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Categories: Specialty Food, Grocery
Neighborhoods: Pacific Heights, JapantownMon-Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
"While on a mission to gather some meat for a little bbq without the hassle of having to drive somewhere, my friend and I stumbled into La…" read more »
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Yo!
A solid four. A full fridge case of bento! Many kinds here: I snatched that adegashi tofu UP at under $5!! Mochi here is drier than Benkyo-do's so after I tried once I steer that way. Good selection of Ito-En and they have numerous coffee soymilks, a staple in my diet. Great for many items necessary for that great Japanese meal. Takes different cards and registers are fast and it's just off of geary, perfect to take this to the beach. It's easy to get carried off to spending land here
1. I give four stars to any Japanese market in the US for being a Japanese market in the US. You go!
2. Wagyu beef available for $39.99/lb. They probably don't really sell any, but hey, street cred doesn't come for cheap.
3. The monkfish liver had worms wriggling underneath the plastic wrap. It actually looked pretty cool, but we decided to have pasta for dinner instead.
Yes, I do like to shop here.
The most popular grocery store in Japantown (compared to Uoki & Super Mira). One of my favorite items was a little baked pastry confection filled with lima bean paste, made locally. Sad it was discontinued long ago and don't remember the name. Darn!
Love many of the items in the prepared foods section (see pics).
But wish we had a bigger Japanese grocery store in SF, with the type of variety u see in the South Bay stores, or the regional festivals u find at Mitsuwa in other cities.
We came in to just pick up a couple bottles of sake. Should we get a basket anyway? Let's just get one in case and of course we arrived at checkout with a basket piled to the top.
A couple bottles of sake turned into futomaki, tekka maki, unigi bowl, and chicken karaage plus a couple bottles of sake and a large bottle of Sapporo for good measures. Amazing. Better than delivery/take-out that we have been ordering from neighboring restaurants by our place. The maguro was incredibly fresh. The rice, despite having been refrigerated, still had a great texture (not frozen and hard). The unadon was even more amazing. Fresh unagi drizzled with teriyaki, it was a heavenly bowl of sweet and savory. Throw the chicken karaage in the oven for 15 minutes and you got a small plate of deep fried (then reheated) goodness.
They also have bento boxes and a wide selection of mochi, rice cake, cake, and other Japanese pastries. The saba bento looked like a little treasure box with a generous portion of mackerel on top of a even more generous portion of rice, a side of potato croquette, a siu mai, a side of typical Japanese vegetables, and a side of pickled vegetables. It tasted, disappointingly, not nearly as great as it looked.
Still you can pick up all your Japanese cooking essentials and grocery here. Soba, udon, shichimi togarashi, and my favorite Kirin afternoon tea in a bottle.
My only complaint? Why do you card me for the sake if I'm not the one paying? If a mother was grocery shopping with her 5 year old, would you card the 5 year old for the sake? The bagging lady insisted that the cashier needed to card both of us. I explained to her the law asks that she cards the person actually buying the alcohol but I don't think she understood a word I said. And why are all the cashiers Chinese speaking Cantonese?
I got a bento the other day.
It was a Tofu Bento $4.99.
$4.99!!!!!
4 pieces of Age-Dashi-Dofu. 1 piece = about 2" cube.
1 large boild pumpkin.
http://cookpad.com/rec...
Wakame Salad.
And brown rice mix with wild rice and
Fukujin-zuke on it.
http://image.pixta.jp/...
Salmon Bento, $6.99
$6.99!!!!
a Good thick slice grilled salmon.
a "Korokke" = croquettes Japo kind.
Nishime = Shime boiled vegetables.
http://allabout.co.jp/...
1 large boild pumpkin.
The grilled salmon was pretty thick enough to get the skin grilled.
I love grilled salmon skin.
So, I did it home. Nice!
Great Cheap Bento EVER!!!!!
It gets really busy weekday evening and weekends.
But, I've never seen people are arguing and fighting for food like Richmond New May Wah Supermarket.
The New May Wah is cheaper especially Sake.
I definitely go New May Wah for Sake and the real people's entertainment.
Chinese old ladies fight better than MMA to watch.
So that this Nijiya is maybe boring, no real people's entertainment.
But peaceful place.
http://www.youtube.com...
Every time when I am in this store, I feel like I am time-slipped into 70's…
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Shopping list:
2 large bottles of Otokoyama - check
C.C. Lemon - check
Kashiwa mochi - check
Strawberry Pocky - check
Kirin Afternoon Tea - check
Bento box lunch - check
Yebisu beer - check
Instant soba bowls - double check
this is where i have to go every few months to stock up on REAL Japanese ingredients. You know hon-mirin instead of the crap fake mirin thas is just corn syrup in disguise and is sold at every other store. Real miso though the selection is mostly lame there are some real gems in the miso section. Real shoyu and tamari, real natto, real tea. And the past year or so they started carrying a decent selection of organic produce! They carry the best quality brown rice to be found in the area, Akita Komachi.
Real Japanese ingredients are hard to find outside of Japan. Usually we have to settle for very low quality stuff as most Americans simply cannot tell the difference.
Great shop for chefs and cooks who need real ingredients to produce authentic Japanese cuisine!
Nijiya's selection is exactly what you would expect out of a Japanese market: fresh, perfectly compartmentalized, and oh-so-yummy. I've been going for years and always have a happy grin when I come out, skipping home to make oodles of noodles. It's my dream spot for Japanese groceries.
Pros: amazing selection of Japanese food products, including a whole shelf level of soba broth alone; fast checkout counters, yummy ready-to-eat lunch boxes and snacks.
Cons: a little pricey, tourists blocking the aisles, mostly Japanese-only food labels.
I really like this market! I've found all kinds of new and delicious ingredients to spice up my weekly meal repertoire. I particularly like their meat and fish section. Everything is really fresh and they have several organic meats to choose from. I also really like that the portions of meat are packaged in smaller quantities, so if you are cooking for one or two people you can just buy half a pound of meat or one chicken breast. I found the prices to be good as well, which is a nice treat after shopping at Mollie Stones, Whole Foods, or Bryans!
My first time here, I had trouble with the parking validation.
I got my ticket validated at Nijiya so I drove up to the exit and my ticket got denied because I didnt "pay" for it. You have to "pay" for your ticket, regardless if its validated or not. What a stupid concept.
Anyways, this Japanese market is pretty standard. Really cramped and the selection is ehhh. Though the pre-packaged meals look appetizing, they are so overpriced! We get our Japanese specialty items and sake here.
Oh yea, you need to spend at least $30 for ticket validation!
I'm Asian, I need to have a plethora of Asian foods/snacks in my home at all times. Sometimes I go to the big corporate Asian markets we call Ranch 99 but it's always super ghetto with angry chinese ladies. When I'm in the mood for the fancy Japanese goods (which is pretty much weekly) I head over to this market. It is super convenient and has EVERYTHING packed into a somewhat small space. I love the bento boxes they have, but go early - sometimes after work they are always out. It reminds me of living in Japan and getting the bento boxes at the train station or seven eleven. Prices aren't TERRIBLE for a japanese market and I always get out of here spending about 30 dollars for a rack of things.
Tip: Favorite things to buy - the premade yakisoba, premade oden, the bentos, the thick toast bread, the chocolate mushrooms and the milk tea.
This place is awesome if your into Japanese food. I myself love their bento (lunch) boxes. Don't think it's anything super special though, it's a regular market that sells regular Japanese imports, and most of their products are in Japanese. So for what it is its super awesome. Everyone should buy some soba noodles and soba sauce and eat some soba for new years this year!
This is a nice little Japanese grocery store. I often stop in after my visit to Japan Town to replenish my supply of Japanese seaweed, snacks, sake, meat or fish.
Their beef, pork and fish are super fresh and highly recommended, although it's a bit on the pricey side. I've not tried their prepped food - cold bento boxes, they do look pretty good.
It's a bit tight inside with a lot of items packed in a small space. The cashiers are generally friendly and helpful.
Oh Nijiya!! I have no idea how to consume 90% of your products but the 10% I do understand I love with all my heart. Your white peaches are mouthwatering. Your prepackaged meals every bit as good as the hot meals you can buy for 3 times as much in the J-town mall. Your selection of toys titillating. For a picky eater on a budget like myself, this compact supermarket is a blessing.
Best Asian Supermarket! I just love their Bento's
They really need to expand this supermarket, it's so good that it's always so crowded!
I've always LOVED this place...UNTIL tuesday(8/25/09).....
So..I've always bought sake/plum wine here without a problem.( FYI: i'm over 21 already, thank you) So, as i was purchasing my 2 Onigiri, 4 soft drinks & 1 bottle of plum wine with my girlfriend...
Cashier - Can I see your ID?
Me - Here ya go !
Cashier - I need to see your friend's ID too,
Girlfriend - I'm not 21 and she's the one buying....not me..
Cashier - It's the law that I have to card whoever is buying and whoever they're with.
Me - Are you serious ? 0.0 I've never heared such law/rule
Cashier - They card the same way at safeway too...I'm sorry but i can't let you buy this
WTF?!??!?! uh...what kind of BS is that ? 0.0 Please tell me...
even in Japan they got beer mechines that anyone can buy 0.0
p.s. AND i never heared of safeway having that policy either..
OH ~ OH ~ UPDATE : I asked to see the manager and he said he can't sell it to me either cause it's " store policy." what kind of *beeping* BS is that? 0.0 seriously ? whhaaaa~
This is my go-to place for Japanese groceries in SF. The market is small but it has everything you need to prepare a delicious Japanese meal! Whether you're looking for soba noodles, fresh uni or shabu shabu meats, Nijiya has it all! The price is a bit expensive (as you'd expect from anything Japanese) but the quality is excellent. They have a great selection of bento boxes and sushi (all made fresh daily). This makes for a good alternative for the days when I'm too tired to cook!
I used to like this store, it used to be a Japanese store, now all the workers speak spanish! what kind of a japanese store is that? and the security guards are Baka!!! It is too hard to communicate with most of the workers.
I always stop by Nijiya Market whenever I'm going ANYWHERE near Fillmore or Geary. It's a pretty sweet japanese grocery store with almost everything you'd want.
My favorite items are probably Afternoon Tea bottled by Kirin, and Calbee Chips. They have awesome potato croquettes and the bento boxes taste delicious.
In the end though, it's kind of cramped and the prices could be lower. It's a great place when I'm not in the south bay at Mitsuwas but then I go to Mitsuwas and forget about Nijiya Market.
Today I was at the Nihonmachi Street Fair at around 4:30 - things were slowing down and I wasn't ready to eat, so I grocery shopped.
The market was packed to the rafters with shoppers. It's got some good things, but it's also full of a lot of highly processed stuff - and how many tiny fish can we possibly kill? A knowledge of Japanese / and or Japanese cooking would really be of benefit here. Otherwise with the processed or "non-scratch" stuff, you can usually look at the pictures and figure out what you're supposed to do. Make rice, squeeze the goo from several enclosed packets into it, mix and top with avocado, omelet, fish or all of the above...I'll report back on that later. Not unlike American processed stuff with fat and sugar content, just reading the sodium levels in most of this stuff is enough to raise your blood pressure. For example the chirashi sushi mix for making sushi rice contains 1430 mg sodium PER SERVING.
The place is about 1/4 mixes, 1/4 condiments, and the rest produce, frozen things fresh meat and fish. The sushi prices are more reasonable than say, Whole Foods...and while they seem to run out later in the afternoon, it looks like there is a wider variety of it.
I like coming here for the simple, 2 ingredient buckwheat soba. Not all types are alike. I also got organic tofu - really exceptional - and scored a 60 ounce bottle of unfiltered sake for 12.99. At my local haunt a hit of the stuff of the same brand costs 8 dollars, so I was happy about that. Also seaweed salad which was as expected, and something called Satsuma Age Gomoku - basically big fishy fried potato croquettes. Tasty but insubstantial. Many of the entrees to go they have on offer are deep fried. They look snackin' good but then when you dig in, it's a McDonald's kind of full. So many empty calories, so little time.
yay for salmon rice balls! yay for $2 wakame salad! Yay for convenience! It's crowded, which can be a good and bad thing-depending on your time availability.
all-in-all i give it 4 snaps and a "yaaay"! =D
PRICEY but the most prominent Japanese market in SF. It's got limited quantities of tons of products squeezed into the small space. Creative selection of authentic to-go meals of medium quality that brave beyond the boredom of chicken teriyaki, grilled salmon (See photo).
++ | Nijiya Futomaki Combo
California, spicy tuna, veggie, & shrimp tempura futomaki wrapped in colorful spring roll skin. It might not be as fresh by the end of the day (pick out the oxidized avocado)... but at least it looks pretty!
Plus, you get to wander Japantown if you come here. $30 min for parking validation (possibly more, check sign at registers).
I love this place. Because Japanese Beer are so cheap!!
Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin. 12pc $6.99, 24pk $13.99 sometimes.
29th every month NIKU-NO-HI(meat day), 20%OFF for meat.
Try your house YAKINIKU, SHABUSHABU, SUKIYAKI.
Make your self so easy!!
They have original organic rice too.
When in Japantown, I always stop at Nijiya!
Of all the Nijiya Markets I have been to -- including those in San Diego and the Los Angeles area -- this is the only location that sells the honey soy milk! The honey soy milk is the best!
Also, this location has the greatest selection of foods and freshly prepared packaged foods.
Tokuyo Mix Arare - addicting. Even my friends agreed with this. I should have bought more of this snack mix.
Candy - all the good stuff I'm used to from other Japanese markets and more. Their Koume (dried plum) Candy is delicious.
They had pastries and a good variety of drinks. They offered a lot more but I did not spend much time here. I'll have to check out more of their items at another time.
Reasonable prices and delicious, fresh bento boxes daily. What more could you ask for? I prefer Nijiya to the places inside of Kinokinuya's Food Corner and absolutely love their don bowls. Upgrade for accepting credit cards without the [illegal] minimum tab and for not glaring at me when I asked that the hashi be put back into the bag (because that's how I eat my food, people). It's within walking distance of the hospital haven in Pacific Heights, so if your doctor is running hours behind I suggest coming here for a bite to eat!
Nijiya has a whole wall of genmai cha tea to choose from and the best brown rice available.
This may not sound very exciting to you, but when you get to be my age these little details vellicate.
For those of you who like the feel of sticky, gooey, slimey, almost runny, spunky, funky munky schmunky textures on your tongue, go the route of swallow rather than spit to declare your true love AND prefer your meat on the raw side (even though it is Japanese in nature which means smaller size)....
****SUCKA DJ broken record SCREEECH*****
Sorry please keep your XXX, XYZ and ABC rated minds away from the gutter drain.
There's a new offering at Nijiya in the refrigerated deli section that would foot that bill.
NEBA NEBA MAGURO-DON (sticky themed tuna rice bento)
1. Several slices of red tuna maguro sashimi
2. A small portion of fermented sticky stinky soybeans (natto)
3. A little bit of sliced okra
4. Some slices of raw mountain yam (yamaimo)
5. organic (supermarket) sushi rice
Mix that shizzle with a little soy sauce and wasabi, and you're ready to roll.
Technically 3) should be the sticky slimey seaweed (mekabu) but oh well okra does the job too. FYI if you look up "mekabu" it is actually the genitals of wakame (seaweed)....
Strictly a healthy albeit acquired taste (and uber sticky texture) that is not really that kinky by any means...
Kudos for not actually inserting Bukkake next to Neba Neba on the sticker label....heads (and stomachs) will roll...
Finally don't forget the tasty multitude of black pork (kurobuta) preps they have in the pre-packaged meats section (see first writeup).
They say once you go black, you can never go back.
Nope, I'm not talking about foot long hot dogs,…
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Nijiya Market took over the Maruwa Market from competing Japanese market chain Maruwa Co., Ltd., who closed up all US stores & their internet operations as of this February. Their last US market was in El Cerrito & converted into an Ichiban Kan store. http://www.maruwa.com/...
Nijiya Market specialises in gourmet Japanese ingredients, fresh fish (sashimi quality), ocean products, meats, rganic produce, fruits & natural ingredients. The stores make & sell fresh sushi, sozai, and other prepared foods daily. They also carry a decent array of blind-box candy toys.
When it was under the ownership of Maruwa, all prepared foods were marked 1/2 off near store's closing time. Unfortunately Nijiya does not do this. :(
They have a line of natural & organic Japanese products, specialising in rice in varying degrees of polish called "The Nijiya Brand".
Nijiya is headquartered in Torrance, California & opened thier first US store in San Diego in 1986. They now have 12 American stores, including the SF location.
Santa's yelper sez: " Lots of yummy Japanese goodies, so-so pricing, good selection, & box toys! Yay!"
A great selection of japanese products and produce. The best thing about this place is that they sell Daifuku An Pan! I'm not usually a huge fan of An Pan but a Daifuku one just knocked my socks off. I only wish it was just a tad cheaper. Please put them on sale. :-)
(See pics)
Recently I am back to the cooking game, so much fun with fresh ingredients and relaxing!
After catching Okuribito I felt like some Japanese cooking and walked over to Nijiya and am so glad it was still open!! The fact that it opens until 8pm everyday earns a big star!
They carry authentic import food as well as locally made fresh products!
I am glad to be able to pick up some Kamo (water duck that is wild and gamey, rich and deep), UCC Sumiyaki coffee (my all time favourite strong and a very different taste of coffee!!), kashiwa mochi, imagawayaki (fresh and sweet but quiet taste), kushi dango shoyu, Akita komachi (sticky, rich, smooth, tender on tongue), UME, gyoza, edamame, udon, a bunch of sauces, free range chicken.
This place has every Japanese type of food you know. I love dorayaki and also the fresh kashiwa… Read more »
Definately a good place to get goodies like snacks, sake, bentos, water, etc for cheap. We bought 9 items for less than $20. Pretty good buy. They have a huge assortment of crackers, cookies, instant noodle soups, instant curry, fish, meat, and a huge wall of rice! Beverages of all kinds are available including "Pokari Sweat" a well known electrolyte enhanced water that is very popular in Asia. Check out the wall of beer and sake towards the back left hand side of the store.
SIDE NOTE: If you want lotion, don't come here. Japan is a humid country so they don't really have anything like that. I know from asking a lady to help me read the labels because they were all in Japanese. However, the assortment of hair products, soaps, and other bath products were cheap and looked really nice.
I will visit here again when I am back in the area!
Not the cheapest place, but I come here a lot! It's a must if you want a one-stop-shop to make Japanese food :)
This place is great, and even though it doesn't look very big, it has everything I need and more! My mom makes a lot of Japanese food and gets everything-- even the more rare vegetables and things for New Years-- here.
The well-stocked snack section used to be my favorite section as a kid. Now, I appreciate all the aisles. :)
Japan has the best shampoo, called "Tsubaki" and they have it here (though, if you get a chance to walk over to Ichiban kan, it's a little cheaper).
Nijiya has all the Japanese breakfast fishes, as well as fresh sashimi fish. Nijiya also carries a very wide selection of natto, it's almost crazy. With sauce, without sauce, with mustard, without mustard, with green onions, without. If you're picky about your natto, come here.
Here is my typical trip to the shop:
1) Park in garage next door. (Don't forget to get it validated-- $20 spent at Nijiya is all it takes)
2) Walk in, greet friendly security guard. The man who is usually there is the friendliest guy ever. He makes everyone's day.
3) Look at the pre-packaged foods (fried chicken, croquettes, seaweed salad, sushi, onigiri, etc) and maybe pick one up.
4) Look at the drink selections which all remind me of Japan (bottled teas, milk teas, Pocari sweat, Calpis, yummy canned coffees, etc) and choose one :)
5) Shop for the rest of my food!
MUST BUYS:
- Pietro Dressing (both in miso and soy sauce flavors)
- a Japanese drink
- thinly sliced meats (like they have in Japan for sukiyaki!)
- natto (at least for me, though many people hate it)
- fish
- Hiyashi chuuka noodles
- Japanese snacky bread (like raisin rolls)
- furikake
- coffee jelly :)
- annin tofu
- rice
- Japanese candy/gum
Much larger than the near by Super Mira, with a bigger selection to match.
All things Japanese can be found here, and my mother and I were in heaven. We both miss having access to Japanese markets and this certainly provided us with an opportunity to pick up some essentials.
There's a ton 'o stuff to choose from in the refrigerated section of prepared foods, but it almost seemed that Super Mira was a hair cheaper.
I like Nijiya Market because of all the ready-to-eat food that you can pick up. On several occasions, I've run in to grab some wakame salad to snack on. I've tried the sashimi too. While I can't cut the slab of fish as nicely as a sushi chef can, it's still delicious and fresh!
It just brings me back to the year I spent in Japan, trying to decipher labels in the grocery store and picking out the instant meals-in-a-shiny-pack... You just heat the entire packet and pour over rice!
The 29th of each month is Meat Day. 20% off the entire meat section in the back!
I'm not big on prepackaged sushi. But at Nijiya's, I could never help myself. The sushi always look fresh, and they're huge!
First stop was to Nijiya's during the Cherry Blossom Festival. I know, I'm a pig! (^O^) *oink oink* But I was hungry and my friends were running late! Picked up a Nijiya combination for $6.99. 4 sets of 2 big sushi pieces, each wrapped in a different soy paper. (http://www.yelp.com/bi...)
1) futomaki: tamago, spinach, mushroom and pink flakes (bonito?)
2) spicy crab salad, avocado and cucumbers
3) minched hamachi and cucumbers
4) shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumbers and tobiko
Not the best. But always filling! Definitely great sushi quick fix!
Without Nijiya I don't like how I can live my life in SF....
I am Japanese and staying in good health freak, so cooking and eating healthy is very important !!! I got to Nijiya once a week or so to get basic Japanese food, which I cannot get anywhere else. I cannot say too much about Nijiya's bento boxes or other osouzai, but just in general, they have a lot of basic ingredients that are necessary to cook variety of Japanese food.
There are few things I wish they can improve in the future if possible... sometimes the vegetables I get from there are not as fresh as they can be. Nowadays I won't buy veges from there, but go elsewhere... such as Whole Foods. I also think some foods are little over-priced. I understand shipping and handing etc. but I have seen better price elsewhere...
I'm from socal where we had a wide variety of japanese grocery stores, but there aren't too many up here. so i go to nijiya for most of my japanese ingredient needs. i used to especially love going to this place called marukai, where its like a huge warehouse full of your japanese item needs, it's a little cheaper, and you needed a membership card. i like the obentos here mainly. sometimes i buy shiso, but it's usually quite wilted and weak-looking so i've begun to find them at the korean or chinese stores. i also like where it's located because if i can't find what i'm looking for there, i can go to the other little japanese stores but overall it's pretty reliable.
OMG! They sell Calbee Potato Veggie Sticks here http://www.quickspice.... -- the best snack in the world. For the last 10+ years, I thought Calbee discontinued this snack. My snack time just was not the same without!
In addition to the best snack in the world, Nijiya also sells a variety (an entire aile full) of other cute Japanese snacks, groceries, and health and beauty supplies. I love this store.
PS: Thank you for carrying my favorite snack...but why do you have to sell it for twice as much...i guess it's worth it though!
A trip to Japantown is never complete without a trip to the "Ninja Market".
This place is a Japanese supermarket. There's a huge selection of packaged foods, fresh foods, as well as frozen items. If you're looking for Japanese groceries, this place will have it.
Huge selection of snacks and candies!
I come here to fill up on seaweed.
Kangen water now available!
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Special Deals for Yelpers!
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