananas I have been looking for for over a week, billy was kind enough to let me know about kids club and walk me over to find it. These two employees really made my day by just being kind and helpful I'm going to shop here more often because of them! Thank you guys I hope you see this and know truly how kind and helpful you were considering I had a 2 year old, shopping isn't always easy. So thank you again, and thank you to the manager for having them on your team!
Alex P.
The grocery section is decent. But the pizza, the pizza is the worst pizza any of my 5 senses have experienced. The smell of a greasy glob, picking it up results in a sloppy mess from a flaccid crust soaked in grease. I cannot recommend enough that you stick to getting your boujie groceries and skip this horrid monstrosity of a "pizza"
Elnora O.
This Whole Foods has great customer service however, beware when buying baked goods, especially the Macarons since sometimes they can be stale and there is no way to tell how fresh they are. They can get a bit expensive if you buy a lot of them - so make sure you find out exactly when they were made.
Eileen M.
I moved to Glenville in July 2020 and was pleased to learn that my house is within the delivery area for this Whole Foods. My four most recent large orders have been great. The produce is fresh and there is much more variety than my local grocery stores. (For example- baby bok choy, broccoli rabe, many varieties of sweet potatoes.) I usually work on the order the day before, place it right at 7 a.m. and it arrives before 11 a.m. There is obvious care with how the groceries are bagged. I save the brown bags, double them up, and reuse many times. My initial order didn't go so well. It was not delivered at all. I called customer service from Amazon and was more than satisfied with how the problem was resolved. The customer service representative resubmitted the order and the store delivered it within 3 hours. The entire order (about $90) was free. I have always used the home delivery option and therefore have no pictures of the store to post. Here are a few pictures of meals made mainly from their produce and staples.
Dina E.
I had a horrible experience at Whole Foods today on 10/25/2020 at around 3:30 PM. Mind you, this is from someone who has been shopping at Whole foods since it first opened. Also keep note that I have worked as a business manager. I never go out of my way to leave negative review,EVER. I am very patient with people, especially if I know they are friendly and trying hard. With that being said,Whole foods has 2 main entrances. A relative and I noticed one entrance was closed off so we went by the main entrance closest to the mall entrance. When we got inside, we noticed the carts and some "guy" holding a cart while he gossips with another employee which is unprofessional. I got the vibe from him that he was a negative problematic person. I am not trying to be rude at all but I use "he" loosely because I can't tell the gender of the person but they're leaning towards male. They have long brunette hair, on the thin side(BODYWISE), they sometimes have their long hair in a ponytail or out! and I believe they had on glasses, they are of a pale complexion. Interestingly, I was reading the reviews from the Google page on Whole Foods and a woman of color had an issue with an employee. When she described the employee's appearance, it fit this person EXACTLY! also, the area in which she had the issue was the same area. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the lovely people that work the registers at Whole Foods! the people who stock shelves are also lovely! I asked a man for a ladder to get something high on the shelf and not only did he get a ladder but he climbed himself and got it for me. Absolutely amazing people! always bright and cheery! I finished checking out and got my bag and was pushing my cart to the exit. The problematic guy was there and he rudely barked something out loud. When I asked him he said "CARTS OVER HERE, EXIT OVER THERE!!!!!" the same place he pointed to for the exit is not the same place we entered so my confusion is valid. Not only that, but he didn't even offer to take the cart. My relative had to just leave the cart there out of irritation for his rudeness. I hate to say this because I do not like broadcasting good deeds! but I am the person who ALWAYS takes carts back to where they belong to make the job of an employee easier! I have taken back carts in Target from far away just to help out an employee! I have never left a cart out. You know what? every single time I shop at Hannaford or Price Chopper, an employee ALWAYS offers to take my cart. I don't mind taking my cart back!! but they always kindly do so. This case was different, he was taking other people's carts back! and it makes one feel unwelcome and isolated! I treated him with MY manners, not with HIS. I say this with the utmost respect, it is your job to take back carts..even if someone were to leave it in the middle!! yes, it may be irritating but I have never in my life heard an employee dictate!! they always offer to take the cart! can you imagine buying a bodywash that you can't afford for example and kindly ask the person at the register to not ring it up? can you imagine if the person at the register said "Well, GO and put it back". No, the employee that works for the store, that signed up to work for said store offers to take it back! I have done that as Business Manager. I was a business manager for a huge makeup line, I didn't have to put stuff back, I could of been a j*** and had other employees do it for me. But I went around and offered customers help! I wouldn't DREAM of telling a customer what this person did! I was at Marshall's the other day and the lovely women ran to take my cart! they weren't standing there gossiping and catching an attitude with customers like we came to see his mug!! He was almost going to hear a mouth full. It's one thing to be rude and unprofessional but I'm very protective of those with me! you don't catch an attitude! the person I was with actually lost a brother a day ago and they
Denyse M.
Cannot believe the customer service experience . This is my second time purchasing an expired or spoiled product off their shelf - which i clearly expressed my dissatisfaction with it occurring two ice and having to drive across town to do a return. This time it was their own branded almond chocolate milk (whole365h that poured out clumps of i don't know what. Instead of apologizing and maybe even expressing their own embarrassment for their brand - they debated not wanting to give me a refund bc i didn't have a receipt - again for their own brand product with an expiration date on it that wasn't for another 35 days! finally after 15 min of debate the manager agreed to refund me $2.99 - to the penny. Th heir product quality getting addressed cost me more in gas . was rather disgusted to then get a coupon for $10 for amazon day if i come in store and buy $10 of more spoiled food. Have to admit i love their fish and vegetable section in aisle one / thereafter shop at tour own risk and check the dates on everything you put in your carl.
Powell M.
The hot food tables close early, they may just be open for lunch, and someone gets the food for you. So don't get hopes up. Other than that, well run Whole Foods.
I don't go to Whole Foods that often for groceries since Trader Joe's is right there, but the other day I stopped in for lunch for the first time. They have surprisingly good prepared foods. I got the (I think it was) grilled chili and lime chicken, bok choy salad, and some other salad with mixed grains and everything was really good and went well together! The food is all about $9/pound and the box I got came out to around $8, which seems like a fairly reasonable price for a healthy meal. I also got a vanilla cupcake because I can't help myself when it comes to sweets, but I find that Whole Foods bakery items are always too dense and this was no exception. There is ample seating in the front right after you pay at the registers. We did have to wait a long time for my friend's fries that she ordered, but we weren't in a rush that day. The fries were pretty good, but I'm partial to McDonald's fries and these are thicker and softer.
Adel M.
I love doing grocery shopping in Whole Foods Market, this review is for the store in central ave upstate, NY. They have a good selection of organic produce, wild caught fish/seafoods. I love that they have a hot bar too but I think they have to change their menu because its the same menu every single week. You can order your pizza, burgers/ veggie burger but some servers don't change gloves after touching the spatulas and cleaning their table, they would go back to slicing the buns using the same gloves. ( I stopped ordering food from the counter). Prices are much expensive for some products for when you buy it to other grocery stores, but I personally love doing my groceries here.
Prasantti R.
I know most folks hit up their hot bar, but there have pretty good pizza and burgers too! They make a mean turkey, Chipotle sauce and egg burger. Yums!
Alaina J.
I used to love the idea of Whole Foods but I rarely actually shopped there because I figured I'd spend WAY more money here than if I bought the same products at Shop Rite or Hannaford. However, recently my fiance and I went on a massive shopping trip and went to Shop Rite first, then here for a few things Shop Rite didn't have. And I was stunned to discover that a lot of things were actually cheaper here. Annie's Organics frozen pasta bakes? On average .50¢ to $1 cheaper at Whole Foods than they were at Shop Rite. Some spices were cheaper than the McCormick brands we'd already picked up. Half the produce was cheaper than at Shop Rite. And I already knew how fantastic the prepared food section is--the entire store smells like chicken tikka masala and I'm a fan. My fiance was won over too and suggested that from now on, we actually come here first.
Jes W.
Burgers made to order, pizza made to order, deli sandwiches (hot or cold), sushi, salad and hot bars!! I have grabbed items from Whole Foods hot to-go bar a number of times on my way home from work. Macaroni and cheese, turkey dinner fixings, chicken tika masala, and their ever changing menu of soups are all quick, hot and tasty! Today however, I took a few extra minutes for a made to order burger. Grass fed beef, crisp fresh lettuce, melty cheddar, tomato and thin sliced red onion all came together on a fresh bun with special sauce (mayo and Dijon mustard blend, maybe?). This burger was tasty and grilled to perfection. They also offer vegan beyond meat burgers as well as turkey. Whole Foods has a list of quality standards that make me happy to sit down and dig in...a few highlights... Foods are free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats. When I need a quick bite I know I can count on Whole Foods to deliver...and just $7 for a classic burger w/cheese. it doesn't break the bank.
Were I back on the West Coast or even in Western NYS where there are Wegmans stores I probably would rate this a two. But, for Albany it's at the top of the food chain (pun intended) as we live in an area dominated by Price Chopper, which is plain awful. Whole Foods caters to upper income and educated people and that is evident from the multitude of self absorbed Karens and Kens who block the aisles and invade your personal space while shopping, and who let their children yell and misbehave (telling them to lower their voices and to keep out of others' way might warp their development, apparently.) Also Whole Foods has an evident large clientele of people who order through WF personal shoppers who are indifferent to shopping customers and will aggressively get in your way and muscle you out of theirs. Staff are continually stocking shelves and they, too, are indifferent to shoppers' comfort. It makes for a claustrophobic experience and the rudeness can make you very grumpy. The bakery, the deli, and the cheese section are the best thing about this store. Also the seafood, for the Albany area, is better than average (I would NEVER buy seafood in Price Chopper...) You can get some esoteric ingredients (for example, this is the only store where I've been able to find hazelnuts in the area, not that those are exotic.) The shrink wrapped poultry is pretty frightening and the jumbo packs seem like something you'd find at Costco (though this time I found chicken breasts in normally packaged smaller containers.) I did find decent chicken breakfast sausage at the Butcher Counter. The other meat looks good, but not eating most meat I am not a good judge. The produce section is hit or miss; I often need to make a trip to Price Chopper or Hannaford en route home based on what I could find at Whole Foods (e.g. it seems they are usually out of Italian parsley.) Most of the fruit is hard as a rock and rots before it ripens (so I'd recommend Price Chopper over WF.) My recommendation would be that if you need an array of artisanal cheeses, or good bread/pastry (as the pastry section of Price Chopper is absolutely awful) and want a good deli selection this is worth the stop (they have great vegan options as well as vegetarian.) This is a periodic stop store. It's too bad Albany doesn't have something better.
This is the place to go if you are looking for vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian options. I came to this location on vacation and was shocked to see ONLY vegan and fat free options. I was looking for a basic box of Mac and Cheese to make with some steaks I had bought and was told there are no brand name boxes, only vegan cheese options (at over $5 a box). The food is overpriced and in small quantities, but I guess that's what you get for going to a grocery store.
I'm giving 1 star for this particular matter. Very upset you guys are selling bad food(chicken) we see that it has been double wrapped for this reason! NOT GOOD!! Either check your employee's for this or your supplier! People don't have money to waste nor in this time should this ve happening. Fix this a.s.a.p or prepare for food inspections to take place! I like you guys but this is terrible.
Okay first thing is first it's very clean and well organized! They have a thing called "kids club" I didn't know about and they have a little station with snacks, treats and stickers for the kiddos kept my son happy and busy while I shopped. There was a young man Billy, and women (I didn't catch her name) and they were so pleasant and helped me find the chocolate bananas I have been looking for for over a week, billy was kind enough to let me know about kids club and walk me over to find it. These two employees really made my day by just being kind and helpful I'm going to shop here more often because of them! Thank you guys I hope you see this and know truly how kind and helpful you were considering I had a 2 year old, shopping isn't always easy. So thank you again, and thank you to the manager for having them on your team!
The grocery section is decent. But the pizza, the pizza is the worst pizza any of my 5 senses have experienced. The smell of a greasy glob, picking it up results in a sloppy mess from a flaccid crust soaked in grease. I cannot recommend enough that you stick to getting your boujie groceries and skip this horrid monstrosity of a "pizza"
This Whole Foods has great customer service however, beware when buying baked goods, especially the Macarons since sometimes they can be stale and there is no way to tell how fresh they are. They can get a bit expensive if you buy a lot of them - so make sure you find out exactly when they were made.
I moved to Glenville in July 2020 and was pleased to learn that my house is within the delivery area for this Whole Foods. My four most recent large orders have been great. The produce is fresh and there is much more variety than my local grocery stores. (For example- baby bok choy, broccoli rabe, many varieties of sweet potatoes.) I usually work on the order the day before, place it right at 7 a.m. and it arrives before 11 a.m. There is obvious care with how the groceries are bagged. I save the brown bags, double them up, and reuse many times. My initial order didn't go so well. It was not delivered at all. I called customer service from Amazon and was more than satisfied with how the problem was resolved. The customer service representative resubmitted the order and the store delivered it within 3 hours. The entire order (about $90) was free. I have always used the home delivery option and therefore have no pictures of the store to post. Here are a few pictures of meals made mainly from their produce and staples.
I had a horrible experience at Whole Foods today on 10/25/2020 at around 3:30 PM. Mind you, this is from someone who has been shopping at Whole foods since it first opened. Also keep note that I have worked as a business manager. I never go out of my way to leave negative review,EVER. I am very patient with people, especially if I know they are friendly and trying hard. With that being said,Whole foods has 2 main entrances. A relative and I noticed one entrance was closed off so we went by the main entrance closest to the mall entrance. When we got inside, we noticed the carts and some "guy" holding a cart while he gossips with another employee which is unprofessional. I got the vibe from him that he was a negative problematic person. I am not trying to be rude at all but I use "he" loosely because I can't tell the gender of the person but they're leaning towards male. They have long brunette hair, on the thin side(BODYWISE), they sometimes have their long hair in a ponytail or out! and I believe they had on glasses, they are of a pale complexion. Interestingly, I was reading the reviews from the Google page on Whole Foods and a woman of color had an issue with an employee. When she described the employee's appearance, it fit this person EXACTLY! also, the area in which she had the issue was the same area. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the lovely people that work the registers at Whole Foods! the people who stock shelves are also lovely! I asked a man for a ladder to get something high on the shelf and not only did he get a ladder but he climbed himself and got it for me. Absolutely amazing people! always bright and cheery! I finished checking out and got my bag and was pushing my cart to the exit. The problematic guy was there and he rudely barked something out loud. When I asked him he said "CARTS OVER HERE, EXIT OVER THERE!!!!!" the same place he pointed to for the exit is not the same place we entered so my confusion is valid. Not only that, but he didn't even offer to take the cart. My relative had to just leave the cart there out of irritation for his rudeness. I hate to say this because I do not like broadcasting good deeds! but I am the person who ALWAYS takes carts back to where they belong to make the job of an employee easier! I have taken back carts in Target from far away just to help out an employee! I have never left a cart out. You know what? every single time I shop at Hannaford or Price Chopper, an employee ALWAYS offers to take my cart. I don't mind taking my cart back!! but they always kindly do so. This case was different, he was taking other people's carts back! and it makes one feel unwelcome and isolated! I treated him with MY manners, not with HIS. I say this with the utmost respect, it is your job to take back carts..even if someone were to leave it in the middle!! yes, it may be irritating but I have never in my life heard an employee dictate!! they always offer to take the cart! can you imagine buying a bodywash that you can't afford for example and kindly ask the person at the register to not ring it up? can you imagine if the person at the register said "Well, GO and put it back". No, the employee that works for the store, that signed up to work for said store offers to take it back! I have done that as Business Manager. I was a business manager for a huge makeup line, I didn't have to put stuff back, I could of been a j*** and had other employees do it for me. But I went around and offered customers help! I wouldn't DREAM of telling a customer what this person did! I was at Marshall's the other day and the lovely women ran to take my cart! they weren't standing there gossiping and catching an attitude with customers like we came to see his mug!! He was almost going to hear a mouth full. It's one thing to be rude and unprofessional but I'm very protective of those with me! you don't catch an attitude! the person I was with actually lost a brother a day ago and they
Cannot believe the customer service experience . This is my second time purchasing an expired or spoiled product off their shelf - which i clearly expressed my dissatisfaction with it occurring two ice and having to drive across town to do a return. This time it was their own branded almond chocolate milk (whole365h that poured out clumps of i don't know what. Instead of apologizing and maybe even expressing their own embarrassment for their brand - they debated not wanting to give me a refund bc i didn't have a receipt - again for their own brand product with an expiration date on it that wasn't for another 35 days! finally after 15 min of debate the manager agreed to refund me $2.99 - to the penny. Th heir product quality getting addressed cost me more in gas . was rather disgusted to then get a coupon for $10 for amazon day if i come in store and buy $10 of more spoiled food. Have to admit i love their fish and vegetable section in aisle one / thereafter shop at tour own risk and check the dates on everything you put in your carl.
The hot food tables close early, they may just be open for lunch, and someone gets the food for you. So don't get hopes up. Other than that, well run Whole Foods.
Restaurantji Recommends
I don't go to Whole Foods that often for groceries since Trader Joe's is right there, but the other day I stopped in for lunch for the first time. They have surprisingly good prepared foods. I got the (I think it was) grilled chili and lime chicken, bok choy salad, and some other salad with mixed grains and everything was really good and went well together! The food is all about $9/pound and the box I got came out to around $8, which seems like a fairly reasonable price for a healthy meal. I also got a vanilla cupcake because I can't help myself when it comes to sweets, but I find that Whole Foods bakery items are always too dense and this was no exception. There is ample seating in the front right after you pay at the registers. We did have to wait a long time for my friend's fries that she ordered, but we weren't in a rush that day. The fries were pretty good, but I'm partial to McDonald's fries and these are thicker and softer.
I love doing grocery shopping in Whole Foods Market, this review is for the store in central ave upstate, NY. They have a good selection of organic produce, wild caught fish/seafoods. I love that they have a hot bar too but I think they have to change their menu because its the same menu every single week. You can order your pizza, burgers/ veggie burger but some servers don't change gloves after touching the spatulas and cleaning their table, they would go back to slicing the buns using the same gloves. ( I stopped ordering food from the counter). Prices are much expensive for some products for when you buy it to other grocery stores, but I personally love doing my groceries here.
I know most folks hit up their hot bar, but there have pretty good pizza and burgers too! They make a mean turkey, Chipotle sauce and egg burger. Yums!
I used to love the idea of Whole Foods but I rarely actually shopped there because I figured I'd spend WAY more money here than if I bought the same products at Shop Rite or Hannaford. However, recently my fiance and I went on a massive shopping trip and went to Shop Rite first, then here for a few things Shop Rite didn't have. And I was stunned to discover that a lot of things were actually cheaper here. Annie's Organics frozen pasta bakes? On average .50¢ to $1 cheaper at Whole Foods than they were at Shop Rite. Some spices were cheaper than the McCormick brands we'd already picked up. Half the produce was cheaper than at Shop Rite. And I already knew how fantastic the prepared food section is--the entire store smells like chicken tikka masala and I'm a fan. My fiance was won over too and suggested that from now on, we actually come here first.
Burgers made to order, pizza made to order, deli sandwiches (hot or cold), sushi, salad and hot bars!! I have grabbed items from Whole Foods hot to-go bar a number of times on my way home from work. Macaroni and cheese, turkey dinner fixings, chicken tika masala, and their ever changing menu of soups are all quick, hot and tasty! Today however, I took a few extra minutes for a made to order burger. Grass fed beef, crisp fresh lettuce, melty cheddar, tomato and thin sliced red onion all came together on a fresh bun with special sauce (mayo and Dijon mustard blend, maybe?). This burger was tasty and grilled to perfection. They also offer vegan beyond meat burgers as well as turkey. Whole Foods has a list of quality standards that make me happy to sit down and dig in...a few highlights... Foods are free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats. When I need a quick bite I know I can count on Whole Foods to deliver...and just $7 for a classic burger w/cheese. it doesn't break the bank.