Broadway Supermarket

Normal Asian mart. Found what I needed, prices not terrible bad. Veggies were a tad bleh, but I am finding that is a Chicago thing really.

This market was smaller than I expected. I was able to find my coveted Vietnamese artichoke tea (atiso), which wasn’t that expensive. But selection for many Asian standbys was sparse. For example, they had very limited stock of roasted seaweed snack. I guess I need to go a Korean market for that.
I didn’t shop for any produce on this visit, but I did need a wok, and they carried only one brand. The one I bought seems fine, but I would have liked more selection.
It was kind of dead inside. Not many other shoppers. Some parts of the store were cluttered with boxes. Be sure to check expiration dates, if provided, on items before you buy.

The people here are nice, although the selection could be better.
***Be very careful when parking here! My car got towed only 15 minutes after i bought my groceries from Broadway Supermarket. I subsequently learned from a Chicago police officer that the towing company uses spotters who sit in the parking lot and watch for anyone who leaves their car unattended.***

Pros:
+Huge Selection
+Great Pricing
+Customer Service
+Free Parking
Cons:
–Confusing Layout
This place has literally everything you need for pan-​Asian cooking. They have a parking lot so you can take your time while you shop. The organization of the store can use some work, maybe signs of what goes in each aisle. There’s Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean staples. The manager personally walked me through my entire list to help me find everything I needed due to the sheer size of this place, great service. Overall I would recommend you come with a list of what you want to buy so you don’t get lost.

Broadway Supermarket is a large store that has all the dry goods you’ll need for pan-​Asian cooking, but it doesn’t have the fresh produce and life in the other surrounding smaller markets like Tai Nam or Hoa Nam. As I compare shopping receipts, prices are also a few pennies higher. There is a limited selection of fruit available, and sometimes you’ll just see empty shelf space in that section.
I found a rare peanut confection here that my friend picked up from China — none of the other stores seem to carry it! Unfortunately, it tasted like it was near the tail-​end of shelf life. My suspicion is that inventory is rotated less frequently as the produce never appears too appealing, either. Navigating the crowds in grocery stores is not an easy feat on the weekends, and you’ll be able to shop quietly here. Easy parking in the lot. Not my first choice for groceries, but I would give it a try if the other stores didn’t have the items needed.

Came to check out the produce not impressive and very expensive I guess cause I just came from overseas compared to the this produce not even close

This may be the largest asian market around little vietnam, and it may also have parking, but the prices are not that competitive. the checkout clerk is pretty swift and efficient. overall, nothing wow about it, and it really doesn’t offer anything too much more than a smaller grocery store nearby. the only thing maybe it has more noodle selection.

Tons of produce, sauces, dried foods, frozen products, dinnerware, silverware, snacks… if you need an Asian specialty item, you can find it here. I’ve personally purchased seaweed, tofu, hijiki, shoyu, nori snacks, pretz, miso, baby bananas, among others. I even found vegan baked items! Great prices! The staff was also very nice, although not everyone spoke English. Closer to me than China town, I find this to be a great grocery spot!

Worst Customer service!!!
Everything is placed haphazardly!
Store associates don’t know English hence you don’t get any help

3.5 stars.
I recently took a trip to Thailand and was very excited to come back and attempt to recreate some of the experience. Before shopping, I scoured the reviews, and Broadway Supermarket seemed like a good option. Tai Nam looked good too (both 4 stars), and there wasn’t much out there in terms of comparing or contrasting the two of them. I went to Broadway first, and Tai Nam a month or so later, and I think Tai Nam wins hands down. The Broadway highlights:
–Sauces: Very good selection of sauces, (if you’re in the market for dark/​black soy, they have about 4 Healthy Boy brands alone, which is actually a bit confusing); seems they have more variety here than Tai Nam, also across more types of asian cuisines.
–Curry: Maesri Curry pastes in varying sizes (but found the selection to be hit or miss on the types; no panang at the time, and primarily just Red/​Green/​Tom Yum)
–Chaotic organization: found myself wandering for the Thai tea for a very long time and gave up on finding a normal sized bag of sticky rice; shopped for a long time (which was a bit frustrating as it was a Friday night).
–Meat: Frozen selection was good (primarily squid, etc.) but beyond that I did not feel comfortable with the other offerings
–Produce: found things like kaffir lime and thai chilis, but were packaged in huge quantities (came home with about 75 chilis and 40 – 50 leaves which is a total waste, and made the price much less attractive); everything was pretty much packaged this way, except for some items like eggplant and bean sprouts. A lot of produce left a lot to be desired, half rotted dragon fruit was about the only fruit I saw, some mango, a papaya that it was unclear whether it was green or not. As a side note, they also had less canned fruit varieties than Tai Nam.
–Noodle: fresh sheet noodle and pad thai style rice noodles available; also dry, but not nearly as many dry varieties as Tai Nam.]
The parking lot here may be less crowded on the weekends than at Tai Nam, so that may be a factor in your decision if you’re looking for more limited items; otherwise I would go to Tai Nam.

They have quite a large operation going on here. I was in Chicago visiting friends in the near north neighborhood and we decided we needed to stop and find Kewpie mayo and I needed to pick up a few odds and ends, as well.
We walked out with the beloved Japanese mayo, along with pandan flavored layer cakes, coffee creamer, white gourd juice, sugar cane drink (which of course is way better ordered fresh at the wet market where you actually sit and watch them juice the sugar cane stalk by pushing it through this metal contraption and using their own body weight at the end of a long pole to crush the cane and watch the lovely juice seep into a plastic container made just for you. Alas, grocery store cane juice will have to suffice in the States). There were also huge frozen crabs, a large meat department, an entire aisle dedicated to dishes, pots, pans, and restaurant supplies — and a section where you can buy a plastic fortune tree if you so desire.

Great selection and prices. But omg, you need a divining rod or Jack Sparrow’s magic compass to find anything. I was looking for a couple of random items, a particular tea and some panko bread crumbs, and I got the right aisle quickly, despite mislabeling, but we walked back and forth maybe 12 times until our eyes finally hit the item we wanted. Fine, but we couldn’t get anyone to help us to save our lives. I’ll come back, but I’ll plan to leave plenty of time for my shopping. There seems to be ample parking in a lot out front.

Good vegetarian and seafood options in their frozen and packaged food selections make Broadway Market a useful source for aisle after aisle of jarred Asian condiments, spices, soy products, and snacks.
Avoid the produce. A chronic lack of freshness is the norm at Broadway Market. Furry garlic. Mushy lettuce. Onions that have grown legs long enough to at any moment propel themselves out the door and away from the stinky funk of decomposing cabbage. Have you ever seen a rotting pineapple with a full, Rip Van Winkle beard of mold, or a desiccated pomegranate deflate itself like a flattened basketball?
To make matters worse, Broadway Market lovingly memorializes nearly each and every dead or dying piece of fruit and vegetable in its very own, separate plastic crypt of Styrofoam and plastic wrap. (W h y ??)

I’ve been on a search for an asian market and saw this on Unilocal.The other Unilocalers said they like it here because it’s not busy like the other markets. Now I know why.
There was a decent amount of vegetable selections but they were all going bad. For the price, I wouldn’t pay for it. The seafood/​beef area was ok. Price wise, I think it was a little above average for other items. There was only one register opened while there was at least 8 ppl in line. This is on a sunday too, which I think should be one of their busier days.

HEADSUP VEGANS. Broadway Supermarket has an even bigger election of VegeUSA vegan mocked meat products in their freezer case in the back. I just scored vegan crab meat, so crab rangoon here I come! Also I got a humungo 2.2 pound frozen loaf of vegan «ham» turkey for 7 bucks! You KNOW it would cost 3 times that at WholeFools.
Also the same old goodness of wide rice noodles, yuba (for bbq), sauces forever, tofumania, n all that all that. GO TO THERE NAO!

I was excited to check out Broadway while visiting Chicago after reading all the reviews here. Unfortunately, I was not at all impressed. It gave me a better appreciation of Kim Nhung Super Store asian market where I go in Grand Rapids. I was puzzled why the prices at Broadway were much more considering Kim Nhung get their supplies from Chicago. For example, Golden Pampano fresh fish was $ 3.59 in Chicago while it was $ 2.99 at Kim Nhung. The produce at Broadway do not look fresh. The seafood and meat department are not the best. I can site other examples on pricing with snacks, tea, vegetables, seafood and the results are the same.
I observed the same thing at a Joong Boo Korean market in Chicago compared to the one I go to in GR called Seoul Market. After these 2 experiences, I concluded that there was no point shopping for Asian goods in Chicago as the stores in GR are very competitive. Kim Nhung also has just as much if not more items. In fact they even dress and cut the fish there if you ask them. Broadway did not want to have anything to do with that.
The other big issue that I take for granted when I go to Chicago until I am there is parking especially if you are staying overnight. Apparently, you need to have a ‘neighborhood’ parking permit. If caught without one when parked in the street, goodbye $ 75. Chicago is not very kind when it comes to parking. Forget that you are there to give them business.
I have no relation with the owners of Kim Nhung or Seoul Market market.

I love cooking asian food in general. I know that’s super vague, but I like all types of asian foods, so I appreciate being able to come to one market and buy things for the various types of cuisines that I like to cook. Everything from Thai green curry paste to Korean BBQ sauce to Vietnamese herbs, they seem to have a little bit of everything. So this place earned a special place in my heart among the various markets I enjoy shopping at all over the city. Even if my girlfriend insists that we go to a «normal» grocery store sometimes, I try to beat that idea out of her head. Why would you ever go to jewell if you can go to this place to buy things for half the price. But anyway, I digress.
While I really loved this place before, after a recent trip to SE asia for 6 weeks I really had a greater appreciation for it as I was able to find things that I didn’t even know existed before. Random ingredients like green mangos for a salad or rambutans (google this one, its a great fruit that looks like a hairy ball but tastes like lychee), or galangal. All these things that I had used in cooking classes when I was Thailand and Vietnam that I assumed I would never see again.
Along with the food stuffs there are also a bunch of good cookwear and utensils that are available for cheap too.
As with any ethnic market, you really need to know exactly what you’re looking for when you go because there will be a million things that you will have no clue how to use and what you actually want will be hidden away somewhere. If you need staples like rice, sauces, dried noodles, etc, I highly recommend stocking up here instead of spending 2x at jewell to get less

Nice to shop. All the seafood and Asia food you can find.
You can find everything you want in store.

Tai Nam is usually my go to Vietnamese store. However, they don’t always have everything I needed. So I would then head to the larger Broadway Supermarket as my next destination. It’s really not a bad store; it has a large dry goods section, housewares, bulk foods, a seafood and meat counter and a small vegetables counter.
They have got most things that Tai Nam has but it usually has a dimmer lighting and visual displays that are not the most appealing. Perhaps that’s why people don’t flock to here. With some renovation, I could see some potential with this supermarket. I came here for their seafood and the plethora of sauces for my cooking. I have also bought a stainless steel steamer and other housewares here for very good prices.
If you are looking for a less busy supermarket or an alternative to Tai Nam, consider coming here instead.

I love Unilocal!I love mangosteen!
Thanks to the following thread (
) I found fresh mangosteen today!
Yes, it was $ 5.99/lb but that’s a small price to pay for this delicoiusly tart and sweet fruit from my motherland (ok, so it’s imported from Thailand, not the Philippines… just minor details)! They are sold in prepackaged bags of about 10. About 3 out of the 10 mangosteens had some weird yellow film on the inside flesh, but it’s really difficult to judge whether mangosteen is good or now without opening it up.
Tangent-​do you know that if you look at the bottom of the mangosteen the number of «pegs» sticking out from the center tells you how many actual mangosteen «slices» can be found inside the rind?
So once I got over my insane excitement over finding mangosteen, I explored the aisles for more goodies. They’ve got oodles of noodles! From vermicelli to rice noodles. Definite flour power here. The carry every kind of flour known to man and then some (picked up some tapioca flour to make Pão de Queijo, or Brazilian cheese bread). Also found yellow curry paste in addition to a variety of curry powders. Why is yellow curry paste so hard to find? I’m a mild spicy girl!
Their produce section is small but impressive in terms of what they have in their inventory. Plenty of items that are difficult to find show up here. Kaffir lime leaves. Kangkong (water spinach). Of course, mangosteen. Durian.
Prices are reasonable, not the cheapest I’ve seen by far, but finding the hard-​to-​find imports warrants the cost.
Baked goods from Lucks Food are for sale at the cash registers… couldn’t resist! I just loved the fact that instead of a bag of M & M’s, I had an option of puto as an impulse buy!