Oaktown Spice Shop is a must if you are in the Oakland. Oaktown Spice Shop is well organized,…read morewelcoming, and the staff is very friendly and willing to help if you have any questions! The spice shop has a wide variety of goods which are reasonable priced. Once you walk into the store the most amazing smells which you have smelled will fill your nostrils. The smell are not overpowering but welcoming and guide you around the store to explore what the store has to offer. If you are in the area or just want to stop by, please do and you will be pleased with your experienced. If you don't want to stop by, please check out their online store!!

You'll know you're right at home as soon as you walk through the door. For anybody that's wondered…read morerows of disorganized shelves of stuff all over the place or spots that are less than well kept, look no further. Oaktown Spice Shop is immaculate, well organized, and staffed with folks that are quite passionate about the goods! Also helps that it smells amazing, but it really speaks to the quality of their stuff. If you had any doubts about them, put that to rest and just visit or use their online store! Any foodie worth their salt (hah get it) will be able to appreciate what this place has to offer.

Nice selection of good smelling handmade soaps - I enjoy just looking around here as well as…read moreshopping. They organize their herbs and teas by intention and I find that logical and accessible. Friendly service and tasty tea, recommend coming in if you're looking for a healthy looseleaf tea blend.

Groovy shop with helpful wonderful people and magical potions. They have the far out items I need…read moreand of quality source.

Easy to sleep on a place like this. However, you really shouldn't. Their bulk section is amazing…read more You can get dang near anything in bulk here. Their peanut butter is amazing. Great quality products and always affordable.

What a disappointment. This used to be my "go to" for food and health supplements, but no more. The…read morecustomer service has really gone downhill (rude and unhelpful and suspicious staff) and they're selling food that is NOT FRESH. Let me start with those sunflower and date cookies that are supposed to be "freshly baked." Not so. Stale as can be! And the store refused to take them back or offer a refund or store credit. The "organic" white and yellow popcorn. STALE! I tried 3 different methods of popping with stale results all 3 times. Staff's reaction? Defensiveness and no offer of a reasonable solution...had to "match" the price to another item of the same value. Ridiculous. Honestly, I thought I was in Farmer Joe's for a minute! Finally, that bulk "large flake" yeast can be sketchy looking. Strange dark blotches of who-knows-what mixed in. This I did not take back...I just threw it out. Never shopping there again...I detest rude and unfriendly staff at a business where I'm spending my sparse, fixed income money!

Wonderfully knowledgeable proprietor. I visited based on a recommendation, and left feeling…read moreconfident in the solution. Wonderful herbal mastery solutions to meet the needs of everyone..

I trust Henry Lau more than 100. He has helped me on several occasions where western medicine did…read morenot. He also has an incredible memory of his patients and their ailments.

My daughter and I decided to check this place out. You walk in and we were greeted. It was a menu…read moreboard of hot foods. I asked him about he menu. He said not here down the way. It was nice of him to display food menu for family or friends. So, my daughter and I decided in and look around. When we're amazed with the seasonings to the freezer selection. I told him after my payday we will return . 10/10 day!

I popped in today to get the hot Jamaican curry powder, and I knew I'd find it here. At the…read moreregister there is a sign with a menu of food, and the cashier said they're testing it out, though I don't know the days. I assume it's during the week based or it's on the way. The plantain at the front of the store were perfect for cooking and ready to go. I should have picked some up when I was there, but they have a fair amount of items. I've never had fufu, but the mix for that, lots of frozen whole fish, flour, Nigerian and Jamaican curry powder, etc etc.

Was in the area with limited time for a lunch and pizza from a WFM sounded better than some of the…read moreother fast food options that popped up on my phone. I was in and out quickly and picked up some sundries for home as well. Their pizza is very under appreciated IMHO.

This Whole Foods is one of the largest in the Oakland area. It has the largest hot bar by a far,…read moreand the most prepared foods. Having said that it does have some disadvantages. First and foremost, the parking lot is insane. It is the most crowded tight and chaotic parking lot around. On the lower level, the spaces are so small that my car routinely gets dinged. The vibe here is busy. There are lots of Instacart shoppers running around amongst all of the downtown Oakland workers stopping here for their groceries. generally, I have found that the worst day is Sunday.

I have been shopping here for over a year now, buying supplies and necessities for my now sold…read morebusiness.......hooray!!!! The Manager there helped me order many specialty items that cannot be found on regular wholesale shelves.... This place is Wholesale, no membership needed, anyone can just walk in. I definately recommend this place for bigger families or someone starting a small business....They cater to mostly Asians but have seen many Middle Eastern customers there. The prices are much cheaper than going to the grocery store but mostly comes in bulk......... Example, 50 lb bags of Jasmine rice would be about 5-7 dollars cheaper than the grocery store.....And every family has a 50 pounder at home......lol

Bad services, no smile, no friendly. All cashier look angry all the time. What's wrong with this…read moreplace?

Best place to get injera. I bought two huge packs of it for $12.35 total. It was very fresh and…read moreperfect to serve with the Ethiopian dishes I made at home. It's very time consuming to make, so I'm happy I found a place I can pick some up. Staff was friendly. I asked her about a couple spices from the recipe I had, but unfortunately they didn't carry them. The store is small but has a large table in the center with many spices and red and yellow lentils.

Long story short, last year, I got some Mareko Fana seeds from a work-related source. These are the…read morepeppers used to make Ethiopian Berbere spice blend. Raw, they were terrible--so much so that I was skeptical--but we dried them and used them to make homemade Berbere spice. The homemade Berbere spice was fantastic with complex layers of flavors from the pepper and different spices. We've been using it ever since to make Ethiopian food at home- sadly, we just finished the last of it. I enjoy going out for Ethiopian food, but making it at home has been a revelation. The flavors are incredible, especially Berbere red lentils, which are easy to make and very delicious. But we are not ambitious enough to make Injera from scratch. Luckily, we stumbled upon Abyssinia Market in Oakland, which makes and sells Injera. It's inexpensive, delicious, and keeps well in the fridge. To warm it up, we just put it on a plate, cover it with a damp paper towel, and microwave it. Beyond Ethiopian food, we've found that Injera pairs well with all sorts of dishes--everything from eggs in the morning to Middle Eastern and Greek dips. Tonight, we had it with roasted Japanese sweet potatoes and Aji Verde sauce. If you haven't tried their Injera yet, I highly recommend it!

Chinese Ginseng and Tea shop in Oakland Chinatown. You walk in and immediately the rich smell of…read moredry mushrooms, ginseng, and other vegetables hits you. Big barrels of dry veggies line the aisles. However, I went there looking for packaged teas, and the selected seemed limited. I think they want you to buy from the bulk teas, and not the pre-packaged tea bags. Staff was very nice and had alot of patience Street parking

Wing Fong Ginseng replaces KV Mart. quite a few ginseng stores in area now. average sized store…read more offerings: ginseng, dried seafood, herbs, chinese medicines. buys: chinese meds when the need arises. shopping notes: -no food related items noticed on a look see.

Stepping into Man Must Wak must be like using a teleporter into South-Central Africa. Mere moments…read moreafter being on an Oakland sidewalk I was staring at canned, bottled, and dried products from Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Guyana. Not only do the dry ingredients seduce one into cooking a wider menu, but there's a large amount of prepared food that can be a shortcut. The ambience reminded me of my time in Africa, between the variety of languages being spoken, the music from the radio, and the smells. The service was spot on and helpful, and the few questions that came out of my astonished face were answered. Next I'm going to have to search through some cookbooks...

Came here to buy supplies for egusi. Store is very neat and got a bunch of supplies . Clerk didn't…read moreknow what went into egusi and just said to search internet. I saw they have a lot of frozen prepared foods which I would love to try but no ingredients listed on the packaging. I would love to try if I knew what was in it.