Buying Produce, Meat and/or Seafood in Chinatown (Oakland: neighborhood, organic)

[SunDevil1212]

I live right by Chinatown and often walk thru the neighborhood on my way home. I never really bothered to pay much attention to the prices at the markets until yesterday when I actually stepped inside one of the stores. It's crazy how cheap the produce is. For instance, yesterday they were selling bags of medium to large sized avocados for 5 for $3. Quite the bargain considering the last time I bought avocados in North Beach they were $1.99 each.

Prices are generally so cheap that I wonder about the quality (one of those "if something sounds too good to be true..." moments).

Can anyone who has bought groceries from Chinatown speak to the quality of the produce?

Also, do I have any reason to be concerned about the cleanliness of the meat or seafood? Maybe that's an unfair question but given the "interesting" sights and smells of the Chinatown markets, I can't help but ask.

And finally, assuming the quality of the products are the same or better than what you find in the Safeway, how can they afford to sell it at those low prices?

[mayorhaggar]

Yeah they're definitely cheap. When I lived in the Mission I'd sometimes shop at the Asian-run grocery stores there, compared with Safeway they were ridiculously cheap--could get a bunch of veggies for like $3 that would be $10-15 at Safeway. I wouldn't get meat at those types of groceries but that's just me, I didn't really cook meat much at the time anyway.

I think when you go to Safeway you are paying for the store being clean and neat. And they have a lot of employees, whereas the Asian places are just run by mom and pop and maybe one or two other employees who I'm sure they pay very little and under the table. The Asian places get their produce straight from the Valley, if you're out early enough in the Mission you'll see the trucks coming through dropping stuff off at each little market.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Safeway produce is the biggest rip off and it's really not all that great. Asian markets are great places to go for produce. As Asian markets go, Chinatown is actually on the pricey side, go out to Irving for truly great deals.

[ssmaster]

the chinatown market produce is cheap but it is not organic and is not tempature contolled ,regularly misted and discarded like in safeway. you have to hunt through a box to make sure the fruit is not spoiled.
you won't find grass fed/ free range anything

at safeway bruised or overripe food is discarded .in chinatown they lower the price until someone buys it.

as the seafood can be purchased while it is still swimming in the tank i think freshness can be addressed by buying live fish.

[eureka1]

In Chinatown you're not paying for millions of dollars of advertising and a huge corporate structure. I used to be nervous about open markets like Chinatown but I've lived off and on with a close friend who is Chinese and have never suffered any ill effects from anything he's ever brought home.

[dlyoung123]

Do they have anything like that here in Oakland? Cause the prices at the regular stores are absolutely prohibitive.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by dlyoung123

Do they have anything like that here in Oakland? Cause the prices at the regular stores are absolutely prohibitive.

Yeah right in Chinatown... there's also a couple Korean grocery stores on Telegraph.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by dlyoung123

Do they have anything like that here in Oakland? Cause the prices at the regular stores are absolutely prohibitive.

There is also a big fish market at about 8th and Webster. Big selection.

Also try the Mexican markets like Mi Pueblo. Very cheap as well.

[mayorhaggar]

Could try Koreana Plaza on Telegraph by 23rd. I've never been there though.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Could try Koreana Plaza on Telegraph by 23rd. I've never been there though.

That's the one I was thinking of... I've been there once. The produce looked good but I've never bought any.

Originally Posted by jade408

There is also a big fish market at about 8th and Webster. Big selection.

Also try the Mexican markets like Mi Pueblo. Very cheap as well.

Mi Pueblo is one of the best grocery stores that virtually nobody outside of the latino community shops at. They have great produce. The only thing is that its kind of far for dlyoung's purposes... he lives in Acorn (West Oakland) and the nearest Mi Pueblo is on High Street & Bond (East Oakland).