Good Neighbor

I prefer the Roman Russian Food Store for their fresh deli selection and their in house smoked goods and bakery, but Good Neighbor is a very nice market for Russian grocery items. If I just want to dash in and out for some more generic bread, ikra and the like, this is where I will head. The staff speaks more English and have always been friendly to me.
They are well stocked with smoked fish, though I find it saltier and less tasty than Roman Russian’s, local Eurobake goods, lots of tasty produce and other delights. I like stocking up on the probiotic farmer’s cheese here because you can get a good amount for cheap.
There appears to be varied opinions on the customer service here. I can find it a little daunting at times because they never have gone out of their way to ask if I need help or if I want to be checked out if I am standing by the counter. I find at Roman Russian Food Store, I get asked if I need help even if then they are not able to really converse with me. Here, I have to assertively approach the counter and ask. That said, they have always been friendly and even chatty once I have done so and I have had nice conversations with the women behind the counter.
I quite enjoy Good Neighbor and find it to be a great addition to the eastern European businesses in east Portland.

Good selection of food, everything is organized and look very clean, fresh veggies, piroshky look very good, next time I will have some. Service is great. I recommend this store. Some food items very inexpensive. Space for parking behind the store.

I’ve said before that it’s always great to wander ethnic grocery stores because you never know what kinds of food you will find. I’ve been in huge Mexican grocery stores in Texas, large Vietnamese markets here and even some big Chinese ones in New Jersey. There’s so much food to try and surprisingly a lot of them are less expensive than your mass market chains.
How I ended up at Good Neighbor is because of my curiosity for wandering neighborhoods I don’t know. I’ve been spending time down in Lents because of plasma donations. So I’ve begun to search out the immediate area. I found this cool little grocery store and I knew I needed to go.
I have been to one Russian grocery store out on 102^nd, it was small and the counterwoman spoke no English. The bread was great though. This place was larger and with a great selection and I was able to ask questions.
Pastries, spices, fruits, veggies, cheese puffs with a big cartoon owl and lots of Cyrillic text, dark Russian rye bread, smoked fish, various forms of beets, sausages, chocolate gingerbread cookies, candy, really small versions of bagels that were more like crackers, coffee, kafir, pickled carrot salad and so much more. Most everything was in Cyrillic writing so that’s why I needed to ask questions.
The pastries were beautiful. Cakes and Napoleons, éclairs and cream puffs. It was a really nice display that I didn’t snap a picture of, sorry. Then all the smoked fish and many, many types of sausages and back to more savory pastries. I got a flat, oval shaped pastry filled with creamy potatoes and dill which was really nice. I also got a puff pastry filled with meat that was surprisingly sweet. Also very tasty. Along with the flakey and chocolaty Napoleon, it was a satisfying experience and I plan to go back and try more things.
The two women that helped me were friendly and the food comes from all over the former Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc countries. Too much cool stuff for one visit. I will go back shortly. Enjoy.

We wanted some smoked fish for dinner so I call this store and asked if they have some on the shelf for sale. I spoke to the owner and he said yes that they have it on shelf for sale. So I get into my car and drive 30 miles to the store to buy the fish I really wanted. I come inside and asked where they have the smoked fish. The cashier says they don’t have any, so I tell her I just called and the owner said they have some. She says the owner didn’t check. So I ask her to speak to the owner, so she goes back and talks to the owner and comes back and says that the owner doesn’t want to talk to you. This is not how you treat your customers. He could of at least apologized. He didn’t even want to do that. No customer service at all. Avoid this place. I am not coming back there for sure. I will rather drive to some other russian market than go there.

I stumbled into this little gem a few weeks back while on a lunch break. I walkd in and fell in love. I’m not Russian, nor do i understand the language, but am a big fan of Eastern European and Slavic foods. First trip i ended up with a package of Delicje brand jaffa cakes (joy!), and probably the most delicious potato pirozhki I’ve ever eaten. I’ve been back several times, and the ONLY complaint I have is the lack of English-​language labels on the baked goods and what not. Made the mistake of grabbing a cabbage filled pastry hoping it was sweet once. Wasn’t bad, but was quite the shocker! The prices are wonderful, compared to previous import markets back in Vegas. Needless to say, being a 10 min drive from my office, I will be back. Several times.

The food is good, but too bad I can’t buy it. I stood by the counter for 15 minutes there were lots of customers and not one time did I hear anyone say to anyone can I help you? Or even what do you want? These people think they’re still in Russia, they just don’t talk. Customer service is horrible especially when they’re busy. Made a special trip to come here and I left empty handed even though I had guests coming over.
They’re tripping over dollars trying to collect dimes. Avoid at all costs during peak times.

Great selection and always FRESH (hard to find that in Portland Russian Markets). The service is kind.

My fist visit today was awesome! I bought over $ 50 worth of groceries. Everything is fresh and I’ve missed Russian food soo much. Staff is really nice and helpful. Cherries are $ 1.47 a pound (or even cheaper, I don’t remember) verses the cherries at the store $ 4.99 a pound! Good prices, I’m very satisfied :)

Great russian/​polish market. Frankly, I’m not an aficionado of this kind of food, but it’s a fun place to explore and find interesting items. The baked items and deli selection was great and I found beets for $ 0.69 a lb. Check the other reviews for a more detailed account of the store’s inventory.

I went there yesterday for the first time, having tried Babushka and Roman Russian stores on my previous trips to Portland from Grants Pass.
All I can say is — WOW. You never, and I mean EVER get such nice customer service at Russian food stores. Well, maybe from the one in Walnut Creek CA, but not anywhere else. The people were nice from the moment I came up to the register, to the moment I left.
The selection of things they carry is great — every kind of sausage you can imagine, lots of candy, lots of preserves, some fresh bread and grocery, dairy, and bakery items. I was there late in the day (7:30 PM), so most of their pirogi were gone, but I’m sure you could get some if you came in earlier.
They also have lots of pelmeni and vareniki. If I had any suggestions to add, I would say to have some chebyreki and blintsi on hand — that would be awesome. Oh, and some beet salad. Other than that, it’s now my favorite Russian store in Portland!

Living in Lents, one has to make a few stops to replenish pantries and get the «bits» that make for a happy refrigerator. Often, you have to go to places that are outside your comfort zone and that feel like someone else’s turf. The best of these places roll their eyes at you at first, then grin when you choose something they approve of, then start loading you up with samples and suggestions and indoctrinating you into their culture.
Good Neighbor is one of those stores.
Go here for:
Probiotics. Seriously. It’s pretty much the only place in the area with a healthy selection of Kefir (brands and flavours). There’s also some interesting cultured cheese products and yoghurts, and they make delicious lacto-​fermented pickles in house.
Also –really strong Eastern European tea blends; crazy good juices like currant, mulberry and sea berry; and be sure to pick up a loaf of the Urkranian flat bread (behind the cash register area, just point and smile).

I come here whenever I’m in the area, and I STOCK UP! The frozen pelmeni in the freezer by the entrance is a great thing to always keep in your icebox, it’s so easy to make and so delicious!!!
Russian food for prices like these? Don’t mind if I do!
Oh and the fresh bread that they have behind the counter (forgot what it’s called but its a funky-​shaped whitish bread)… SO GOOD!

After checking the Russian/​Romanian market for several weeks for a specific item that appeared to be out of stock (I had purchased it there a few months prior) I looked into other Russian Grocery places in the area and decided to try Good Neighbor. Good choice! I found exactly what I needed, at a lower price to boot! It was really busy which I took as a good sign, and there were a lot of various foods and products.

I was spoiled by the sausages at Roman’s Market on Division. and my Roman’s homemade bakery breads. GN is larger than RM, and prices are good (especially for produce), but I came for bread and sausage and ended up with some vanilla cookies that looked interesting.
Barely parked my bike on a pole outside the store. Wouldn’t want to park it around the corner – there are too many creepy lollygaggers on 82^nd for my taste. The location bites.

ok. it doesn’t come anywhere close to the size of an asian supermarket but it has one of the bigger selections of Russian/​Euro food in Portland area.
don’t let the size of the store fool you though — it’ will have most of what you are looking for.
their veggies and fruits are MUCH cheaper than say Fred Meyer.
they have a good selection of meat, cheese and fish.
don’t want to turn this review into a lecture on WHAT russian/​euro food is but come check it out and try a pirozhok (
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Woah, this place is on Unilocal.No reviews yet though, unsurprisingly. This is a Russian grocery store, one of many in the Portland area, but it’s my preferred store and I trek all the way out from Tigard in a rental car from time to time just to stock up. Unlike some stores this place is clean, well-​organized, and well-​staffed although most of the staff is Russian-​speaking only. On a related note, all the signage is in Cyrillic, but this would only be a problem for non-​Cyrillic readers at the deli counter. Most of the pantry products have english labelling and the fruits and vegetables are easily visible.
If you’re not Russian don’t let the lack of English intimidate you here. This place has the best price and selection of any of the Russian markets I’ve been to, and believe me I’ve been to them all. Don’t be shy about asking for samples if you aren’t sure what something is or if you’ll like it. In fact, most of the time samples are offered if there is a new product or you seem interested in a particular one. The only thing that they don’t quite have enough of for me is smoked fish, after salmon and sturgeon, the usual suspects there isn’t much. They do, however, have pickled herring on some days, and it’s exactly the kind you can get in Russia which comes in a can. They have an endless supply of little breads sliced for buterbrodi sandwiches as well as the Ararat breads which I do like but frankly am a bit sick of seeing in every store. Of course, there are also candy bins but it is not the most impressive selection of all, that’s at Anoush Deli. Since I don’t like Russian candies it’s not a problem for me.
The only bad thing I can say is that parking is right off 82^nd in the back of the building in an open lot. There isn’t any parking in the front of the building and you can’t see your car from the store. Just don’t turn off your car alarm when you’re shopping at night.