Ali Baba Organic Market

This store is an Unexpected jem in the hearth of China town. I recently move to the area I am lucky that I found this organic place so that I am not stuck with other Chinese place’s. Another good option for me is I get out work late nights and this place is open 24 hours. The best part about the store I think is the cleanliness of the store and the prices.
7.99 lbs open buffet open till midnight. and a great option for me when i dont feel like cooking.
people at the register are very helpful but they have $ 10 minumum for charge cards.

Today I ate lunch with two friends at a restaurant next-​door to this place, and afterwards I came here with one of them because she’d noticed their appealing-​looking fruit stand and good prices. I was wandering around inside and was excited to discover their hot food bar (yes, pathetically I get excited about things like that) — so naturally I couldn’t leave there without bringing home a nice array of food for dinner ($ 7/​pound). Although the selection wasn’t huge, it was quite decent — and everything looked very clean & fresh (this place has an «A» rating from the Health Department). The man working there was pleasant and the woman at the cash register was friendly. Also, the food was very tasty. Oh — and if you want to indulge in sheer caloric gluttony, they have lots of very tempting-​looking dessert items in the glass case near the register (several cakes plus various pastries, etc.). I managed to exert self-​control, however.

Alibaba’s has the best foods and fruits. They are also amazing and very generous. They donated a bunch of items to Transfiguration School for the Halloween party! Thank you so much!!!

Nice selection actually but the employees were so awful it doesn’t even matter. Note for the owners: it’s not OK to pull one race of customers out of the line for help while making everyone else wait.

Standard fair.
They have a hot food section which is open until the evening, where they make a number of things such as burgers and other standard take away food. They also have a hot food buffet bar which I’ve never tried but looks decent enough.
People mainly come in here for coffee and groceries. They have a number of selections, but certain things are lacking. For instance, the meats section is lackluster, and is tucked away into the corner of the shop. Because the owners are (probably) Muslim, they don’t sell any pork here. There’s also no alcohol.
One thing to note is that they have a fairly decent selection of fruit and vegetables, which can be seen from simply passing the store outside. The fruit is not changed too often, but is never terrible.
Credit card minimum is $ 10.00

As far as bodegas go, this is fairly run of the mill.
I live close by, so I often stop by to get groceries, even though there’s a spotty selection and they are slightly overpriced. There will often be a few good deals – I got Luna Bars at 3 for a dollar recently because they were expired. I think that you can definitely find better places, but the people are nice, and they definitely carry food.

So this place is where I’ve been heading to since path mark closed. I always get a chopped salad or the wraps and it’s always been very good. I basically NEVER review but felt like I had to because the people here are the most honest best people that I’ve met in NYC that I did not know existed. I dropped my wallet at their place while buying my wrap and I had NO idea I had dropped my life basically. At 1 am I hear a knock at my door and the OWNER of the place CAME BY to give me my wallet back!!! IT WAS AMAZING! WHO TAKES THE TIME TO DO THAT??? His name is Ali and he was super nice and he’s like any struggling store owner in NYC with a good heart so he has my business for as long as I live in NYC! =]

Great customer service. Ordered from grubhub and it sent the wrong location. They ended up 30 minutes away, and I offered to pay and just forget about it, but instead they drove my order all the way up to me. All of this at 2am. Really nice people.

I see cockeroaches there ALL the time near the deli/​salad section. Last time I went (about two months ago) I saw the guy who was making someone’s salad put it on top of a closed garbage can while he was moving some things around. I turned around and left. Haven’t been back since. This place fails to meet even the most basic standards of sanitation. Disgusting!!! Please look for another place. It’s not worth it.

Never order delivery from them on seamless. I had to wait 1.5hr for my simple order (bagels)… When I called them to check out what was going on, the lady on the phone was so rude and she didnt even say sorry or anything. She said I have to wait more and food will eventually be delivered…

This place is a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. They have a great variety of fresh fruits & veg, good cheeses & snacks and frequently have D’artagnan products. Even the hot food bar is unexpectedly good.
The only headache is they never seem to have the registers under control and there are frequently very long lines.

I never really wanna rate this place intill right now since the employees cant make an card adjustment for a long time customer. I give this place a 2 star because
1. They sell expired items for cheap such as fruits and candy in front of the store and counter.
2. They gave me a 10 dollar minimum charge for card when I been there about many times.
This really makes me mad and I wont be coming here again. Chinatown set their minimum on food already and that gets me mad. And now this. No thanks.
However the lady manager is nice. Spoke to her once or twice.

Ali Baba, I love you. Really, you’ve changed what’s available in Chinatown (and cheap organic produce, tho it’s usually about one day from being spoiled, FYI).
But PLEASE GET A BETTER SANDWICH MAN. Every single I’ve asked for a simple sandwich – an egg/​cheese on a roll, turkey with cheese, lettuce, tomato – not only is the order entirely incomplete (srsly what even is a Turkey-​and-​Lettuce sandwich?) but it also tastes like cardboard.
It ain’t that hard to find someone who can make a better sandwich.
Thank you! Everyone I know is thrilled with your presence here, but this would take your business to the next level.

One of the reviews I read for this place called it an oasis in Chinatown… I understand this sentiment. This store sells some high quality products, some of which I would otherwise have to go to Whole Foods to buy. The prices range from REALLY excellent ($ 1 for bunch of asparagus) to more expensive than Whole Foods (the Amy’s frozen meals are not cheap at all). I have not tried the hot bar, the salads, or the sandwiches, but the produce (if you are careful in your selection), can be good and cheap. One word of caution, even though Organic is in the name, I was unable to find any organic fruit.

Ali Organic is a very welcome addition to the neighborhood since they opened up last April.
Though there are lots of food vendors in Chinatown, they limit themselves mainly to asian products and close around 8pm.
Ali Baba is open 24 hours and they sell a better variety of products such as dill, kale, different squashes, potatoes, lettuces, aproits, yellow peaches, roma tomatoes… things you can’t get in Chinatown and have to travel to Whole Foods to get.
The first few months the labeling on the products was confusing due to having the shopname «Ali Baba Organics» on the sign above the prouct and price. Luckily they got wise to the problem and now the signs only state the product and if organic and the price.
The prices are good on the fruits and veggies; esp berries if they have been there for a few days
And the staff is very friendly and helpful.

Ali Baba was a pleasant surprise when they opened up. First we were all skeptical as places that open here never last. However, as weeks passed, more and more vegetables and fruits started popping up and the best part is, their prices can sometimes be even better than the local vendors in Chinatown (depending on what and when). You can get 5 lemons here for $ 1!
I would look carefully when buying to see what is organic and what isn’t. The boxes all have labels. Sometimes I wonder if they really are organic, but all in all, it’s nice to have some choices that aren’t in this area, such as butternut squash, Talenti ice cream, and fresh herbs such as dill and basil.

I was down at the courthouse and was looking to eat lunch with my buddy. I looked on Unilocal and this placed popped up. I liked the name «Ali Baba». wasn’t this a recent IPO :)
Oh well — we got there and it was a nice deli — a market and hot food buffet. We tried the hot food buffet for lunch, sat and ate there. Good food. On my way out I saw some pomogranites and I asked the guy if it was good. He said it was good and cut open a pomogrenate. I was suprised by this move. And He offered me some to taste. So i tasted the fruit before I bought it. Hence I am giving a five star. Good customer service along with good food and fruits. Something nice to see in NY.

Be warned: extremely rude staff! Two nights ago, I had a run-​in with someone who worked there (possibly the owner’s son?). This hothead walked into me and my child as I made my way in the store (mind you, I had a stroller, carrying fruits, and wearing a knee brace). He immediately demanded that I say sorry, which I refused to do. Suffice it to say that I’ve never argued in public with someone in a store before and– in part because he kept on making discourteous remarks to me– I found the whole incident extremely strange and upsetting. This was not just bad customer service but really inappropriately unprofessional and horrible behavior. So be warned in general and in particular if you have a child, stroller, or wheelchair! This is not a kid– or mom-​friendly place. Someone might bump into you and who knows what abuse will be hurled at you!
I’ve told my neighbors to stay away and they say it won’t be hard to because they’ve also experienced rudeness (not quite to the same degree) and/​or the experience of purchasing rotting fruit there (as other reviewers have pointed out, half the produce is rotten/​goes bad very quickly and the other half is not organic despite the deceptive signage).

Wow. What an Oasis. I live in Chinatown and there is definitely a deficit of quality foods in this neighborhood. A great selection of healthy foods at reasonable prices. Very friendly staff and nice vibe. I will definitely be going to this place a lot!

Wowie — very happy a place like this opened locally near my office. I like to give the little guy’s a chance — even though I am a fan of Whole Foods. Plus downtown is kind of barren in this regard anyway since Bell Bates closed. :(
Well I just bought a bunch of organic bananas, a bag of organic apples, and 4 packs of organic raspberries for snacking at the office — and I only paid $ 10. Pretty good for my organic fix. :)
I was also pleasantly surprised at all the familiar brands and products they carry (kale chips, Justin’s, Veganaise, etc.) — even stuff like vegan salad dressing, and vegan sour cream.
My first visit today — but VERY HAPPY so far. Also happy to see organic bell peppers — which can be hard to find!
FYI — Not all fruits and vegetables here are Organic — but there is usually plenty of organic produce to choose from. Just read signs and the fruit/​veg labels for the Organic ones.
Only negative — for this vegan anyway — the prepared foods section was lacking. Even the salad counter seemed just OK — seems better for those that eat meat and cheese. The hot bar also did not seem that great to me — I was definitely disappointed there — again meat eaters would be happy with it.

They made up for the hot and prepared foods, though — with the selection of what I deem to be cool products!
Definitely worth checking out. And so much easier for me — less of a distance to haul stuff back to my office.