El Super No. 22

El Súper is really far away from my house, but close to work and I will stop by every now and then to get some pan dulce.
The pan dulce stop always turns into a fruits and vegetable stop. I ask find myself going through the aisles and buying other items that I don’t normally find at regular grocery stores or that are cheaper here like lechera, chocolate abuelita, café and so much more.
They have a wall section near the entrance that has a lot of cooking utensils that are used in traditional Mexican cooking, if you are looking for a corn tortilla press, a lime squeezer, or a olla for los tamales, then this is the place to go!
Last visit there was to get a Rosca de Reyes (King’s Wreath) on Jan 6^th. The tradition in Mexico is to share with your family/​friends a king’s wreath, a baby Jesus figurine is usually inside the wreath, whoever gets the figurine has to make tamales for the family/​friends on Feb 2^nd.
The roscas at El Súper had very good flavor, not a fan of the raisins inside the bread but I picked those off. The baby Jesus figurines were outside the wreath and I guess you have to insert them before cutting. Probably to avoid a lawsuit.
Cashiers are mostly friendly but not always.

filthy dirty not one cart worked there were lines to the back of the store and the manager could care less. The coolers are not cold enough to keep the food safe. how can this stay open.

I normally have no issues with El Super but today is different. They usually have sales on their produce and we brought peppers for 59 cents a pound. As we were checking out the cashier charge us 93 cents a pound and my dad told her the sign says 59 cents so she asked her manager and she said it was for 93 cents as well so as we were leaving I grabbed the sign to show the cashier and her Manger the sign with the price of 59 cents that my dad was right and all the manager said was you can’t take off the sign. I told her I just wanted her to see she is wrong and should not be advertising that price. We didn’t care for the few extra cents charge just didn’t like they way the situation went down when they should know their sale prices and not argue with the customer when obviously it’s the price that was set. Definitely not returning and is unhappy with the service when nothing was taken care of. Bad business and bad customer service.

So you want to eat healthy on a budget. Spent a lot of money on a vitamix or nutribullet? Bet you didnt consider the costs of those veggies until now.
Preparing healthy food is MUY Expensive. El Super to the rescue! I must say it is well kept/​organized/​clean in comparison to other ethnic markets. The most I’ve paid for my weakly produce a week is 15 bucks! Flexible hours as well. Just expect long lines.
Dont forget to check out their pastry section… fantastic confections! El Cheapo

This is a great big inexpensive SÚPEEEE (tongue roll) RRR market! How fun to see prickly pears 5 for 99¢. Avocados, jicama, spices, everything great and authentic is in fresh produce! Look at the pastries! Everything here is stacked full and fresh with tons of sweet bread and the most delicious looking cakes! The seafood section is NOT as stinky as other’s have mentioned! Although everything is frozen, everything is priced right and I also found 6 lbs of amazing sized shrimp that I will be so excites to use in our shrimp boil! Also, if you make menudo or anything else involving authentic pieces of meat like pigs feet, the meat market is guaranteed to have it! I had a blast shopping here! There is also a cheese case and fresh salsa, fun times!

I’ve only been here once and that was enough for me. it was almost impossible to do any shopping because of all the other customers swarming to and fro between the aisles. Most of the staff had difficulty understanding English, which certainly didn’t help in the slightest. The prices for many of the items were insanely low, but that was the only advantage I found there.

Standard Mexican supermarket. (Very slight smell of rotting flesh throughout)

I rarely go grocery shopping outside of my neighborhood, but a friend told me that this place had really inexpensive fresh produce so I tried it. YES it does. A cantaloupe for .74 cents when Safeway is charging $ 3.29??? YES.
All colors of bell peppers are under $ 1. Another great find! Celery for .97 cents, 3 avocados for $ 1.00, and an amazing selection of hot peppers — fresh and colorful and CHEAP. Large Russet potatoes for .20 cents, cucumbers for .17 cents… ?? They are .90 cents at Safeway right now.
ALSO AWESOME is their price on dried spices. Large packages of oregano, bottles of black pepper, even Lowry’s season salts for under $ 2. It’s very worth it to go and stock up on that stuff. 5-​stars for prices… but it’s not a fancy place. Tortillas were cheap too. if you in bulk. Visit El Super for your fresh veggie and spice list! You won’t regret it.

I checked this place out with my teenage daughter this weekend. It’s big, bright, clean, the carts all looked serviceable and the produce, bakery, meat and seafood sections were amazing. There was also another ethnic food deli (?) that was staffed with employees who were helping people with their selections. I wasn’t sure what everything was in there, but it looked like some Mexican cheeses and creams, some deli meats, and some other assorted ethnic deli take-​and-​eat items.
Anyway, it was really very cool.
The only three drawbacks for me was that the smell from the seafood section was quite strong, which is to be expected really when you offer a selection of seafood that big, but still, you’ve been warned that you get occasional wafts of a scent that can *only* be described as a ‘hooker’s crotch at high noon in July on Fisherman’s Wharf’.
(Don’t judge. We all have our skeletons.)
The dry good aisles didn’t have a large variety of different brand names. To be clear, they have all the ITEMS that you need: cereal, cake mix, paper plates, laundry soap, soda, etc, but they may not have as wide of selection of different brands as you are used to at say, a WalMart or Fry’s. For instance I wanted some Jiffy Baking Mix, but they only carry Bisquick. No big deal, really.
And finally, I got an 8″ ready made flan from the refrigerated bakery case that looked pretty good ($ 5.99) but it was utterly tasteless and had a too-​rubbery texture that I didn’t like. It was just overly sweet, with no vanilla, or caramel taste to it at all. I’ve made FAR BETTER in my own kitchen. Just skip the flan. ;)
Anyway, overall this was a pleasant experience and the prices were quite reasonable, I’ll be back. :)

I love this grocery store! Luigi pinatas, fresh totopos, tortilla flour mix in bulk bags, fresh produce (not organic), a variety of fresh pan dulce, La Soledad mole and more! Just like Chedraui in Mexico (only Chedraui is better but it’s in Mexico so that’s no surprise). Glad my in-​laws live close to this mercado!

AVOID MEAT DEPARTMENT.
Bad Service. Poor quality seafood and meats.
Manager does not offer any help.
Good Produce sale on Wed.
Do not expect any customer service from Meat Dept and Store Manager.

While other people are fighting thru the crowds at Ranch Market, I glide my attractive shopping cart through a clean, streamlined, bright and very manageable supermarket — the fabulous El Super 22.
The produce prices here are wonderfully cheap, especially on Wednesday. They always have a large selection. I stopped going to Sprouts because the prices were too much. While being competitive with price, they blow Ranch Market for quality and freshness. Purchasing produce at the latter was always hit or miss with the produce going bad within days (such as sweet potatoes).
I think their bakery is the best of all the Mexican supermarkets. Their sweet rolls and pastries are inexpensive and fresh. There is no zoo-​like atmosphere and everything is labeled. They make beautiful cakes that I always stop and admire. They have an impressive cheese counter too that has everything you could want. I don’t buy much meat here, but my mother says the quality is excellent and very moderately priced.
BTW, El Super really reminds me and smells like supermarkets in Mexico. Some of the most modern and well stocked stores I have ever seen are south of the border and I never miss an opportunity to shop and bring goodies home when I go.
Who needs the Fry’s ?
PS. Their Tres Leches Cake is 5 stars and plus. Wow. The best cake ever. Truly.

This is my new favorite Grocery Store! The sales on the produce are ridiculous! Instead of so much per pound, it’s usually several pounds for a dollar… lol
Not all of the produce is top notch all of the time, so you have to pick and choose what you want at the time, and maybe buy certain fruit or veggies elsewhere, due to a bad crop.
The bakery is the next cool thing. I have a Croatian friend who has an addiction to good bread, and he is completely hooked on this place. I see him buy at least six loaves of bread every time we go into this store, and he eats them all within two days. The cakes and pastries are so cheap, and the decorating jobs on the cakes look very nice and are very enticing in a down economy such as this one.
Now onto the Meat Counter. It is very well organized and you take a number. They are quick and the line moves fast, so listen to your number, and don’t be a boner and learn some basic counting in Spanish. The ass hat below couldn’t understand his number being called in Spanish? He needs to culture himself and have some respect or go shop at Fry’s.
You can buy almost any part of the cow or pig in this very clean meat counter. My mother has had a hard time finding seven bone roasts at Fry’s and this place has them by the cow load.
They have seasoned meats, such as Al Pastor style, as well as a nice selection of Chorizo’s. I love the Salvadorean style chorizo links. They cook down very nicely, and have a great flavor and texture when compared to the standard types of chorizo that you find.
They also have a a nice counter with Mexican Cheeses and in bulk, and some house made salsa’s, ceviche, and other delicious items. The prices on the Mexican Cheeses are very low when compared to pre-​packaged versions at Fry’s or elsewhere.
I randomly tried some Central American style sour cream and it has now become my new favorite as opposed to the American Style. It reminds me of a hybrid of sour cream, yogurt, and butter. You have to try it, it’s amazing!
The staff is very friendly, the store is very inviting, and an overall great place to shop.
So get out of your stupid white zone, look up some awesome Mexican recipes and go shop at El Super and make some friends.
It beats the dickens out of Fry’s, especially when you hit the meat counter.
Salute! =)

To: Meat Department… You walk up to the meat department, tear out a number and wait for your number to be called. The past 2 visits, my number was called in Spanish only and skipped. I held it out and said… this is my number, why haven’t I gotten my number called, he told me. this number was already called, didn’t you hear it?
My reply was… I don’t understand Spanish, can you call your number in English too… his rude response what, its not my problem. — El Super… hire some english speaking workers, please.
BTW.the boneless chicken you gave me out of the meat case was spoiled and left it with your cashier upfront… she didn’t even speak spanish.

Finally, a major ethnic supermarket in the Arcadia section of Thomas. This El Super is spacious, very clean, has lots of regular supermarket items as well as an abundance of Hispanic food items, at prices that are of no stress on the pocketbook. Comparisons to the Ranch Markets are inevitable, so here’s my take on it: while large and spacious, this El Super is a bit smaller than a Ranch Market (no sit-​in dining area), but cleaner, less confusing, and less crowded — at least for now, and there’s no problem with parking even at peak hours. And I just have to add this … yummy cakes at the bakery section, especially my fave: tres leches — a delight for this aficionado of simple baked goodies.