Irvine Ranch Market

I came in to order a cake for a friends birthday. I decided to go with a raspberry filling with both chocolate and white cake. I didn’t ask for much detail. I was beyond surprised when I went to pick up my cake two weeks later and I had received a beautiful white frosted cake with glitter and two little orchids. Very simplistic but still very classically decorated. The cake itself was beyond delicious!
I appreciate all the help I got from Maritza and Lydia
THANKS AGAIN LADIES!!!

I got the lunch meal with 2 sides.
Salmon was icky, it had a slimy texture and wasn’t hot at all. The potatoes were extremely dry and the rice was wet. I forced myself to eat it since I spent more than I should’ve for a lunch.
$ 15 bucks for a lunch I didn’t enjoy, I won’t be coming back.
***Update 2÷17÷2016
Any place that has a manager wanting to make things right after a bad experience deserves nothing but 5 stars. Thank you Robin for making things right. I can honestly say I’ll be back. I’ll even give the salmon another try.

Just had to walk out of this store. They must have lost their minds! $ 14.99 for a frozen pizza!!! $ 4 for lettuce? Jesus. I guess this place is for the uppity rich ones that don’t mind wiling their a$$e$ with money! I’m going to stater brothers.
How this place is rated 2 dollar signs blows my mind. Shows what are I live in!

It’s the closest market to me so I find myself coming here from time to time when I don’t feel like going down to 17^th and I only need a couple things.
I love the fact that I can grab something unique and delicious to bring to a dinner or get-​together at a friend’s. It’s the ideal place to find delicious artisan dips and such.
Unique and cool candy section, and the ONLY store I know of that carries Häagen-​Dazs Cookies & Cream. That’s pretty much what keeps me coming back…
The only reason I didn’t give a full five stars, is because it’s a bit pricey and there is a serious lack of organic produce.
They need to get with the times and expand their organic produce and other organic food.

Great selection of high end and natural foods! Perfect location so I don’t have to drive so far to the other monster chains. Friendly, homey service. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

I like this market because it’s on my way home, and I love their specialty items. The biggest improvement they could make is the check out staff. I’ve been in this market no less than 30 times, and they barely crack a smile. They could use a lesson from Trader Joe’s.

This place is like a semi miniature morph of Sprout’s and Whole Foods.
It is really misleading when you walk in because you feel it is a small and cozy store. Then you walk through various nooks and crannies and find that it keeps going and going.
They had some BRAZILIAN STYLE CHEESE BALLS (Various flavors) in their frozen section. Also, their FLAN from the bakery is really good. Smooth, thick, creamy, nice caramel sauce… yum!

Cute little market with a surprisingly good selection. I am especially impressed with the fruit selection and the option at the deli to grab a sandwich or pre made salads. I have also purchased hot soup once and it was good. The bakery section is pretty tempting too!
This is a good spot to pop in and grab lunch or to pick up some odds and ends. For a smaller place they have a a good mix of items and pretty reasonable prices.

Cute little market hidden in Back Bay. I love coming in when their guacamole and cheese dip samples are out with the tortilla chips! I’ll admit I’ve eaten like 10 – 15 chips at a time bc it’s so good. There are also a lot of different variety of dips in the refrigerator section.
They also have a lovely cheese selection here. I like to pick a bottle of red to go along with it.
I usually come here for lunch to enjoy either the salad bar, the hot bar, or the sushi bar. They also make delicious sandwiches to order. The kale salad is a customer favorite as well. The salad bar comes with a huge selection of ingredients but it can be quite expensive at the end. I’ve paid up to $ 13 for a salad once.

Cashiers are rude. You will only get a five stars treatment if you are white. If you are Black or Hispanics, they dont even acknowledge you. My friend and I noticed the cashier said hi to the lady in front of us and was all smiley but didn’t say hi to us.
The salad bar is great. Have been there few times but stop going because of the poor treatment.

Love the low-​carb sushi made with cooked cabbage instead of rice!

I brought home lunch for my family from the Irvine Ranch Market the other day. I needed to let the experience sit because I was shell shocked that my total was $ 50. I went in for the salad bar, which did look amazing, but most of the really good stuff was heavy and you are charged by weight. I ended up steering toward the deli counter and getting pre-​made sushi. Nothing was spectacular, but after looking back a few days later, I realize that everything was pretty good and moderately priced. I wish I could give this location a 3.5 for lunch, but I’m airing on the nicer side because I think although the salad bar was wildly expensive, the sushi was a decent value. $ 50 was a lot for lunch, but if we went to a restaurant it would have been around $ 80.

I never knew what exactly this place was until my coworkers convinced me to go here with them for lunch.
The salad bar is the BEST, a little pricey but it has great options, so does the hot bar. Seriously, anything you could want for lunch is here. Just be careful and expect that salad to be around $ 15 (I get a little carried away at the salad bar and I have difficulties being decisive).
It’s like a neighborhood Wholefoods but better. Great place.

Some of their stuff looks as though it’s been there for a while. Suspect that’s become they have so many specialty items. For instance, they had a section that was maybe 8 feet by 7 feet of nothing but mustards. I didn’t even know that many forms of mustard existed. In fact, I’d come here before heading to Gelson’s, Bristol Farms, or Whole Foods simply because they have such unique items.
Great presentation as well– the displays will talk you into a purchase, even if you drop in just to check it out. They have a deli section, fresh made guacamole, dips, salsas…
Cooled white wine, bubbly, beer, etc. You can’t go wrong. You will find something.
The bakery looks evil-​good.
Price would be my only concern. To be honest, I find it well within range of the specialty stores previously mentioned and in some cases cheaper.

So far I’ve only purchased from the bakery aisle, and with the great variety of loaves, pound cakes, pastries, and coffee, it’s hard to pry away. I’ve sampled several types of muffins, and there’s only a few that I would buy again: strawberry, and chocolate. The bran, zucchini, and cappuccino muffins fell short of my expectations. Both the bran and zucchini had a weird after taste. The spice blend is off; I can’t pin point what it is that’s throwing the flavors off. Nutmeg? Cardamon? Makes me wonder.
The cappuccino muffin didn’t have enough coffee flavor. My favorite baked good item is the oatmeal raisin cookie. It was large and in charge.
The best part is that muffins, cookies, and donuts
I will be back to try the salad bar and the grocery area. I love local markets that offer whole foods and unique eats.

THE BEST HIDDEN GEM EVER. (For the deli)
I come here for lunch all the time! It’s really hard getting a healthy and fast meal these days for less than $ 5. Especially when you’re on a time crunch because you’re on your lunch break. But to make all your problems disappear… the half sandwich combo is PERFECT. It’s $ 4.99 for a healthy sandwich and one side of your choice and chips. They’re even having a promotion right now for any sized drink for $ 1 with any combo.
On colder days I get the half sandwich half soup for $ 5.99. Chicken noodle and lobster soup are my absolute favorites :) Both of these combos are super filling and yummy. I don’t even understand how Subway next door survives. They also have a nice seating area outside to eat and it’s actually really relaxing.
A++++!!!
TIP: At around 1 o clock it gets a little busy because this market is in a business complex and I’m guessing everyone’s on lunch. I usually come in at 1:30 and it’s fine, but it really depends on the day.

I wanted a turkey sandwich. No, I NEEDED a turkey sandwich. I can’t articulate my reasons for these turkey sandwich attacks, but they happen with semi-​regularity and are incredibly overwhelming. What happened to me as a child? Do i have some sort of addiction? Is this a curse? I couldn’t say.
But every… 3 weeks or so I NEED a turkey sandwich. Crusty baguette, deli turkey, lettuce, tomato, mayo, please.
It happened today. I work pretty close to here and had heard they make sandwiches. I figured this would be a good test since its the closest sandwich place to me and they have a bakery so they probably have baguette.
The layout is really confusing. I read on Unilocal that the deli «is in the back.» K, allow me to clarify: the deli, and the salad bar, and the prepared foods are in the back TO THE RIGHT.
Ordered a turkey on french roll. The guy forgot the mayo. But the french roll was SO GOOD! Excellent bread. They also have coke zero on tap. And I had to resist every single urge in my body to buy either a tall boy or a bottle of wine and blow off work and go enjoy my sandwich in the back bay. But alas.
It’ll be 5 stars when I get the sandwich I ordered. $ 5.99 for a better sandwich than subway is a great deal.

Variety was great! I would give that 3 – 4 stars. The 2 stars was for the hot food items I tried.
I had the meatloaf with mac n cheese and potato wedges. I also tried some of the baby back ribs.
The meatloaf and sides looked great in the display. The meatloaf as a little too solid. It wasn’t soft. The potato wedges were very dry. I didn’t more than 1 wedge. It was like the wedges were left overs, refrigerated then reheated.
Mac n cheese was a little bland.
Ribs were ok. Nothing special.
I’d go back to give it another shot, but I wasn’t too impressed. I would try the salad bar next time.