Whole Foods Market

I don’t usually shop here– and I’m glad. I encountered a few rude team members and I was really surprised. I felt very put off. Also, some prices seemed more expensive than other whole foods…

Um. It’s a whole foods with expected goods and prices? The quality is there but it is pricey… There is parking. The workers seem nice. That’d about all I can say…

Unfortunately, instacart free delivery turned into a pick-​up? End result: no dinner. Customer service email –no response.

Snottiest staff ever! There’s nothing wrong with the food that is sold here at whole foods, but the cashiers need to check their attitude at the door.

Definitely a stop off when in Cambridge. Love coming here for a quick lunch or to pick up some items to bring back home as we don’t have Whole foods where I reside. Across the Charles from Back Bay and serving as the Whole foods for Cambridge intellectuals and those who appreciate or don’t mind paying more for Premium food items. Sure there is a Trader Joes a stones throw away, they serve similar yet different markets. We typically enjoy coming here for lunch from their buffet and other WF locations. On this visit I had selected some sushi that was a bit disappointing as it was salmon avocado which was a little lacking in taste. However their salad and selection of toppings is always pretty awesome. Many people do sling arrows at Whole foods but I look at it as an expensive specialty store. They do have certain items we tastefully enjoy. One is Rao’s Arribiatta pasta sauce. Others items are their spices. We will continue to visit infrequently and look forward to seeing what’s new. If you selectively shop here you can jazz up your kitchen pantry with some complimentary items to break away from the ordinary.

I *love* this Whole Foods… and this is coming from someone who hates national food chain everything. When I lived around the corner, it was magical. Now when I’m in stateside, I am stuck with the crappy WF in Wayland (what a dump) or the one closer to Harvard on Broadway. Man, do I miss my old apartment…
The River Street WF is amazing because:
a) It is huge, meaning it has the best selection of EVERYTHING. When I go to other WFs, I invariably get sad and grumpy,
b) it is immaculate,
c) macaroons & champagne — but most importantly,
d) the people are great, and I love them. Actually, the most meaningful small act of kindness happened to me with an employee from here. Her name was Wendy, she had Senegalese twists, and I never saw her again. You’re amazing, wherever you are!
I am not a snob, nor am I made of money. Do I wish it was cheaper? Definitely. Could I afford to do ALL my shopping here when I lived in Cambridge? Nope, not by a long shot. But for what it’s worth, I have thoughts of someday buying the house my apartment was in so I can be near the best Whole Foods anywhere.

Update, August 25, 2015. Disappointment from the bakery.
Went to Whole Foods bakery and picked up 6 scrumptious looking treats for dessert. $ 35 later I was out the door. So far so good.
The problem later was, the stuff I’d gotten simply didn’t taste good. Over-​sweetened cheesecake. Triple chocolate gooey thing in a plastic wrap. also super sweet, and with a wholly disgusting piece of sugary butter goop on top and a malted yogurt ball (yes, really, on a five dollar individual serving of pastry!!). The highlight were the lobster tails, ok cream encased in a tantalizingly delicate looking, but in reality soggy and pasty mess that had nothing to do with puff pastry, having instead the chewy consistency of week-​old fried dough.
A disappointment to be sure, and $ 35 bucks wasted. Lesson learned. For baked stuff, try any of dozens of other venues in Cambridge.

I love this whole foods! I work in Cambridge, and me and a co-​worker love to walk here during our lunch break. It’s a nice getaway from the office!
When you arrive you get to take an escalator up to the store, which is pretty neat! (There is also stairs!) Sometimes in the fruit and veggie section (right when you walk in) has some fruit samples, which are heaven. Normally, we grab one and head over to the buffet type area. The food is always well kept and it super tastey! It is somewhat expensive to buy just for lunch, but it’s whole foods.
They have a station for custom sandwiches as well! I have yet to try one, but my coworkers seem to love them! I’m super happy they have vegan options. It’s hard to find that in most places.
They have a seating area where you can enjoy your food too so we always tend to go back there and it’s well kept! There’s always someone making sure the garbage isn’t full so I appreciate that! Love this whole foods! (Wish they would add a smoothie/​juice bar!!)

Great whole body section and the staff here is super friendly. I like the local coffee options as well. Yay whole foods!

I do not live in Cambridge anymore, but I still miss the wonderful local gelato of this location.
The staff here was also polite and helpful.

My least favorite whole foods around. For some reason it’s usually windy here, don’t like the parking and the fact that one must take the stairs to second floor to enter and have to send your grocery down for a pick up with car. On the positive side even though I don’t like the entry way they have made a nice use of the empty space by putting up a fake fireplace. On those very cold wintery days it feels great walking in it.
This location is not as large as the other whole foods I’ve been, but it has almost every thing that i normally get from whole foods.

This place is just lovely. It’s the kind of store you walk into that makes you feel happy that you’re grocery shopping. It’s bright and open. I think the best part about it is that it feels like a suburban grocery store, not like every other one in the city where you’re always tripping over people in aisles that are way too small.
They have a huge produce section, plenty of cheese to choose from, and too many hot food and salad bars to count. I could spend all of my money here, and will probably be coming back here to spend more in the future.
There’s a gelato bar at the front, and they have their liquor-​selling license. They even have a Trader Joe-​esque wine (a la Three Buck Chuck).
It’s a really lovely store with a lot to offer. Hard to get to via public transit, but I think it’s worth a bit of hassle.

I have to say, although the markup on Method products is much higher than Target (WF is $ 5 when it’s $ 3 for cleaning spray at Target)… their dairy & juice are competitively priced with Trader Joe’s. The cheese selection is wonderful. The cheese guy will cut you any size you want of ANY cheese in stock. He’s friendly & knowledgable.
The customer service center is usually on point, though also burusque.
Had a pretty dismissive, rude cashier this morning. I’d been shopping here for years, and never had an issue with staff here before. Odd cashier who isn’t too friendly, but never the type who ignored their basic job.

My housemate who is a native of Cambridge, calls this particular WF a «snob magnet» for some reason…
PROS:
1. Ample parking: both indoor and outdoor. Not to be taken for granted in this notoriously cramped, ticket-​happy town.
2. Bright, big, and brand-​spanking new! Very pleasant interior, ample selection, and unlike most other WFs in the area, does carry BEER & WINE (just hideously overpriced, but not surprising for WF, and remember there’s a Trader Joe’s just a couple blocks away).
3. Best kept secret: has a nice quiet «community room» where you can eat and use like a café, hang out and work on your laptop for hours, and not have to suffer from some god-​awful Starbucks Radio blaring at you. Wifi is free and not the fastest, but at least better than the public library or Dunkin Donuts.
CONS:
1. Kind of cold, impersonal vibe. But this is subjective, and varies by which random employees and fellow customers you happen to rub shoulders with on any given day. The drawback of the much larger and brighter space though is it lacks the intimacy of say, the Beacon Street location in Somerville which I more often frequent.
2. Hot food bar — has a nice selection of good soups, but if you’re not a bloody vegan or vegetarian, 95% of the time all they have is chicken, chicken, and more chicken! Like, 3 kinds of frickin’ chicken wings! Oh and one half-​assed baked fish fillet sort of dish, every bit as dry and bland and boring as the gazillion chicken dishes. The other day I got all excited to see an actual SAUSAGE dish, but on closer inspection found out that it was CHICKEN sausage… ugh!
3. Pizza — usually, the single best value item at any WFs, a $ 3 slice of which being delish (better than most local pizzerias, in this curiously mediocre-​pizza-​rife city) and filling enough to serve as basically a full meal for most non-​starving people… but guess what they have here? Some frou-​frou, rinky-​dink, priced by the pound «artisan» pizza that tastes like crackers with ketchup on top… not only a lousy value, but neither filling nor delicious at all!
My theory about this place is, management WANTS it to be an «upscale» place since they probably sank a big chunk of change for the building and land. Is it working? For the most part, probably… the average customer I see in here does seem a bit less scruffy than the ones in the Prospect Street or Beacon Street (Somerville) locations. And given the location, in a rapidly gentrifying part of Cambridge, how could it not?

Although I live within walking distance of the Whole Foods Somerville store, I often find myself instead driving to the River Street establishment. Why?
The larger selection of produce, dairy and cheese, the wine, the beer, and other forms of alcohol – sake anyone? And last but not least, the butchers! If you can, go here. River Street will not disappoint.

Not too big not too small. Plenty of healthy choices. They send your bags down and they load them in your car. The seafood department is pretty good, but «sustainable» seafood to me = No farm raised Salmon. However, they did have wild Alaska Kings for $ 29.00 a lb. Deli food is great. Dinner by the pound is actually not too expensive and there are many healthy choices. The prices (as you can see by the photo i posted can be misleading and confusing. «Original Price «2.69» Sale Price «2 for $ 3.00 Each»?
Is this a good deal?

I’ve come to appreciate this Whole Foods so much since moving to California. To my knowledge, this is the only Whole Foods in the city that sells alcohol. For that alone, it wins by me.

Whole Foods has this recent «urban» architecture plan where the store is on the second floor and the parking is on the first floor, so you ascend to the retail establishment like an Aztec climbing the pyramid for a ritual sacrifice.
I guess it’s OK in actual urban areas (I first encountered it at the San Francisco store on Franklin/​California) but it makes no sense here where there is an actual suburban parking lot sprawled before you. The downstairs is pretty much empty, reserved for delivery trucks and I guess employee parking.
I was here on business at the Marriott next door, with no opportunity to savor the pleasures of Cambridge. Takeout from WF would have to suffice. But mediocre preps (the take out foods are very timidly seasoned) and predatory pricing ($ 6.99 for a bottle of Stone IPA that’s $ 4.99 anywhere else in the world) spoiled my appetite. Fortunately there’s a Trader Joe’s in the other direction to satisfy unassuaged cravings.

Ok, so it’s hard for me to give this place a fantastic review because I always leave with a much lighter wallet. The main reason why I shop here is because it is the closest grocery store… about five to seven minutes walking from my place.
They definitely have the widest selection around PLUS it happens to be the local whole foods with BOOZE. They’ve got a nice wine and beer section plus the cheese right next to that. The cheese is another wallet breaker (along with the pretty flower arrangements near the entrance) but they always have a new variety I can try.
Their buffet area is good. Also quite expensive but at the end of the day it’s cheaper (and often tastier) for me to grab a meal or two here instead of eating out or ordering delivery.
It gets four stars because it’s better than the Prospect St wholefoods and I don’t see why I should give that one anything less than two stars… if you have the time and don’t mind a cut in variety, there is a trader joes about 10 minutes further down memorial which will save you some money…

Always great food but not today .
No signs or labels on the food bar .
My chicken BBQ. Bad .
Hoping they can read this to improve things.