Assi Plaza

Probably the best asian super market I’ve been to. Well kept and great variety of food. H mart has some things this place doesn’t have… but it goes both ways. They have a good court here and I’d give this place a try

the best with food, things you won’t find anywhere else, and friendly staff.
I love eating here in the food court for lunch and buying things no one else has.
YOU HAVE TO SERIOUSLY TRY THIS PLACE!

Great place with different variety of foods. Sushi is cheap for three rolls. Everything comes with soup which is awesome. And my mom gets the spicy beef udon and its really good and not to heavy. My little brother will get the pork or chicken katsu either way he leaves there happy.

An Asian specialty grocery store, specializing mostly in Korean wares. Awesome stuff, and I think I heard some K-​pop in the background too. This spot has a special place in my heart, with the food court providing some much needed (and tasty @ss) nourishment during a rough stretch in the life and times of my clan…
Anyway, despite the proliferation of the Korean Wave being at an all-​time high, Korean products have yet to infiltrate the boarders of my hometown area; thusly this necessitates for lengthy car rides to this part of PA. The next bit of advice presents itself as a catch 22: if it takes a good amount of time for you to get here (as such is the situation that applies to me and mine), it would be wise to be well nourished prior to a trip here, as your sanity during the lengthy drive may depend on it; however, this may stem your appetite, thereby depriving you of the desire to take full advantage in partaking of the marvelous food court at this place… a bit of a rough situation, yeah?
Either way, you shouldn’t do any grocery shopping on an empty stomach, so at the very least, you’ll ultimately be well nourished for that. Plenty of pre-​butchered meats are available, and even some of the more «exotic/​esoteric» cuts that one would not typically find in their small town grocers. Additionally, there are plenty of snack foods with «chibi» mascots on them; so if you forget to pick up some souvenirs, after a trip to the Far East, for your «friends…» just stop by here and pick up a big tub of jelly that’s shaped like a happy cat. Odds are your friends can’t tell the difference between Kanji, hiragana, katakana, hangeul, etc…

Going to Assi is like visiting a foreign country. It should win «best of Philly award» — probably has! Constant improvement had been achieved (I had one of the original promotional mugs)… Vegetables are plentiful and reasonably priced… The seafood department is astonishing … Live tanks are fun for kids… There is a market adjoining with small resteraunt stands… There are many sampling kiosks throughout which periodically offer taste treats of exotics for purchase… It offers things you never imagined which is fun in of itself…

Great selection but the lines at checkout can get crazy. Parts of the store could use more cleaning.

Minimum charge for the credit/​debit card is illegal. They need to know this. I just let it go without arguing with them because cashier lady gave me a good attitude.

I’ve seen other Asian markets in the cities and they can be scary places. THIS however is exactly what you want a grocery store to be. Clean, well stocked good supplies I love going here. this is where i start my weekly grocery shopping and only go on to places like giant for the things I can’t find here.
Particularly good are the fruit and veg and the fish. All of which has a much wider variety than normal and has a very high turn over so you know it’s fresh. This is where I go for fish!
You’d be hard pressed to find large joints of meat but smaller cuts and unusual things like beef tongue and duck legs are easily found. and if you want to play Dr. Porkenstein and put a pig back together from the bits they sell you almost can.
The only down side is the staff is mainly Korean with somewhat limited English language skills. they are friendly and helpful but on occasion I’ve had communications issues. asking for a manager got me the ‘old stony face.‘
But these are few and far between and I love going here each week to see what I’m going to experiment with.

Great produce and impressive selection of organic choices.

Assi is one of my preferred supermarkets to shop at. That being said, Assi is not for everyone.
Pros–
Fish Market is on point, everything isn’t always the freshest, but if you have a discerning eye you can usually take home some great seafood at a good price. Last time I went they had a fish called pampano, It was delicious. You can pay a little extra for them to clean the fish or you can do it yourself.
Wide selection, the store is broken up into isles by nationalitly. You can find ingredients here you can’t find at the local giant or renders ie’ galangal root, mushroom sauce and lime leaves.
Cons–
The store layout… can be confusing. I shopped there for 3 years and I never could make much sense of it until this week when my friend clued me in on the fact that the aisles are broken down into nationality. It also explains why I used to find Soy sauce in 4 different isles.
Language barrier, if you can’t find something on your list, trying to find someone who speaks enough English to help can be difficult. Everyone has always been friendly, and you can’t discount them. Once a nice spanish mam stocking the shelf was able to point me in the right direction of the galangal root (it’s in the frozen section near the crab meat).
Prices. They have some really reasonable and sometimes excellent prices for fish and produce, but you have to know what to look for. If you go shopping for dairy, snacks or other common houshold products, you will be over charged. I’ve never seen common cheese more expensive, barring maybe giant.

As interesting as this supermarket is one has to be real careful that they are not overcharged.
I had 3 items in my basket that were charge between 60cents and $ 1 each and when I approach the customer service they took 5 mins to check the prices. Hello I have $ 75 worth of goods in my bag and you think I will cheat you of $ 2:20.
They came back saying one was wrongly priced and refuse to refund me.
I left and told them they could keep ally $ 2:20.
I spent MORE than $ 5000 a year as I buy stuff FOR my restaurant here as well. GOOD BYE NOT coming BACK.

Love asian markets! This particular one has a nice international mixture of products, focusing primarily on asian, then secondly spanish-​based foods. I enjoyed the variety offered throughout the store including the food court. Our group spent ~$ 150 on a variety of foods from the market, including some snacks I have not had for a while.

Everything about Assi is awesome especially the fish and prepared kimchi. The product is great too very good prices all around. They are also beginning to carry many more international foods too. So glad that the Filipino section had expanded Thanks for that!!! The food court is great too… I always eat at friends best champong and dukboki!!!

Not a fan of this place at all. I’ve tried to get produce here on 2 occasions and most of the things I was trying to buy were either rotten or quickly on their way. I also couldn’t find red curry paste without shrimp which isn’t an issue at other Asian markets that I’ve gone to. Overall there are much better options for fresh produce.

Why is this store such a hidden gem? I lived in the area for 4 years before finding this incredible Asian grocery store.
The seafood can not be beat.
I prefer this place over Hmart and have found the seafood counter to be priced well and the fish always fresh.
I always get the frozen rib eye to make bulgogi at home. They also have a nice food court located inside the grocery store/​plaza which is quite good.
They have great produce variety that you will not find anywhere else.

What is up with all the religious zealots at the entrance blocking the way out. They are more annoying then Jehovah’s Witness. I’m sick and tired of being bombarded by these people. I’m not going there anymore.

I love this store! It’s got all my Korean ingredients and more! I just wish it was closer to where I live. They are fully stocked of pretty much anything I need and they also have a decent food court, bakery, and little shops inside in case you need make up too! I will say that regarding the food court, I would stick with Friends for food. The other ones did not fair well on my taste buds. Are you in need of Korean appliances, kitchenware, etc? You’re in luck! They have that too!
All in all, this place is a gem! Their prices are somewhat better than H-​Mart too, if you’re familiar with them.

I’ve been here multiple times and I love the cleanliness, The food court is ehh though.
Everything looks fresh. Some of the stuff are overpriced, but that is expected.
Sometimes when they have something for sale, it really is a deal.

A decent overall supermarket. If you’re looking for fresh fruits or seafood at a fair price, this is the place to go. I also pick up other Asian foods here, but that’s about it. I still go to an American supermarket for my other needs (meats, condiments, soda), but this is my go to for seafood and Asian imports.
The staff don’t seem to understand English too well, but enough to get by — you just need patience. And there is a mini food court in the back should you get hungry during shopping. That’s always convenient!

OK, so it only took me 10 months to come across an Asian supermarket in Philly’s suburbs. Granted, I didn’t actively search either…
Just came back from my first trip to Assi and I’m pretty happy! Went to find sliced pork belly, which in my experience is difficult to find in ‘normal’ supermarkets. I thought their meat and fish selection was good. Also saw they had mackerel, something I also can’t seem to find in ‘normal’ supermarkets in my area. Another pleasant surprise was to find dried shredded pork. OMG, I instantly took a pic and sent it to my mum on the other side of the ocean. This is one of my childhood faves. Not sure how Koreans eat this, but at home I used to eat this on a slice of bread with butter (so just like a sandwich). This may sound disgusting to you…
Anyway, their produce was not that fresh. A huge mountain of dried and moldy lemons didn’t look too appealing to me, but I did get a bunch of cheap lemongrass and fresh Asian greens.
Overall, this store has a great selection, although I can’t really compare it to any other Asian supermarket in the area since I’ve only been to some tiny Indonesian stores in South Philly so far. They could expand their cake/​dessert section, but then again, I’m just obsessed with cakes. I was also disappointed that there are no cooler bags for sale. Assi Plaza is a 30 min drive for me and with temperatures of 90 I was afraid my meats would lose its coolness on my way home. If they would’ve sold cooler bags I’d also buy more stuff from their freezer section (lots of frozen dim sum, fish, ice cream and more here).
Prices vary. Some things were much more expensive than anywhere else, but then other things were pretty cheap, I thought. Still, happy to have found a place like this. Now if you’ll excuse me; I’m going to put those pork belly slices into my homemade marinade before putting them on the barbecue. Yum!!!