County Square Market

Closed!!! Good riddance. The last time I was in there the place stunk like bad fish and rotten garbage. So gross!

This market is now closed.

There’s a good number of Korean products like Soju and Korean side dishes. There’s even some Filipino pastries and banana ketchup. The prices are a little bit more than I’d find at other places but it’s still a well kept store. The food to-​go looked really good but we already ate.

There is not a lot of meat or vegetable selection.
It is a convenient place to get your «necessities» for cooking your asian meals.
Came here to get some already prepared meals at 11 am.

This used to be my go-​to spot for Asian ingredients, but now that 99 Ranch opened (it’s closer), I rarely go here. The hot bar is definitely better here than at 99 Ranch and I think the prices are cheaper too. The hot bar items are less greasy. If I lived closer, I’d probably come here more often. I could browse the aisles here for days!

It makes me sad that it’s not as busy as it used to be thanks to 99 Ranch & Seafood City. :(
I still love this place though, it never disappoints me. The place is clean and it also has a little prepared food corner on the side of the store. The seafood section, everything is very fresh and I love playing with the crabs with the tongs: P
I love the aisle with JUST asian snacks like asian chips and pocky and other asian goodies. The vegetables are fresh and yeah they do have a bathroom. (My friend was looking for one last time) & Nice staff also.
I always come here instead of 99 Ranch or Seafood City.
I’m not going to give up on you guys! :D

A Korean friend of mine in passing told me that this was the grocery store she liked to go to. Usually I just go to the tiny Korean market near my house, but one day I decided to be adventurous and get some Asian groceries from here.
It’s pretty large and has a good selection of most Asian groceries that you might need. And I was surprised at the selection of Korean stuff they had, too! (Maybe I’m used to the Texan Chinese markets that only have Chinese and Vietnamese stuff) I don’t remember it smelling very Chinese-​Market-​y, which is a plus. And a lot of things were on sale and very cheap!
I even, hesitatingly at first, got a bucket of kimchi (well, I figured it was safe since it was made by a Korean company) and some dorajee. But I can say now that the kimchi is legit and is actually very tasty. After paying for my groceries (totaling about $ 40), the cashier girl told me that I had a $ 2 credit towards the café. Cool! I got me 3 dumplings and was on my merry way.
I will definitely come back for my Asian staples (rice, ramen, kimchi, banchan, fish, SPAM, tofu, geem,… you know). Except, I ate my dorajee about a week after I bought it, and there was already mold! BOO! Minus one star for that.
Oh, that and, the dumplings were really greasy and bland. Won’t be eating the dimsum foods anymore from the café… minus half a star if I could.

This place cleaned up a lot. Their fruits and vegetables are a lot better. The meat and seafood are fresher too. The dry goods aisles are no longer cluttered. They still have the deli section. Business seemed a lot slower since 99ranch opened up. That’s probably why the quality of everything got better. They probably don’t order as much and have it just sit there and spoil. They carry a lot of korean food items like kim chi, side dishes, sliced fresh bacon and beef. All at a reasonably fair price. Definitely would come here on the weekend instead of 99ranch. Not as crowded and parking is an easy find.

This place has really matured over the years to become a very nice little grocery store. I think that they have really figured out what the patrons want. I love the Meat section, and they have really good items in all areas, Bakery Produce ect. It’s like a Mini version of 99 ranch.
Good place to re stock your Pocky.

Fried Salt and Pepper Crab is so freaking awesome and also very freaking expensive, unless you happen to get yours at the County Square Market!
$ 5.99 a pound for fresh Salt and Pepper Crab!
We drove over from Vallejo and saw that there were some on the steam table. I didn’t know how long they had been there, so I asked if I could get some fresh ones if I bought 3 pounds. So while I shopped for rice crackers, nori, kimchi and other goodies, they fried up my crab
.
They also have dim sum in the steam trays, if you want some, and the prices are pretty reasonable. We added fried rice, stir fried veggies with tofu, shrimp puffs, shrimp in rice and sticky rice in lotus leaf, all for $ 39.00.
The store is super clean and the staff were very helpful. It was really nice to see the diversity of the customers in the store, a veritable melting pot. There was literally a traffic jam in the tea aisle. And I haven’t seen this much variety of kimchi in my life!
I have a new hot spot for my international shopping pleasure. I haven’t even checked out the fresh produce, the meat market, the fresh fish or the freezer section…
And check out their website…
Three locations for your shopping pleasure!

I was raised for most of my life by my Grandparents. They brought me up with very eclectic tastes. Even though I come from probably the whitest English/​German stock you have ever seen. (I cant get a tan to save my life)
But the one thing that I loved about growing up with them was the amazing diversity in food we ate at home. My Grandfather was a cook in the Navy and was stationed for most of his service in China, Japan and Hawaii.
He could make almost all of the Asian dishes you could imagine. My Grandmother would even get small freeze dried Gold Fish for us to snack on while on road trips.
That story out of the way I loooove experimenting in my own kitchen and I love diverse grocery stores.
This store has a small produce section and a menial dairy section. No Cheeses so be forewarned.
I really love this store though. I stock up on Wanton Wrappers, Dried Mushrooms, Cans of Green Tea to put in my work lunches. Vegetables of so many kinds you could make up a Sound of Music type song about them.
The prices of meat are exceptional. One reviewer wrote about the bad smell. They must have fixed that because a place with that much fresh fish laying out it didn’t smell bad at all.
On a recent trip I got 4lbs of ground beef for $ 7 and some change. That’s unheard of at Safeway. Also, eggs, 30 eggs for less than a 24 pack at Safeway. Ok people, save some cash over here.
Service is great, kind of slow in the butcher station though. Otherwise I really like talking to everyone. Which is not normal for me in the least.
I love this store!

The roast pork I had was quite good but they cut you a bigger piece than you ask for so be prepared.
The dim sum was pretty gross. At the time of this writing, they are mostly 3/​$ 1.99. It didn’t taste off. It just didn’t taste good and it was rather greasy. The har gow was so small. Two bites for me… meaning one bite for an average person. For 4/​$ 3, I could go to Imperial for piping hot har gow with plump shrimp and it’s a 3 – 4 bite piece.
Can’t wait till 99 Ranch opens.

Wow, some of the ladies at the deli are sooo rude… The lady who rang up my food threw the receipt at me! Threw! Didn’t hand it to me… it just landed on the counter… -.-
On the other hand, large bag of shrimp chips for $ 1.99 + no tax! Yay: D

Came here to buy some «asian» grocery today. They do have some good deals here. This is the closest place around this area for «asian «groceries. The place is quite… not too many people which is kinda nice, since you can just get in and out of here pretty quite. Below are the items I bought today ^ ^ CHEAP !!! lol
Saki Ika hot (dried hot squid) $ 1.99
Terikyaki Nori (dried seaweed) $ 2.39
Shansho Kappa (pink/​white fish cakes) $ 1.69
Seasoned Sesame (seasoned pickles Leaf $ 1.96
Yam Noodle 9.86z $ 1.69
(2)Jumbo Udon 3 PK $ 2.39
Wasabi — Tube 1.52z $ 1.99
Ya Kamaboko Red (pink/​white fish cakes) $ 2.99
Enoki Mushroom $ 0.99
Total $ 20.47
Also I made udon with some of the ingredients i bought today (pix posted) ^ ^

For some reason, when I was snaking around the aisles, I was looking down at the floor.
Mind you. Their floors are clean.
I bought Black pepper sauce, some other ready-​mix spice in a packet, picked up couple of produce, and of course, got Mochi for dessert. That’s weird, I’ve never noticed that before.
I will keep coming back here!

County Square is pretty much the only Asian supermarket we have way out here, that is until Ranch 99 (!!!) moves into Concord’s Park «N» Shop in a couple months.
But at present, County Square is much more than decent. Where else this far east am I going to find my Asian veggies, fresh seafood, and Hi-​Chew candies? For example, the other day I stopped by and picked up all the ingredients needed for a true Malaysian dinner party: dried rice stick noodles, canned coconut milk, spring roll wrappers, fried tofu, fresh kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and galangal, dried cardamom pods, shredded unsweetened coconut, and fresh shrimp.
Prices are a bit more expensive than say Sunset Super, but it’s the ‘burbs so to be expected. Similar in set up to Ranch 99, there’s a huge seafood and meat counter, deli counter with cooked Chinese food, bakery, and even a refrigerated section containing Korean panchan.
I really like how there is a good variety of Southeast Asian necessities on top of your typical Chinese items, as they do try to accommodate the needs of their diverse customer base.

Most of the ingredients of meals that I cook can be found in any old grocery store; every now and then, some Asian ingredient necessitates a run to an Asian grocery store. As Asian grocery stores go, this one is OK — not great, but OK in a pinch.
My favorite thing about County Square? The huge selection of ramen and the selection of candies. Oh, and the baby bok choy. And the sauces that are already prepared (great Vietnamese stew sauce in a packet). Oh, and the fish department. And those fresh chow fun noodles (only when they’re fresh; sometimes, they are ‘old’ and get rock hard — obviously, don’t buy them then).
Unless I want to make the trip into 99 Ranch in Dublin, County Square Market will do me; on the pre-​Thanksgiving three market run after work on Wednesday, I’m not especially interested in driving 30 minutes out of my way for slightly better customer service. So, yes, County Square’ll do me just fine today.

Please note that this review is being written by a «gaijan» «Guai lo» otherwise known as a white guy, so what I think is great might not be what other people might think. Yes, it is true that you will see things in the meat and fish department that you won’t at the Safeway. I think that’s cool, live catfish, crab etc., blood meet, tripe, brains, all of it don’t gross me out, probably won’t eat it, but it’s cool. For obvious reasons, the selection of rice is great, so my better half can get brown rice and I can get white sticky rice. We always load up on fish, noodles, rice, some vegies etc and I’m always amazed at how little we spend.
Oh and Aric, you’re a moron! Happy St. Patricks Day! No Guinness for you! hahaha

If you need to get those Asian food and groceries you just can’t find at the mainstream chains, this is the place to go in CoCo County. The nearest Ranch 99 is 15 — 20 miles away, so this is a great substitute.
It has pretty much what you would find at a Ranch 99: groceries, fruits, vegetables, meats and seafood specifically appropriate for most asian cultures, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and even Indian. Not everything for all Asian cultures, but the most popular for each.
Need Hoisin sauce? Want Udon or Yakisoba noodles? Sriracha Tung Ot chile sauce? Kimchee? You can find it all here.
How about chicken feet, beef tongue, pork blood? Plenty here.
Live shrimp, crawdads or blue crabs? Look in the live tanks.
Need that special cut on your meats, like thin eye of round for your Phở Tai noodles, thin slice of ribs for your Kal Bi BBQ meat, thin sliced marbled meat for your Sukiyaki? They’ll do it here for free, just the way you like it and need it. Any other mainstream butcher won’t know what you’re talking about.
Got an urge for Chinese Garlic Peanuts, or Japanese Arare (rice crackers), or a Pocky dessert snack? They are all here!
Sample shopping list I bought recently:
Bunch of Basil $ 1.39 (perfect size for Phở Soup)
Ngo Cai (cilantro) $ 1.39 (hard to find saw-​edged cilantro)
Lg pckg of Oxtails $ 12.57 (6 large pieces in package)
Yellow onion (lg) $ 0.27
½ lb eye of round $ 2.33 (sliced thin for Phở Tai)
16 oz bean sprouts $ 0.79
Bskt Fresh Figs $ 2.99
17 oz Sriracha sce $ 2.99 (Red chili sauce)
1.5 oz Tube Wasabi$ 1.99
Hoisin Sauce $ 1.99 (20 oz)
Bonita flakes 5 pk $ 1.59 (katsuyoboshi for hiyayakko tofu)
They also have some housewares, some asian cookware, utensils, bowls, gas stove tops for your on the table cooking, and the obligatory counter to sell Remy Martin XO.
Come here and save some money!

I’ve lived in the northeast bay for 18 years, so I was familiar with where the County Square Market was, but had never went inside. I Googled fish markets in the area because I was looking for a great seafood selection — I eat a ton of it! I went to the Market yesterday to check out their seafood counter.
Taking all the Unilocal reviews into consideration — I’ve come to my own conclusions — and here they are:
1) Smell: I think the below reviews regarding the ‘overwhelming’ smell are completely exaggerated. Yes, you can smell seafood — but their seafood counter is about 40 yards long with fresh fish/​shellfish tanks and an open-​ice whole fish counter… what do you expect?! Thats like going to a make-​up counter and complaining about the smell of perfume. IT WAS NOT BAD. And the area looked very clean to me.
2) Price: Not sure where you guys are getting your meat and seafood, but the prices were A LOT less than normal supermarket prices. Not just a small savings, but at Safeway, regular price for Tilapia is $ 7.99 per lb — at County — $ 3.99! Whole Tilapia was $ 1.69 per lb. THREE mangos for $ 4…Asparagus, $ 1.99 a lb, Chicken Breasts $ 1.89 lb, English Hot House Cucumbers, .50 cents. I can accept that there may be cheaper prices at other markets — but these prices were definitely a great find for this area when you are used to shopping at Raleys and Safeway.
3) Service: Great service at the seafood counter — can’t complain.
4) Selection: They werent kidding when they told me they had over 45 varieties of fish — whole, fillet, cleaned, fresh live crab, live prawns, live oysters, live catfish — you name it, they had it. Clams for $ 3.99 a lb is ridiculously cheap — and because they are kept in fresh water tanks, they will be nice and clean.
All-​in-​all, I can’t wait to go back and browse around all the unique ingredients. It made me want to explore homemade chinese cuisine. The meat/​seafood counter was 75 yards long — great prices, hand-​cut beef steaks, pork roasts — and unique cuts and choices.
If you live in this northeast bay area — you should definitely check it out.