Great Wall Supermarket

I’m standing in the fish section looking at the soft shell turtles and frogs like damn… this is where that mini roller coaster once stood. It was pretty awesome for the relatively tiny space it occupied in Jeepers. What the nostalgia I’m getting old.
I’ve grown to like this place despite that one portion that still STANNNNNNK for their lack of diced pineapple consumption. Produce section is aiite but somehow I come here for all my hot pot needs. I still risk the crazy parking lot outside mainly for the candy and snack aisle because as I established in other reviews… I’m a fat kid.
Parking far away from others won’t save you. Just trying to get into the GW parking lot will give you a permanently pulsing forehead vein and mild panic attacks before you’re even parked due to:
— People not being able to quickly perform a well-​executed U-​turn if you’re traveling north from 355. Learn to drive or get a better car with better turning radius.
— All the lazy ignoramuses leaving carts around,
— Idiots walking while looking at their phones,
— Sloths that park their car in the loading zone because eff you that’s why, and most importantly,
— Bad drivers attempting to enter/​leave their parking spots in less than 20 maneuvers. Let me park your car for you, PLEASE. I’ll do it for free but accept tip! I’ve parallel parked for all my gal pals.

Great prices. Great selection of Asian veggies. Although I personally don’t need 8 varieties of bok choi but I’m sure someone else does. The selection of noodles is pretty good but it seems more Chinese than Vietnamese or Japanese. The organization is mysterious… Not a good thing when you are trying to locate something. Where the #*%€! Is the wasabi? Noodles are split in two aisles but two aisles apart. Why? Went in today and it was freezing – Which I respect since, who needs comfort when you can save the environment by leaving the heat off? Torture your employees all day and shock your new customers. Customer service is efficient but never friendly. But I don’t mind as long as the prices stay low.

The reason why I give them two stars is because, they steel my money for something that I don’t buy. So if you want to do shopping here make sure you check your receipt before leave the store! And when I bought my lunch in the foods courts the lady there can’t speak English. So when I ask the question, she answered it with Chinese language. That’s is so awful.

I go grocery shopping on Christmas Eve and this store charged an unknown items on me. I checked my receipt on the way home and saw it. I stop the car and double checked all the items that I brought and items in my receipt it show that there is a $ 6 charged Ads for 1 week that I didn’t know about. The cashier doesn’t mention anything or am I just doesn’t speak Chinese when she talk to the cashier in other line. Please Check your receipt if you have the same charge.

My go to grocery store for fresh and cheap produce in the area! It’s a Chinese grocery store that has all your usual suspects. There’s also a fish market inside with the freshest seafood at unreal prices. Although it’s a bit out of the way from downtown silver spring, I make the drive every weekend for some amazing produce. There’s also a great selection of fruits!
Please be warned by the awful parking in front of the building! This is the only negative, but the great food selection balances it out :)
Not sure if this is a recent promotion, but if you spend a certain amount (there’s different thresholds), you can get free grocery items!
Happy shopping!

I think this is the best Great Wall because it is the cleanest and has really fresh produce, meats, and seafood. I always find what I want here. The place is very big and usually all the checkout lines are open so won’t have to wait too long.
I think to use credit card, there’s a minimum purchase required. $ 15 or $ 10. Don’t remember because I always buy a lot of food!
Great place to go for Chinese holiday shopping because they will have the ingredients you need. They also sell kitchen items, incense, cleaning supplies, and bathroom necessities.
Although ample parking, be careful because driving areas are tight. Also can take metro to Rockville and then transfer to a Q metro bus or just take a Q bus. Make sure to double check the bus, not all Q buses pass by.

The store offers a lots of selections and the prices are reasonable. However it seems to me that the live fish/​turtles/​frogs are kept in rather poor conditions (overcrowded tanks, old water, some animals have wounds on skin). I would give them a higher rating if those conditions were improved.

If I were able to give this supermarket zero stars I certainly would. I have never written a Unilocal review about a grocery store but I had such an unpleasant and disgusting experience I had to share to warm potential customers.
I live very close to GW but normally willing to drive a littler further to Lotte or H Mart for any Asian items but I was limited in time and just needed soba noodles.
Let me start off by warning people of what a HOT MESS the parking lot is… Everyone must be a defensive driver!
When entering the market there is an odor that is hard to explain but very unpleasant. Nonetheless I quickly tried to navigate and found the noodles! I also needed avocados and when I saw the produce section I was very disgusted. Everything was GIGANTIC and definitely pumped with hormones and other unhealthy chemicals. The avocados were rotten with flies surrounding the area. I asked the fruit clerk if there were any more in the back and he said no and that all the «fresh» ones were out. I can’t imagine what he thinks are rotten.
STAY AWAY! Drive an extra 10 minutes to Lotte or H Mart for sure!

Lots of produce and Asian products for sale. I think the quality is definitely not as good as the Farmer’s Market but the variety makes up for it.
I just ate some noodles I purchased here last night and enjoyed it thoroughly. I also purchased a package of sweet Chinese sausage, a tomato, 2 red peppers, 1 yellow pepper, 1 package of tofu, Chinese broccoli, a package of mushrooms, almost 2 pounds of red cherries, and a honey winter melon drink for less than $ 20. Try getting all that in a grocery store closer to the city, and I don’t think you can and not for the price.
It does get frustratingly crowded as people leave their carts in the middle of the aisles and walk away. It also is pretty cold in the supermarket especially when you’ve walked in from near 90 degrees outside so pack a light something to wear over a tee and shorts.
There is a lot of seafood and a small fast food counter here too.
I didn’t think parking was that bad, but then again, my family and I can walk and don’t need to park right in the front of the store. That said, proceed with caution.

Okay. So going to this grocery store is like looking for a husband at a body building competition. Everything is just so BIG! It grosses me out actually. Makes me wonder where the fruits and veggies are from! A zucchini should not be 14 inches long! That’s just not right. I don’t like that I ALWAYS get creeped out by the frogs. This time I was «surprise» cause I was looking for the garlic and of course curiosity made me look towards the seafood and BAM! Fat greet frogs staring back at me. I saw the box labeled turtles but I didn’t wanna peep my head in there. Curiosity sucks sometimes. I guess if you’re Chinese looking for specific Chinese veggies– they have them all. The green leafy veggies look alright but are mostly over 2 $/​pound. I don’t really eat Asian veggies. I stick to spinach and kale. Okay well besides the prices not being cheap and the questionable origins of every thing there, the cashier was straight from China or didn’t want to speak to me In English. I told her I didn’t want something and she handed it back to me to put away while there was still a line behind me. I guess she wanted me to just stick it away from the cash register? The lady behind stuck her hand out so i just gave it to her? Eh. I will not seek out to come back again. I’m very grossed out by the humongous everything they have. Makes me thing they are buying from farms with super China chemical fertilizer. Or some radioactive mutant chemical. Scary and not good for the body!
Not supporting the ever again.

My go-​to Chinese supermarket that’s conveniently located, providing easy access during lunch or after work. GW gets pretty packed on the wknds (esp the parking lot), so I almost always go on the wkdays. There’s a little bit of everything here, and, like most Chinese markets, you never have to worry about prices. Just make sure you know exactly what to get, unless you’re into experimenting and wasting a lot of time. The selection (sauces, teas, snacks, meats, vegetables, desserts, dumplings, etc) can be quite overwhelming, so make sure you’re somewhat skilled in picking out non-​fatty meats, healthy fish, fresh vegetables and ripe fruits. Btw, they don’t take AMEX, and sometimes they don’t ask if you need bags.

It’s just like a H Mart but a lot bigger. They have some seafood and meats that I have never heard of before. I think it’s interesting and I finally get to explore how to cook a lot more things. I just miss this used to be Jeepers.

Oh my god. What was I thinking, coming here on a Sunday afternoon…
The parking lot was atrocious. Circled around the parking lot a few times, trying not to hit children and asian grannies who decided that it’s okay to walk wherever they want without looking. People just also seem to park wherever they like in this lot. Parallel park in the front, on the side, or just in the back too! wherever you like!
The supermarket is a lot bigger on the inside than you’d expect. ¹⁄₃^rd of the store has your typical dry goods with noodles, spices, sauces, snacks, yada yada. Neatly organized but the aisles are narrow and don’t even THINK about going down one with a cart if there’s already someone parked in there. You’re gonna have a bad time. The other 2/​3rds is dedicated to frozen goods, produce, seafood, and meat. The seafood and meat counter take up the back of the store and looks decent but I didn’t look very carefully. Not a whole lot of frozen variety, but most of what you’ll need is there. Produce was okay. a lot of the leafy greens didn’t look very fresh so I didn’t get a whole lot.
Prices are okay and the cashiers will get you out quick, which is exactly what I needed after just 25 minutes of shopping. I think I’ve had my fill of Asian encounters for now.

The parking lot for GW is always a mess. Always! Many customers who shop here do not know how to park and/​or drive. Also, you need to watch out when making your way from your car to the market and vice versa. I have been here several times and there has not been one time where I have not almost been ran over by someone.
If you are able to make it inside GW alive, the market is a decent size. They carry your standard Asian grocery store items and offer a wide variety of produce, meats, and seafood that are pretty fresh, as well as frozen items, condiments, household goods, etc. Compared to other stores in the area, prices are generally cheaper. Lines are long, especially during peak hours, but move at a decent pace.

Holy Antarctica, it’s freezing in here! I get it… perishable cold foods must be kept cold. But my Spam is almost frozen walkin’ ’round here! Ohh jelly filled plastic bears! Ohhh 50 000 flavors of crunchy wafers, ooohhhh 200 000 kinds of fresh, dry, sobapancitlomeinetcetcetc noodles! (Sense the distraction yet?)
I’ve essentially described to you my experience, in the most articulate manner possible. It was cold. It was really bright. Then I got distracted by the varieties of… well…everything. I mean, seriously. How many types of Vietnamese fish sauce is there in the world? Well, just look on the shelves. They’re all here!
The fresh fish section is quite impressive. There are live frogs, in-​shell scallops, random turtles, gigantic lobsters, and common varieties of crab.
My only concern was that some of the critters in the freshwater tanks were, umm, dead. Not very sanitary. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they «clean up» the tanks at the end of the day.
Worth a visit! It almost feels like the Baltimore aquarium. Hahaha!

So Asian supermarkets are a wonder of modern day grocery shopping to all individuals that did not grow up going to Asian supermarkets. That’s just a nice way of saying, white people think we are weird, but at the same time love our food and the weird things we offer.
Walking into this place, nostalgia kicks in and I’m instantly transported to my 10 year old self going to the hole in the wall Asian store with my mom to buy stuff that doesn’t have an English translation.
There are so many great things here. Aside for the pungent odor that emanates from the seafood section, which you will just have to get used to, this place is clean and well organized. You have great produce with the cheapest prices that you will find around anywhere. You will find meats that you cant buy at a regular grocery store, there are just a multitude of items that as a Vietnamese born American, I need in order to replicate my mothers cooking.
Definitely a fan and definitely will be back.

I’ve been meaning to come out to Great Wall for years now and I’m so glad finally I did. My few Chinese foodie friends have waxed poetic about this place, but I stubbornly made do with trips to Japanese Hana Grocery, Korean H Marts, and Vietnamese Eden Center since Bethesda is literally on the other side of the District for me.
I finally made it out here, and it was like a trip to Chinese grocery mecca. Like Pallabi G phrased, «Great Wall is China’s answer to Hmart.» I can confirm that indeed it is! You want fresh sugar cane? Lily buds and wood ear to make hot and sour soup? Frozen meatballs by the pound? Fresh seafood of dazzling varieties? Fresh tofu? An entire wall selection of dried mushrooms? Haw flakes? Pocky? Seaweed? Thinly sliced meats for hot pot? Pretty much any Chinese veggie you can think of? Yep, they’ve got ‘em.
Here’s what I purchased for a total of less than $ 25. I was too overwhelmed (and my freezer needs to be cleaned out to make room) for a REAL hardcore trip here:
Bok choy Sum
Chinese Broccoli Tips
Enoki Mushrooms
Shrimp Balls
Shrimp chips
wasabi peas
Coconut Milk
Bamboo shoots
Lots o’ fresh tofu
Eggs
Vietnamese Beef Meatballs
Ramen (Nissin brand ftw)
Okay, so like, 90% of the staff does not speak English (but seriously, where is the garlic?) and it’s a little more expensive than a typical asian grocery store in San Francisco. And it can be massively overwhelming (how many brands of oyster sauce do I need to choose from?). But seriously, I’m just glad to have any Chinese grocery store in the metro area, and this one is clean, relatively comprehensive, and it takes credit card. The only problem is now I have this dilemma of how often I should trek 45 minutes away from the Hill to get fresh veggies and Chinese goods. Maybe for special events (Chinese New Year) and the quarterly Asian good stockpile.
P. S. If you cannot figure out how to park here, you’ve obviously never driven in NYC or LA. You can do the old standby of having your passenger get out and stand in a spot, or you can just pretend like it’s Xmas holiday season and stalk someone who is coming out of the grocery store for their spot.

Like. Whoa. Great Wall is China’s answer to Hmart. I don’t know if its the angle that I always noticed it at, but I had nooo idea how enormous it was. The produce and seafood variety is excellent. Meats leave a little more to be desired but, my god, I have never seen soo much live fish and seafood in one place and I definitely have never seen people buying $ 750 worth of live turtles or live frogs. If you are into the exotic, definitely come here to satisfy your fancy. They also have a huge selection of condiments, snacks, tableware, random Chinese paraphernalia that you can spend a lifetime experimenting with. I also loved the variety of produce. It was the first time I was able to get EXACTLY what I wanted for my attempts at homemade Sichuan food. At least this time, I couldn’t blame the failure of my cooking on the fact that I didn’t have the perfect ingredients.
I didn’t try the food court, but if the rabid masses hovering around it are any indication, it is also excellent and I hear it’s authentic. Must go back soon.

Love it! It’s the cleanest and nicest Chinese supermarket I’ve been to in 4 years in DC. This is going to be my go-​to market from now on. Their selection is great, very clean, produce is fresh, and the store layout is organized well with good lighting. It’s much nicer than the Great Wall in Falls Church, VA that I’ve been going to.

First time going to GW and initially I thought it would be my last. The entire store has a fishy smell and the closer you get to the actual fish market the worse. I have been in other stores, but I suppose because they are larger they do not smell as bad as GW.
BP and I came in looking for Filipino ice cream we saw a friend tried earlier in the week. We were unable to find it and I would have asked for help except all of the employees seemed busy or were rude.
I’ll get to the rude experience now: I bought a Triko Bear (with those jellies) thinking it was $ 5.99 but when it was actually $ 7.99. I did not want to spend that much so I decided to return it. I asked where the customer service desk was and one of the cashiers who was just standing there with two other cashiers pointed it out and laughed before I even left. Of course I do not know if they were laughing at me, but it certainly seemed like it. Then, myself and four other women waited in line at customer service for ten minutes as no one was at the desk there. One of the women found a young man and he finally got someone to come by. When it was finally my turn I am pleased to say that the return process was a breeze.
GW has a strict return policy on fresh produce returns of one day. Most other items, like electronics, need to be returned within seven days.
I also saw really cute dish sets at GW, but they were a bit more expensive. I understand why since they are imported and not mass produced in the States, but $ 7.99 for a noodle bowl? No thanks, I might as well buy the Triko bear!
We ended up buying the buy five get one free deal on the buns at the GW food court. I think I may even like their buns and selection better than at Asian Bakery! I cannot recall the prices at AB, but at GW, buns were $ 1.30-$ 1.60 range. At least the ones I bought. So far, the best deal was on the chicken and fish sandwiches for $ 1.60 each. They were both fried served with lettuce and two slices of tomato but, with literally a touch of mayo. I still liked both. Since I had the fish one at home I put some Sriracha on it and it was bangin’!
So I guess we’ll come back to look for the Fillipino ice cream and da buns again!
BP also found that GW sells live turtles, eels, and frogs at the fish market place as well. In case you’re wondering and all… :)