Jonathan Best R-T

Good selection of specialty foods with decent prices. Bought a jar of Rao’s peppers not available in Atlanta (that I’ve seen). Lots of other stuff that you can get elsewhere but it’s nice if you’re doing one stop food shopping at RTM.
Aisles are a little tight, so I imagine when RTM is packed this shop might be difficult to deal with.

What I really like about this place are the various vegetarian/​vegan soups, which can be purchased in a «small» size — a perfect serving size, and for under $ 5. I suspect that many of the grocery items are high priced, and could purchased elsewhere for less, but when I’m stuck and need something NOW for dinner tonight or whatever on a deadline, this is the place. They’re very helpful in trying to find hard to find items, too.

I am a regular at Reading Terminal Market (RTM) and NEVER write reviews, especially negative ones, willing to give a merchant the benefit of every conceivable doubt. I definitely do NOT create issues with merchants for my ego or to relieve boredom, With so many BETTER city and area farmer markets, RTM is more of a tourist destination like the Italian Market and principally relies on location, tourist traffic, and ITS MERCHANTS SUCCESSFULLY GIVING EACH CUSTOMER A SENSE THEY ARE SPECIAL. This merchant needs a refresher course on merchant etiquette ASAP. I bought a imported syrup that totally crystallized within a month, while refrigerated and barely used. I politely returned it, open to a simple replacement, NOT EVEN A CASH REFUND ($ 6.99!!!). THIS owner examined the bottle as if conducting a forensic analysis. He was hesitant and looked troubled and NEVER inquired what I wanted. He finally asked if I had a receipt as if it were a big price item like furniture or TV (I had purchased it as part of several items via debit, an EVERYDAY shopping occurrence). He finally said he could do NOTHING as it was a month ago and how could he be sure I had NOT mishandled the product. How does one do that with syrup used on occasion? ANY MERCHANT, EXCEPT HIM, ANYWHERE, BUT ESPECIALLY AT THE RTM, WOULD HAVE EASILY IF NOT INSTANTLY REPLACED A $ 6.99 ITEM. EVEN FOR A DIFFICULT CUSTOMER (which is not in my nature even if I wanted to be). At the beginning of this insulting interaction, I ALSO OBSERVED, as any customer would or SHOULD, that the expiration date on the bottle was a SHORT month away from purchase, to which he replied he had sold it «80% OFF» a false assertion I corrected by saying I paid full price (still on bottle). This is NOT the first time this merchant makes this claim on products that are uncomfortably close to expiration, yet ANOTHER recurring and TROUBLING practice. I have NO MORE to add to this incredible and OUTRAGEOUS experience which I want others to avoid.

One of the stops I made while in Reading Terminal was Jonathan Best. I walked by them twice, but only purchased something the second time. The first time I walked by, I was intrigued to see what kind of gourmet groceries they sold. While some products may be considered gourmet, I found most of the brands they carried to be pretty standard in any grocery store. I didn’t actually check the prices, but I’m sure there was a significant markup on them too. Moving on to the second walk by. I was looking for a drink to go with my Tommy Dinic’s sandwich, and I wanted something besides soda. I happen to walk by their cooler, and they had different homemade fruit drinks. I tried their diet lemonade & I was very impressed. So refreshing, perfectly sweetened, and still some lingering pulp to really add to the freshness. For $ 2.50/pint I was very happy with that choice. Basically what I got from my experience here was try their drinks and foods, but unless there’s something legitimately gourmet among their products, bypass the groceries.

As many years as I’ve been going to RTM, I’ve just gotten hip to the world of Jonathan Best. I love this little store!
Yes, like others, I’ve been here to benefit from having a spice store right onsite, without having to hit up Acme on the way home.
That’s all well and good. I appreciate that convenience… But then one day, I tried the GINGER LEMONADE. Yes, lemonade so good it required caps. This lemonade is the PERFECT blend of sweet and spicy… without being overly so. I love it so much that I go out of my way to stop by here, even if I buy nothing else from RTM.
So, don’t forget — Jonathan Best Ginger Lemonade– You’ll thank me later ;)

Jonathan Best is great. It’s all too often that you wind up at the Reading Terminal and don’t feel like making another stop on the way home to pick up rice stick noodles, olive oil, or pink peppercorns. When this happens, Jonathan Best is your BEST friend.
I can’t believe I did that. For those of you who know my Unilocaling to be on a crushing decline of comedic quality in 2013, please reference that sentence where I went out of my way to work in the word «Best» when writing about Jonathan Best. Hopefully this represents the nadir of my work and it will only be up from here.

It kind of seems like they have a variety of legitimately otherwise hard to find spices and oils and the like but these are mixed with regular supermarket brands that they’ve just marked up by quite a bit. Since I get nearly all of my meats from Reading, Jonathan’s Best is nice to have. In a pinch you can reasonably expect to find basically any pantry item you might need without having to leave Reading, that in itself can justify the mark-​up since it’s a time saver. The staff is courteous and laid back, which is great for me because I don’t like people hoovering about me while I’m being indecisive. I mean, just because I’m being slow doesn’t mean I need help. I personally don’t like having people ask me whether I need help finding things and, worse, unsolicited recommendations. Ugh.

Jonathan Best is a small, but very well-​stocked specialty foods store located in the middle of Reading Terminal Market. The carry higher-​end domestic and imported ingredient-​like products (e.g. oils, vinegars, canned tomatoes, grains, broths) and snack foods (e.g. chocolates, chips, fancy crackers). They also have sandwiches and salads, but I have never tried these.
This little shop is NOT a substitute for a trip to the grocery store. They do not carry anything that you could not find somewhere else, and the mark-​up on their items is high. However, it is nice to have a convenient spot in RTM to buy one or two things to prepare a special dish with that amazing piece of sea bass you just picked up.

I stopped by Jonathan’s this afternoon to grab a few items I knew I wouldn’t find at the grocery stores back in my part of the city. I’ve been to this grocer before, and have always enjoyed perusing their wonderful assortment of international and specialty foods (not to mention they carry my favorite ginger candies).
I was able to find a majority of the things I needed, but for those I couldn’t, I headed down to Whole Foods on South Street. Now I know WF is expensive, and I only shop there for super-​specific items, but today their prices looked cheap. I found that the items I’d bought at Jonathan’s were literally DOUBLE the price of that at Whole Foods. I understand the need to mark up items, but seriously?
The upside to shopping at Jonathan’s is that I know I’m supporting a local business. And it’s extremely convenient to be able to tackle all of my shopping in one location (see: Reading Terminal)…and the staff is extremely friendly and helpful… and they make delicious freshly squeezed grapefruit juice…
Okay, so the place isn’t that bad, but I’d definitely consider alternatives unless you know it’s something you won’t find anywhere else.

They have everything! I was having a hard time getting ingredients together for a dinner I was making until I found this little gem in Philadelphia. The people that worked there were soooo friendly and went out of their way to help my find everything. In fact one item that they didn’t have so they called another store down the street to find it for me. I also picked a salad and a sandwich up to snack on. Amazing! Make sure they toast the sandwich for you. It was sooo good! I’m a customer for life.