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| - Tough call here. In a town with no Whole Foods, I want to like this. I want to love it. Dearly. But... gosh.
So what's what? On the plus side: Cheese. Excellent cheese counter with a fabulous range of product, several samples usually available, and what seem to be reasonable prices. From what I've seen, this is THE cheese counter in Charlotte. And make no mistake, we love cheese.
I have not tried the prepared food at all, but it certainly looks/smells tasty, but can't even say I've looked closely enough to tell what kind of value it represents.
The meat/fish counter is a more mixed story. The quality of fish seems quite good, but selection is limited. They seem to order light and sell out of their most interesting items, leaving a few stand-by's to choose from. Meat is OK - perhaps a bit more emphasis on process (organic/natural) than result (taste) and maybe that works for you - for me, maybe not so much. If I could count on coming in and finding something really compelling in the fish counter, I'd be a fan, but I can't based on several visits.
Produce. This is where I expected this store to excel... every time I've ever walked into a Whole Foods I've marveled at what is just Obviously Better Produce - by which I mean more fresher. Squeaky fresh, almost scary. Here... what I have bought tasted ok, but you pay Obviously Better Produce prices to get what is not Obviously Better Produce.
Grilling a nice weekend meal is a major ritual at our house. I had hoped this would be the store to bring real joy back to the shopping trip part of that ritual (and maybe get in all done in one place). It has not.
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