This Lion Market has been around for so long! This store was my first introduction to an Asian market oh so long ago. LOL. It's actually cleaner and nicer smelling than I remember. It used to have stinky tofu, preserved duck eggs, preserved things and other funky smells. A good option to buy asian groceries. read more

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Came into my supermarket because we were in the mood for some green waffles. Decided to buy the green waffle mix and make them ourselves at home. Customer service was OK. The two ladies at the register looked at me like I was in the wrong place, lol. I asked where I could find the waffle mix and dry coconut and the language barrier made it a bit difficult to try to get them to understand what I wanted. however I had my resourceful son with me and he used Google translate and then we were able to get what we needed and we're pointed in the right direction. The lady at the register also suggested we use coconut milk instead of water to make them taste a lot better read more

Lion Supermarket - Had to het some - International Grocery Near Me - San Jose, California

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This review is for the takeout pork chop com tam, which was a large portion and very tasty for just $10 read more

Lion Supermarket - Pork chop com tam - International Grocery Near Me - San Jose, California

A pretty standard Lion Supermarket. Perhaps a slightly more Vietnamese balance of items (especially in the produce section) compared to the West San Jose location, given the demographics of the area. A bit cheaper on average than 99 Ranch, but with fewer weekly sales (i.e. this is more of an "everyday low prices" place). Conveniently located in a plaza full of delicious Vietnamese restaurants. However, this also means that parking can get a bit congested, but you almost always can still find a spot towards the back. read more

Always enjoy shopping at Lion's Supermarket. No thrills, good prices and wide selection. The store is decently clean and the seafood / meat season smells clean. Yah not much customer service here but you're able to find everything that you need here, and at very good prices. My pet peeve - when checking out at cashier these days... the cashiers never help you bag your stuff anymore, even after repeated requests. I've asked, asked and asked politely.. they all say ok but would just throw my stuff down to the end of the payment table and hope that I will bag quickly enough for them so that they don't have to do it. Ugh. Just very annoying. read more

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I'm not their biggest fan or anything, but I'm surprised that Lion Supermarket has such a low rating. Certainly, it's not nearly as trendy or amazing as the likes of H Mart and I'm not even sure that this isn't their worst location. Yet, every time I've been here, it always seems like there's a steady stream of folks coming here to shop, so it can't be all bad, right? Unless, of course, coming here is more like a necessary evil... Given how this particular Lion Supermarket is within Lion Plaza, its location is both good and bad. Good in the sense that the parking lot here is huge, so finding a space is never a problem. Bad in that the complex sits at one of the busiest intersections in the Bay Area, which means it's practically inevitable that you're going to get stuck in a slow crawl getting to/from the freeway and the 101 side of Tully. Thankfully, there are a bunch of other businesses and eateries nearby to make all of that traffic worth it! Walking through the store, nearly everything about the place feels a bit worn and dated - the aisles aren't exactly dirty, but they're far from clean, there's a musty-ish smell at times, and the refrigerated/freezer units are showing their age. That being said, the prices here are super reasonable. Cases of my favorite instant noodles go for quite a few bucks less than at the 99 Ranch in Daly City and they have a better selection of Asian sauces to choose from (like abalone sauce, if you want to get hyper specific). However, based on my cursory perusing of their seafood and raw meats, I'm not sure those are as good of a value. Less so with regards to price (seems cheaper than, or on par with, my usual spots) and more so with regards to quality. In particular, some of the chicken and pork didn't look all that fresh. Since Lion Supermarket isn't even remotely close to where I live, everything I've bought here has either been sauces, instant noodles, or random pantry items, so I've never had a problem with any of my purchases. However, I can certainly understand the issues others have encountered with some of their meats, seafood, or produce (and even the frozen foods, it seems). With that in mind, I'd probably be a bit more selective when it comes to those things, but there's no questioning that there are tons of items you can get here that you're not going to find at the likes of Safeway or Whole Foods. Which just might be the reason why they're a necessary evil in some cases, but at least the prices are cheap. read more

DO NOT buy quarter chicken here. I brought it today to make broth. It smells bad ít is not fresh. Last year my brother also brought quarter chicken from them. It went bad and smells very bad. My brother drove back to the market and returned. They should throw away. Today it happens to me, I should listened to my brother. I am so mad and I have to write a review right after I open up a chicken bag. I won't buy meat and chicken from them any more. read more

This place is like every other Lion's Supermarket. It is nothing special. It is great to get your local Asian groceries. Plus, it is one of the lions that are near where I live. This place is great when you want to shop for Asian groceries. However, it is very dirty like other Yelpers have mentioned in their reviews. It is not the prettiest supermarket. Honestly, there are better Asian markets. It is easy and quick for me since it is near me. The workers are a hit or miss. Some are very helpful but others are rude. Come here if you need some Asian groceries that other Asian groceries don't have or because it is cheaper here. read more

The have Asian specialties at reasonable prices. The bbq place next door is good, so anytime I am near Sast Tully in SJ I shop there. read more

Staff are terrible. They were stocking up items but they leave their boxes and carts in the middle of the isle so you can't get through. It's like you're going through and obstacle course. Things aren't cheap either. When we go to checkout, the lady asks if we want a bag. I said no. Then she starts laughing and said, "too bad I already charged you". Well why did you ask in the first place? Never coming to shop here again. read more

Great value buying meat, seafood, and veggies compared to other supermarkets. I always buy the fresh tofu and bulk fish. The fish department is very friendly and helpful. They will clean and cut. read more

I grew up coming to this place ever since I was a kid. I have been through both ups and downs here. The food here is not very good but still is okay for me to get by. However this is no longer the case because the quality of everything has gone down. It seems everything in this store now ruins the childhood memory of getting jello and other sweets here. Being this store is in the east side of San Jose, it's really troublesome. Parking is now a cesspit full of drama and ruckus. Sometimes there would be troublesome customers that do nothing but yell or bother me when I walk to the bus stop. If you want seafood you are better off going to a nicer place. This is one of the worst Lion Supermarket branches I could ever go to. Do yourself a favor drive to my area if you are looking for a Lion Supermarket or else you will suffer here. read more

I must be on a ethnic grocery store review kick. To be fair this paragraph is lifted from my last review. So one of the great things about living in the SF Bay Area is the abundance of ethnic grocery stores. From Vietnamese, Russian, Swedish, Cambodian, Korean, Syrian, Afgan, Persian, Chinese, Mexican etc., just about every group is represented. As such they make for fascinating adventure. The easiest way to learn about another culture and lets face the most common way we are introduced to a new culture is food. Food is a universal truth we all share. Lion is a Asian grocery store chain that is located in SF Bay Area. Unlike many ethnic grocery stores, Lion stores are quite large and in a similar vein to a Safeway, Vons, Krogers etc. This grocery store is one of my least favorite for a variety of reasons. It basically is the same as all of the other Lions in the bay area with several notable exceptions. This particular store the produce occupies the center section and the butcher shop is to the left on entering. But it basically stocks the same stuff as the other. It has a killer spice selection and tons of interesting stuff to browse and buy. So why the two stars? First and foremost it is a really dirty store. I mean it needs like a 24 hour shut down and a top to bottom cleaning. The carts are filthy as well. Adding to this problem is a packed parking area outside. Unless you happen to be in the area other Lion's feature a far better experience and are cleaner(ish) read more

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Customer service is a big challenge here. Noone here is a good communicator. If you know what to buy and what to do then you are good but dont except anyone to help if you have question or complain. read more

Finally had roommates' night and what did we want to make? I had this vision. It was shiu mai burgers. More like shiu mai sliders but what I discovered was that the garlic and dried shredded pork baguette from Lee's Sandwiches was perfect for this. Anyway. Located in a very busy plaza in East San Jose, parking and navigating through the idiot drivers will surely raise your blood pressure and don't expect that to decrease when you get inside. It's much worse because everyone walks slow, just walks across your path as if they want to get checked. Grrrr. People annoy me so much. What I found were vegetables and meat at a much cheaper price than most known grocery stores (Trader Joe's, Safeway, Lucky's) but I know it is not a fair comparison because this one is an Asian market. Like rau ram at $.89 a bunch? Cheap! Nothing like the aroma of rau ram sautéed w/ ground bison or flank steak. Even fruits are cheaper here. I bought shrimp that were already deveined and w/ the head/tail is off, lean ground pork, and wonton wrappers. I did not need any seasoning or condiments. Stuff was easy to find even though I have never been here. Not clean but if you need to cook Asian for a crowd or on a budget, this place is highly recommended. read more

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Just bought this today and after opening the bag, I found bugs and webs growing inside the bag. read more

Lion Supermarket - New bag of rice with bugs and webs inside. - International Grocery Near Me - San Jose, California

Lion supermarkets are generally just serviceable, but this location is probably the most poorly maintained, which is surprising given it's location. It seems to be getting worse and worse, and it seems to be reflected in how much easier it is to find parking now compared to some years ago. My most recent trip was the worst -- produce meh, meat and seafood looked old. Worst of all, the soy milk in the refrigerator case was visibly spoiled. I took a chance and grabbed a carton of milk for my kid to try to avoid another trip to the store, but when I got home, it was already rancid despite an expiration date 10 days away. I will not be coming back. I hope they close down so something else can open in its place. read more

This grocery store is tax up to the ass! Excuse my French! I noticed how dirty this place is too. Even though this store failed my times before I still go here because it's closed by and convince. But my last trip here will be my last! read more

Lion Supermarket - I got 2 of these and both were the same - International Grocery Near Me - San Jose, California

Negative star. Don't go here. They sell stinky old chicken. Very dirty place. This place is very unsanitary. Bought chicken and brought it home.... It smelled like poop!!! Department of public health needs to come and check this place before people get sick from what they sell. Beware!! read more

I hate how they charge 10 cents for grocery bags now...guess it's not really their fault... As if the parking lot wasn't bad already, there's not place to store carts...no wonder everyone just places everywhere and blocks cars from parking in them.... read more

INEXPENSIVE FRUITS - HUGE SELECTIONS! I love coming to Lion's whenever I am in San Jose. I pack up my fruits and buy at least several pineapples, sweet Texas oranges, Manila mangoes and Hawaiian Papaya. I was very specific here because these fruits are really over priced elsewhere. I have searched high and low for other locations near where I live - but have had no luck. Plus, the good side of shopping here is that I can also get all of my Vietnamese cravings all in one driving! Saves me a lot of time and gas money too! Lion is a huge market similar to your local branded "Safeway or Lucky Supermarket!" They offer everything from having your personalized butcher to having your fresh fish cleaned, cut and even cook if you so desire. They have excellent Asian canned food selections as well as "rare" Asian fruits that you simply cannot find elsewhere. They do cater to the Vietnamese community as I think more than 40% in San Jose are Vietnamese residents! The staff here are nice and if you need help, they are always willing to help you find it. Their cashiers here are one of the best I have encountered and better than Ranch 99 for sure. They are friendly, and they smile! If you are looking fruits from Asia that are hard to find with good competitive prices, shop at Lion's Supermarket where I can almost guarantee - you will come home with lots of goodies in the bag! PS - bring your own reusable bag or for 10 cents they provide you with one (City ordinance like San Francisco). read more

Lion Supermarket - International Grocery Near Me - San Jose, California

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Over $4,000 loss from my account due to credit card skimming. I was told there is an active investigation on store and management. Management has knowledge and getting payouts for allowing skimmers. They send the info to new york and new jersey to wipe out funds from your account. It happened to me, you have been warned. read more

Very rude the customer service She is yelling the customer I have never seen before Bad service never go there Negative stars read more

Great place for Asian snacks and an abundance of fruits and veggies. Seafood is fresh and a lot of times- it's cheaper than going to your typical Safeway or Luckys. There isn't much HELP to be found here by the workers but I think that's part of the fun. I enjoy walking down each and every aisle. read more

The products here are fine but the staff are horrible. I was checking out with a cart, but after paying the staff won't let me use the cart again to go to my car, because the guy behind me had a lot more stuff so he need the cart and since I only had about 4 things so I don't need the cart. I refused it at first but then when I was trying to put stuff in the cart another lady came and grabbed the cart from me saying the guy needed it more. The guy behind me kept quiet the whole time. read more

I was at the seafood area and bought some cat fish heads and ask the man worked there to cut it into small pieces. He refused and said price too low to cut for me. There was no sign of anything said so! Terrible customers services!!! read more

Went to pick up some slices of meat for hot pot. It's tucked in the back, with a "Sell By" date over 2 weeks old, surrounded by spilt crusted blood. Another time, picked up a dozen eggs, went home they were all bad. I would recommend staying away from this place unless you need a quick vegetable or something. It's terrible. read more

I remember going here with my Grandma when I was little. She always take me along so I can help her push the cart or hold the basket for her. The workers here can be rude at times, but most of them are nice and helpful. I don't like how small the check out is. On busy days with long like it feels cramped. They have all the things an Asian markets would have. I remember going here to buy my favorite snacks. read more

I don't know why Lion Supermarket got such bad reviews because I feel like if you decided to come here to buy groceries or food, you should know what it is you're in for. This is your typical Asian Market (read not extremely well maintained) with many unique, rare, and otherwise non-existent items in regular supermarkets that you would be hard pressed to find outside of a store like this. Sure it stinks, smells fishy and probably has sticky floors, bad drivers and horrible parking; but it has what you need if you're Asian like me! One of the key things about this place is that they're cheap! My family loves bargains and its no different when it comes to food. Also this plaza has quite a few things to offer so don't pass this up just because you don't understand why it smells the way it does :) read more

I'm glad that I wasn't here on a Saturday, as i was with the store on Story Road. That was a circus that day. They have a lot of stacks of products. I'm somewhat surprised things haven't fallen. Thankfully, they have a variety of products from housewares to produce. I looked for a metric measuring beaker and couldn't find one, but they seemed to have everything else. After looking through the whole store, I ended up with some canned Chinese herbal tea and a bag of pistachios. At 8:30, there were several customers and three cashiers. They took my money happily, and since I left my Lion market bag in the car, I struggled to juggle my purchases back to the car. This location has one huge advantage over the Story Road location: a huge parking lot. Even if this shopping center was equally as busy as the strip mall on Story Road, there would still be many, many more parking spaces. read more

This is another variation of 99 Ranch Market, but the prices are cheaper here. It's not as clean as 99 Ranch and most staff here don't speak English. They carry a wide selection of food but you have to hunt for it. The meat and seafood section is a mess on the weekends and people would fight for attention when they want to buy these products. read more

This is my one stop market everytime I need to go grocery shopping . It's like a hit or miss kinda thing with this place because I've experienced both positive vibes and negative ones . Let's talk the negative ones first Kay? 1. They always sell expired stuff here so everytime I wanna purchase something I have to look at the expiration date . Okay sure that's no problem right ? I can avoid it right? But let's say what if you're in hurry and you needa get something real quick. Shouldn't that be the markets priority and obligation to keep their produce and products up to date ? Moreover, what if the item that you need the most is expired isn't that a real struggle ? 2. Some cashiers are super slow, super nosey , super annoying if you know what I mean 3. The people at the meat station sometimes can be really rude and not care about you or what you need . The positives 1.It's really close to my house 2.They have a lottery machine here lol 3.One cashier was really nice and giving me tips on how to cook clams At the end of the day it's like I don't know where else to go shop for everytime I need groceries so I'm stuck with this place because it's an Asian market . read more

Lion Supermarket - International Grocery Near Me - San Jose, California

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Filthy store and rude employees. Any other normal market asks if you want help taking your groceries to the car. At Lion the manager was making a scene because she thought I was taking the plastic basket full of my purchases to my car. Ended up having to drive my car to the front of the store and loading the groceries there. Small wonder no one wants to shop there. I won't be back. read more

I totally forgot how crazy this part of SJ is. Lion supermarket epitomizes the nuttiness of this area. Before the proliferation of Ranch 99 and other likes establishements, Lion was rockin' it as one of the O.G. Asian supermarkets. It's been years since I'd set foot in here but my Mom was in town and she decided she needed to get some sort of crazy ass Chinese tea you just don't see at Vons near where she lives. So I went in and realized the place hasn't changed a bit. It's still as popular as ever and it's just as crazy as the driving and parking is outside. It's really run down now but it is still a plethora of Asian related goodies you just don't get at your usual Supermarket. If it were closer and I needed something specific for my cooking, I'd probably go by more often, because it's hard to beat some of the prices. However I don't live here and it's too much of a headache to deal with the madness :) read more

Literally tried to buy sake for the first time and they didn't even look at my card or typed anything in and just automatically refused to sell me the sake and told me I wasn't old enough because I looked " young ". Wouldn't recommend coming here read more

The guy at fish department yelled and rude at customers, wanted to talk to manager but he seemed he doesn't care. Seafood is not fresh like other asian market, don't recommend this place, Dai Thanh super market nearby is better place with more variety food and nice customer service. read more

This place is pretty much just as echoey as it is in a Whole Foods market. vegetables are fine. I saw lots and lots of empty shelves, and isles. The time I went there there was only one green onion in the green onion section. We found leeks there and they were OK. They were extremely small compared to those Marina Food or 99 Ranch Market. We we got some seafood there and everything went pretty quickly. everybody there is pretty nice. services pretty much the average that I get at any Asian market which is usually just saying hi and getting my items scanned then they tell me my total and I get my card then then I scan it and then it's removed. interesting fact: this lion market location was the first to open and open in 1982. it's quite dirty in there as you'd expect, but honestly, I didn't have a terrible experience there. Isles are very narrow, and also there's a very weird bar next to the checkout aisle, which is often times. Annoying! If you are an older person, no offense, but you probably would not be able to fit through if you are really big. that's the truth. No offense. lol there's a lottery machine but it didn't work the day when we came. also, I noticed that ever since 2022. It seems like lion supermarket use a different cash register from the ones they used to use. It sounds different. why? Lion market if you read this review, can you please let me know? I am very curious. also beware the reason I bring this topic up is cause I'm a musician and I have special ears and I just noticed this and I'm just very curious. i'm just saying, but this place along with all the lions supermarkets could use a great remodeling so that everything looks like brand new. this way they could attract more customers to come. also, if I didn't already mention, Isles are very very narrow. So beware if you're a claustrophobic person. read more

This shopping area has gotten really quiet. The produce quality is not very good and they didn't have what I was looking for. They require a minimum purchase (I think $5?) in order to pay with a credit card. I left empty handed. read more

So: do not expect any help finding -anything- here, whatever you need, expect to only rely on yourself to find it/get it. People working here aren't particularly nice nor are they helpful or willing to try to be. On the bright side, they do carry most of the items you need to restock the Asian spice part of your pantry. My last visit, they even had mangosteen on sale, the fact itself is awesome, though the quality of the fruit was just okay. All in all, glad it exists, don't particularly enjoy going there (the parking lot can be flat out dangerous, those 'Stop' signs are clearly just there for decoration, or so some people think), but, this market does carry a fraction of the stuff I need, so I'm sure I'll find myself back there. read more

I went in to buy 2 whole chicken for pho & the Vietnamese dudes that don't speak any English discriminated against me lol! They acted like I was going to run out w the chicken or something told me I had to go pay first at cashier, did not give me a price tag or nothing & I said but I'm still shopping this is very inconvenient. They said go Easy! When I got yo cashier I saw other people in line already with they're poultry on hand & one I told cashier she was confused & sent someone to go get my chicken & yelled at the guys @ least it sounded like she was talking shit yo them in Vietnamese. Horrible experience last time they looked at me like I was going to steel salmon. Place stinks bad & fish there got me sick I will def be taking my business elsewhere!!! read more