Santana Row Farmers’ Market

I really don’t get the point of SROW, even having this. It’s actually a waste of space on Sunday’s because cars are trying to get through shortcuts to the garage but can’t. The market is literally a size of a sidewalk LOL. There’s nothing appealing here but the cake pops I guess. There’s restaurants everywhere around so I don’t get the point why having some food stands. I don’t know, this market needs to move out of the way personally I think. I love SROW but this is killing it haha

This is more interesting for the people watching than the shopping. Was nearby for lunch and decided to stumble in. Mom’s pushing strollers in hot pants? 5 inch heels to buy veggies? People trying to cruise and almost hitting the barriers? Yes that all happens here. The dude who seems to be killing it though is the kettle popcorn guy. He rakes em in

No reasonable prices.
Very expensive and do not have good customer service.

My fault! We showed up in the end and most the vendors were gone or going. I like the little fake grass turf area to sit and enjoy the sunshine and entertainment. Music was a bit loud for little ones, so it would be nice to have that clicked down a notch or 2. There is a nice little fenced in playground you can let you tikes go to town on as well. We were quite entertained with this group of kids that was playing with yo yos casually while talking, but they were incredibly good! Neat. Really in general it’s a fun people watching place. Not just yup yups, fun things like a dog with propeller hats, the yo yo kid and happy children finding new friends and adventure. The nicer area makes for what seems to be a safe environment. I will surely bring my parrot next time!

My Fiancé and I ventured here on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We thought, nice weather, a leisurely stroll around Santana Row, and fresh produce, flowers, and vendors would make a great Sunday mid morning.
Oh man were we disappointed. We arrived around 1pm (supposedly the market closes at 3pm) and there were about 5 vendors total. It was completely disappointing! For some reason, I thought it was a bigger farmers market than that!
If you want something more substantial, I suggest the Saturday morning market at West Valley college or Friday morning at Vallco or even Saturday at Mtn View.

I really like having a short walk down here on Sundays. The fruits I get here are always of great quality (taste and freshness). The only thing I wish is that they had more sellers/​stands/​vendors. There’s only one consistent spot to buy vegetables and there’s isn’t too much of a variety.
So — why the 4 stars? I love the live music in Valencia Park and whatever shows may be happening there when I’m at the farmers’ market. The overall experience is quite lovely and enjoyable.

Maybe I went on a bad day, but I found this farmers market to be completely underwhelming.
VERY few vendors here at all, and we were here only an hour after they opened. I want to say there was at most 7 stands. A few for produce, which was almost entirely fruit. I think one honey stand. One guy selling bread. And maybe a couple more selling I don’t know what. Most of the people working the stands were preoccupied with their phones or other things — though I can’t say I blame them given the atmosphere.
I asked the lady at one of the fruit stands if this was normal, and she told me it was, so I have to take her at word. With that being true (according to her), I don’t think I’ll be back.

I went last weekend with a couple friends and this place
HAD AWESOME LIVE MUSIC. The (I think) Sf band Parachute was playing, and they were really great.
TOOK EBT/​FOODSTAMPS. They take your card, call in the amount that you want taken off, then give it to you in $ 1 chips. The yellow chips can be spent on anything at the market besides flowers and hot meals. So it works one for one just like food stamps. And the market has a grant so that when you spend $ 10 or more of your food stamps at the farmers market, they’ll give you $ 5 free to spend on fruits and vegetables. It’s a great idea to incentivize healthy eating and local eating!
IS BOLANI BREAD HEAVEN. The guys gives you enough free samples to constitute a small lunch. Bolani bread is an afghan bread and the vendor has a bunch of pestos and spreads that he puts on in different combinations to create amazing flavors. He’ll give you a deal if you barter a little.
HAS THE NICEST BEE LADY EVER. her lime-​infused honey is so worth it. on the rim of a margarita. on toast. anywhere.
HAS SWEET FARMERS. Sweet in the sense that when you buy four peaches, oftentimes they’ll be like «hey, just take one more.»
10−2pm sundays

Very nice layout, and for the upper class.
More non-​produce, and less produce.
prices little higher than an upper class market
Service — varies — some very nice, some simply rude and rushed
Quality of produce — not sure — too well packaged to make a good call. The food did not last long enough after I purchased it.
All in all, if you add parking issues, and prices: not for me.

I was surprised by the lack of produce at the Santana Row Farmer’s Market which seems oxymoronic to say but its true. I understand that it’s a small place, but having 4 different places to buy strawberries seems excessive when you’re already cramped for space.
Parking is a hassle too. It’s a shame because farmers markets are great tools to utilize. *sad face*

In terms of farmers’ markets, this one was pretty tame and lame. Very few vendors and very high prices. No need to shop here at all. Safeway will do you better.

This was my first time at the farmers’ market here in santana row and I was super disappointed.
A lot of the stands were actually vendors selling jewelry, bags, and teeshirts and less of them were selling fruit, veggies, and other edible goodies. What happened to the days when people went to the farmers; market for fresh ingredients?
There were about 10 stands that sold food. 3 of them were strawberries, one was a small selection of veggies, 3 of them sold tarts and pies, one for nuts, and one of them sold afghan food.
I ended up buying the sweet jalapeño sauce, cilantro pesto sauce, and the spinach naan from the afghan food stand. I got a pretty decent price on them and we had it later for dinner and it was delicious.
I don’t think i’ll be returning here for the farmers’ market, time to check out the others!

My attention went immediately to the stand that was selling stuffed naans! I saw different types of hummus, I believe that was what it was. I bought the spinach stuffed naan. super extremely delicious!!!
I will go again to see what other goodies they have. it appears that I came towards the ending. it was all crowded due to the Music and Singing something.

Whenever I happen to come to Santana Row on a Sunday afternoon I always have to walk through the farmer’s market, yet to be honest, I’ve never actually purchased anything (and yearn to!). This isn’t your traditional farmers market — there are maybe 20 stalls and most of them are carrying the same items, same kinds of fruits, veggies, etc. There’s a guy that sells bread, one that sells organic dog treats, someone selling plants and orchids, another selling pastries and desserts, etc. Some times there are cooking demos and free tastings put on by Sur La Table.
Bottom line, this isn’t your traditional farmer’s market (I’ve definitely experienced better) so I wouldn’t recommend making the trip (and battling parking) to come here, but would definitely recommend checking it out if you’re already at Santana Row.

This was an okay experience for me. I don’t know if it’s because it was small or just the fact that knowing Santana Row? Really? The sweetie and I made quick stops to sample some Macaroons and Bean Pies. We did however leave the market with some honey straws 4 for $ 1 and medium sized carrot pie for $ 4 that tasted like pumpkin pie without the spices!
Considering the sweetie hates carrots, I was amazed and happy that she enjoyed it. We might give it another shot next time but it’s not that worth it. Selection and prices kinda sucked.

Maybe one of the prettiest Farmer’s Markets around, but also pretty much over-​priced.
And yes, it’s tiny. Not a ton of variety– a few fruit stands, some veggies, one table of all things honey, some Lucky bamboo and orchids, and some handmade bags. (Beware– the bag guy is way aggressive. So only look if you’re actually interested)
The blueberry stand that sells them in big clear plastic cups is AWESOME. I mean. Not cheap. But really, some of the best blueberries we’ve had.
But the one MAJOR reason to hit up this otherwise kinda weak market– The East & West Gourmet Afghan Foods booth. They sell these awesome breads (called bolani’s) and a ton of different dips.
Really. The Bolani booth is redic. LOVE it! (See my review of this tasty treat:
)
All of my stars are for the Bolani table.

We drove down here just to plan on walking slowly around Santana Row. What a nice way to spend an afternoon, no buying food, just people watching and lo and behold, there was a Farmers’ Mkt going on and a pretty cool one at that.
They have great popping corn, meat on a stick, fresh fruit like apples, apricots, peaches, cherries, etc. Bsically any quick cooking or easy growing food.
It just made for a nicer experience. I was surprised that high brow Santana Row would allow such a low brow event but I’m real glad that they did.
By the way, if you go late when they are closing up, they will practically give their wares away because they don’t want to carry ANYTHING home with them. A word to the wise is sufficient.

There’s a lot more than produce at this farmer’s market.
On a Nice Sunday this is a great alternative to scoping the awful, bruised and wilting organic produce selection at your local Safeway. Tomatoes, snap peas and strawberries are a must but the food booths are a nice alternative to lunch at the standard row restaurants.
This is my third favorite place to get produce, Mi Pueblo and the Flea Market are tough to beat but if you’re looking for a little more than produce, maybe a candle or some organic lip balm, then the Santana Row market is worth the extra effort.

When it’s a beautiful sunny sunday day, and we’re feeling cooped up, Sam and I will wander over to the Farmers Market. Unfortunately, this locality is extremely small. Like, REALLY REALLY small. Not much selection in terms of produce, but it’s nice to come on out and get some sun. I usually come here to gawk at the orchid stand and to pick up this amazing homemade tomato salsa that’s made with heirloom tomatoes. MMmmmm… aside from that, you’re better off going to a diff market… like Los Gatos or Campbell.

As Smiley W. mentioned, the East & West Gourmet Afghan Food has GREAT spinach type super thin breads called BOLANI! I come here specifically for these (I’ve only seen Campbell have them as well). They are divine! Very thin type of flour crêpe with fresh spinach inside. Many other flavorful dips such as sun dried tomatoes or garlic mint cheese or pesto or sweet jalepeno. The guy told me that it’s only 65 calories for a piece and there are 2 in a bag. The sauces probably are more calorific. He is very generous with samples. I was standing there and he gave me 5 pieces with different sauces!
Many fresh fruit and veggie stands (duh). The typical stands such as flowers and fresh strawberries.
One of the best things here is a fresh seafood bar! Fresh oysters shucked for you along with a variety of fish already pre-​packaged in ziploc baggies. UPDATE* I am sad because the oyster man told me he is not allowed to shuck them because a license is required for that and some inspector guy came and told him not to. I suppose this will happen with all the other oyster places if they don’t have licenses… BOO!
There’s also unique art and jewelry which are fun to look at but I never buy anything from them.
A good thing about this place is it’s open until 3pm so you can still squeeze in a farmers’ market trip even if you’re not quite the early bird. There’s also tons of places to grab a bite at since you’re at Santana Row already.
NO DOGS are allowed but I always see people bring their little doggies in! Oh well. I don’t mind since I’m a dog owner.
The prices are a bit more compared to Campbell or Mt. View or Santa Clara.