einstein famously said that "everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."…read morewell i'm too simple to accurately interpret that quote and also simply speaking, mitsuwa is not simple AT ALL. why do they have literally everything. every time i come here it feels like another aisle has been added. this is crazy guys i feel overstimulated! in a good way of course ! notable items include LOCAL COFFEE BEANS!!, a random entrance into some claw machine thing, and k beauty. also a matcha stall but it was mid. AND SASHIMI but jagalchi in daly city is much better. prices are okay, there's a lot of interesting things to look at so you might go crazy and buy a lot. or you can be like me and erm just not HELP i'm broke! cashiers are pretty cool looking too they all look like they jumped out of anime

If you're looking for Japanese groceries, snacks, skincare, household goods, and specialty items,…read moreMitsuwa is hard to beat. The selection is extensive, and you can easily spend an hour or two browsing everything from fresh food and pantry staples to beauty products and kitchen essentials. It can feel a little chaotic and crowded at times, especially the parking lot but that's part of the experience. The variety is impressive, and there's always something new to discover. A great stop for anyone who loves Japanese food and culture.

This is my convenient neighborhood community market, I like to buy sushi here, sometimes from the…read moresushi bar, plus vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, milk, etc. There is a great prepared foods counter here, with separate counters to buy salads, prepared dishes, ready to take home dishes, a meat/fish counter in another area, plus a bakery and smoothie/tea/coffee bar. I like to come here for a quick meal when I'm running out of time to dine in somewhere. The staff are friendly, my mom brings her store coupons to use that come through the U.S. mail. Sign up here with your info to hear about their weekly ads and specials. The staff always seem to know where items are located when I ask. The store is very organized and clean. Parking is available outside of the store.

I've came here on two different occasions. Yesterday and 1 week ago…read more First, the açaí bowl I got last Sunday was completely wrong. I ordered their tropical blue crush bowl. They did not have any blue chia pudding because no one made it that morning, they didn't have any mango chutney, AND they didn't even add granola in my bowl like the description stated. Highly disappointing. Second, I got their tropical smoothie (don't remember exact name) which has orange juice, passion, and other fruits I can't remember plus a swirl of coconut cream lined on the cup... The drink was not aesthetically pleasing. Didn't see a coconut cream swirled. The drink tasted just like straight orange juice only but blended with ice. I always go to New Leaf in Capitola on 41st Avenue whenever I visit and they've never messed up on my orders (except for once when they didn't have mango chutney either). But the drinks they've made for me and the açaí bowls were yummy and good looking. The workers at the juice/coffee/açaí bar here just seemed very lazy and I've been here 5+ times.

Super convenient Coleman location, parking lot can get a little intense at peak hours…read more * Short queues on Saturday mornings, easy to get in & out * Can always find my staples & latest plants and flower varieties * Love checking out their seasonal items & latest frozen foods Got their new frozen cannelés - delicious with coffee!

IMHO The holidays…read moreare here at Trader Joe's with evergreen decorations and seasonal cheeses, etc. I came early to beat the Thanksgiving food shopping rush and got everything I wanted. I was searching for jicama, but it wasn't in its usual place. A friendly and helpful employee found it for me. It seems they were making room for more seasonal goods and shuffled product around. I love Kouign Amann pastries and Trader Joe's has their version for a fraction of the cost. I hear they taste pretty good. I guess I'll have to heat some up for breakfast tomorrow to judge for myself. They might also be a limited edition offering. That's why I grabbed two. If you want a Grumpy tree, it's here for $9.99! Waterless Amaryllis, $10.99. Medium Autumn Leaves Poinsettias, $6.99. Wreaths, $12.99. Will I return again before Christmas? Of course!

Nijiya Market offers a smaller, more streamlined shopping experience than some of the larger…read moreJapanese grocery stores in the area. The selection is thoughtfully curated, making it easy to find what you need without feeling overwhelmed. The store is clean, organized, and easy to navigate, with a good variety of groceries, snacks, prepared foods, and everyday Japanese essentials. If you prefer a more relaxed shopping experience with plenty of quality options, this is a great stop in Japantown.

Spent about $26.4 on 3 sushi's, chopsticks and soy sauce are self service at the cashier. The…read moreonigiri was hit and miss. Seaweed ones gave a lot, the mentaiko was very sparse and the rice was mushy. The tuna was horrible, tasted like chicken of the sea -- no mayo. The best was the Negihama, the wasabi was okay too. The cucumbers tasted like hand, salmon was good, tuna didn't have much taste. Would be back if desperate for sushi and in the area. Good selection otherwise albeit a bit overpriced.

I was in the neighborhood and decided to pop in to Lunardi's to get some fruit. Lunardi's is well…read moreknown for their fresh produce and didn't disappoint. I picked up naval oranges, Fuji apples, and apricots. All of it was delicious, but the naval oranges stood out as especially sweet and good. I wish I would have bought more. The worker in the produce department was helpful in pointing me to the pet section for live wheat grass for my kitty. The store was not too busy for a Friday afternoon and there was no wait to check out. I need to shop there more often.

I needed to get a couple of things for our Thanksgiving dinner. I stopped by Lunardi's because I…read morethink they have the best produce. I needed celery for my stuffing recipe and yams for my candied yam recipe. Every fall they get the "Diane Yams", which are the best. They are a dark reddish brown on the outside and dark orange in the middle. They are sweet and delicious. I have never found these yams anywhere else. I buy them from Lunardi's every year. I got the items I needed and headed to the checkout. The line moved fast. The young man helping me was very nice. I went home and briefly looked at my receipt and noticed I was over charged for the celery and the yams. I was actually charged for sweet potatoes which are a pale orange color and they were $1.00 more a pound than the Diane Yams. I called the store and explained the situation. I had to return to the store and get back in line to get refunded. Abby, who helped me with my refund apologized and said the guy helping me usually works the late shift. They should do a little training on the differences between the yams, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. A $1.00 more a pound is a lot especially when you have bought a large quantity. Now for the celery, I got charged for the blue tagged celery when my celery was clearly a red tag, which was on special. Not even sure how you get those colors confused. Next time I will check my receipt before I leave the store.

Still amazing service and quality! Over 8 years ago I…read moreordered platters with great success. Last weekend, I ordered sandwiches from the deli and brownie tray from the bakery and sushi platter from the sushi section. Wow!!! Another successful party food, thanks to Lunardi's! Great service, delicious food all served up with a smile. Excellent!! Thank you!

For Mother's Day I was really craving burnt almond cake, but unfortunately Peter's Bakery was…read moreclosed that day. I started looking around for other options and found out that Lunardi's bakery actually sells burnt almond cake and that people say it's pretty good. So I asked my husband to go pick one up for us. The 8" cake was only $24.99, which honestly felt very affordable compared to a lot of bakery cakes these days. From the very first bite, I was so happy we decided to try it. The custard filling in the middle was so good and the cake itself was soft, moist, and full of flavor. They were very generous with the almonds all around the cake too, which gave it that perfect burnt almond cake texture and taste I was craving. The bakery also mentioned that they usually have them available, which is dangerous information for me now. Lol. Definitely will be back whenever I need to fulfill my burnt almond cake cravings again!

Everyone knows this is the best place to get poke in San Jose! My boyfriend and I always get their…read moreSpicy Tuna Poke by the tub ($46 for large), make rice at home, and get to enjoy their poke for the next few days for our meals! We come often and get a large amount of poke and their quality always meets expectations every time. It's only window ordering (and not a sit down restaurant) so wait times can get a little lengthy with many people coming during lunch breaks and with it just being a popular place. I definitely recommend to order through their website online before you start driving! I always get to skip in front of the pick up line and just pick up my food when I arrive. Their parking lot only has about 7 spots and is almost always full but the spots can open up quick with everyone coming in and out. There's a lot of street parking too. The environment is great here. They also have many snacks and Hawaiian Sun drinks! I would love to try their mochi in the future. Always happy to come and get Santo Market!

Ordered 2 poke bowls, a shrimp plate, and one of their rice cracker snacks that all came up to…read moreroughly $50-$55 bucks in total (not including the strawberry mochi; we came around 10ish in the morning, which was about 25 minutes or so AFTER they were sold out, otherwise it might've been over $60ish in total). Price is pretty steep for something like this. The owner or person taking our order seemed like a confident or very straight forward / strong type personality, which I'm fine with because I naturally have a bit of a strong personality as well so it didn't bother me, although it would've been better if he smiled or something so it doesn't seem like he's coming off like a New Yorker. Just sayin. But I also know that he's simply doing his job so it's nothing personal. Anyhow, the food he talked a good game on it being the best in the Bay Area turned out to be quite mid IMPO. The shrimp was 100% overcooked, the side Mac salad was actually *not* good at all and it sucks because that's something I feel like you can't mess up but it was gross unfortunately, I spat it out even tho I hate wasting food. It just didn't taste freshly made whatsoever. The poke bowl wasn't comparable to Hawaii since he mentioned it's just as good... but honestly I think everyone's taste buds are different because to me, the poke bowl was totally mid, but it could taste really good to someone else and that's certainly OK! Also -- I like salty things esp when I crave for it but this was quite heavy on the salt, which made my experience the way it was. Even though it could've been better, I came with no expectations and just wanted to see what the fuss was about. That said, the only thing that was good was the rice cracker snack we bought and that's it. Glad I still gave this place a try, but personally for me, it's definitely my last visit. Maybe I'll come back at an earlier time to get one of their strawberry mochi but other than that, I think I'll rest my case here.

Love love love grocery outlets!…read more This location is so convenient because it is in San Jose downtown which I often frequent. Very close to City Hall. They sell a lot of fun things like piñatas and ice-cream puffs for an affordable price. My favorite is to occasionally peak into the home goods areas to see if they have any new Mickey Mouse themed items (rugs, mittens, etc). My mom loves Mickey Mouse and I am guilty of buying any cute Mickey Mouse products I see. By the way, I bought firewood at Safeway this summer for $20... Grocery Outlet sold the same amount for $4.99-5.99!! Wow!

The 3 stars are for the strength of the new paper bags. 7 to 8 pounds might be the fill limit,…read morecompared with the banned plastic bags which could carry more and were rain resistant. The paper bags are large enough to fill with more than 7 pounds, but that's only good for moving purchases from the cart to the car, and from the car to the home, and for carrying only one bagfull at a time. Stay under the 7 pound limit if walking in the rain, or walking over 100 feet. Because it is really bad if the paper bags rip open like this when you're still out on the street and only halfway back home: