Last Wednesday, I headed to Harvey's to grab some dinner. I also needed to do some grocery shopping. I remembered Hong Tai Supermarket in the same plaza as Harvey's. Perfect! Groceries. Grub. Go! I had no problem finding a parking spot steps away from the grocery store's main entrance. I backed into a spot that faced Harvey's drive-thru entrance and walked in. There is a sign near the front door that says to not take photos. Oops! Well, I did and no one really cared. Many stores are gearing up for Lunar New Year. I was greeted by everything from candy to nuts. There were plenty of decorations for the occasion if you need some. It wasn't me crazy busy at around 6: 30 pm, but there was steady business. The aisles are nice and wide in the produce section, which I appreciated. Many folks with carts could park them off to the side and not stop the flow of shoppers walking around. I needed celery and avocados. I found them rather quickly. Celery was $5, which is clearly insane, but it is the new price norm. Each celery stalk (the whole bunch and not the rib, which is the singular piece) was packed in cellophane. You have the option of getting avocados in a bag or individually. I used to do the former, but could never consume my avocados as quickly as I would like. I do the latter these days and grabbed a couple, which works out better. The fruits and veggies looked fresh and healthy. I was happy. The bakery section is rather small. It's in a little corner close to the produce. I loved looking at the almond cookies and Swiss rolls. Yum! I browsed around, as I had got everything that I needed produce-wise. I wandered into the snack section and it took a while to leave. My favourite garlic chicharron was available, so I snagged a bag. I also got a bag of mushroom Frito Lay's chips. I love anything mushroom and the flavour was on point. If you dislike the texture of mushrooms, you can eliminate it by getting a bag. Of course, if you dislike anything mushroom, you may want to grab a different flavour. I became nostalgic looking at all the Vita varieties. I drank many Vita juice boxes as a kid. Guava, blackcurrant, and lemon were my favourites. I still love those flavours in practically everything that I consume these days. This place also has my favourite coated peanuts. It was tempting to get my go-to flavour, the coconut cream. The chicken and tom yum flavours caught my attention. I should try them next time I'm here. The tea section is excellent. I loved the varieties available. I could live in this section alone. I went to the cashout area to pay. There were many cashiers available. This store only accepts cash and debit cards only. You are out of luck using credit cards here. The woman who cashed me out was efficient and to the point. She asked if I needed a bag. I declined. I could carry them all to my car and save a plastic bag. I tapped with my debit card. Done! I thanked the woman and headed to my car. I had to walk by a man who was smoking between his car and mine. I quickly placed my groceries and me in my car, closed the door to escape dying from second-hand smoke, and hit Wendy's to get dinner. I loved shopping here. It was great changing up my grocery shopping and dinner scene. I'll be back. (14) read more

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Picking up a few vegetables and fruits. Shanghai Bok Choy Miu, Baby Mustard. Fresh Gai Lan, apples and peanuts. Quick checkout. read more

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After I read Tony F's review about Hong Tai Supermarket, I expected the worse and ready to fight with that little old Asian lady... ! Me VS that evil woman that elbowed everyone ... but to my surprise on a weekday, Hong Tai Supermarket is so peaceful... Everything were in the right place, no pushing no screaming no shopping carts trying to wheel me over... Even the seafood section was so clean.. no water puddles and I cannot even smell that yucking fishy smell.... Everyone were behaving... oh so disappointing! I guess I came at the wrong time!! They accepts Visa, Mastercard and Interac read more

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It's mad, it's crowded, dirty, disorganized and if you're not careful a little old Asian lady WILL elbow you in the stomach to get by. It's the complete antithesis of the Sobey's or Longo's experience. I brought my friend's parents from Newfoundland to one of these Asian markets once, they walked in was mortified and walked out. They hadn't seen this many people squished into one place in their lifetime. The noise was deafening and it's a bit claustrophobic. However, for a single person, I'm able to save $20-40 a month especially on fresh produce. And for me an extra $400 a year in my pockets is worth this blood sport known as grocery shopping! Yes I can't get everything I need (like cheese or salad in a bag), but I can get things here I can't anywhere else. I love my Asian BBQ, and you can get your roasted pork, duck, chicken all in one spot here. You do have to be aware that if you don't ask for them to discard it, they will throw in the head if you order a whole Soy marinated chicken (see my photo). It's funny, I used to never be bothered by this when I was a kid, but it now bothers me. I manage to survive the experience and get around by imagining that this is what its probably like in Asia, and that I'm on a some kind of adventure vacation. I put on my headphones, crank up some Gwar and pretend I'm in some version of the Running Man. If you have enough imagination, your heart starts pumping and it's a game. For those wondering where the fruits and meats are coming in from, you only need to take a look at the boxes. Unlike Loblaws, they tend to move a crate of the fruits in and just open the box. Most of them are clearly labelled from Ontario, Florida, California and South Africa. For the meats, always look for the grade stamp. The majority of the meat I've seen is all from Ontario. Asians are the most finicky people you'll meet when it comes to freshness, and much of the seafood is kept in a zoo like aquarium. It just doesn't get any fresher. Is this experience for everyone? Probably not, but for the amount of money I save, it's worth it to wear some armour and do some warm-up stretching for my grocery shopping. read more

Hong Tai Supermarket - Grocery Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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Fairly good. But they also sell expired goods... be careful, read!

Hong Tai is under the Foody family; you can tell by the signs inside the supermarket as they're the same font and design as Foody. Hong Tai was the only supermarket open today (Easter) that accepts credit card; all Foody and T&T branches were closed, as they were open on Good Friday instead. Needless to say, the parking situation was chaotic today, but then again it's not your typical suburban Chinese supermarket if parking is not chaotic. Let's be honest here. I find the food variety here similar to Foody, with the exception of the meat section...where the variety is simply lacking. The produce has a lot of quality veggies and fruits; higher quality than T&T for sure. The prices are about the same as well, so that's a bonus. The seafood and meat sections is where I sorta expected a bit more, but the prices are lower than T&T for sure. It should be noted that poultry is only available in the frozen food counter in here and not from the butcher. I prefer to get it from the butcher personally since the quality is generally higher. Cashiers are about what you expect in the Foody family: lack of communication overall, but they get the job done. Take it or leave it. If you're not a T&T fan, there's no harm in coming here. read more

Not as good as Foody Mart/Tone Tai, which I overheard, all belong to the same owners. The store is small and they try to stuff a lot of items into it. Even so they are putting up free sample stands around the corner. It is so hard to navigate and makes walking around a bit of a hassle. It turned me off from browsing different items on shelf. Selection is decent for an Asian/Chinese supermarket, but not as great as Foody Mart. I was misled by the photos of Hong Tai on Google Review and led to expect a food court here. It turns out that they have a BBQ section but not a full food court. Cashiers were slow and surly. Tossing the checkout dividers around really loud certainly won't make your work more pleasant ma'am! To be fair, I was not coming here expecting a fancy grocery shopping experience; actually, all the comparisons were made with Foody Mart and Tone Tai, and maybe some other Asian supermarket I've been to. I was terribly disappointed in Hong Tai and would not return. read more

I love Foody Mart, therefore I love Hong Tai too! Hong Tai belongs to the Foody Family, and the inventory and look of the store is very similar to Foody Mart. This grocery is large and they have a good selection of everything you may need. This place is clean and organized. I find they have really good weekly specials as well. read more

I have been shopping here twice. As a Caucasian, I love the prices of Asian markets and find the quality of produce and some meat fish quite good. what I don't like is the ignorance and racist attitudes shown towards " gwai lo" customers when shopping at Hong Tai. I do believe many employees go out of their way to be rude and ignorant. Try asking a question and you get a blank stare with a " no English" response and they simply walk away. Last Saturday the peasant man behind the hot counter was total dick and seemed to be harassing me to the benefit of a few other Mainlander coworkers standing behind. Speaking English is one thing when emigrating to Canada , but being purposely ignorant to customers is unacceptable. Doubtful the owners care about such hideous customer service as it seems to be routine. Maybe a visit from Immigration Canada to check for illegals would shake them up. Until then, I won't go back but continue to go to Sunny Market which welcome Caucasians and know customer service is important to all races of customers. read more

A small supermarket that has great weekly specials but the parking lot can get busy and chaotic. A few weeks ago I came on a Saturday morning at 9 a.m., thinking I would beat the rush and purchase a few things before going shopping. Boy was I wrong, it took me 40 minutes to make one round inside the parking lot. The reason was because this woman driver simply wouldn't move her car out of the way for other cars to pass. So eventually one of the workers from Hong Tai came out and knocked on her door, told her to leave. After about 20 minutes of exchange she still wouldn't move. I'm sure this is an extreme case and it rarely happens. But this parking lot can get busy real quick because of this supermarket, Harvey's, Swiss Chalet, a few take out chains and a salon. They moved a few fixtures around so it seems to be brighter and bigger. Their fruits and veggies are always fresh because their turn over rate is so high. Fish market always has one or two types of fish that are sold cheap. Their meat section is also great. Only complaint I have is their cashiers, its a hit and miss. Sometimes I would get a cashier that's friendly other times I would get extremely rude cashiers. read more

This place is great for deals on fish (always check the flyer and the sign - 2 prices: cleaned or not cleaned fish). Also the fruit is fantastic... just eat it quickly. read more

they sell countless frozen items that are rotten, beware and dont waste your money, do not buy frozen items such as sea foods, tofu and sausages . . . items that do not have expiry dates, do not buy them as i have experienced it already to waste lots of money, turned out the groceries i bought to cook a lot at once were all rotten, pls note, i deep fry when i cook, so it has been cooked thoroughly and has been defrosted properly, not over defrosted . . . . . Please notice when you get to this store, that not too many people takes a look and pay attention to the their frozen items, the sea foods and the sausages, because all people knew that those were rotten. read more

If you're not asian good luck getting any help. I wanted to ask a question to someone working in the produce section. I approached one employee and said "excuse me I'm looking for" and immediately in a phony accent he said "I don't know" and started to walk away. I chalked it up to a rude employee. I found a second person and proceeded to open my mouth and immediately the exact same response and action of walking away. Extremely frustrated at this point I approached a third employee working in the produce section and said "excuse me can I ask you something?" He repeated what I said and then immediately " I don't know" and turned away. I went to customer service and asked to speak to a manager. She turned to someone standing by, and said something in Chinese and the man said "yes I'm manager". I explained the situation and was extremely upset and being treated this way because I'm Caucasian. I pointed out the employees involved and they were looking at me laughing. The unidentified"manager" went over to one of the employees and spoke to him in Chinese and the employee started laughing, then whimpered out a condescending "I'm sorry". I have been shopping here 2-3 times a week since they opened and am used to grabbing what I need and leaving without any employee interaction as they have no social skills. They only understand money and not what goes along with proper business procedures. I shop there often as their produce is not the highest quality and doesn't last more than a few days before going stale. I've worked in butcher shops and I'm surprised they haven't been shut down. There are so many health violations visible, no proper sanitation practices, I'm surprised people aren't getting sick. I certainly don't buy meats or fish there. For the record the same employees went out of their way to help asian customers who approached them with questions. This is clearly racism and although I can put up with a lot direct racism will not be tolerated. I will not be spending any more time or money with this company. If you can't speak the language, you shouldn't be working in an area with customers. Terrible experience today, and that's saying something considering being used to poor service here in a regular basis. read more

Parking lot can get really crowded because it is shared with Swiss Chalet and Harveys. Meat dept is sketchy and sometimes smells. Their chicken legs are usually frozen, not fresh. The produce is pretty fresh. Slightly more expensive than other Chinese grocery stores but much cheaper than nearby Food Basics. Typical Chinese grocery store, so not very clean but acceptable. Staff might be a little rude, especially at their checkout. I had a problem with their machine and my Mastercard, which I successfully use regularly. The cashier kept grabbing the hand held credit card machine from my hand, cancelling my payment and wanting cash. She was rude and pushy. I felt just like in China! It helps to talk Mandarin to get your point across. More non-Asians shop here, so more multicultural shoppers. read more