Super 88

It could be so, so, so much better. It could be paradise! But Super 88 is unfortunately the epitome of couldn’t-care-less Asian business ethics (yes, Asians CAN be anything but perfectionists) and seems to think it’s ok to sell moldy fruits, rotten veggies, expired sauces, AND get away with not giving customers their money back for said gone-​bad produce. Normally you’d see Asians flocking to cheap supermarkets, but there’s a good reason why Super 88’s supermarket section is usually empty save for 2 or 3 unenthused customers milling about. The selection isn’t even THAT great… and the stock somewhat inconsistent since I guess they don’t restock very often.
As for filth — I come from Southeast Asia, I’ve seen far worse. But at least markets back home, despite their apparent lack of cleanliness, don’t blatantly market food gone bad. I’m disappointed in you, Super 88. From now on I’ll be making the extra T stops to get to C Mart — at least I know I’ll always get my money’s worth and not have to go back to wail about spongy tapioca and gross, soggy onions.

If this is the best that Boston has to offer… then… well… i guess I have to give this some thought… (and cry…)
I don’t know if we went on an «off» day or what happened, but the store looked like it had been pilfered… seriously empty feeling in the store.
There were osenbei packages exploding out of cardboard boxes — really? you can’t have someone to put them on a *shelf*… seriously?.. it looked as though the boxes fell off some truck and they are selling it.
Not only did the store have a vacuous feeling, the store is just plain out disgusting. Being Asian, from the CA Bay Area I’ve had my share of nasty asian markets, but this by far, hands down is *the* grossest store I have ever been to. You smell the seafood and the meat juices rotting on the butcher part of the store, the smell was so overwhelming I could barely walk back there.
We did get a couple of things, just to give the store a chance and I didn’t find the prices super low or anything, plus, the food is near rotting and they are still selling it. One of the items we got was a ½ gallon of chinese soy milk and we had it in the fridge for one day before I opened it and it was curdled. gross.
Unless I’m in some desperate fit in need of spicy rooster sauce, I can’t imagine stepping back into this store.

fruits and veg are a bit sketchy, but you can’t beat their selection of instant noodles. Nong Shim spicy flavor ramen all the way! Plus, sometimes there are octopus chips. Sounds scary, but they’re delicious. If you feel like you’re being jipped at Shaw’s, just stroll down Com Ave a block and buy whatever it is for a few bucks cheaper.

They randomly close the store earlier than the posted hours. Today (Friday) their posted hours say they close at 10pm. After a long drive, when I arrived at the store at a bit after 9pm, the store was already closed and there was no one there. I was told by a cleaner that the manager decided to close the store earlier, but there was no other explanation. This is ridiculous.

This rating is not based on appearance, organization, cleanliness or service. All of which are either extremely lacking or entirely absent at Super 88.
Been shopping here for well over 7 years and this review is for the only two things that matter to Chinese mother in laws: food and price.
I’ve learned well!
Super 88 is packed wall to wall with the categories of food you’d expect to find at a typical super market, in varieties you won’t.
In place of granny smiths and fresh strawberries, expect to find asian pears and giant, scary looking Durian.
Looking for Barilla elbow pasta and generic orzo? You’re going to get japanese udon and clear mung bean noodles.
Instead of ground hamburger and chicken breasts, expect to spot cow stomach and pig tongues. Yes, tongues.
Where you’d normally find Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce, expect to see sriracha and (at least) 20 varieties of soy sauce.
In place of Oreos and Chips Ahoy, you’ll come across Pocky and Yan Yan.
No Doritos or pretzels — only rice crackers and wasabi pork rinds here.
In the cooler section: Celesta pizzas and Hot Pockets? Nope, just frozen gyoza and egg roll wrappers.
Catch my drift??? And all at prices that will make you want to jump for soy! — I mean, joy.
I lie, because ’88″ (as the MIL so affectionately calls it) does actually carry some, well, lots, of normal foods too. Brands your familiar… and… comfortable… with.
If you can make the trek out to Allston or Dorchester, it’s worth trying. You’ll save a boat load of money and might just find some new favorite foods! I did!
BONUS: Free parking lots at both locations — although South Bays’ is expectedly larger.

You will find things here that you may not find anywhere else. Perhaps you’re in the mood for some baked blood or duck feet, they’ll definitely have it here.
I just got back from there, the smell was too much! Their fruits and vegetables seemed unsanitary, stocked on top of rotten ones and there were flies all over them! Prices are good for some things, but many are the average price anywhere else. The seafood section made me cry inside, a little. Crabs mounted on top of each other (dead ones in the far end) and feel free to grab them and stuff them inside a small plastic bag. ???
But if you are making a quick stop for a specific asian cuisine, then definitely go right ahead. I’ll stick to my Stop & Shop for my everyday grocery, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods for organic and healthy groceries and Hi-​Lo for my Spanish cuisine needs.

I went to this Super88 for the first time, and I won’t be back. The parking lot was in bad shape and barely paved. The store itself was empty and did not have a whole lot of selection. The vegetables and fruit weren’t very fresh. The fish selection was limited and bare.

Of the three Super 88s I’ve been to, this is easily the biggest and most organized location. They carry a lot of domestic products as well (Trix cereal?!) and Goya, etc in addition to the Asian brands. Super 88 is awesome! Cheap produce and of course, Japanese candy. Yay!

As someone who was born and raised in Dorchester, Asian markets are no big deal for me. When Super 88 opened up years ago, it made an excellent Asian supermarket; it provided a greater variety of Asian foods that were harder to get at the more local markets along Dorchester Avenue. However, just about a couple of years ago, this Super 88 dwindled in its offerings, to a point where it wasn’t worthwhile any longer. To my knowledge, it was in the midst of being purchased by another Asian supermarket chain, Hong Kong Market. When I discovered this, I decided to give it some time to make its switch.
Today, I decided to swing by South Bay Center to check up on its progress and, much to my surprise, they appeared to be up and running like before! In terms of layout, not much has changed since before, except for the location of the frozen goods and fish counter. They appear to have an even greater variety of goods than in the past; if you happen to be on the rush, you can get away with just a pitstop here instead of hitting this place AND Stop & Shop, which I’ve had to do in the past.
The thing I liked most about this Super 88 is that they have more than 2 brands of mochi ice cream. This is something that I always look for in an Asian market. Most of the time, they’ll just have 1 or 2 brands in stock. Here, I saw at least 5 or 6 brands, each having a few flavors. This was extremely exciting news for me since mochi ice cream is one of my favorite desserts!
Anyway, if you’re a Dorchester native like me and haven’t been to Super 88 in a while, I would highly recommend checking it out. Hands down, it beats all of the smaller ones in the immediate area.

Yes it smells bad. I get it. I go in with a mission and come out with gems whatever.
First some background. I’m a seltzer addict. Seltzer/​club soad/​soda water whatever you want to call it I must have at least one-​two glasses a day. It’s weird I know. My favorite seltzer brand is VINTAGE. Can’t really find it in MA. I know it’s all over NY and CT. Anyway found a bunch last night. Stocked up. I spent 50 bucks on seltzer. They looked at me weird.
Anyway alsooooo got fresh blue crabs. First time and figured eh I have nothing to loose. They were good. Too much for work me and I didn’t like the Old Bay too much but the crabs themselves we great. I got 6 crabs for like 6 bucks. So even if they sucked I’m only out the 6. The communication wasn’t an issue. I pointed and held up six fingers the guy understood. We laughed at the crabs trying to get out. We bonded I thnk.
They had beautiful looking tiger shrimp for 8.99lb. Kinda sad I didn’t get them now.
Also stocked up on chili garlic sauce, and chili powder. I’m happy. Just go in and go out. Don’t wander. The smell WILL kill you.

Yes the place stinks. Yes, the «fresh» fish water is so dirty i’m shocked they are living. yet it was the ONLY place i could find to purchase a special dried (and SEALED!!! lol) Chinese egg noodle (that’s actually made with real eggs. what a concept. lol).
So about once every couple of months i would light up a good cigar and make the trek from the far north shore to Dorchester to buy a couple packs of the dried noodles and sadly (yes i know this is pathetic) silently lament over the fact that i didn’t marry an Asian girl! lol.
tonight was sadly my last trip. forever. about a year ago i was frustrated to show up one sunday night about 9:30 only to be greeted with a CLOSED sign and a locked door. since no one speaks english (well they sort of do, as long as the americanized owners are there. but if they’re gone the answer never matches the question so i don’t really think that qualifies). that being said i didn’t call but i DID go to their web site to check the hours prior to making my trip. yes it said 11. but closes at 10 on saturday’s and 9 on sunday’s (even though two years later their stinking web site STILLLLLLLLLL SAYS OPEN daily until 11. i just checked to make sure).
back to my story, tonight was officially my last trip because when i got there the expansive store had been reduced in size to what looked like a fraction of it’s former glory. glory doesn’t refer to cleanliness, only to size and selection. they not only cut the store size by half. the selections were so poor they looked as though the were closing FOR GOOD. a store that used to be brimming with customers of all races and ages now had only a few sparse customers. when i asked at customer service about «what happened!!! was the store sold to new owners??» she assured me they had not sold, the just remodeled. «do you like it?» .she asked not caring or understanding if i did or not.
it was truly awful and the selection was sooo poor, i was truly stunned. so, i sadly went back to my car. lit a huge cigar for my return trip home and mourned the good old days when this was the mecca of Asian stores in Boston.
i’m not sure if the other locations have followed suit but dorchester was the flagship store and. omg. you have no idea how disgusting the store has become.
farewell, Super 88. i will fondly remember my many fun trips when no one could touch you guys. they can be grateful 1 star is the lowest, they certainly didn’t earn the one i had to give them.

Eh. It stinks — literally. But it’s HUGE! I went bc it’s right around the corner and because I’m not a fan of Stop & Shop.
Here’s what I wanted:
1) Some produce
2) soy sauce
3) flour
4) basil.
Shouldn’t be that hard, right?
Here’s what I got:
1) The fruits and veggies and at the time they looked fine. Unfortunately they went bad in like 2 days (c’mon guys, even your wax-​covered highly chemical-​coated apples??)
2) Found some soy sauce, although I didn’t see quite the plethora of varieties other reviewers had mentioned. There was only one low-​sodium one with an English label (the others, who knows).
3) If I wanted flour it was either going to have to be a 5 lb bag, some variety of flour made specifically for crab breading, or something of the sort. Yeah, no go.
4) Miiiiiles of spices in this store, and super cheap!!! Omg, the spice aisle smelled so good! But they didn’t have basil, so point 2 for Stop & Shop
5) Pocky!!! (ya know… the long skinny pretzel-​like sticks covered in a delicious chocolate or strawberry coating? mmmm)
I’d like to think that being an Asian market would mean it’d be a great place to buy fresh fish, but after my experience with the produce I’m a little disinclined to try my luck. I would, however, DEFINITELY come back if I were in need of any dishes or baking pans. For whatever odd reason, they have tons of them and they’re all dirt cheap. If you like bamboo plants they also sell those. =) Only other comment I have to make it that I found it a little frustrating to have to read the teeny tiny shelf tags on everything to decipher what was being sold (I can’t read Mandarin/​Korean/​Vietnamese, etc), so it’d be really nice if they’d make it a little more universally friendly.

It smelled like cat litter that a cat had peed in. It made me miss my now deceased cats. Honestly, the smell was a bit overwhelming. There was definitely a huge selection and lots of fresh produce, but there was also stuff that was past expiration date. I didn’t buy a single thing here and went across the street to Stop & Shop and bought Reese’s Pieces instead.

If you can go to any super 88, i recommend this one. It is very large like an american grocery store and you usually can get all the staples there for cheeeeeeap.
Their seafood is so fresh and never smelled, and you can catch your own crabs too. The vegetables and fruit were also very fresh and cheap for the most part.
I also bought some nice little soup bowls from here and have had them for years now. I think they were about $ 1 each.
Its really fun to explore this store as there are a ton of asian food specialties that you may never know existed and you become a fan of.
I couldn’t do my regular grocery shopping here, but if I ever needed some things here and there this was my go to place (now i moved away from it… sad)

Good place to go if you just need little things in my opinion, This place has a horrible FUNK and it smells really bad, but they do have good seafood selections tho, and if your eating chinese food or even trying making it at home you cant go wrong here, But i will still always love my STOP AND SHOP where nothing stinks and i kno excatly what i want…

That smell will haunt me for the rest of my days.
But on the upside, it was quite the experience seeing the fish inventory, and they have pocky. I love pocky.
Also– Great dishes! Really cute bowls, none of which were over 2 dollars each!

Will I go back to Super 88 again? Yes.
Will I do my grocery shopping there? No.
I don’t know a lot about marine biology… but a couple dead crabs in the tanks… and I’m all set. See also, the fish tanks. I was very impressed by the entire AISLE of canned fish. Amazing.
I was most excited about the soda aisle, tons of jarritos, and almost the entire polar seltzer line — including new flavors such as Ruby Red Grapefruit, Blueberry, and other favorites like Pomegranate and Vanilla. I didn’t get any candy, but a few more trips and I’m sure I can figure it out. There was also a little frozen jar of lemongrass that I’m pretty stoked to buy next time. I’m going to put that shit in EVERYTHING!!!
I take that back, I was MOST excited about the fake meat products. OMG!!! I want to try them all. You can find the fake-​meats in between Bull Testicles and Pig Snouts, it’s a can’t miss!
I’ll definitely bring my mother here next time she visits, as a part of the cultural diversity program I’m working on for her. And I’ll bring my step-​mother so she can do a happy dance all around the store (as it is much nicer than the asian market in Manchester, NH — go figure).

All the fun chibi guilty pleasures you want.
Lots of fun stuff (like different types of Pocky) plus foods you can’t get elsewhere.
My husband loves to go in and watch the live fish in the tanks.

I wasn’t impressed. People go all gaga for Super 88 because Boston and most of the country has nothing at all like this. Fortunately for me, I grew up in an area that has great Chinese markets with huge selections and fresh produce and fish, which they’ll fillet for you. So when I heard about Super 88, I expected to see pretty much the same thing.
Super 88 didn’t impress me at all. I found the place to be kind of sterile. The vegetables were cheaper than at your local Shaws or Stop and Shop but by no means the bargains that they should be in a Chinese market. The fish was reasonably priced, a tad more than I’m used to, and when I went to order and asked them to fillet (and I tip for them when they do that), they said they only do steak cuts. WHAT??? Plus the quality of the fish didn’t look so hot a couple of times I went so I just avoid Super 88 now.
This place is overhyped and not worth it. I only gave it a second star because they have a huge selection of packaged goods you cannot find in most places in Boston. However, I’d visit C Mart any day of the week. Better prices, better fresh selection.

Is it creepy that I love the smell of Asian markets? That overly fishy, slightly stank eau de Super 88. I don’t even know why I like it– I just get excited whenever I smell it and I want to buy stuff.
Unfortunately, I know little to nothing about cooking Asian food, which is sad, because I’d love to be able to know what all those ingredients are that line the shelves of Super 88. But, what I do feel brave enough to try and use is always awesome. Things to buy at Super 88:
1. Gigantic vats of soy sauce. I didn’t know you had different kinds of soy sauce (besides the regular and low sodium) until I came here
2. Strange Japanese candy.
3. Noodles, noodles, and more noodles– at incredible prices. I just bought a buttload of vermicelli for a buck
4. Some sort of strange looking squid type thing on a stick.
5. Vast varieties of frozen dim-​sum type things ready for my fry daddy
6. Vegetarian intestine (just kidding– but they do have it if you really, really want it)
7. Fresh, fresh fish
8. Wonton wrappers, rice, nori, wasabi, chili sauce, kim chee, quail eggs, dried mushrooms of all kinds, and every other Asian food staple you could ever want
The only downside? This location doesn’t seem to carry my favoritest of favorite Chinese candy. I don’t even know what it’s called, but I know it when I see it. And they don’t have it. Sad!