Rasputin International Food

Nice Russian food market with big selection of baked, meat and other deli’s staff. Also they have a hard liquors and wines.

Great international goods with delicious hot /​cold food deli, pastries and desserts. When asked what something is they automatically give me sample! Almost force feed like grandma used to do! That’s genuine love! Even the cashier was super nice!
Unfortunately, I live in New York and this is in California. I visit it and was curious to see what the West Coast has to offer as New York has many international Russian Ukrainian groceries.
I was very impressed with their service and def recommend it to locals!
If you’re going to someone’s house, be a good guest, stop by them and buy a cake or some meat to put on the barbecue grill! Go to them! You won’t regret it!

Clean place. Good quality fresh deli. The owner is very kind and helpful. Sometimes very busy, you have to stay in line but reasonably. I recommend this place.

The best Russian grocery store in the valley period.
Been coming here for years and buying both produce and the ready made ‘home cooked’ food. Always fresh and tasty.
My favorite dish form Rasputin is Chicken tabaka (Georgian: tsitsila tabaka) or chicken tapaka (Georgian: tsitsila tapak!

Ok. people at least we have it. So let’s be happy and cheers to that!

I don’t come to this store often because their price range is higher comparing to others Russian Deli stores, but food and variety is good. People are friendly and polite.

Look at this picture

Totally in love, first time coming here & i already love. It’s a cute lil store but already want to buy everything. Got to try some yummy sweets & tortellini

Best Russian store by far. The food is fresh and delicious and everything is always new package. The veggie and fruits are always fresh. The price is great parking is easy and the workers are awesome.

Staff was not rude to us at all. Rasputin has an amazing array of interesting hot dishes and salads. Some of the dishes are not kept warm, though. We got there around 11:30 and some were lukewarm. After we finished, I noticed they had some new dishes. I would call them in advance to ask when it’s best to arrive for hot food.

My first time coming here. I am not a russian, so dont take my word for the food. I went there at 10 am to get some breakfast. The place looked run down-​lacked the charm. It was empty except for us. There was a lot of food though, freshly made. There were workers in the store busy with what they were doing. We were waiting there for 10 min and didnt know who to call for service. Someone showed up at last. She was extremely patient and very helpful, thankfully.
We ordered food. Their credit card machine didnt work on 2 of my cards. So ended up paying cash. The store felt dusty and dirty. They were out of napkins at the counter and the plastic spoons were icky and seemed greasy. When we started eating the food outside after ordering, it was very oily and cold! It was not appetizing. My hands were coated with oil after eating the savory pastries. Although its more of a market, it would help if they heated the food before they packed it for you.
They have a lot of good looking ethnic food.
Overall,
1. This place has a great potential.
2. Super slow service. They dont have anybody assigned to help customers. Needs good management.
3. Finally, dust the store!

The larges and the most organized market. Deli has huge variety of dishes. Everything is fresh and prepared w heart. I recommend to try their shrimp in light cream sauce. Their service is great. Owner of the market Gregory is always available to answer any questions. I highly recommend this market.

Good selection of sweets, fresh deli etc. however very RUDE salespeople behind pastry counter… I left ended up not buying after one helped me to pick a cake then made me wait for 10 minutes and then said go stay in the line in a different area

Horrible customer service! Waited in line for 20 minutes, all while being abruptly ignored due to the obvious lack of Russian characteristics. Seriously people? We’re in Encino. Thankfully my mom speaks Russian. Fortunately she heard the cheap discussions that took place with other guests while the attendant assumed we didn’t comprehend. My recent visit was an absolute turn off. Unless you’re Russian buyer beware.

Terrible customer service!!! TERRIBLE! It may take you 10 – 15 minutes waiting in an empty store to get some sausage or bakery! That Russian «lady» with a sour face, really thinks she is doing you a HUGE favor by help you. Do they even know what customer service is?
To Owners: you guys have so many negative reviews; doesn’t it help you to realize that you need to change something in your store?! Start with the staff, half of the people deserve to be fired right away. The other half needs to understand that they are not in CCCP anymore and learn to say «Hi, how are you?» at the very least.
So, when I finally was served I got tort with an wrong price label on it … They charged me the price of meat per pound, for my bakery …
I will never come back, none of my Russian friends or relatives will EVER set foot in that store.
Thank you!

This place is horrible. The prices for their tomatoes are the same price for the square footage of a house. Save your money, go buy a house.

I like Rasputin because the selection is great, the food is of good quality be it packaged food or deli they make out there.
I picked up «Walnut Cookies», cakes and salads from there and they were all much better then the other Russian store stuff i tried before.
Also the location is great and they have huge parking lot on the back, which is such a rarity for Russian places. Most of them have awful, crumpled, and inconvenient parking.
And they are open later then other Russian stores in the valley.
I gave it 4 stars because the service can definitely be better. The sales people can ignore you sometimes and it takes a while to get serviced. Although, if you compare it to other stores even in the valley, the lines are not as long and stuff is not as rude. But all that kind of comes with territory so to say.
So all in all this place is delivering a positive experience.

My family has been coming here for years getting their Russian fix of various cold cuts and Russian sweets. There are plenty of interesting Russian and Eastern European items at this store, but this review is for their bread and their bread only. Specifically, the Lithuanian Sunflower Dark Rye bread.
It is by far one of the best breads in the world. If there was a bread competition this will definitely be the San Antonio Spurs of breads! I haven’t seen this bread anywhere else on Unilocal,so this is a gold mine.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Sunflower Dark Rye Lithuanian bread is delicious. Its sweet dark rye aroma whose taste is exemplified by a multiple of 10,000 when coupled with butter is simply the best. It’s difficult to find Lithuanian food, since most of the cuisine is absorbed by either the Scandinavian or Russian cuisine in town, but if you’re looking for a specific dish or item from Lithuanian then this your place to be with respect to bread.
I can’t wait to come here again and get their bread! Thanks for stocking up on this. I plan to eat this bread for the rest of my life.

I appreciate this store, it brings a smile to my face. Why? I like anything different. I like variety. Russian goods are the primary, but I’ve found some Polish and German items here, too.
Baked goods are ranked high here, a nice bakery filled with cakes, breads, and other sugary things — candies and what not. The butcher and hot foods section, I would rank lower — the items looks a little «aged». But one is safe to say, the frozen and packaged goods are, well, good!
The staff is not overly friendly, but when asked, they are helpful.

Rasputin is a market that stocks all sorts of Russian comestibles in a brightly lit, clean, wholesome environment. But why the name Rasputin??? This market is named after the infamous Grigory Yefimovich Novykh better known as Rasputin, the «debauched one», who was an illiterate peasant & somehow became known for curing the sick.
Rasputin got the attention of Czar Nicholas II & his wife Alexandra who employed him to «heal» their hemophiliac son of bleeding possibly by the use of hypnotism. (Some theorize that Queen Victoria of England was the carrier for hemophilia & passed it onto her 9 children.)
This power allowed Rasputin to become a court favorite & gained him entrée to the Czarina who was susceptible to his malevolent influence. When WWI heated up on the Russian front, Czar Nicholas took over military affairs, ceding internal affairs to wife Alexandra, who under the influence of Rasputin, made unwise choices in appointing incompetent cabinet ministers.
Prince Felix Yusupov & his confederates, who wanted to stop the negative, poisonous influence of Rasputin, used poison on him. That did not seem to do the trick so they shot him without immediate effect. Finally, Rasputin was thrown into the frigid Neva River where he ultimately met his demise.
The Russian Revolution that ousted Nicholas II & the Romanov dynasty was initiated only weeks after Rasputin’s death. Although Rasputin was not the sole reason for the fall of the House of Romanov, he certainly contributed to the hastening of the last days of this autocratic & arbitrary ruling family. Unfortunately, Russia to this day seems to continue that tradition of autocratic rule since it never had a tradition of democracy.
The meat counter at Rasputin is like a super magnet for the carnivore. The different kinds of Eastern European preserved meats drew me in so I choose to sample 3 kinds of sausages in various stages of desiccation.
1) Ohotnichiy: Bouquet is lightly smoky, porky, mild garlic.
Texture is harder like dried salame & the casing is tough
Flavour is smoky with a light bitterness, black pepper, meaty chaw.
Finish is slightly metallic, dark blood with lingering smoky black pepper.
Ohotnichiy was the least favorite of the cured sausages. It was over dried leaving hard textures, and the herb/​spice mix was rather bland with flavours that did not seem to have synergy. However, because it is so desiccated, I have a hunch it won’t spoil for a long time even if it is not refrigerated.
2) Kabonosy: Bouquet is strong garlic, black pepper, meaty porkiness.
Texture is soft, finely ground, moist with the casing having a slight «snap».
Flavour is a mild meaty taste with a good shot of garlic. Certain herbal flavouring such as Winter savory?, Thyme?
Finish is salty, peppery, porky, sweet garlic
3) Hunter Smoked Salame Stick: Bouquet is spiced porky, bacon aroma with a light smokiness.
Texture: Rough ground with chunks of fat visible like Salame Toscano. The fat melts in your mouth for added richness.
Flavour is Umami filled sweet porky smokiness with mild pepperiness.
Finish is salty/​sweet, meaty oiliness. Light smoky, peppery garlic totally satisfying mouthfeel.
Of the 3 sausages, the Hunter Smoked Salame to me had the most appeal. However, seeing the chunks of white fat reminded me to take Cholestoff to ward off the bad effects of LDL (low density lipids) that can increase bad cholesterol. Otherwise, the Hunter Smoked Salame was the equal to almost any in the traditional Italian Salumeria repertoire. 3+ Unilocal stars.