NetCost Market

I may update this review later — frankly, going to a Russian supermarket/​deli around New Year’s is not neccessarily representative of a day-​to-​day experience — not so much because of the stock (although this, too), but because of the Mad Russians (I can say that — I am one). We’re quite a bit crazier around New Year’s. Wear a helmet. You have been warned.
I had bookmarked this particular store — and later came here (forgot to check in, next time) — primarily because it has a parking lot. A crappy one (I parked close to the entrance, but on a hill — hand brake engaged), but pretty large (lots of other stores, including a liquor one — not that I need it, Ambassador — see my reviews — has got my back), a crappy-​dollarish-​whatever Sav-​A-​Lot (meh, btw — I really miss Odd Job), and a Walgreens (or Duane Reade — don’t remember, but convenient nonetheless).
If you’re like me, you need to know that there seem to be no public restrooms in the entire mall. So go before you go. Just sayin’.
Starting at the entrance: they had Gingergold around Christmas. As this particular type of apple is usually present a week or two in September/​October (depending on the weather), I was impressed. They clearly either know how to properly store them or they have a dedicated sourse abroad. While they call it «Beliy Naliv», those who know the term would appreciate knowing it is not (it’s Gingergold, DUH); but it will be the closest you can get to it on this side of the Atlantic. I buy lots, wrap in tissue and store year-​round in a vegetable bin, re-​wrapping in clean tissue about once a month. You’re welcome.
Ok-​ish vegetables/​fruits, but nothing to write home about.
Pretty good spread of prepared foods, but was too crowded for me to attempt. Smartly appointed, though, and quite logical, and cleaner than I found in regular supermarkets (particularly in the area — sheesh).
Bakery was legit. Very nice selection, and the attendant was very hands-​on without being pushy. Very much appreciated.
The Napoleon… Oh boy. Ok. This is a tough one for me. It wasn’t BAD. It just wasn’t a Napoleon. It’s not a Napoleon if you use sguschenka (condensed milk with sugar) — as this vendor does — or, God forbid, SwissMiss (or ShopRite, whichever) vanilla pudding (insert eyeroll here). One uses Crème Anglaise, or Custard (if you prefer past indefinite to any other past tense for simplicity). Anything else, while can still be delicious, is not Napoleon. It’s like my detested turkey «bacon» vs. bacon.
I have at this point resigned myself to baking it myself. It is with great saddness that I pronounce store-​bought true Napoleon officially extinct. And while I understand it’s too time-​consuming and labor-​intensive to make proper Napoleon, as I detest anything turkey being called «bacon» (a turkey does NOT have that body part, people — nor does a chicken, cow or vegetable), I detest a layered cake being called «Napoleon» just because it has layers. *end of rant*
Deli staff was incredibly helpful and the young (Kazakh, I think) man who tended my needs was (a) attractive (this is important); (b) clean (even more important); © very helpful, knowlegeable, actually listened and respectfully ghosted me at a distance just in case I remembered what else I needed. I did.
Pork fat (you know who you are! you want it!) — the more expensive one is actually as close as I’ve ever gotten to «bazarnoye» short of Brighton. Lightly salted; and though in good faith I cannot say the skin screams «YOUNG PIGGY!!!», I am comfortable saying, for once, that it was definitely not a retired old hog.
Good cheese department, but you will need to go to a specialized store for really exotic ones. All the basic everyday cheeses are well represented.
Smoked fish — no comment. I got spooked by previous reviews of an apparent tradition of cutting chunks rather than slices. Russ & Daughters has me covered.
Ok meat department, but prices better at Shoprite/Stop&Shop (same quality); however, totally usable if you want to save a trip.
Now for the pre-​cut vaacum-​packed deli — FAB!!! I did most of my deli shopping there. Everything standard very well represented, HUGE selection. No issues with expiration dates. I always check, regardless where I shop. Like you’ve never bought expired stuff in your local supermarket if not checked? Sure, I believe you.
Very good ethnic dairy selection — wonderful butters, farmer’s cheeses, kefir, ryazhenka, whatever. No Half&Half (to be fair, Stop&Shop that day also had none). Organics are well represented and reasonably priced, eggs, too.
Good frozen section. Found excellent pelmeni (took some digging) among the usual (many) brands.
A separate mention of my check-​out young lady who was incredibly helpful. They don’t just stick stuff in bags — they use good jugement, group stuff appropriately, and bag thoughtfully. However, no pens. At all.
The customers can be a bit… um…how shall I put this. Odd. Nuff said.

One of my main places to go grocery shopping. Yeah, I don’t understand a majority of what the items say since I don’t know cyrillic Russian, but what I do know, I like very much. My favorites are the bagged sliced bread (priced at $ 2.39), the Delicje Jaffa cakes, single serve Ayran bottles, Sutdiyari cheese, and for a non-​food item the Bagi Shumanit oven cleaner (way better than Easy Off).
One thing I don’t like is the crowds on the weekends — it’s like an ant hill.

The best supermarket on Staten Island. Not just the prices, but the selection as well. You can find just about anything smoked or pickled, every Eastern European product you could reasonably want.

Just went to do some shopping there last night, and was absolutely disgusted! There were wet puddles all over the store that no one was cleaning up, and the whole store smelled of sulfur and feces. We discovered that they had a sewage backup and were trying to fix it. Are you kidding me? and they serve home-​made soups and cooked food in open air absorbing this sulfur smell from the air? After we came home, some of the cooked food we purchased smelled like the air in the store, went straight in the trash. CLOSE THE DAMN STORE WHEN YOUR SEWER BREAKS! How greedy can you be?
I am completely disgusted and will never be returning to this abhorrently managed store every again. What a disaster, and potential criminal negligence if anyone gets sick from this!

I absolutely LOVE this store! it is around the corner from
my
parents house so whenever I stop by to do laundry I make sure to stock up on some groceries and some Russian fare. They’re produce
prices are amazing and are
pretty consistent. They all around have great
prices compared to large chains. I typically get eggs which are usually around 1.50−2.00 I even once went in and saw organic eggs for 2.00 which I stocked up on lol. They have a wide selection of caviar and Russian specialties like their fresh breads and desserts.

This place is awesome. The best thing that you will notice is the prepared hot food bar and the cold salad bar near the entrance. Hot foods are stuff like kebabs, fried calamari, Russian pierogi dumplings filled with meat, cabbage, potatoes, or cherry. Ribs, chicken cutlets, patties, and drumsticks, fried fish, potatoes, fried mushrooms and cauliflower, beef stroganoff.. I even saw roast duck.
Even if you think Russian food is weird and consists of pig heads or something you will start getting hungry the moment you see this place.
Cold bar had like 25 different items, salads of all kinds. 3 types of eggplant salad, crab salad, seaweed salad, pâté, all those weird and quirky Russian salads that surprise you with weird flavors.
Russians love their bread, white and black; wheat and rye, all fresh made and crusty, so that’s there. The inescapable kielbasa counter with all types of cured meats and sausages is obviously there. There is even hot soup — characteristically Russian — green and red borscht, the national specialty, soup harcho which is like a spicy red soup, a delicious porky pea soup with sour cream, and the sour solyanka soup which I’ve never had. If for some reason you can’t handle speaking to people there is self serve for everything you need.
And there it is. If you live in the area there’s no excuse not to go. If you live in jersey… well…the 14 $ toll + gas may or may not be worth a trunk load of Russian food。
Oh yes, and there’s the beer. So much beer. 1.29 tallboys, pints, whatever, it’s cheap as hell.
My only complaint which I wish I could give 4.5 stars for is the lack of snack/​junk food. If you’re like me who goes to Asian supermarkets to load up on weird snacks, dried seafood treats, and instant ramen type soups, you’ll be a little disappointed with the lack of Russian instant snack type grub.

Not enough fresh fish selection

I love grocery stores, and I travel out of my way to go to awesome grocery stores. Net Cost Market is now added to my weekly grocery store visit. I come here mainly for their cold and hot food bar.
Cold/​Hot Food Bar:
Out of all the grocery stores I have been to, Net Cost Market has the BEST cold/​hot food bar. Why is it so superb? Their cold/​hot food bar has prices individualized per item. That is, you’re not paying $ 8.99/lb for salad like your typical grocery stores! However, I must say you’re not going to find your typical romaine lettuce, caesar salad, croutons, etc here. They have more interesting items such as beet salad, beef tongue salad, sour cabbage, chicken liver pâté, etc! Yes, everything sounds exotic! Well, this is a Russian/​European market! The hot food bar has different types of chicken, bilinis, lamb kebabs, duck, beef tongue, tilapia, flounder, herring, etc! Everything looked so good! I wanted to try it allll! And of course, each item is priced differently! You’re not going to pay the same price/​lb for fish, pork ribs, and potatoes! There are also pastries, piroshski, bread, and other bakery items that are sold per lb as well! OHHH I almost forgot! You can taste the items offered in the cold food bar! Please, don’t use the same fork for different items though! Be sanitary! I can rave on and on about their hot/​cold food bar, so let’s move on. Also, a worker will weigh your food for you and put the price sticker on, so don’t be cheating on the prices since things are differently priced!
Deli/​Smoked Fish:
The deli is filled with different types of meat as well as smoked meats. There seemed to be a lot of different types of salami and smoked meats. There’s also a smoked fish section! If you get the non pre-​sliced smoked salmon, they cut it in filet portions instead of typical sliced smoked salmon (see picture!). The smoked salmon is very reasonably priced (i.e., around $ 15−19/lb) & tasty!
Sushi:
Yes! There’s sushi! I have not tried it yet, but it did look good! A salmon avocado roll was priced at only $ 4.49! Pretty good!
Candy/​Chocolate:
There’s a bulk candy/​chocolate area! I think everything was in Russian, so I didn’t know what things were. I’m not sure if you can taste here, so I didn’t try any. I would definitely try it out at some point though!
Produce:
Produce section looked fresh. I honestly didn’t really browse here because I was more interested in prepared food, hehe.
Other:
The rest of the store has a mix of imported and domestic goods. Prices are pretty reasonable. When things are on sale, it can definitely be cheaper than your typical Shop Rite
Cash Registers:
Yes, it does get crowded in here. I came around 1−2PM on a week day and lines were pretty long. The cashiers are very friendly.
Net Cost Card:
I think I need to go back to the store to get my savings card. I signed up online, but I haven’t received anything in the mail. There’s a senior citizen card that allows senior citizens to receive 10% off their purchase! Pretty good deal!

The place is like nothing I have seen, not being Eastern European I was wowed by all the delicacies and ready made foods. I drove over from western Jersey because someone told me that they sell caviar. I bought a pound and prepared food to take home. This will be a monthly trip to Staten Island.

Being Polish, I love this place. They mostly have Russian brands, but carry enough Polish to satisfy me. The produce is great– well priced and nice variety. They have a cold salad bar now with salads, fried foods and meats. They even have sushi! And it’s really good!
Even if you are not of European decent, go and explore!

Love it! Always fresh stuff! On weekdays lines are short– weekends– that’s a different story (packed) Staff is friendly and polite. Will keep going there

I heart Net Cost! Everything in this little supermarket is always fresh to death. Veggies and fruit are always crisp. They have a really fantastic hot and cold food bar where you serve yourself-​not my fave thing to do but it’s so good that I can’t say no. They have a lot of Russian specialties like soups, salads & anything cabbage. Lots of eggplant too. They always make something grilled/​rotisserie like chicken or glazed duck with dried prunes and apples. They have fresh made sushi and a ton of smoked fish-​trout, salmon, white fish, sardines, and so much more. There is a caviar station as well which has a pretty nice selection. Nice dairy selection also. Some signs are in Russian and the staff could be a little stand off-​ish (ie-​not looking at you when you talk to them) but I go there to shop, not to hang out. Prices are good too. Check it out.

Great Russian supermarket — you can find everything from authentic Russian bread and old-​time favorite Russian candies, to pelemeni and kefir in here. Yes, caviar too. It also has big selection of other European and American foods, fresh meats, cheeses, and bakery goods — so one-​stop shop!

This is a good, high end Russian food store. While it’s not as large as it’s Brooklyn counterpart, it is well stocked and reasonably priced. I went a week before New Year’s Eve, so it was packed and the customers are not incredibly polite. Otherwise, this is a good store in an easy to get to location.

Hurrah! The Staten Island Beer Mecca has been found! (Hmm. I guess it’s a little wrong to refer to a place as «Mecca» due to their alcoholic beverages… but… Hurrah!)
I’ve been looking for a source of good beer at good prices since I moved far away from New Beer Distributors. Champ’s didn’t do it. This place does. I was brought there on a Memorial Day BBQ beer run, and was informed that we were going to «the Russian place.»
It is, indeed, a whole Russian grocery store. It looked like they have all kinds of fun and interesting grocery-​type things, presented in a large, clean, pleasant supermarket. But I was there for beer, and beer they had: everything from big bottles of Trappist ales to 99 cent tallboy cans of some Eastern European beer I’d never seen before.
We got: Chimay Blue, Duvel, Affligem, Leffe, Blue Moon Honey Wheat, Aldaris Porteris (from Latvia), Grieskirchner Weiss (from Austria — excellent!) — and a few other things (Yeah, fine, I can’t remember the names of all of them. But they definitely had various types of Baltika, Obolon, Lomza, and many other Eastern European brews.) The prices were very fair.
Plus it’s right next to a really big Lot-​Less.
It’s a bit of a trek for me to get here, but it’s a trek I’ll be making.

I’ve been to the Net Cost market in Brooklyn, and it was mediocre at best. So it took a lot of convincing from my friends to get me to go to the one in Staten Island. Boy am I glad I went! I usually shop in 3 stores to complete my shopping for the week, and this store had EVERYTHING under one roof: organic fruits & vegetables (they have non-​organic too), Russian Food (including a huge variety of prepared salads, fish, cold cuts, cheese etc), and regular grocery store food (meat, cereal…)!!! But here is the best part, I did my whole food shopping which usually costs $ 250 – 300 for $ 150! I would definitely recommend Net Cost to anyone who wants to get amazing food at half the cost, just don’t go to the one in Brooklyn!

Half supermarket, half unique specialty store…
Food Town used to occupy this space for years, but Net Cost Market folks totally turned it around. Nice, spacious layout, clean and well lit. Pretty cool shopping experience, lots of prepared foods and endless European goodies in fancy packages. Kind of cool to take a break from Coke and Sprite and try some imported beverages — we try different ones every week. And juices too. If you ever went to other Russian /​European stores in Staten island or Brooklyn, you will find the staff here more attentive and polite (a pleasant change!). Parking is somewhat limited and main entrance often becomes somewhat obstructed. Otherwise, no complaints!

Man, those are some good deals!
Walking distance from my pad too! Some stuff is so much cheaper than the grocery store, like a bag of honey wheat wraps for 99 cents! Sushi isn’t bad, the guy is really friendly and will make anything you ask him to. (next time I ask him to make me a roll upside down while singing some Hayseed Dixie)
Specialty products from the eastern European parts of the world, I feel like a fat Indiana Jones when I walk in there, ready to discover some new Caramel Spread or funky Russian Yogurt.
Didn’t give 5 stars for 2 reasons: People that blocks the whole exit because they refuse to walk 12 seconds with their bags, and the security guard puffing away right in front of the door.

After reading my sisters review I KNEW I had to come here.
Net Cost Market is right by my sisters so on my way to feed her cat yesterday I stopped off here.
Now I wouldn’t say they have everything buttt… they do have chocolates that I thought I could only get in Germany.(Milka in the purple wrapper and kinder chocolate too)
Minus 1 star because they didn’t have the caramel Milka chocolate.
Kudos to them! Smiley face on me :) — — see my smiley face?
Now like my sister, I too wish I read the Russian language (I know a few spoken words because I work with all Russians,) because then I might have tried more of their hard candies. But I’m still smiling.
:) :) :)

Hallelujah! Net Cost has descended upon Richmond (Staten Island). (3 min from my place too! WHOOO)
Filled with amazing products from Russia, including a caviar bar, smoked fish galore, pickled everything you could ever ask for, poppy seed dessert treats, Russian candies that I picked out having no idea what was inside (I don’t read Russian), real hearty dark breads and much much more… I’m right smack in the middle of an imported love fest here.
Oh, they also have an great produce section. MMM. I cannot wait to need to go back. Or not need to. I just wanna go back!