Reliable Market

This market is similar to many other large Asian supermarkets but slightly well more curated.
A fresh fish counter, vegetables, sake and noodles are packed into this easy to pass-​by food store.
Sushi and other Korean delicacies may be made fresh for you in the back of the time is right.
Japanese, Korean, chinese rice? By the hundred pound bag if that’s what is necessary.
Beer and wine. A butcher section. Don’t miss Reliable Market.
Park in back and enter through the back door.

I am so grateful for this Korean market. They have everything I need that I can’t find at the commercial shopping market. The place is well lit and they have aisles and aisles of products.

This is a local Asian/​Korean Market in Somerville (Union square). It is a smaller market compare to H-​Mart. However, I do think that the reliable market has quite good selection in terms of their frozen food, sauces, Asian snack and other things. Perhaps only the vegetable or prepared food selections are less than H-​Mart. It has a small kitchen in the store, so you will see some «mother-​like» elderly make some home cook style Korean food for people to buy. You can’t get anything more home cook taste than this. I have to say the price of reliable vs Hmart are comparable. Do not assume Hmart is a bigger market will give you cheaper price, it’s not necessary the case. They offer free parking, so it won’t be as hectic compare to the parking scene in Hmart lot. As a local, I always support local business. The Union square is a hidden gems, you will find good Italian food supply from pasta sauce to fresh pasta at Capone Foods. You also can find one of the best donuts in Boston– Union Square donuts. And there is popular brunch place where is run by a Portuguese-​American Family — Neighborhood Restaurant. Of course, you can find a nice café in the area as well. These are all in walking distance from reliable market.

Even with the competition from H-​Mart in Central, Reliable is still the best Korean market in Boston. They not only habe ready-​to-​eat food, a huge frozen section, various kinds of alcohol, and a good selection of Japanese products too, but the staff is always friendly and nice. You really feel like you’re supporting a friendly local business.

Thank you, for providing a valuable market for our community. I have enjoyed my visits, there, along with the professionalism and kindness of your kind personnel. Your grocery variety is also very interesting and according to my taste.

I originally went in for seaweed salad, because it seems this is one of the few places you can get it ready-​made without going to a restaurant. But this place has EVERYTHING! Very clean and organized, and super friendly people as well. I will definitely be back.

Reliable is awesome. Its a mom and pops store at it’s best. They have a good selection of quality items instead of packing the shelves with a million inferior products. They also had some of my favorite Korean street foods. Bindae dduk and kimbap! The owner is super friendly and even showed us some great foods that they carry. We came to shop from an hour and half away and they gave us some ice to keep our frozen groceries cold on the way back. Did I mention that Reliable is awesome?!

This is a very nice Asian food store that was recommended to me by a Japanese colleague. The store is quite small but they have a ton of stuff in there! Easy and free parking in the back of the store. It is quite expensive though but worth it for occasional groceries.

This store focuses on Korean ingredients. It has plenty of fresh, local veggies for very reasonable prices. You’ll discover an enticing array of Asian cooking ingredients and equipment, right in Union Square. Be sure to try the daifuku, cold red bean cakes! They are in a refrigerator right next to the check out counter.

As one of the few Korean groceries in the Greater Boston area, Reliable has been a mainstay for my family growing up and I love stopping in here to catch up on Korean groceries between my regular supermarket runs. I admit, I mix it up with H-​Mart, but Reliable is a different experience and mostly, I come here b/​c it’s right down the street from me in Union Square and b/​c I want to keep supporting the mom & pop shop!
They’ve got essentially everything you could need in terms of Korean grocery items. They also carry non Korean/​Japanese stuff, but it’s somewhat limited (for ex., I can’t seem to find tamarind paste here for Thai cooking). Recently, they renovated the back to offer more pre-​made food and added some oddly placed acrylic tables & chairs to encourage people to eat there, though I can’t imagine anyone really sitting down to eat the pre-​packaged stuff in the middle of a grocery store. Dining in or not, I’m glad to see more pre-​made food items! No, they’re not as good as homemade, but not bad in a pinch! I also find their pre-​made items preferable to H-​Mart in that they don’t seem to use MSG.
My favorite thing about Reliable? The butchery section & seafood section! There’s always someone behind each section and you can ask for custom cuts very easily. One time, I wanted to make cod stew and they didn’t have the cuts I needed so they didn’t mind cutting up a whole cod to get me the pieces I was looking for! Excellent service.
I hope Reliable sticks around forever– I’m still rooting for them and will continue to give them my business over H-​Mart as much as possible!

This is the greatest Korean market in the whole boston area. They have everything you need for fabulous asian food at great prices and the owners and workers are always extremely kind and helpful! I came at 9:05, 5 minutes after closing and the owners kindly let me buy udon and re opened the store for me. I appreciate this small local business so much! They have quality and service that HMart could never offer and I will choose to come here first for quality asian grocery ingredients, sushi grade fish, out of this world amazing sauces, and fresh cheap veggies every time!

This place is pretty good, but it’s also dramatically overpriced. There are very few things here that you couldn’t find cheaper at either Market Basket or the Super 88 Hong Kong Market. There are however, some brights spots, among which are that some of the produce is cheap and good, and they sell good sized jars of ground ginger which I use with frequency. They also have a large variety of tasty dried asian noodles of which I have tried plenty. But I really only go here because I live close, and don’t have a car to drive myself to Packard’s Corner and go to Super 88 instead.

Absolutely love this place for the freshly prepared pickled veggies, kimbap, seafood, produce, and crazy selection of spices and sauces. I can get just about anything I need here, and the prices are really good!

Very nice staff! I always stop by to get sushi salmon, and the price is fair comparing to the sushi rolls you buy in a restaurant. Great collection of Asian (mostly Korean) goods. Now they have 10% discount for students! Love it!

Not everything has an English translation on it, but the staff and other customers were nice enough to help me out. They list the ingredients too (in English). Some really good prices.
They weren’t stalking me like I was going to steal. They were so laid back, it was refreshing!
Cash, Credit/​Debit card, EBT accepted.

One evening, I had an INTENSE craving for some korean fried chicken. Instead of usually ordering from BonChon, I had a brilliant idea. Why not learn how to make some?!! So I surfed the web for a good recipe. I had some of the basic ingredients. Chicken wings? Check. Flour? Check. Soy sauce? Check. Gojuchang? COME AGAIN?! I have never heard of this ingredient before so it was foreign to me. Usually, my go-​to asian supermarket is either H-​Mart in Burlington or Super 88 which is a little bit of a trek for me since I live in Somerville. This is when I decided to see if there were any korean markets near me that carried gojuchang (korean red pepper paste). Thankfully, Reliable Market saved the day.
I was able to find all the main ingredients I needed like apple cider vinegar, red pepper paste, rice syrup, potato starch flour and a few other things. For a small store, it definitely carries all of your basic korean and japanese necessities. And you can’t beat the prices! I must have walked around the store a couple of times. I wanted to browse through everything. I am very glad this store is just down the street from me. I will be coming here frequently. Nice staff, great selection of meat & fish and they also sell alcohol. I bought a bottle of Kirin to go with the fried chicken. You can’t beat chicken wings and beer. (The korean fried chicken came out awesome btw.)

I love this place! Truly madly deeply.
Granted that I cannot read any of the signs or labels. Nevertheless, the food is familiar, and I love to wander the aisles taking tasty things off the shelves. There seems to be an unending supply of ramen noodles, sesame oil, and soup base, so my pantries are well stocked.
I like to shop here first, then hit up Sherman and Capone’s, before eventually making it to the Market Beast. I can find nearly everything I need in these three places, and I love it.

Haven for your Korean & Japanese grocery needs. The manager is from Kyushu, so they even carried yuzu kosho 柚子こしょう for under $ 7 and Bontan Ame for under $ 2. They have shiso, eggplant, mushrooms, chilis, tofu at great prices for produce. Green onions/​scallions are 2/​$ 1.
Their haircare depends on what they have in stock, but their SoMang shampoo/​hair pack are $ 8 each for 620ml and 500ml respectively. Their Tsubaki line stuff is under $ 18 for the bottles, under $ 14 for the refills. They have damage care & shining (less expensive). They have a small selection of Palty dyes. Also pink & orange Gatsby for about $ 11 each. Their Perfect Whip face cleanser is pretty pricey, though, maybe nearly double the usual cost. (Used to be about $ 12, but went up to about $ 20 when it became the last bottle). Softymo Deep Cleansing oil is a similar price, but sold out within a month.
They even have karintou snacks for just under $ 5! Their selection of rice is cool, all Korean & Japanese. I enjoy the Nishiki they sold me. On weekends, they have kimbap & scallion pancake samples out, maybe with the occasional sliced Asian pear. Then you can pick up a premade pack for yourself. So good.
I really like this place, and come often for my groceries. I’d give it higher stars if they had slightly more consistent stock. I call ahead to see if they have stuff in.

After losing Yoshinoya market on Prospect Street in Cambridge I am sure a lot of us felt unhappy about the idea of no local Asian supermarket in the area. Well, this one most definitely fills the void. It’s run by Koreans and has everything one could want from Japan. I can’t speak highly enough of the store — please see my photographs to see what I mean. The only thing I can think of that I wish they had is tanks of live fish, eels, and crabs, in addition to lobsters — but this doesn’t diminish the store at all. It’s a really fantastic asset for Union Square in Somerville. The selection is great, the staff polite (even when they don’t know much English) Everyone should check this great store out and shop often. You will not be disappointed.
Hopefully this place will compete well with the new Korean supermarket, H Mart in Central square and stay open for a long time.
DO NOT be fooled by the boring exterior of this store! Go inside to get an impression, even if you are not shopping during that trip.

Does Reliable Market have all my peculiar Filipino treatlets? Sadly, no. (As far as I can tell, most of the stuff they sell is Korean or Japanese.) Is it as vast or inexpensive as HMart? Not even close. But let’s be real here. In a town as cramped as Cambridge, that’s a completely unrealistic expectation.
Reliable does have one huge advantage over HMart in my book: it is a hell of a lot easier for me to get to. I can hit Market Basket for my normal groceries, and easily walk over to Reliable to pick up my Asian odds and end. They carry the all essentials. Gochujang? Check. Loads of noodles? Check. Multiple options for rice, soy sauce, and fish sauce? Check, check, and check.
The place smells incredible on the weekends — there’s always some sort of hot, delicious Korean food cooking in the back room. However, the quality of their refrigerated prepared foods varies widely (due to low turnover, I suspect). I’ve gotten fantastic simmered lotus root from Reliable before, but I’ve also had bland, dessicated, truly mediocre lotus root on occasion.
Overall, I can’t complain too much. It’s clean, accessible by public transport, and stocked with the key ingredients of most Asian cookery. Not bad.