Dana Bazaar

Shockingly rude when questioned about prices of items. This place is a scam. Most of the items don’t have a price tag on them and have been removed manually. The owner just shouts at you while attending you. What a nightmare!

This place is a scam, please do not go there. There are no price tags on any item for a reason. The owner (bald fat guy) charges money as per his convenience (mostly $ 3 – 10 more from other places), an item can cost $ 3.99 one day and $ 6.99 next day.
If you ask for a bill, he will be hesitant to give you and even if he does name or description of items are missing. Even the bill is designed around his ponzi scheme so that customers can’t compare one bill with another.
It took me some time to understand his scheme and after wasting hundreds of dollars, I request you all not to commit the same mistake

Nice little Indian store over on Nebel street. I mostly find whatever Indian groceries i am looking for here, and the owner seems like a nice guy too. I wish they had more local stuff like parathas (from somewhere in VA) that you get at other Indian stores. But overall, pretty good place to pick up some Indian groceries in a hurry.

Nice place for regular spices and groceries. The only problem is missing price tags on few items. Credit card is accepted only on transactions above $ 15.

The variety is not so great and the owner just doesn’t like to help. I wonder if he hates his life or just hates people. There is hardly any price tags, and when you ask the owner (bald, heavy set guy) regarding prices, he jumps at your throat for interrupting him even when the store is empty. I have only gone here as a last resort and when i was very short on time. I always regret it and come back super fast and with a bad feeling in my body. The owner rings up the items throws away the itemized receipt instead of handing it to you, so I always wonder if he over charged me, which most probably he did.

The owner nickels and dimes the hell out of his clients and he is rude on top of that. I saw a poor woman spend about $ 100. She then came back because she forgot to buy Naan. Despite the fact that she just spent lots of money, he wouldn’t accept her credit card unless she spent $ 10+. What a cheap-​a $$! I asked him a simple question about a brand of food and he was both condescending and rude.

Went to Dana Bazar for some samosas, but the Deep 24 frozen pack were a whole dollar more than I’ve bought elsewhere…
We bought a ginger beer to try it out. What it lacks in alcohol it makes up for in ginger. I did not like it one bit. Arrrggh.
We also grabbed a few of the pre-​made samosas and snacks. I was a bit weary at first because they had been sitting out all day, but the fired pastries were delicious! Some were Bengali, filled with potatoes. I had never had them before, so I’m glad I had the chance to!
It’s pretty annoying how nothing is priced marked.

I really enjoyed this store due to its convenience to me. The people who work there are very friendly and immediately asked if I needed help. It has a majority of last minute things you might need. For me, it works out well. It could be a little more clean. Otherwise, I will still go back.

I went in during a weekday afternoon and it was almost empty, which I was happy about since I hate bumping into people while grocery shopping in a place with narrow aisles!
The shopkeeper was quite helpful and even offered me a free (?) samosa while I was perusing the shelves. When I was checking out, he told me that I should try some of the apples that were picked locally and allowed me to take as many as I wanted to try for free! Of course, I didn’t want to take advantage so I meekly picked up 2 and thanked him. Since I was the last person there, he helped load some of my bags into my car.
I was a bit unsure about what to expect when I went in there, but honestly it was a lot better (and somewhat closer) than the other godforsaken Indian stores around in the area.

Good prices and products, friendly and helpful staff. I’ll be back.

To all my naturals out there— if you’re interested in starting a Ayurvedic herb regimen, this place is the jackpot. Tucked behind Rockville Pike in a shopping center, Dana Bazaar was the answer to not relying on interenet orders for my herbs. Amla, Brahmi, Shikakai, Neem – they have them lined up right at the front of the store. The attendant was very sweet and patient. Feeling hungry? They had some good sambosas right by the cash register too. I’m very happy I found this place. Let the long locks begin!

An option for Indian grocery when you are looking for the standard items. For our main grocery shopping for Indian food related items we generally tend to gravitate towards the Korean grocery stores like Lotte Plaza and H-​Mart since they carry the widest selection of Indian grocery items and are also huge and clean and have stuff that is not past the expiration date (things that may be the opposite at Indian grocery stores).

When I first moved to Austin, I found out that apparently I wasn’t very «Indian». This was quite disturbing to me because, well, it went against everything I ever believed about my cultural upbringing. I didn’t really get it either. Other than the fact that I absolutely despised Bollywood (and still do), I didn’t really see what differentiated me from the rest of my brethren. However, over time, I began to understand that my exposure to my own culture was through a decidedly narrow lens. For example, until last year, I had never heard of the Indian noodle dish «Maggi.» Clearly, there was more to Indian cuisine than the bowls of rice, idlis, chapatis, potato curry, chicken curry, and South-​Indian style vegetables that I consumed at home.
Dana Bazaar isn’t an Indian food mecca, but it is a place where you can find all the basics of Indian food. They have nothing short of twenty different brands of pickled mangoes, approximately a dozen brands of «Punjabi» mixes, and they even carry Indian soft drinks like Limca and Thums Up. All sorts of Indian bread are available (paratha, roti, naan, etc.) though most of it is of the frozen variety. They even have a prepared foods section which carried some absolutely fantastic dahl and some decent but not spectacular tamarind rice and veggie biryani. The owner of the place will push these products, but they are pretty good and aren’t absurdly expensive either.
I really like this place. I like that it pushes up my Indian conformity factor almost to the point that people won’t notice that I don’t know a damn thing outside of the State of Kerala. Now if I can only learn Hindi, I’d be golden.
Mujhe nariyal mat bulaon… chutiye!

Good place to get Sri Lanka food stuff. They sell Indian foods as well. If you like Sri Lanka food then this is the place to go. MD stuff galore. Downside is that they area bit pricy. then again, I suppose there’s not all too many places to get Sri Lanka food so when you have the market you can charge whatever. Add to that, there aren’t all too many places to get this food so supply and demand kicks in.

I’ve visited this store a couple times and it is a lifesaver for me since I live right around the corner and can walk to the store. I read some poor reviews before going but decided to brave the store anyway. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, you must be careful when selecting products — pay close attention to expiration dates! True, the service is ‘strange’ — sometimes overbearing and intimidating and sometimes non-​existent. For instance, the salesperson at the cash was pressuring me to buy some pre-​made stuff I had no interest in but when I refused he gave me some free ‘samples’ apparently because I told him I lived around the corner and so I was deserving of special neighborly treatment. The atmosphere is not exactly welcoming but if you’re just popping in to grab some items you need, you should be able to find them. I think the prices are reasonable — I’ve been happy with the prices on rice, lentils, and bulk spices, and was overjoyed to find fresh curry leaves, for instance.
In sum, since this is the only Indian grocer I’ve tried in the area I’m not able to speak comparatively. Still, I’ll continue to shop at Dana Bazaar since it is convenient for me and always has the products I need.

Dana Bazaar has a limited selection, but it has all your basics to get Indian groceries, and the owner was very nice. For everyday purchases, I come here, but for anything extravagant, I have to find another store.

This is one of the closest Indian grocery stores for people living in NW part of Washington DC. Its about 10 – 15 minutes walk from White flint metro. It has most of Indian fare: dals (lentils), basmati rice, spices, indian pickles, dry snacks, vegetables, fresh and frozen rotis and parathas (Indian bread) and of course desserts. They also make fried snacks like samosas (I liked them!) bhajiyas, medhu vada etc. They also keep frozen Indian curries, which are locally made. Bollywood movie rentals can be found at the front. Its a decent market not too great. I have to try other Indian grocery stores in the area, so I cannot provide any comparison with other stores for now. The assistant at the shop seemed friendly and helped me look for an item.
Overall, Ok place for people looking for Indian groceries.

The fat guy who owns this place is the rudest person i have met. I always shop at Patel brothers even though dana bazaar is very near to where i live. The products have no expiry date on it and if you want to clarify something about the product with the fat guy-don’t bother! He will not help you.
Even though this place is so close to halpine Village apts where many indians live, the store is very empty most of the time. It certainly tells us something. Try going to Patel brothers on a weekend-​you will have to stand in line to pay the bill.
Don’t goto dana bazaar unless you want to eat rotten Indian food or get taunted by the stupid fat guy at the front desk.

Dana Bazaar,
although you are set in the most anonymous, derelict, and almost entirely abandoned strip mall this side of westernmetro dc/​md, and also are surprisingly nearly impossible to find (my roomate had to emphasize each point of his directions multiple times), you are still the closest indian market to my apartment, and i am glad you exist. you have saved my pocketbook from disaster and my tastebuds from culinary neglect. though my roomates may strongly disagree, thank you: i can once again make abominally spicy curries at my own risk, satisfying my cravings for indian cuisine and abdominal pain without paying bethesda/​dc take out prices. sure, i may never, ever, watch any of your baliwood movies (doubling, as you do, as an indian-​movie-​rental place, and actually, your awning advertises only this aspect of your establishment… just to confuse whitey? i was certainly puzzled the first time around), but i will be coming back again and again for your curry blends, your yogurts, your ghee, your naan, your asian produce, your large cheap packages of cumin, coriander, cinnamon and other spices, and my indian-​cuisine necessities in general. i hope that maybe in the future some friends just might join you in that abyss of a shopping center… if not, keep on keeping on…
Sincerely,
that one caucasian dude who shows up every now and then
ps. thank you for not being directly on the rockville pike. man, do i hate that road.

Not a bad place to get Indian Groceries.
Available is the ususal Indian fare — spices, produce & «mixes».
Not to be confused with the other Dana bazar in Greenbelt, MD which is the pits!