Yasai is conveniently located close to Philz, Safeway, La Farine, Wisteria, and other dining…read morelocations. It's very organized and offers many options for fruits, vegetables, fresh noodles, Asian snacks, Asian sauces, drinks, and dried goods. While small, many options are available. When there was a shortage of Sriracha, Yasai was the one spot I could find large bottles of it. They offer fresh, in-season produce and keep it maintained well-- while I was there, one of the employees refreshed vegetables as they needed re-filling.

Yasai is a wonderful corner market that fills the gap for an Asian grocery store in the south…read moreBerkeley area. I come here regularly to stock up on Japanese snacks, green tea, kimchi, napa cabbage, and mushrooms that I can't find at Safeway or Trader Joes. Thank you Yasai for your reliability and community feel!

I stop here on a regular banana and their broad selection of fresh produce helps me to feed my…read morefamily and sometimes save money. Their produce varies with the seasons and the fruits and veggies are fresh and tasty. If you're look for quality produce stop here, they also offer CSM boxes but I haven't yet signed up to receive one. I come here often, and I'll be back soon!

Currently my favorite spot to shop outside of actually going to a farmer's market…read more Reasonable prices - similar to farmer's market and less than the Marketplace. They also seem to have more turnover than the Marketplace, so it's fresher. Their organic Granny Smiths are some of the best I have had - crisp, slightly sour and super juicy. They also carry a variety of microgreens. Interesting small producers in the pantry section. The service is always friendly and efficient. Request: carry maitakes! Then I don't need to make multiple stops around the island. Easy to park around the Central/Oak area. I neglected you for a few a years but I am back!

I love Berkeley Bowl!…read more I still love it even though I bought these nectarines went bad in 24 hours. Their offerings are fabulous - whole section dedicated to organic veggies and fruit. A much larger section for conventional veggies and fruit. The prepared food section has something for everyone - soup, sandwiches, salads, cuisines that cover everything.

Vibe/Interior: It feels like a mix between Whole Foods, H Mart, Sprouts, and a farmer's market all…read morein one! There is something for everyone Standouts: The produce section was unlike I've ever seen. There's an area where you can package your own greens, endless options for fruit, every kind of tomato you can think of and more! Service: Staff were friendly and knowledgeable Parking: Free parking lot Pro Tips: Look for the signs that say 'Special' for the best deals

I bought a 40 pound case of delicious bananas for $5!!! I had to wake up before God to pick them…read moreup but totally worth it!

Just came here to buy tofu. In and out fast. Very fresh and good price. The tofu is very firm,…read morejust the way my family likes it.

The team did a great job. I came in for fish but wasn't sure what I wanted, the team answered my…read morequestions and I left with a large grouper, a red snapper and tilapia. All the items were prepped for grilling whole and the service was great. All in all... Great job! Thank you

I've came multiple times In the past I always get served by one of the owners real down to earth…read moreand friendly guy named Tony. Always give good recommendations on what to drink and the vibe is super lowkey with a lot of snacks to pick from that pair nicely with some of the drinks already on the menu if not you can always make your own all in all I enjoyed this visit aswell

Recommended by a running friend to try this place. I was a bit shock that this is a grocery store…read morethat sells smoothies, chinese herbal drinks, snack, and others inside the store. This is good as it means they use fresh fruits for their smoothie. I got the cantaloupe and strawberry smoothie. It was so good. Their menu explains the benefit of each drink and has lots of choices. This is my 1st time seeing a store in the U.S. that sell order chinese herbal drink. Definitely will be back when I'm feeling a little "hot air".

I ordered my groceries delivered from Rancho Market via Mercato and will definitely make this my…read morenew go-to groceries. Not only did they call to confirm anything that was out of stock with replacement options, but I found this sweet note when my groceries arrived. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness. Thank you Rancho Market!

It's a really good place for food and there snacks are you can't even say it in wordsread more

I'm back at my fav farmers market. I love the variety of fruits and vegetables. I can see inflation…read morehas hit the market too. But the freshness and the variety is well worth it. I was able to get kale at $1/bunch. The red amaranth and the fuzzy melon was by the pound. The bok choy and yi choy was $2 each. Fruit was $3.50/pound. Street parking only. I tend to go between 8:00 and 9:00 am for better parking and more inventory. There's also fresh fish and stalls with donuts and cooked foods. There's also market it 2 blocks x 2 blocks. Support this wonderful market!!

Old Oakland Farmer's Market, Oakland…read more This famer's market seems small but there are plenty of vendors here. They often have fresh caught fishes, fresh produce, fresh flowers, fresh local honey and this place has naturally made ingredients cream and lotion for your face and body. One thing I love the most about this farmer's market is that there is always a live band or live music! Parking is street parking in Chinatown which is tough. You can come locally by bus or get off the BART on 12th Street City Center and walk towards Jack London. Some vendors take credit cards but cash is gold here! I love coming back on sunny days and always look forward every Friday mornings!!

First time in Berkeley Bowl. And it didn't disappoint. It was so many exciting items. My favorite…read moredrinks at a great price as well! Hawaiian Suns the tea flavor omg! $1.29 yes please! Then they have the cutest bags! Like so cute! I can't wait to buy more and send some to my cousin in Kansas. They have pink,purple,green and blue! Please see pictures thank you. Everyone was so nice. Then I left and saw someone with warm food! I went right back in delicious! Special only $10.99 wow! She put so much food in there she was nice enough to put a rubber band on it! She was very nice. The cashiers very pleasant. The lady that was stocking shelves very helpful. I can't wait to come back!

All grocery stores are (somewhat literally) a mixed bag, and Berkeley Bowl West is a grocery store…read more It is one of two Berkeley Bowl stores, and is the one of the two I have the most experience with. Berkeley Bowl West is celebrated for the vast variety of its produce. I like to shop as much as possible for organic items, and they definitely have fewer organic produce choices than non-organic; but there is still a reasonably large variety, of good quality. They have a nice variety of other kinds of items as well. Some prices are high, some are reasonable. I've been requesting delivery orders since 2020, so my in-store experience is dated; but in early 2020 and previously, the parking lot was impossibly crowded every time we brought a car, and the store aisles were relatively narrow, making the store also feel crowded at pretty much all times, especially in the produce section. Berkeley Bowl deliveries come from the Berkeley Bowl West store. Up until this month, they were a tolerable delivery option. I could order without creating an account, the orders would always arrive on time or early, they usually followed delivery instructions, and they were comparable to other delivery services in that I mostly got fresh produce and the items I ordered. Their team was responsive and nice if I got a wrong or defective item. This month, they changed their website. It's possible that some people love the changes. In my opinion, it is a vastly inferior experience. It's now mandatory to create an account in order to request a delivery, and they saved all of my data without permission! They used to tell you whether you were requesting produce by the pound or individual items; now you have to infer from the total cost of the item. The navigation system does not show all of the items in a category, at least when it comes to meat alternatives. The search for individual items isn't good either, but online store searches are often not great. It's unclear whether the system saves substitution preferences when you place an order. The system only recognizes certain types of addresses; if your address isn't in their system, for delivery or billing, then oh well. There doesn't seem to be any option to cancel an order. They have some unclickable edit buttons on your order page; why are they there if you can't actually edit that category? On top of all of that, they added a five percent service fee, in addition to their delivery fee and driver tip. Depending on the size of your order, that is a significant increase in fees, and was a big shock when it appeared on the final page during checkout. With this new fee added, the total delivery cost for my order today (and my last order for a long, long time) was about forty dollars for four bags of normal groceries; no extravagant items. That's ten dollars per bag! That's a crazy high amount; definitely a splurge, not a normal way to buy groceries, in my opinion. (People with a much higher grocery budget may disagree.) For comparison, if I was to rate other local stores, I would rate Safeway two stars, Whole Foods, El Cerrito Natural Grocery, and Good Eggs three stars, and Trader Joe's and Costco four stars. That's taking prices, delivery options, general staff morale, and item variety into account. Trader Joe's doesn't have delivery options (as far as I know), but everything else about their stores still averages out to a four, for me. I will still shop at Berkeley Bowl West, but sparingly. I would be sad if they didn't exist. I really appreciate the variety, and the general professionalism of their small local chain. I really wish they would roll back their online shopping experience to how it was before they changed it in July. As it was, because of prices, I would request a delivery from Berkeley Bowl West once a month at most; it will now likely be once every four to six months. At some point I will probably go back to occasionally braving the crowds in the parking lot and in-store, and bypass the convenience of delivery altogether.

Everything is very fresh and they have quality produce. If you want to buy bulk, there are large…read morequantities available.

Monterey Market is one of my go-to spots for produce, especially if you like variety. Their…read moreselection is huge, and the mushroom section is on another level, way beyond what you see at a normal grocery store. Fun fact: this place is famous for carrying hard-to-find and foraged produce and has been a quiet favorite of Bay Area chefs for decades, which explains why half the fruits look like they belong in a cooking show challenge. That said, the quality isn't flawless. This past summer the corn on the cob was disappointing, with a few ears already rotten at one end once you peel back the husk, so definitely inspect before buying. Also, the clientele is usually fine, but this visit featured an unnecessary checkout cameo from a full-volume Karen who felt the need to explain how standing in line works. The cashier chose silence, which felt like a statement. Still a great market overall, just keep an eye on the corn and maybe bring a little extra patience to the register.