Whole Foods Market
“Tourists – This place is filled with them (Central Park is across the street and I'm sure they use the Time Warner Center shops).”
“It does get busy at times but the lines move fast with a great colour-code system.”
“If you are planning on having a little picnic in Central Park, this is the place to go to get the best equipment for that.”
Whole Foods Market
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Working: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range Pricey
8 reviews
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I've frequented every wholefoods in the tri-state area, but in particularly like this one because it's in the bottom level of a small shopping mall inside the Time Warner building.
The store itself it pretty big inside with a lot of variety of food options, particularly vegan/vegetarian friendly and they have an indoor restaurant and a food buffet court area where there's load of options to choose from.
I always go there when I'm in need of several items found in wholefoods and from neighboring stores in the upper floors, so it's a one-stop shop kind of deal for me.
The only downer is that the lines are always long, especially the express line which defeats the purpose of calling it that.
Overall it's a great place to go for selected items, and you never leave that place empty handed.
I go to Fordham and come to this whole foods ALL the time, so I have a lot to say in this review, be warned :p
Pros:
people who work at the deli are super nice and will let you sample stuff
the fish tastes fresh always
they have 5$ lunch specials (subs, chicken dishes, teryaki bowls, etc) that vary by day of the week
in the fall they had some promotion that was like 25 or 50 cent coffee in the afternoons- HUGE bonus for a graduate student like me!
Cons:
ALWAYS crowded. Even at 9pm on a weeknight.
the lines move painfully slow. even the express line for 15 items or less (located near the deli) is slow moving.
everything is super over priced. in my opinion, the hot bar and salad bar are not worth it. Save money by buying individual salads at the deli
jamba juice inside is disgusting- i got food poisoning from it and it did not look like they ever clean their equipment.
hard to find seating in the cafetiria section during peak hours
Like most Whole Foods in this city, this one is also pretty mediocre and poorly organized. They had a pretty poor selection of vegan cheeses, and unlike other Whole Foods, you have to walk past the meat section or the fish section in order to get to the vegan/vegetarian meat section, or to get to the dairy/vegan-dairy section. It's pretty poorly organized in general. I had to ask an employee where to find the checkout lines, that's not something that's usually difficult to find in a store.
My favorite Whole Foods in NYC, because they've not only got the indoor seating area but a natural outdoor seating area(Central Park) and then Columbus Circle.
However, this is why it's mostly crowded because those are a couple reasons why it's others' favorite/heavily visited by others. But don't let that scare you.. come before 2pm weekdays and you'll be fine. Weekends, good luck lol.
OH THEY NOW MAKE FRESH JUICES AND INFUSED WATERS FROM $1.99-$5+
They taste great(could be colder) but I would rather get these simple/non-custom juices here over juice press, juice generation, etc.
Always enjoy to stop and see products in the store. Got myself a couple of snacks and stopped by the bathroom on my way out. Got to say, these were really nasty, very scary for such a high-end showcase store…
"Wow! A Whole Foods in Columbus Circle? How convenient!!"
-said not just me, but the rest of the entire city population.
The store has no logic to its flow. Prepare to be a babysitter to the 15 children who are slamming into you with their parents' carts. There are only 2 lines for 11+ items and about 10 for 10 items or less. Grocery shopping in the city is stressful enough, but I'm about to throw elbows.
I should have known better. But, now you'll know better. AVOID.
The plus side of this Whole Foods is the location. No matter where you are in Manhattan, 59th Street is a major hub, and you can get here in a reasonable amount of time. It's also well-stocked with a lot of items like canned ghee that you can't get at some of the smaller Whole Foods.
That's about it. The place itself is a zoo, with poor layout and flow and severe understaffing. (One person manning the entire seafood section when I went there.)
Is it worth going here because of these benefits. Yeah, if you're pressed for time (location) and want some of the rarer items. Otherwise, stick to Union Square or that other one uptown or on the east side.
I really like this Whole Foods! The fruit is always fresh and there is always a large selection of whatever fruits and vegetables that you want. Always fresh! They have a wonderful meat selection as well, so if you want a nice steak or chicken, or even seafood, you will find it here. Again, so fresh! I also like their pre-packaged foods "for the park" that have cooked burgers, turkey burgers, chicken breasts, sandwiches, etc. Their hot food bar is the best. I've only been two other whole foods that have had such an amazing selection of hot food. One of the best perks is the daily lunch special, Wednesday is my favorite as you can get half a chicken with roasted potatoes and greens for $5.99!! Almost always so good, occasionally I get a piece of the chicken which is a little on the dry side, but I think that's more getting it later in the afternoon when it may have been sitting out a little longer.
The biggest downfall of this place being so popular and good is the LINES! There is always a wait to check out. It can vary from 10 mins to 25 mins. I always try to avoid the lunch hour rush, but it seems that any time between 10:30 am and 3 pm there is always a line. I've tried the stand alone check out but even those lines are insane. At least once, they opened more registers for those of us who had 10 items or less…. Kudos to the guy who helped us lunchers out!!