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I like Ocean Supermarket, in all it's run-down, shabby glory!
This is the problem with Asian supermarkets: I walked in expecting it to be like Safeway. It's not Safeway. Shed that idea and you'll be fine.
Once I accepted it wasn't Safeway, I got really into Ocean. Frankly I don't care if there's some dirt on the floor if the produce looks good and the prices are good.
And they are. The prices are ROCK bottom. Bok choy, mushrooms, green onions, bell peppers -- they're all cheap and good quality. And I never buy tofu at Safeway anymore, it's so cheap here compared to Safeway.
Ginger as well -- and it's worth noting that it's cheaper here than at 99 Ranch.
Plus you don't get interesting pagoda-like structures over the aisles at 99 Ranch. At Ocean, you do:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
I read another Yelper saw a cockroach; if so, that's unfortunate. I've never seen any cockroaches and I was poking around the bread section as recently as on Saturday, July 11th.
Yep, floors are dirty, however I saw an employee in the produce section slowly working his way around the floor mopping it. That's got to be a hard time to mop a floor, but he was making it clean again!
They've recently changed their price signs over the produce items: they're now uniform and printed out from a laser printer with a little picture of the produce. Pretty cool, and makes it look a bit less thrown together.
One minus is they don't have their own bakery like 99 Ranch do; therefore their bread isn't as fresh, and it's more expensive than at 99 Ranch.
I always try to pick up something I've never tried before; this visit, I bought Bánh In Dâu Xanh, which had a smushy yellow middle section and lovely blossoms on the wrapping. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but I looked it up when I got home, and it's what I thought: mung bean cake.
It was pretty good, it reminded me a bit of marzipan. Nice with a cup of hot tea. Ahhhh!
I hate driving up Calaveras, trying to get home, and I am in the right lane. It seems customers of Ocean Supermarket DO NOT know how to navigate a car. Guaranteed, it will take you at least a few minutes to get through the intersection of Calaveras and Park Victoria heading East on Calaveras towards the hills.
Seems there is a 1 mph speed limit that I do not know about when crossing the light eastbound on Calaveras and an invisible Stop sign when turning right into the driveway for Ocean Supermarket.
All jokes aside, this places stinks. It's dirty. But I have fond memories of looking for Super Lemon candies when I was a kid, with my shirt collar pulled up above my nostrils.
It's pretty filthy, too.
But, if you want cheap groceries and produce, and meat and fish. Come here and save a TON over Lucky or Safeway.
They also have one thing American Grocery Stores do not, a cashier at EVERY register.
Wonderful.
I am still minus-ing 3 stars for that horrible Calaveras-side driveway entrance.
This place is really run down and although they have a wide section of stuff it is packed in. It is like a Wal-Mart if you will. A bunch of stuff for cheap but lacks the appeal.
I do like the fact that you can hand select the fish that you would like to purchase and have them clean and even fry for you at no additional cost. When it is crab season, nothing beats buying live crab at Asian markets.
I usually stop buy an Asian market for a few things. Produce, Mochi, Ice Creams, Candys (such as Hi-Chews!!!), snacks (Pockey!!!) and unique drinks such as aloe.
It's pretty cheap here though I've seen cleaner. No customer service to speak of.
My aunt likes to buy friend tilapia here. I personally sometimes think the produce is over priced at times...maybe it's the wrong season?
I really dont know why anyone would chose this place over Ranch or Lucky 7. This place is just terrible.
D-I-R-T-Y
by having dirty floors and shelves, it makes the customer assume the food isnt what it seems either. I wouldnt trust this place, even though ive been to much much worse supermarkets.
You can smell thisplace from a mile away. Whenever my mom goes grocery shopping, I beg to stay in the car so I can protect my clothes from the heinous smells. Inside is a melee battled by ferocious vietnamese women who disregard anyone's feet in the way of their carts. Should you accidently bump any of them in the gentlest bit, they'll run up and down the aisles trashtalking you. True story.
Jackfruit is cheapest here, and they have independent mango sellers outside the door (weird, but to my benefit) that offer whole boxes for $8-10.
Inside though, the produce is better over at Lion's on the other side of town. It's badly organized, really grimy, and a nightmare for cars. In this same plaza, someone once ran their car through the front of a shop (Kim Lee's fast food). Typical.
This is a review by a vegetarian
For that authentic "Is that my leg beneath me or one of the 200 other people in this aisle" feeling, this place can't be beat. There was some kind of run on pomelos outside (are they being outlawed in California next week?). This place is cheap and has your same standard fare as Marina. Outside, in addition to the wall-to-wall grandparents and grandchildren trying to figure out which pomelo had 1/8 inch less rind than another, there was a guy selling two huge bags of bananas for $3. A decent place to shop if you're saving money on food and are not claustrophobic.
I don't care if they're one of the dirtiest, rudest Asian grocery stores in the Bay Area.. They're also the CHEAPEST.
It's ridiculous how much crap you can get here for under 100 bucks. The building itself is old and crusty, but they're really good with stocking their items, and making the products at least look presentable, if not the store...
Customer service isn't all that great, because so many of the employees are limited as far as speaking English.
Everything is fresh... So just plug your nose, and turn the other cheek to the dirty ass floors, etc. The place just needs a facelift, people.
The building is old and run down (formally a Safeway) and parking is hard to find but this is my mothers favorite Asian Supermarket. Prices are the best she says. Place is usually packed and its tough to move around with the small aisles and amount of people but its something you gotta put up with if you want cheap prices. The fresh produce and the fish frying seem to be most popular. I recommend you never buy american foods there. Everyone goes into the market to buy asian foods but the american foods just sit there. I seen tons of dust on them. If you have to check the dates. Biggest problem tho....sometimes when I visit this place there is some kinda smell all over the parking lot.
This place is Dirty aright. However, its cheap. I'm not sure if they are sacrificing saftey over cleanliness. But I like going here to get my Korean short ribs, its cheap, and they cut it right there for you.
I grew up going to this supermarket and it hasn't changed. I saw my first whole dead pig hanging from the ceiling here. Super smelly market and dirty!
Mostly caters towards Vietnamese customers. Very crappy candy/snack section compared to 99 Ranch market. Other items are about the same but the best thing about this place is the seafood selection, drrrr, thats why its called Ocean.
This place is really dirty most of the time....And there staff is super rude...And plus all there product is cheap but they don't look fresh at all..For example...When you look at there chickens it look like those chicken have been there for about 4 weeks.
OMG i hate this place. so crowdd and dirty and smells like crap all day every day. the stuff may be cheap, but the smell and crap on the ground outweighs the prices. thers always wet stuff spilled or food on the sidwalk outside. dude i was pissed when i stepped on like a broken egg or somethin with my JORDAN FRENCH 7's =(
For an Asian super market, I think this place is quite clean. I've seen and smelled worst. Most stuff here are cheap and fresh. It is hard to find customer service here, they don't hire enough staff to be around to help.
But with most super market I've been to, this is one of a preferred place for me.
My mom actually prefers to shop here over Ranch 99, all because it's cheaper. Aside from the fact that we live in Santa Clara and driving all the way to Milpitas to the end of Calaveras Blvd JUST to shop for groceries is a little excessive. Nonetheless, it's an Asian supermarket so you have all your essentials. I don't mind the smell since growing up in the Philippines as a kid, you get used to these things, but the place could use some cleaning. It gets crowded during weekends of course, so the parking situation is hell. They could seriously use some extra bagging help because the past few times I was there I practically bagged my own groceries because no one was there to do it.
Of course after everything's said and done, you can head over next door and have one of most delicious dim sum I've had in the area. (Another Yelp review to follow lol.)
The stuff here is pretty cheap. It isn't the cleanest but you can get what you want and need. The neighborhood looks sketchy but in reality it's pretty safe as there are city buildings across the street which include Cal Hills High and the Milpitas school board.
The parking lot sucks, but as mentioned in other yelp entries, what Asian market parking lot doesn't?
What I love is that you can get a sack of 50 oysters for $19.99. Ofcourse you'll need to shuck them yourself. But what a great deal!!
Cleanliness is not on there top ten list, but as far as finding everything I needed in an Asian Supermarket. They got it going on. The meat there is actually fresher than Ranch 99. The prices not soo bad its pretty much the same. The drivers?! Well the same as Ranch 99 and.
It's unfortunate that the cleanliness isn't up to par it would be a great supermarket, considering I could find everything that I needed there.
P.S. About the neighborhood. Its not so bad I actually spend my high school years around there and never experienced anything bad. My parents still live around there and I still drive by Ocean Supermarket EVERY DAY and I never see any crime around there. The only time i see police in that intersection is when there's an accident!!!
hhahha wut do you expect from an asian supermarket? Accidents go hand in hand.
I usually go here with my mom since it's located so close to home. We go here for the convenience, quality, and so she can chat it up with all the cashiers and stock people. The produce and meat is real fresh, probably since it's so crowded, they're always restocking.
I hit up the beverage aisle right before heading up to Davis to stock up on soy milk, thai tea, grass jelly, and whatever new asian drinks they got in.
The only downside is walking out smelling like fish all the time. There's definately a strong smell you can't ignore.
The prices here are cheaper than your average Safeway and Luckys but just remember to watch out for their expiration date. Expect zero to none customer service since these people are more interested in nickeling and diming you more than anything. Their produce is fresh most of the time, but their meat selection is poor and their cuts doesn't measure up to your lockal Savemart and Safeway. Parking here can be a hassle and you have the occasional random person jumping out of nowhere right in front of your car. Avoid the weekends like the plague cause the lines get long and the tempers get pretty short.
A bit crowded and a bit dirtier than the other Asian supermarkets, but they have your usual Asian vegetables and stuff at decent prices.
It is hard to beat their price. It must be the most affordable asian market around South Bay.
For their cleaniness, I would not buy fish or meat here. But selective vegetables are very good deal. You just have to pick carefully, unlike in Safeway, which any produce pick you get is fresh.
Alike typical asian market, you do not expect any services here.
the prices here are cheaper than ranch 99, and sometimes fresher. they usually have a better selection of herbs, meat, and fish than the mccarthy ranch 99, but so much dirtier. but i guess it's typical for a mom-n-pop asian market.
the best thing going for this place is it's super close to my house, which makes it my default grocery store for asian foods. for fruit and bread, etc, i suggest heading to the new safeway. i love it there!
The prices are pretty good. My mommy comes here ALL the time now. idk why she decided to switch. it just gets really packed! and it kind of smells. the fruit isn't too good looking but bleeeh whatever.
If my family is in the area, then we'll stop by Ocean Supermarket. This market is old and dirty. However, the vegetables and fruits are fresh! We love to get boxes of mangoes that are sold outside of the store. For $2-$3, you can get 6-8 mangoes per box! In addition, we stock on pomelos when they are in season. They are much cheaper than oranges, and you get the same amount of vitamin C!
The place location is a bit off, traffic is a mess there. The cleanliness is not something you want to mention, but it has some ethnic 'good' stuff that Ranch 99 doesn't have. I don't go there daily but I go there when I'm in need of those ethnic items.
My mom prefers Ocean over any other Asian market in our hood (we live in the same hood). I don't blame her because prices seem to be the lowest. The only thing I hate is that it's cramped as hell!
Cheap grocery, super crowded butcher sections, and smelly -_-;;
less hygiene compare to ranch 99 but both provide many essential daily fresh produces
http://www.mercurynews...
business owner is a vietnamese
gettttttttting asian snacks here for cheap are the bomb! so asian, that i still love it! of course its an asian market, expect the cleaniness to be dirty because thats how asian people are! go asians for dirtynesss!! haha, but anyway, this market is still doable.
I went to this supermarket ten years back and the cashier stole some of my groceries, after I paid for them. The manager took me to a corner and warned me not to complain or else there would be "repercussion". Needless to say I haven't been back since. I am suprised they are still around after all these years.
Milpitas, CA
Category: Seafood Markets
San Jose, CA
Category: Grocery
Milpitas, CA
Category: Dim Sum
Milpitas, CA
Category: Grocery
San Jose, CA
Category: Grocery
