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El Chico Produce No 2
Rating Details »
Category: Fruits & Veggies [Edit]
Neighborhood: Excelsior4600 Mission Street
(between Norton St & San Juan Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 587-6025
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
8 reviews for El Chico Produce No 2
Cheap, but quality produce, breads, and fruits. They've got an assortment of other items such as rice, dried fruits, chiles, and other sundries you'd never think to find at a produce market. Each time I come, I walk out with a large bag filled with items that cost me less than $5.00 total.
The cashiers are pretty nice, too, and if it's not busy they will try to get you to buy items around them such as the fresh cheeses or baked goods. Perfect place for a Saturday morning grocery run.
YES! This place is amazing.
Buying produce anywhere else in the neighborhood is a poor life decision. They have an incredible selection of fresh, beautiful fruits and vegetables at prices so low I walk out feeling like I just robbed the place. Also, the people who work the register rock. They crank the line along at an astounding pace, and if they don't know how much something costs they'll just punch in some ridiculously low price. I got a huge bag of tortillas one time for 75 cents.
They also have a good meat counter, which is definitely a lot cleaner and nicer than most of the meat markets in the neighborhood, some of which freak me out a little bit. Others freak me out quite a lot actually, like the one on geneva where a lot of stuff is self-service and just sitting out in the open and people who don't even work there sticking their bare hands into containers of chicken and fish. Anyway, none of that sketchy shit at El Chico.
Another thing I love is the huge selection of spices from Mama, the cafe and coffee/spice importer located a couple blocks down the road at Mission & Onondaga. The spices are always good and are super cheap. Even stuff that is usually pricey like saffron!
Anyway, stop yelping and go fill up a gigantic sack of produce. I guarantee it won't cost more than 20 bucks.
Yelp, you need to implement a half dollar sign for this place, "inexpensive" is just not doing them justice.
Have you ever been to a store with three shelves of Peruvian hot sauce? I have! El Chico has plenty of standard Mexican fare, but they also carry things I've never seen anywhere else, including some strange unlabeled fruit thing from the deli counter that's kept for the last year.
El Chico also carries fresh nuts much cheaper than you'll find elsewhere, although watch out for the bagged mixed nuts -- everything's shelled except the pistachios (ow, potentially).
This store has a rhythm -- if you shop around noon or 5, you'll have to elbow your way through the store and stand in a long line snaking past the deli counter, but in the afternoon and around the dinner hour of 6 or 7, you'll have better luck.
El Chico has, as everyone else's review says, a large supply of fresh Latin American produce. I prefer going to the farmer's market, but when I do buy at a neighborhood store, I go El Chico.
I love El Chico. This is the place to go for fresh produce and meats. Everything is so much less expensive than Safeway and the selection is better, too.
I highly recommend that you try the Chuletas Preparados, pork chops marinated in fresh veggies and seasoning, raw for $2.99/lb. We brought home a pound today and threw it on the BBQ Grill. It was MOUTH WATERING and a pound was enough to feed four. The also have marinated chicken and steak. And the rest of the meat counter is just as impressive!
The produce is fantastic too. Red Leaf Lettuce is $0.75/head and big fresh limes are 8/$1.00.
El Chico beats the hell out of Safeway!
I went to this place on Amy A's recommendation. She's not lying. This place is great!! They have the best produce selection of any of the markets in the neighborhood and they are SUPER CHEAP! The produce is usually very good. As with most outdoor / indoor markets, you gotta be a little picky with the outside stuff that's been in the sun (hint, most of the items outside are also stocked inside). The meat counter is expansive and the meat is very fresh. There seems to be alot of turn-over here, and I never notice any funky smells by the meat. They also have a cheese counter and a bakery aisle along with a few aisles of dried grocery goods.
I tried the Chuletas Preparados like Amy A told me to and they were delicious. They are cut thin they are perfect for grilling or pan searing (what I did). They were actually cheaper than I expected ($2.39 a lb) so I got some chicken (prepared) as well for the same price. The butchers here are nice, they know their stuff and they will put your meat order in the refrigerator case for you while you shop or stand in line (NICE!)
to sum up, I bought:
1 lb of prepared chicken
1 lb of prepared pork
4 valencia oranges
4 asian pears
2 large white zucchini
2 bunches of asparagus
1 bunch of bananas
1 2L of Diet Coke
under $15 dollars
Wtf is Safeway?
Cool place.
It's dirt cheap, and no, not because there is dirt on the produce sometimes. They carry everything you're looking for to prepare a fresh meal, and sell it cheaper than any other store in the neighborhood. I hate that they let rotting fruit sit on the stands and even try to sell it at lower prices though. It attracts flies and is kind of disgusting when it gets on your hands. But I do have to admit I've purchased some of those bad fruit.... it was like stealing! And it had only just gone bad.
The shoppers here can be kind of rude, but just be patient or ignore them. A lot of the produce is really insect/pest/herb-icide heavy, but I don't worry about it as long I wash thoroughly and cook to the right temps.
It's dirty and crowded from the sidewalk into the store, but preparing a nice meal at home with the fresh produce you brought at El Chico beats ordering out again.
yah, you'll think its a bit dirty and unorganized as you are wandering thru the labrinth of metal shelves and looking dubiously at the fruit stacked in cardboard boxes, but then you see the hand-written prices and you fill your basket to the brim. CHEAP-O. I mean 69 cent avocados and the like.
all the food is F.O.T.T. (fresh out the truck) from mexico and completely unorganic, but ignore strawberries, tomatoes etc. and all will be fine. they have great mangoes, avocados, bananas, papayas, citrus and peaches (when they are in season). you can stock up on mexican hot chocolate (yum), tapatio hot sauce and portuguese sweet rolls (makes great french toast). oh and the frozen tamales are great!
details: parking can sometimes be difficult on mission, turn down ocean for more options. also, be sure to watch where you step when you are perusing the produce outside, theres always a roll away underfoot. notice how the cashiers wet there fingers with lemon to separate the plastic bags. very natural and nice :)
Everything the local produce market should be--wide selection, ripe, well-maintained, clean, and most of all CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. Why anyone would pay twice the price for groceries at Safeway is beyond me.
Plus, they have an amazing butcher with everything from marinated carne to pigs feet to fried pork skin to my white-boy favorite..boneless, skinless chicken and all for below grocery store prices.
They also have authentic Mexican candies, basic canned food, and fresh baked pastries.
Great selection of fruit and veg.
A cheap chef's dream!
