Fiesta Mart

With the recent sale of Fiesta Marts, it’s important to recognize the fact that this will always be one of my favorite grocery stores. While there are fancier stores, cheaper stores, and even more convenient grocers, Fiesta has a knack for bringing together and supplying the food needs of many cultures — all under one roof. It’s a feast for the eyes and will undoubtedly leave you with an appreciation of our great city and its cultural and ethnic mix.
This particular Fiesta is in a gritty part of town (it sits in the shadows south of Greenspoint and just east of the North Freeway). Perhaps it’s the far-​flung location, perhaps the people, but it is one of my favorite grocery stores – even among Fiesta Markets.
You walk into this smallish Fiesta and it is a cultural and socioeconomic explosion: people who’s ancestors hale from Latin American, African, Asia, Europe and elsewhere all find a common bond here. While the foodstuff at this particular location tends to favor more of the dominant Hispanic market it serves, you can still find a plethora of fresh vegetables with exotic sounding names, cremas from El Salvador or Honduras (there is a difference, thank you!) and typical grocery staples. Check out the aisles with the cookies and you will be greeted with boxes of cookies and crackers that must be marketed heavily elsewhere, because you’ll swear you’ve never seen them in other grocery stores (and you haven’t).
Don’t forget to sample the roasted corn from the food truck in the parking lot and before you leave, sit a spell at the counter and sample some of the delicious hot food or desserts.
People watching is required.

I agree that the produce here is by far the best. Super affordable and it actually LOOKS good! Nothing is ever rotten or moldy. If it wasn’t so crazy busy though I’d give it a 5. Line went by pretty fast though so I wish I could give it a 4.5.

best place to go for ingredients for Mexican food. Love it.

Hello Micro Mexico. Decades ago this used to be an Appletree which used to be a Safeway, yes, we go that far back and the years have not been good to this location.
This store sits across Aldine Senior High (Yay class of 86!) flanked by a neighborhood in the back and surrounded by various rag tag stores in the same strip center.
Parking lot: Very very busy, at any hour of the day and insult to injury a lot of bad things go on around here. Don’t say I did not warn you. All you have to do is take a look around, you can almost taste it.
Inside of the store you can tell they make an effort to keep things running efficient and the store items presented in a pleasing manner to help you forget your cautious journey into the store.
The merchandise is your standard run of the mill Fiesta store but just a little less in quantity since it is in an old building and not as large as what you are used to seeing for example the one about 7 miles down the road by I 45/​Airline and/​or on ¹⁹⁶⁰⁄₂₄₉. Those two flagship type stores make this location look like the redheaded bastard step child of the three.

this place is packed all the time but the lines are pretty quick.

I love Fiesta! I just wish they were closer to Spring.
Produce is so much more affordable than the rest of the competition.
A whole cart full of produce and other groceries for $ 100 at Fiesta would cost me double at Kroger or HEB.
I think I’ll start sucking up the drive to this crappy side of town because the fruit was absolutely amazing. Papayas, pineapples, mangos… Yumm