Whole Foods Market Briarcliff

Has gone completely downhill. Customer service is abysmal. I was perusing the guac and salsa area and the person stocking the shelf just glared me down and didn’t even acknowledge me. I must have passed at least 4 employees and none of them looked very pleased to be there or even acknowledge my presence. The house made tortilla chips were nasty AF and soggy. Like wtf I could’ve just gotten Tostitos at publix come on man

It’s Whole Foods. It’s got good food in general. It still doesn’t blow my skirt up with excitement. Then again, it takes a lot to do that to me.
The pros:
1. Conveniently located at the corner of Briarcliff and Lavista and easy to find. More than enough parking during the day but it’s most likely like the other Whole Foods are on the weekends, a complete madhouse.
2. Good selection for a smaller store. It’s easily dwarfed by the one off of Ponce.
The cons:
1. A much smaller store than most Whole Foods means a smaller selection of goodies. It’s a little cramped when a lot of people are there.
2. A smaller hot and cold bar, but they do have a good selection of foods.

I used to be a frequent customer of this store, particularly the bakery section. This is no longer the case for a few reasons. I once bought a dozen of cupcakes to take to a dinner at a friend’s house. Those literally tasted like carton. I could not believe my taste buds. Other guests felt the same way; I felt ashamed. Shortly afterwards, as I was picking up a slice of strawberry shortcake from their fridge, I could not but notice a black hair decorating the white cream. I have since discontinued this place and found cleaner and tastier alternatives.

Love Whole Foods. There’s only one joke about Whole Foods. The rest are true stories. Yes. You can spend a fortune. Yes. There’s lots of good food that will not improve your health. Who cares? It will taste great. I’ve spent $ 50 for lunch and assorted snacks to take back to the office. Just tonight I learned that the soup is charged for the container. So fill ‘er up. The salad and hot bar are $/​lb. And no it’s not cool to hide the olives from the olive bar under your salad. Pay at the front. Some people. Shesh. Tonight my son got rice, chicken wings which seemed to be smoked, mac and cheese which is superbe and ginger cookies. I like the local kimchi. $ 9.99/jar. I love the produce and veggies. I load up at the U Serve nuts and snacky things. It’s great. They have pink and black salt there now in the U Serve. Oh and the fancy soaps are my son’s favorite. They have ProBar which I use for mountain bike outings.

Ahh the first WF I’m not too keen on. But only because of 1 thing.
Parking is fine. Plenty of spots.
The WF seems smaller than the other ones I’ve been to. I mean, I’m sure they have everything, but probably not as many in #s in products. Not sure if that’s good… since North Druid hills is crawling with a ton of folks from Emory.
People are still really nice here. I’ve never had bad service. Exceptional folks.
The hot bar is so tiny. :(I only come to WF to eat since I’m super lazy. The food quality is awesome, but with not so many variables. My bf and I have almost opposite tastes and there are some days when he doesn’t want any of the foods and vice versa. But hey — healthy is healthy!
Sitting area is kind of small. Much smaller than the one in SS and VaHi.
I think I’d really make my way here if I were a resident nearby.

Have you lived if you don’t get to shop at a grocery store with a violinist playing for those who enter and exit the store? It sort of reminded me of one of the last scenes in the movie Titanic. I digress.
This is a shopping experience. A grocery shopping experience. From the people, to the variety of foods both fresh and cooked, the breads, the gelato… on and on. That being said, they didn’t knick name this place «Whole Paycheck» for nothing. This is NOT the place for the budget conscious. That being said, everyone should live a little every now and then. Just to see how «the other half» lives…

This is our go to place for our healthy food choice. We do grocery shopping here too but it is the only place we can eat out when we are on Whole30 diet since they show all the ingredients for their prepared hot food bar so we can read and decide which ones are allowable.

Don’t buy your cakes here unless you want the lettering on your cake to look like a five-year-old’s scrawls. By the time the guy behind the counter show ed me what he was doing, it was too late to change it.

Compared to the Sandy Springs location, this is in every way inferior – much smaller, much less selection. Same high prices. I’ll pass next time.

The Whole Foods on Briarcliff is Atlanta’s first Whole Foods Market. It’s also one of city’s smallest, located near the intersection of Briarcliff and Lavista Roads, not far from Emory.
I’m a fan of Whole Foods in general. The main reasons are their salad and hot bars. For $ 8.49 per pound, you can get a relatively healthy, all-​around meal. Like the rest of the Briarcliff store, the salad and hot bars here don’t have as much selection as other Atlanta area Whole Foods stores. However, there’s still enough variety to make a decent meal.
The salad and hot bar ingredients are typically fresh and good quality. The meats are all-​natural, the produce organic. Both are sourced regionally. They even have cheeseburgers and hot dogs on local H&F (Holeman & Finch) buns.
I love vegetables, especially greens, and the «garlicky kale» seems to be a staple at Whole Foods. It’s a kale salad tossed in garlic dressing with slices of raw garlic. It’s delicious and something I often get. Another good vegetable I’ve had here is the «cracklin’ cauliflower.» Simple, lightly seasoned, and tasty.
The pastas and noodles are light and not drenched in heavy sauces. I like the pesto penne pasta and the sesame noodles.
As for protein, they have a classic beef brisket which is one of the heartier items on the menu. The brisket slices are nice and thick, well-​marinated, and a bit oily (uncharacteristic of most of the food here). The garlic and parsley baked chicken is tender and flavorful. The [dark meat] chicken is cut into small, boneless pieces.
The salmon cakes are alright too, packed with several nutritious ingredients. There’s a good quinoa salad made with chopped veggies (e.g. bell pepper), which is a good alternative if you don’t want or eat meat.
I like how the trash and recycling bins at this location have actual examples of what’s to be thrown into each bin, whether it be trash/​landfill, recyclables, or compost/​biodegradables. It’s helpful.
In line with other Whole Foods, service at this location is very good.
Overall, this is not a bad Whole Foods. It’s just not as big as most others.

My faith in Whole Foods has been restored. I was contacted by the manager at the Briarcliff location, and she actively reached out to address my concerns. I appreciate her prompt response and attention, as Whole Foods is not a novelty for me, but where I do the majority of my food shopping. It’s not just another «healthy market,» but they have a GMO initiative in place which is important to me and separates them from the pack. I plan to give the Briarcliff location another chance, and if I encounter problems, I will follow the manager’s suggestions.

2.5 stars. The vibe has changed quite a bit at the store. I used to think the staff was pleasant, but it just seems that staff is kind of arrogant now. Of course, this is not true about everyone. I also noticed that produce quality has somewhat gone down while prices are the same. Portion size at the prepared foods section has gone down while prices have gone up. One of their employees told me that they laid off lots of workers and aren’t doing well. You sort of get that vibe there. When I recently complained to the manager that the portion size at the prepared food section has gone down for the same price, rather than empathizing and offering to set things right, he thanked me for making sure they don’t sell larger portions than they should because the store must not go at a loss. Ridiculous! Another one of their employees said the portions just seem smaller because of the cut of meat and the density. (Hello, customers aren’t idiots!) At least one of their employees was honest enough to admit that the prepared section is dealing with stringency rules. (Read: smaller portions for the same cost). Sad!

They are amazing & the service is excellent!

All Whole Foods stores rate highly with me. They may be a bit pricey and the sheen may have come off the organic industry these days, but I do love food shopping at WF, including here.
This store is a bit smaller and therefore has a smaller selection than what you find at most other WFs. The layout is more cramped, I feel. Some reviewers have said otherwise.
Great beer selection, hot and cold bars excellent, produce top notch, plenty of cheeses, parking is usually not an issue, checkout never seems to take long.
I go to the Midtown WF more often than here, but if it’s during peak hours and I really need or want something, I’ll opt for this store instead. The Midtown parking lot and store can become a zoo on the weekends. Not so much here.

What can I say about WF that you don’t know already?
We all know it’s a pricey store with organic food. However, there are several things that keep me going back to the store and specially this location.
Of the three main stores ITP, this is the one I like to most. I think it is well situated in the Emory area and has plenty of parking spots but I don’t get the feeling of «too crowded» that I get with the one over Ponce de Leon.
The variety of this stores is impressive, from bulk food (rice/​couscous/​chickpeas), all sorts of fruits/​vegetables, health supplements to deli food. This is the ideal place to find not so common food such as maca powder, goji berries or nutritional yeast! (if you are vegan, you will know what I am talking about).

This place is basically a rich man’s version of rhe farmers markets and I think you are paying more for the name than the quality. It’s like someone buying a Lexus sedan instead of a camry. Same car just paying for leather seats and the Lexus name. To me it’s not worth the money.
On the flip side the quality is good.
And another thing I thought whole foods exclusively sold organic produce… that’s not true. They sell some regular industry produce as well which is disappointing because once again with the price they charge I thought everything was organic. At that point you might as well go to Publix. But that’s why I just stick to my farmers markets and call it a day because the produce is fresh at half the price of Publix and ¼ the price of whole foods.

Closest wholefoods to me. I go there a lot for my groceries. It’s smaller than the ponce location. But they almost have everything I need. If not I put a special order and they call me when it’s ready to pick up. Staff here is very friendly. There selection of cookies and pastries is good. Plenty of parking.

This spot is my favorite go-​to for lunch. You can’t go wrong with any of their prepared foods and meals. This Whole Foods is definitely the smallest in Atlanta that I’ve encountered. The hot bar and salad bar are also small. The best part though? They have pre-​made green smoothies in store for $ 5. One of smoothies one day was kale, apples, and almond milk. So refreshing. The green smoothies varies everyday. You can find those placed in iced stands close to the bakery before you reach the hot/​salad bar.

Closest Whole Foods to me.
This location is very clean and organized.
Parking lot is plentiful and it’s a stand alone, which I like.
I usually come here for certain items and groceries.
LOVE their bakery: cookies, cakes, pastries, etc!
I also LOVE their buffet. Lunch or dinner any day!
Staff has been helpful and friendly everytime I’ve visited.

I’m a fan of Whole Foods across the board. I love their selections of many items and love shopping here and there for things hither and thither. I may not always load up on organic purple kale at $ 4.99/lb or something like that, but I do enjoy their beer selection and many of their teas, coffees, and a small selection of produce.
I really love the layout of this WF especially. It seems a bit more manageable than other locations and I really dig how it’s a bit elevated from Briarcliff. Seems like its a bit more tucked away and has a bit of a «you have to know its there» feel.
The good thing is that its the same old cozy Whole Foods everyone knows and loves. This was also the first location to grace to the landscape of Atlanta. Pretty cool.
Side note: Upon your exit, you can catch some pretty awesome views of the Midtown and Buckhead skylines. Pretty interesting vantage point.