The authentic, budget conscious, customer service oriented, fresh produce + hot, ready-to-eat meals…read moreoffering, high quality, variety-filled, well upkept Asian grocery stores are a scarce commodity in this city. The Seoul Asian Food Market & Cafe meets all these criteria.
The authentic and high quality factors are met with flying colors. A couple Korean employees, plus, yes, Hispanic workers, etcetera, which tells me it is owned by people who definitely know their product. The best selling brands in Korea, including Lotte, Nongshim, Ottogi, are stocked in this little grocery store. The budget conscious can rest assure that although we are not protected from inflation, as far as paying far less than the analogous HEB or Kroger international section upcharges, Seoul has you covered. The customer service enhancements to your grocery store experience should be appreciated here. All the workers I encountered during my latest visit (in addition to all my previous ones over the years) have been excellent-- whether the owner trying his best to locate products I was on the hunt for, the back room stockers whom may not have been able to speak English, yet still made the effort to give me big smiles, the checkout lady who was more than glad to do multiple price checks, the cafe employee who was ready and willing to offer recommendations and a welcoming smile. The hot food criteria has more than earned it's place with the inside Seoul Market Cafe-- note that this does not include the full service establishment connected next door, which includes drinks and sit down dining services, owned by the same wonderful people but with a separate entrance. They have pre-packaged ready to go meals, including all your Korean favorites including house made bulgogi, bibimbap, gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), kimchi. Nice area to sit down before and/or after gathering all your Korean grocery needs!
The few areas where Seoul could benefit from some improvements are their store upkeep and the stocked shelves. Unfortunately, many times when I have visited they are out of stock of things and even more frustrating because they have such great products. Is that if you go during certain days of the week they are actually in boxes all over the store. The box is making not only difficult to navigate through the already small store, but customers are unable to access many of the goods. There is also the problem of price tags being mismatched and many missing the prices altogether. Although running these items to the front for a price check is an option, it is obviously something that is inconvenient as a regular necessity. The freshness of the produce honestly is less than ideal. You can tell a lot have been sitting around for longer than necessary. Without the regular water sprays, they also suffer from produce drying out. The variety, while sufficient for this size sore, I do often find myself wishing the store were a little larger to accompany a larger variety.
With these few improvements, this little neighborhood grocery store would easily receive my five stars, that being said, I would not hesitate to revisit-- indeed, I would not hesitate to continue my semi regular visits for Korean groceries!
