I've been here several times, and I swear I've reviewed it before. This time I was picking something up for mom, who lives nearby. A bit empty, never busy. Service is friendly enough on checkout, but no one ever comes to help. They have what I'm looking for about half the time. I come in more because it is handy in the area than because it is a favorite. Plenty of parking in this rather quiet strip mall. Nothing here that is a big draw, but there are several places worth visiting just to check out, so you can throw this in the mix while you are stopping in some of the other shops. Just don't expect much. read more

Asian Grocery is really a Southeast Asian grocery; the husband-and-wife proprietors are Vietnamese and Laotian, respectively. The grocery suffers a bit from inheriting a much larger space than it needs (the former Westerville Market, whose logo can still be seen on the baskets and shopping carts); if Asian Grocery were in a space the size of Luc's or Westgate Thai, it wouldn't feel as empty as it usually does. Asian Grocery has put some of their extra space to good use, now that they've opened Pho Saigon, which is hands down the best Vietnamese food that one will find in Columbus (see my review). Pho Saigon aside, there are things that make Asian Grocery worth shopping at. The produce is generally among the freshest you'll find at the various Asian groceries in Columbus, and as one would expect of a Vietnamese grocery, it's a broad range: various Chinese cabbages, squashes, okra, green papaya, bean sprouts, lots of Vietnamese herbs. If you come in the appropriate season, you can find fresh lychee, longan, mangosteen, jackfruit, and dragonfruit. If you know where to look, there are also things they prepare themselves - plastic containers full of homemade salted mustard cabbage (good for stir-frying with pork), and in preparation for the Chinese New Year, freshly-made Vietnamese rice dumplings stuffed with coconut (see my photos). It's not the prettiest grocery shopping experience, but you can't eat atmosphere, can you? read more

See all

It's a good place with a lot of things you wouldn't find in other Asian or international stores, thanks to the store being more broadly Asian and not focusing on East Asia. Good place for specific spices and condiments. Only issue is that I noticed a lot of the items didn't have price tags on the shelves. It wasn't too big a deal since the place sells things for very cheap, but if you're on a strict budget, it might be an issue. Overall really solid inventory! read more

Small grocery store. I expected there to be more asian grocery items, but I found different international food items and brands like Goya and Iberia. Good to know if you're looking for a product that you may not find at the common grocery stores! read more

this was the filthiest grocery I have ever stepped foot in. Half the lights were off and The first thing that came to mind was so you really can't see the real filth in the stronger light. while the dry and canned foods were probably alright I couldn't allow my adult daughter to purchase in here as some produce looked ok and other were clearly on way to rotting. large produce (resembled a banana was black. cabbage has mold over the bottoms as did the celery. i didnt get the feel these were being stored properly. now I had to go the bathroom and it theew me over the edge. the smell was so horific it was as if 100 baby diapers had been left open foe the air. the toilet was cloggwd and filed with waste. the other stall was a shower that had an open cooler filled with water and red mold? Mildew ? And had several shampoo bottles as if someone lives there. The sinks were filthy and had dirt all ober rhe procelain. We left immediately after that and I am not kidding when I sat my stomach was churned! read more

E'erbody knows I love me some Asia. And I love Asian markets. I am not, however, in love with Asian Grocery. Honestly, this place kinda sucks. They have a terrible tea selection, the produce looked yucky, and half the store was boarded up! Literally, they were screwing plywood down over the freezer section of the store! Oh, and nobody ever offered to help me. And the store was completely void of customers, so you'd think they could have at least said "hello", right? If you're looking for a great selection of Asian specialties, don't go here. But if you have 15 minutes to waste before meeting friends at Fiesta Jalisco, then what the hell. read more

I was really in here to use the restroom. ;) That's sort of a fib but true. I had lunch next door and came over to take a look. Its a huge store! And it seems to me that they have everything, except meat. I guess because meat spoils and it's expensive. But they have a great produce section and rice, they've got a whole row of rice in 50# bags. And a lot more. read more

See all

Some of the best produce around, but MAN, the rest of the store depressing!! Half of it is empty and it's been like that for many months now. I read somewhere that the owner of "Five Star Asian Cuisine" opened up this market. Maybe that's why the produce is so good because he/she orders it for his/her restaurant. read more

As my first impression of Asian grocery stores in Columbus, this left much to be desired. Half of the display cases in the refrigerated and frozen section were empty. A couple of young boys -- presumably children of the proprietor -- were tearing about the store. The shelves looked dusty and half of the lights were dimmed, adding to the depressing atmosphere. Let's hope there are better experiences ahead. read more

This is not an Asian grocery I would go to again. The poor people are kind of victims of the size of the store - it's way too big for their needs, and that gives it a sort of empty, echoey feel. The produce looks kind of old, or at least it did that day I was there. I'd rather go to CAM. read more

I guess you can call it a grocery store. There's a few aisles of Asian items, but it really seems like a random hashing of things. There's no real rhyme or reason to it. They seem to specialize in produce, which there is a lot of. There's a frozen foods section, but almost half of it has freezer burn. It's difficult to tell what a lot of the items are since some stuff isn't labeled. They have a very small seafood section, but it was practically empty when we were there, which was a Saturday afternoon, so they should've been relatively stocked. I think if they didn't have so much floorspace, they would be able to handle the store layout better. There's a "restaraunt" in there as well, but we didn't go and look, so I couldn't tell you how that was. Overall, I think it has a lot of potential to be a pretty nice Asian grocery, but unless you are looking for some produce or authentic Asian noodles, I would skip it. read more

See all

Very poor selection of Asian foods. I think this is actually just a Vietnamese market. Half the store is empty or just spread out bags of rice to fill space. The woman at the front was on the telephone almost the entire time we were in the store and didn't even ask the person to hold on while my mom stood there waiting to ask a question for several minutes. We then lingered around the front and finally had to ask where she would like us to check out before she bothered to get up and come over to the registers. We were wandering around, obviously looking for some stuff, and she never once asked if we needed help. We tried to call the store and 3 different phone numbers found online and at the top of the receipt were incorrect or disconnected. Definitely worth driving a little farther to go somewhere else. read more

This is my first time I've been to this store. Even with all the reviews on here I definitely expected... More. There was a very limited produce selection covered in flies with a barely trickling sprinkler system. There were around six or seven small aisles full of mainly canned or packaged goods which was fine. The main reason I was in there was for a new jar of kimchi and when I went near it, the jars were soaked and sitting in a half an inch of kimchi juice with no price labels. The frozen section was very small, most things layered with a half inch of frost, with most of the freezers with items being unlit. I agree the store is to big for them, but the items they had there were just not worth buying. Would not go back. read more

Should have read the prior reviews before I stopped in. DON'T COME HERE. Lots of produce, some of which is great, some of which is bad and really rotten. No kafir leaves; no lemon grass. I bought some plantains for $1.29 a pound. Unfortunately, and unknowingly, I was charged for $2.99 a pound for papaya (at 3 + pounds), yeah they ripped me off of about $5.50. Figured it out once I got home and was wondering how my bill was so expensive. The plantains, however, were actually perfectly ripe and delish. There was a pile of orange habaneros not too far away. Literally rotten and covered with what looked like mold/fuzzy substance. Hopefully its still not sitting out. Who would buy rotten habaneros and/or other rotten produce? Thought I would pick up some red curry paste. Like most of their other products, no prices were listed. Ended up being almost $10 for a small curry paste. Maybe that is the _______[insert any given weekday here]_____ curry paste special. I should have waited and got it somewhere else for around ohhhh $3-4. Wanted to get tofu, but it was close to expired. Additionally they did not have any firm tofu, just a bunch of soft tofu. They actually had some prices up for some of the tofu!! It was actually more expensive than Kroger -- unusual for an Asian grocery store to have more expensive tofu than kroger. Conclusion: Don't come here unless you live nearby and need some extremely common asian ingredient list fish sauce, etc. But come expecting to pay a lot more than you are accustomed to. read more

This place is kind of dinky. I only checked it out because I was already in the area, had a little time on my hands, and was curious. When I entered, I was ready to walk back outside because the atmosphere was kind of unwelcoming. The lights were dim, the aisles absent of people (and on a Saturday afternoon), and nothing looked too appealing. But I decided to roam around, and I was glad I did, because I found the type of noodles I wanted for pho (three ladies brand rice stick, comes in sizes small, medium, large, and x-large), which I could not find at Cam's nor the small Asian groceries on High Street. They cost $2.25 each. Other than that, there was not much else that caught my attention. They have Thai basil and a couple of other herbs that I assume were Vietnamese because there was no English translation. One of their aisles also had a small box full of teabags supposedly filled with ingredients you need to make pho broth. I was intrigued, but not enough to buy it. Everything generally seemed to veer on the expensive side, so I don't think I'll be coming here unless I have a pho noodle emergency. read more