Farmer Joe's Marketplace — Attraction in Oakland

I used to love coming here but today might have just changed my mind. I opted for self check out because I was in a hurry and have used them hundreds of times in my life including in other countries where they are not even in English. So, I was ringing up my stuff and I accidentally double scanned some cheese because the sensor is extra sensitive (I’m guessing), the attendant had to come over and enter her employee info and she huffed and scoffed like she was irritated about it. Then I entered the number on the tag for the broccoli and she yells LOUDLY NO THAT IS ORGANIC, ok I entered what I saw but once again she comes over huffy puffy to fix it. Then she said that she opened the station for me which was a lie because the light was green and it was on when I walked up there so not sure what that was about. Then as I was paying and following the prompts she came over yet again and said very rudely I was supposed to push this button on the screen first, when I was following prompting and it was working fine, and she ended the sentence with something very rude, which was inappropriate. I am a medical worker and was in my scrubs, coming off of a day spent running around a hospital ward and still managed to be a ray of sunshine. I politely thanked her and wished her a nice day. I know that people get sick of working with the public sometimes but she needs an attitude adjustment and customer handling skills. A little kindness and patience goes a long way, and she was lacking both. I’ll think twice about shopping here again after this...

I bought a cooked rotisserie chicken from this place and as I eat chicken by itself to just gain some protein. sure enough after 10 minutes I felt really weird and my stomach started being somewhat uncomfortable which made me stop eating more. I didn’t think of it until I got home to feel uncomfortableness of my stomach more so I decided before throwing away the chicken to share some of it with my dog since I had paid $10. After 2 to 3 hours I had to go to bathroom at 9 PM, which is impossible for me and it is out of my routine schedule for bowel movement. I did not think much of it until the next morning when I took my dog out I notice she began to have a very unusual bowel movement and having had to poo poo uncontrollably and after we came home, she began to eat the grass which dogs usually do when they feel sick and of course, right after that, she began to throw up, and that was the only meal she had yesterday! actually, I’m typing this review while I’m in the bathroom. Still trying to get whatever poison that chicken got into my body out. Economy is bad and I’m sure the management is trying to avoid Food waste and watch their bottom line and often they overlook the freshness and the liability of serving old and Poisonous food. ALSO IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE PHOTOS I POSTED THERE IS NO DATE as when it was packed or “Sell By”I would not buy anything cooked in this store or any other food products. Miss you to check all the dates and the quality of the products are buying from this store and it’s other...

Take this 5-star review with a grain of salt. This place is absolutely fantastic when it comes to produce.

The prices fluctuate with availability, but are generally much lower for a better product than most other stores. The produce, organic and regular, is delivered fresh directly from farms on the same day and they can point out the exact farms where they get the majority of their produce from throughout the year. Produce from this store does not go bad as quickly as Safeway and TJs because it is all truly that fresh.

The hot food, sandwiches, and deli bar are all so delicious. None of the poshness of Whole Foods but all of the quality and diligence from hard-working and caring staff. And I gotta say the sandwiches are like, local sub shop yummy.

But there’s gotta be a catch! There is: meat and packaged foods are considerably more expensive here than Safeway or TJs.

Meat and seafood is understandable: they do their best to source quality meats locally rather than whatever is cheapest and least responsibly farmed.

Packaged food seems like a fair way to make a profit and thus it’s just generally more expensive here. Some things are fine but looking around you’ll notice there’s some decent markups. Still great quality stuff so weigh your options I guess?

In conclusion: this place is freshness central and the produce prices are unbeatable at this level of freshness....