Patel Brothers

We live in PA and come to Edison every once-​in-​a-​while but our 1^st experience here was very bad. While buying over $ 100 in groceries, one of our items (Jaggery) rang up at a price higher than the price marked on the package. We pointed this out and they refused to honor the marked price, saying they made a mistake on the tag. It was only about a $ 2 difference (which isn’t a big deal), but good customer service would be adjust the price to what they marked it at. And, while shopping in one aisle, their Hispanic employees were working with a big cart in the aisle (which are very narrow, anyway) and we were trying to look at items behind them… and other customers were trying to get by… and the rude, disrespectful employees looked at us as if We should move out of the way for the others to pass by… while these employees were right at the end of the aisle where THEY were blocking the lane and should have moved out of the way… THEY work there, I don’t. I mentioned this to an old guy that they referred to as «Kaka» and he listened to my comment about these employees and, while we were walking way, I saw him just smile at the employees, basically blowing off the comment/​feedback we gave. — To make this worse, I emailed Patel Brothers who initially responded asking for more detail about the experience. I gave them a detailed reply and for over a month, they haven’t bothered to reply. Bad in-​store service. Bad (NO) accountability & follow-​up from their corporate/​main office. — After shopping here, we went across the street to Bestway and while it is smaller and not as shiny/​new as Patel Brothers, their service, their prices are MUCH MUCH better (you get much more for the same money). You feel valued and their employees have a focus providing good service. We went back to Edison recently and only went to Bestway… and a few things at Subzi Mandi (which is also pretty decent w/​customer service).

If you don’t cook a lot of Indian food at home but you want to try a little, here’s what Patel Brothers is good for: dried goods, hearty vegetables, packaged sauces, spices, every kind of flour you can imagine, frozen prepared food, yogurt, snacks.
Here’s what it’s not good for: bread, drinks, leafy vegetables, prepared foods — things just looked a little old and there’s too much variety within each of these categories to have enough turnover for freshness.
I’m really looking forward to making masala popcorn!

Big n busy place. I like the one in Jkson hts ny better as it’s more compact n the people are friendlier.
This one has ample parking. And lot of variety but things all over the place.

They have great customer service. I was incorrectly billed for an item during one of my grocery trips and only realized it when I got home (and I live far away). So, i thought, what the heck, I will just email them a copy of the receipt to their email address on the receipt marking the item for which i was incorrectly billed for. The management actually replied the next day and asked me to see the store manager on my next visit for a refund/​store credit. This was a level of customer service I frankly was not expecting but was very pleasantly surprised and impressed too. I did get my refund as promised and the manager i spoke to and the boss who emailed me, were very cordial throughout the process.
As others said, they have decent pricing and stock fresh groceries. I like to shop some of their frozen seafoods as you get exotic fish that you may not find in your mainstream chain grocery stores, such as Hilsa, King fish etc.
It may be a bit chaotic inside but that adds to the charm of shopping in an ethnic grocery store.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!! Bought a pack of rotis yesterday and today theyre totally covered in mold!

There is no doubt that there is a growing or grown Indian community in the Edison and Iselin., New Jersey area. The newly renovated Patel Brothers cash and carry grocery store is evidence of this. The new place is more interior space and a bigger parking lot which is a welcome to shoppers who used to park on side streets.
This place has big variety of indian food produces as well as spices. This place can be very busy on the weekends, but the presentation of their produce is excellent. If you like to eat guava fruit, this place has had the best I’ve tried so far compared to other stores I’ve tried.

So far, the best cash and carry I’ve been to.
They have the cheapest and freshest produce. Even compared to Chinese markets.
Here are some sample prices which of course fluctuates:
Cilantro — 2 bunches for $ 1
Tomatoes — 0.99 $/​lb for red plum tomatoes
Cauliflower — 1.49 $/​bulb
They add up when you buy in bulk.
Etc etc
And every time I come here I ended up bringing home a new spice I’ve never used before. Most of their patrons are of south asian descent. They shop fast and furious. But once in a whole you’ll get a friendly encounter and you can get a recipe from one of those grandmas or aunties.
So far, it’s nice and neat. Larger parking lot is a plus. Hopefully they upkeep this location better than other Patel Brother locations.

After the renovation & re-​opening few months ago, this is the only market where my family shop for Indian goods. They carry all the Indian vegetables including seasonal stuff like mangoes. For now, shelves are clean and well-​stocked; prices are more than reasonable and cheaper than all the neighboring stores. They also have HUGE frozen food section– and this has been mentioned a lot lately that indian frozen food unlike American frozen crap does not have unpronounceable chemicals and harmful additives. There is no minimum for credit cards, nor are the lines crazy and unorganized like the other grocery around the corner. The biggest problem I had before was parking — but after the renovation, the parking is a bit easier here because they have a HUGE parking lot now.

With the demise of Deepa Grocery in Elizabeth, we took to the Parkway to find our Indian provisions. Although Unilocal had steered us to three Indian groceries within a two block area of Oak Tree Road, we found Patel Brothers first.
Shopping in small-​to-​midsized ethnic markets is almost always an experience in crowded aisles, unfamiliar languages on the labels, new and curious items– and being a curiosity to your fellow shoppers. Frankly, if I saw a shop where this wasn’t the case I would probably get back in the car. I detected nothing derogatory, and both our in-​aisle assistance and cashier were friendly and helpful.
As others have noted, both parking and the store itself were crazy busy. We brought the car to a stop in a nearby residential neighborhood, and walked a block. Once our quest for a bag of basmati rice began, we found a veritable «rice museum,» an entire aisle of varieties in different sized bags. Pricing of the rice was quite good. Our search for the half-​dozen bulk bags of spices which needed replenishment wasn’t quite as smooth. Spices are stocked in more than one aisle, and the logic behind their placement escaped us. Rather than the budget-​priced in-​house re-​bagging to which we are accustomed, most spices are commercially bagged «Swad» brand, and are expensive. We located everything we needed, and found a great selection of daal lentils to choose from. There appears to be a very good selection of fresh Indian produce, as well.
Contrary to the store’s name, they were more than happy to accept my Visa card.
Parking, the cleanliness of the floors and high prices keep me from giving a more favorable review, and we may try one of the nearby competitors next time, but the Patel Brothers experience wasn’t unpleasant and was productive.

The produce moves quickly, is constantly replenished and is always fresh. The store is crazy crowded no matter when you go. People working in and patronizing the store are just plain rude and racist. I’ve been here 11 years, the store is there 10 years, each time I go (it’s pretty close to my house) someone makes a comment about the «white» girl. My husband will not even step foot in the store.

I was amazed when I didn’t see this place already on Unilocal.Mostly because it seems that every Indian person in the Northeast has probably been to this grocery store at least once in their life.
They have everything you and your masi could be looking for. Their produce section is pretty good and they have every dal that you could possibly think of.
Be ready to get run over though in this store. People are pretty determined to get what they want and they do not care if they hit you with their enormous shopping cart. And yes, even the little grandma ladies hit too. Actually they probably hit harder than most.