Chinatown Supermarket

I give this place a solid B: good in a pinch, especially when Super Cao Nguyen is out of Café du Monde coffee, which is a staple in our house, or tofu, which I am endeavoring to work into a meal at least twice a month.
I kind of revel in the cramped aisles and ramshackle sense of order, but then I lived in S.E. Asia, so I tend to go here when I miss it. You can find plenty of the exotic — jackfruit, a varied selection of fungus and plenty of sights and smells that tell you you’re in the right place. This is my go-​to when Super Cao Nguyen is out of a specific item, and their prices are comparable to or a little cheaper. If you make Vietnamese Coffee (café su da)* like we do in the Team Green-​Eaton house, you’ll find everything you need. You’ll also find a decent selection of the not-​so-​common items that might not be your everyday in a Western kitchen, but if you do enough Asian cooking, you’ll need on hand: soy sauce, rice in bulk and tofu. They also carry some of the more unusual like whole pig’s heads and black chicken.
For everything I can find here, this isn’t necessarily where I would immediately send someone in blind. But it’s cool, I would happily go with someone to explore it, because it’s fun as heck to get outta your comfort zone. I’ve always had good customer service here, as well.
*If you haven’t had Vietnamese coffee, get thee immediately to one of the fabulous Vietnamese restaurants in this neighborhood and enlighten yourself, fool. You’ll be so thankful you did. If you’re like me, you’ll immediately Google it and end up somewhere very much like Chinatown Supermarket to find the requisite items so you can enjoy weapons grade iced coffee for your everyday cuppa.

If I could give a lower rating I would. Very rude employees at checkout. Cramped grocery store. Much rather go to Super Cao Nguyen which is located not too far away from this joke of a store.

Close quarters store but I was able to find some fruit that I wanted, jackfruit and Longan. I was put off by a lot of the fruit being in plastic and styrofoam for environmental reasons. Also some of the produce wasn’t marked so I was unable to identify it with a Google search and see a price in some instances.

Everything you want in an affordable price. I drive two hours to get here because it’s worth saving the money. Fresh seafood and fresh vegetables. Two thumbs up!

Wow, this is probably as good as it gets for Chinese vegetables and other ingredients. There is a large seafood, meat, and frozen section here. There is one down side that they charge 20 cents per pound for cleaning fish and grinding meat. Not a huge deal but usually done free of charge elsewhere I have been. My gf’s family got a lot of groceries and I found a cute pair of cups to bring back home with me. Reasonable price and very clean so be sure to come here if you are need of Asian groceries.

I only shop here when Super Cao is out of the item I need. Why is this market my second choice? Because it is so cramped inside! You have to spend most of your time dodging people and it’s nearly impossible when you have a cart. The aisles are very narrow. And because the store is small, they have a smaller selection of everything. Service is not bad. The last time I needed help finding something, the employee was very accommodating.

Went here for the first time today and I really like this store! Produce is nicer than Super Cao especially he dragon fruit which was my main reason for going. A lot of items that super Cao doesn’t have. Will shop at both stores though :)

God bless this place. I just like to wander around it – looking at the oddness that it contains. I say odd but I realize its not that odd. It’s just odd to my Western mind – also at one time they did have live frogs in the store – so that might be odd – anyway. They have a great deal of selection. I told my lady that we should shop there for a week and eat from there. I don’t know how that would work – but I think it would be like an episode of Chopped.
They have vegetarian mock pork. Need I say more?

This is just a junior Super Cao Nguyen. It does not smell as decaying meat as Super Cao, but it also lacks the personality of Super Cao. A few things I will say, for one the aisles are too small. This store is clean though, that’s a big plus. Also, I don’t like how they do not label their meats/​seafood farmed or wild. What they do is stamp ‘Chinatown Market’ on everything and hope you don’t notice that they are not telling you it’s all farmed when I like to buy wild sometimes especially seafood.
What I did find that turned me off was a package of dried oysters where more than half the package had molded on the inside and small bugs where feasting. This is terrible poor attention to detail. There was some fruit in the produce section that I noticed had mold on it and they were selling it anyway. They need to hire someone to specifically go in once a month and take out all expired items and items that look bad and old.
With that being said and after having tried this place and Super Cao, I much better prefer Sprouts and Whole Foods. They label their products wild or farmed, and I never find mold of any kind on any of their products. The attention to detail at these American grocers are pretty good, plus they have a better turnover rate assuring that you are not eating food more than a year old. Some of these products at these Asian markets are not only molding but have so much dust on them there is no way they have much of a turnover. Though Whole Foods may cost more, your health is important. Why pay less for mediocre. This place and Super Cao are ok just for hard to find items like chicken feet, black chicken, octopus and durian fruit just to name a few, other than that my seafoods and meat will be purchased at Sprouts or Whole Foods. Even Vital Choice online has excellent and fresh seafood options.

My better half wanted to see what the inside of the market looked like, so we visited… It is a lot smaller on the inside then it looks on the outside. Friends of mine only shop here for specific items and told me that the selection can be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for.
Likes–
*Black Chicken– not for everyone, but it’s good for you (according to my family anyway). It has medicinal purposes, helps purify your blood or blood flow– something like that. Tastes great in a soup! Don’t expect to get a lot of meat out of one carcass though.
*Assorted tofu– They carry a couple extra options that I don’t see at Super Cao
Dislikes–
*Veggie selection was vast, but some of the greens were wilted and not very tasty looking.
*Aisles are small. It’s hard to walk around someone let alone move a cart around something.
*Variety of goods in general. I can’t buy everything I need, hence the «A-​OK» rating

Chinatown supermarket is a epicurean journey from Hong Kong to Mainland China, thru Szechwan Provence, Beijing, Shanghai & back again! Throw in a little bit of flushing queens, or lower Manhattan’s C-​town, with all the English speaking American Chinese stylishly dressed in North Face & designer jeans bustling about, hunting & gathering the evenings fresh fish, greens, noodles, & seasonings. You will think your on Canal Street!
The journey begins as soon as you walk in with the pungent smells of the fish market & tanks of fresh fish, overwhelming your senses & disillusioning your whereabouts. It’s not the most pleasant of smells, but I’ve learned to adore it as it means whole live sea creatures & a abundance of the freshest sea fare awaits my culinary adventure!
Live crab, bass, catfish, clams, oysters on ice and even a very curious soft shell turtle was giving me the once over as I approached! He was ready for his close up as I took his picture & the very hungry looking Chinese man beside me took him home! He was mighty handsome I bet he made a even more handsome soup! The turtle, not the Chinese man of course! lol
The fish display had everything you could possibly need to create any fabulous seafood dish from simple to simply divine. The whole red snapper, salmon steaks, fresh eel & fresh octopus called out to me as dinner was quickly forming visually in my head.
Fish sauce, chili paste, miso, rice wine vinegar, oyster sauce, etc., they have it all. Whatever brand you like in several different sizes.
The fresh produce is a vision of majestic beauty much like the Great Wall of China, it goes on & on stretching as far as the eye can see, wrapping all around, down & back again. It holds the most incredible fresh greens like Mong Toi, red spinach, yam leaf, gungora leaf, Chung Ho, Bok choy, Yu Choy, Chinese chive flower, snow pea, lotus flower, Chinese eggplant, every kind of squash, cabbage & herb, you name it! They have it all.
The colorful beauty of the fresh fruit was astonishing as was the fresh sugar cane nestled behind the giant pomelos at the front entrance.
The tofu selection was equally astonishing. From the usual packaged brands to the large display of fried tofu as well as some fresh made, floating like tiny white ice burgs in tubs of ice water.
Frozen foods, dumplings, fresh noodles, & a giant display of fish balls by the pound can be purchased as well as many variety of shrimp, all at wholesale prices!
If that hasn’t blown your mind to what kinds of dinners you can prepare yet, there is still plenty more options as the store is completely packed with tons of canned goods, dry noodles, all kinds of rice, large selection of teas, beer and a whole section of Chinese dishes & small-​wears!
If your a professional Chef, a home chef, or just desire to go on a culinary adventure or heck, just an ADVENTURE around Chinatown! Chinatown Supermarket will take you there or just make you feel like your lost in NY! lol
Either way, when your done with your journey I’m sure you will have found something yummy for your next at home Chinese dinner extravaganza!
Even if it’s just some ramen noodles and a Chinese beer! Everyone knows how to make ramen noodles & drink a beer! lol Karate kick it up a notch with some chili paste & that beer will taste sooo much better :)’ lol
I cant wait for my next Culinary adventure at Chinatown Supermarket to see what fresh sea treasures I will find!
Bön voyage! See you there! ;)

Shopping at Chinatown Supermarket can be chaotic. I have had cute old ladies bowl me over because we both happened to be going for the same thing. Also, the store is kind of a mess, with cramped aisles, and the sense of chaos can be felt even as you search for something that you know can be found in the store, but you just don’t remember the specific location.
Prices are reasonable, and comparable (and occasionally even better) than Super Cao Nguyen. But since Super Cao Nguyen is so close by, there really should be no reason to stop here unless you just enjoy the madness of it all. The produce section is cheap, and if you know what things like Gai Lan and Bok Choy are, obviously this may be the store for you. However, even given the fairly low prices, the freshness of the veggies is hit or miss. Usually miss. The fish section is decent, but also chaotic. Also, a lot of what’s out there isn’t labeled so unless you know what the fish is, it may be risky.
Speaking of risk; my friend and I play this game. We walk through the store and pick up two or three things we have never seen or tried before. We buy these things. We go home and eat/​drink them. We make a variety of faces right after. We have discovered some delicious things in the process, but more often than not, it has led to some digestive disasters. We’re essentially playing Russian Roulette with our gullets. Fun game.

Not sure how I hadn’t noticed this place before now, but I stopped in on a whim, having put off a trip to Super Cao Nguyen (I only needed one thing, and we know how that goes, in a store that size).
I was really impressed, as a first-​time visitor. Huge selection of produce (though I have to say, if you don’t know what some of this stuff is, you might just be out of luck) at reasonable prices, and I was very impressed by the size and service at the seafood counter. They have a store-​length freezer case dedicated primarily to different kinds of dumplings, and there are several ready-​to-​eat selections toward the registers.
If you know what you’re looking for – and what you’re looking for is a generally hard-​to-​find Asian grocery item – then this is the place for you. Grab a whole fried fish, lychees, a Danish and a 12-​pack of beer, and be on your merry way.

3.5 stars
i usually prefer to go to cao nguyen for asian groceries… they are cleaner, have a wider variety of products, and their vege/​fruit section is usually fresher…
but chinatown does have a better selection of japanese teas… and they have the mini thai bananas and sometimes carry mangosteens in the summer… and, and, and… i also recently discovered dried green mangoes here… they are YUMMIES… i bought 5 packages the last time i was here… does this qualify as hoarding? hmmm… will need to look this up in DSM IV…
this is definitely going to become a regular stop when i’m in town… and plus… i occasionally buy lotto tickets here… shhhh…don’t tell anyone, but i secretly believe i’m going to win the lottery ;-p

really really really bad return policy! They only accept returns in certain items within seven days with receipts only. If you lost receipt, don’t even bother to go back. All the employees are unprofessional, dress like house wives, they will be always on cell phone while servicing other customers. Go to Cao Ngyen instead. Lower class people go to China Town super market.