Strawberry Fields

I find myself coming to Strawberry Fields during my free afternoons just to browse while enjoying a vanilla latte (made with organic syrup + coconut milk) from the café. There are many underground brands here which makes for a unique shopping experience in small-​town Urbana.
My favorite sections to shop at include the [all-​natural] skin care, [exotically flavored] peanut butters, and [extensive selection of] ready-​to-​drink beverages. Until I visited Strawberry Fields, I did not know that $ 18 peanut butter was on the market, but it is indeed. I suppose Espresso Vanilla Peanut Butter is exquisite, therefore it must be reflected in the price tag.
I like spending time here because of the relaxed environment and friendly staff. I don’t do all of my grocery shopping here because my wallet would be crying, but it’s fun to pick up specialty items on occasion. If you’re into healthy eats and all-​natural products (supplements, beauty, etc.), I recommend visiting Strawberry Fields!

Strawberry Fields still hold promise for me but after a few recent experiences with poor customer service, I’m afraid things might be headed the wrong direction. The baker I’ve dealt with recently has zero experience with any of the baked goods and doesn’t even know the names of the products. When I ask for something, she can’t identify which one I’m asking for leading to lots of frustration for both of us. I came back today, rang the bell that says «ring bell for service», she came out and said she was too busy baking bread to grab a few macarons for me and that I needed to find someone else like one of the cashiers to help me at the dessert counter. By the way, there was one cashier with a line. When I had trouble finding a medium roast non-​decaf coffee, the owner told me that the unlabelled bags were «regular roast» not medium roast and pointed out the obvious labels that I had seen on the other packages where the roast level was marked. What does «regular roast» even mean? I don’t know much about coffee but I’ve never heard of «regular roast» coffee before.
Needless to say, a quick trip to pick up a small list of items turned into lots of confusion and running around with little help from the staff. It was not a good experience.

Came here in the beginning of the year and the owner was very sweet and kind to me when my credit card wasn’t working (I had been traveling so the card company was confused) overall I think it’s a nice place but I do wish they had more variety in their products.

Service is excellent, and the new café section offers a brilliant selection of classic American, middle eastern, and international pastries, in perfect portions. The friendly chef Ali creates these every morning. The bakery team creates fresh bread baked at 5AM daily– these include the very popular barbari as well as pampushka and regular sliced bread. There are many healthy option foods (gluten free, organic, non GMO) which you could not get anywhere else, as well as nuts and grains in bulk! Lets not forget Sarah’s macaroon’s which are completely handmade, organic, and taste like heaven.
The only thing docking one star is the price. For example, a can of Lavazza Espresso grounds is over $ 12. In my hometown (an expensive Chicago suburb at that) I could get the same thing for $ 5.99…

Disclaimer: This review is for the Strawberry fields Café in their store.
I tried this place around 4:00 PM on a Saturday. About 6 – 7 people occupied the café around the time, but the main counter was pretty empty with 2 café workers. I stood there to place my order, yet it took about 5 minutes before one of them could help me. Once I had their attention, they were super helpful with their recommendations and encouraged me to try a variety of salads. One problem I noticed was that their smoothies has non-​descriptive names (ex. Deep Purple, etc.) with no ingredient information on the menu board, but their server was very helpful.
I ended up trying a Falafel Wrap, A spicy veggie samosa and Deep Purple Smoothie (Grape Juice and Berries). The Falafel Wrap was good, but the Samosa was not even worth the try. The smoothie was healthy and great, but they were missing smoothie straws at the time, so the server suggested that I use the super slim soda straw to drink the thick fruit smoothie.
Overall, my visit was average, at best. I understand they reopened just a few months back, but there’s definitely some scope for improvement.

I went to see the store under its new owner. I’m so hurt that it’s lost the appeal. The prices are ridiculously high, no cars in the lot and a few of us wandering through the isles searching for a reason that this new owner would trip (at least) the prices for the products. Maybe he’ll just write off this business.
I’m voting for Trader Joes and I will continue to support Common Ground.
What a disappointment.

Ive stopped in a couple times since they re-​opened under new management. Very happy to see what used to be several aisles of vitamins has been transformed into a neat little deli. I had the chicken along with one pasta side and a veggie side and everything was so tasty and reasonable pricing for lunch. I will definitely add this to my list of places to go for lunch.
I picked up some things from the bulk section and fresh baked bread.
Next time will have to look into their desserts and coffee.

It’s cool that they serve fresh vegan desserts. I had a slice of their vegan vanilla peach cake ($ 3.50). It was the worst cake I’ve ever had on par with those giant sheet cakes served at kids’ ice skating/​inflatables/​laser tag birthday parties. This was my first time trying vegan cake, so perhaps what I’m about to write is a feature of all vegan cakes: the cake tasted stale, like a weird brick– dense and fudgy instead of cakey. It tasted nothing like peach. The icing was overly sweet and tasted like the kind you’d get on a Walmart cake. You know what I mean– that weird, powdered sugar taste… and smell… *shudder*. I felt nauseated after eating it.
One HUGE gripe: the description specifically said that the cake was frosted. This is incorrect. The cake was iced. I hate icing. Which was why I was so excited to have some frosted cake. Icing is the nastiest thing that man has ever invented. Never trust a baker that can’t tell the difference between the two!
I’ve also bought groceries here and at the old Strawberry Fields. Still unbelievably overpriced. It felt like I was coming upon a new joke at each aisle. A pint of ice cream costs $ 7.29 without tax. A frozen pizza is about $ 14. A small bag of dried peas (with enough peas to fill a sandwich Ziploc bag) was about $ 5 as well. Peas are supposed to be cheap, yo. A package of cookies: $ 9. A small box of vegan chicken nuggets or a tiny bag of vegan meat tips: ~$ 15. One can of Amy’s soup is $ 5. I’ve never seen Amy’s products priced like this at anywhere but Strawberry Fields. The prices are marked up like hell. You can get some of these things cheaper at County Market. It’s laughable. Remarkable. Fascinating.
I only came here to get some meat alternatives (I got two packs of vegan hot dogs for about $ 15), but I could never justify shopping here again for groceries or desserts. Vegan food can be cheap. But not at Strawberry Fields. Bumping one star though for carrying a good selection of vegan meats/​cheeses.

Never did make it to the old S. Fields before it closed down, so I have really nothing to compare this place to. However, I quite like it so far. I haven’t done a ton of grocery shopping here but I have had a number of experiences eating lunch at the café so my review will focus mostly on that. First off, the prices are great. Finding an all natural meal while eating out that isn’t going to ruin my diet is not easy, and finding one that doesn’t empty my wallet is even less so, but S. Fields fits the bill perfectly. Their menu rotates every day and they have both veggie and non selections available. The staff is really friendly and are ready to answer any questions you have concerning dietary restrictions (as long as you don’t mind asking…). They also have a number of delicious vegan baked goods available. I’ve tried the chocolate chip brownie and the espresso vanilla cupcake and both were delicious and relatively cheap. I think this place is doing a lot of things right at the moment and I plan to update my review when I get around to doing some grocery shopping there. For now though I’m happy to add another place to my rotation of lunch spots.

Very high prices at this store but just like with the co-​op I come here out of necessity rather than choice. The selection here is awesome and the baked goods are great but, like I stated above, the prices are really bad and make it very difficult for a student to shop here.

I love the new store! I shopped every once in awhile at the old version, and it was ok — prices were higher than I’d have like on a few items, and the store always struck me as cramped, disorganized and dirty. While the prices are still on the higher end for some thing at the new store (more on that later) — the remodel is beautiful, with lots of natural light, and the store feels open and airy. The best part is the café! I had a great latte, some amazing lunch (specifically the falafel and the broccoli salad), and some French macarons. Everything was delicious.
Regarding the prices, I spoke with the owner who said he is working very hard to lower the prices. So if you visited and found them too high, go back in a month. Maybe they’ll be lowered!

I have visited the new Strawberry Fields 3 times in the past month and each experience has been a bit sad, but this morning was the saddest of them all. Upon driving up, the door on the café side was propped open but the sign on the stores doors said they were closed, yet their hours said they were opened. The lights were all turned off. I tried the doors and they were locked.
I walked into the café, half expecting that the person at the counter would tell me that the store was closed, as each time I went into the store prior to this morning, there was never another customer. The person operating the café seemed a bit confused. I asked if the store was open, trying to assess if I could shop and was then asked «do you have a question?» I explained that the lights are off, doors locked, and the sign says they are supposed to be open. I was told I could shop and check out at the café. In the dark, I rummaged through the store to find the items I went in for. In the mean time, the back room behind the cheese counter, had several employees chatting it up, never turning to see that there was a customer, the lights were off and the doors locked.
I found my items and went to the café to check out. The person at the café apologized for the stores amateur performance. He explained that this is not the first time this has happened.
Outside of customer service issues, the prices are a bit high. Strawberry fields prices were always higher and for some items, I have been willing to pay the price, but I’m afraid I am done shopping at Strawberry Fields and instead will support other local health food stores.
The operation of the store is embarrassing. I don’t expect this store to stay open with such high prices, disorganization, and poor customer service.
As much as I wanted to see the store survive, it is an embarrassment to the name. I much prefer the co-​op, Natural Gourmet, the farmers market, regular grocery stores, amazon, gardening or even fasting in comparison to the experiences I’ve had at the new and not so improved strawberry fields.

I went today for the first time… amazing remodeled space! The café is back and the food looks delicious! There’s a ton of variety of different things. it’s bigger than the coop, and has a lot of potential over it with having the café. I’m so sick of the same old thing at the coop. The prices for some things are too high to be feasible (eg milk) but they have an olive bar, bakery, and cheese case. I thing they should have the same cheese in this location as world harvest. I don’t know if they have a coffee bar… so happy that they’re back!