El Grande International Supermarket

Awful service. There is a lady in the meat department that literally throws the meat at you. And has an attitude with costumes. I complaint about her and many ppl had she still there like costumes have no voice. I’m never coming back to this place. And I wouldn’t recommend it. Not to mention its dirty

Wonderful selection of interesting fresh veggies/​fruits, the stuff that’s hard to find in the Safeways, et al, of the area. A real fishmonger, butcher who makes all kinds of great sausages, there is a halal section, TONS of Hispanic canned items, twice as many Asian ones. Really fun store.

Great place to shop! Even if your not savvy on international food products will appreciate the variety of produce that’s inexpensive. On the international selection of things, awesome job. Lots of different good brands. I am excited to go back!

This place has a lot of variety to select from! Walking around the place made me want to try some new things I’ve never tried, beef up the spice rack at home, and buy more than what was in mind when walking in. I definitely had to push those urges to the side when here. Oh, the wine and same section made me really want to try a lot of new things.
Okay so about their products. They have a great selection of produce that all looks fresh. The frozen selection does have a great variety to choose from. They also have a decent selection of household goods.
This place is great. My hugest complaint is that it’s too small for what it offers. Now, I rather they keep it like that until they could find a way to expand (maybe?). There are restaurants to eat in here too, which I did not try. I think this is a great quality to have, but it already gets crowded with the grocery shopping aspect. However, I wouldn’t want them to do away with them if they are tasty. Again, expansion for room would be great

El Grande has a great collection of Asian and Hispanic goods-​I really like going to pick up fresh, more exotic type produce. I got some HUGE Asian pears there and they were delicious!
The store is massive and you can easily spend an hour just exploring the produce & seafood sections alone! The fresh seafood section is always very busy and they’ve got tons of different cuts of meats, poultry and fish to test your pallet.
They’ve also got samples of various foods & snacks for you to try, which can definitely lure you into some unexpected purchases.
Based on the relatively inexpensive pricing and the wide selection of Asian/​Hispanic (and more) groceries, I’d definitely recommend stopping by and exploring as i’m sure you’ll leave with something tasty!

This is the place to go if you are looking for special asian cuts of meat, have a hankering for pokky sticks or little panda bear shaped cookies, or need a giant bag of rice!
but.beware of the parking lot. Especially after church on Sunday or on a Saturday morning. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN! horrible. People are running stop signs, backing out of the parking spaces without looking, parking their car in TWO lanes not just one, and running down the darn street without stopping. Ever heard of a cross walk people!!! UGH– thanks for building up the sterotype!
Bottom line: need asian food? go here. want to get in a car crash? go here.

ZOMGBBQ. This place is absolute heaven. It’s a mishmash of Asian and Hispanic groceries as well as ready-​prepared meals from their deli. YEAA VEGGIE KIMBAP!!! Now I don’t mind living in the Midwest.
I will be stocking up on all the Asian snacks and goodies I can fit into my over-​sized luggage before heading home next weekend. 8) WOOHOOOO! The happiest my belly has been in 6 months.

Sure this supermarket has a good variety of produce and items to get, but one thing I hate about this place is that it always feels like the food sitting on the shelves or in the refrigerators have been sitting there too long, and plus it’s not the cleanest place ever. It’s actually kind of gross. But my family goes there every weekend anyways, so I guess it can’t be too bad besides the sanitary issues and such.

Great supermarket with an amazing mix of foods! Based on the selections, I bet the owners are Korean, but it still has a nice mix of other Asian, some middle eastern, and tons of Latino foods. The produce section was great with lots of exotic fruits. I was really excited to see good quality lychee that I could pick myself. The meat section was awesome! I’ve never seen such a diverse meat section in all my years haunting asian supermarkets on the east and west coasts! In addition to the standard supermarket cuts, it also had the asian variety (ie odd bits and parts), AND there was a whole frozen goat AND what I believe to be a frozen, skinned lizard. While I might not partake, it’s nice to know I could always have grilled lizard without having to catch it on my own! The dry good section was good, however I did find some of the organization weird since it was split by region. In other words, soy sauces were not all in one place — chinese soy sauces in one section, korean and japanese soy sauces in another.
I’m not sure how people found Grand Mart to be better than this place?!? Grand mart was so dirty and the produce looked old!

My go-​to place for top-​notch Filet Mignon! I would go no where else, seriously! The place is a one stop shop for all your produce needs also, if you don’t require organic.

This place is so dirty and gross. Looks like a rundown grocery store. I think Super H, Grand Mart, and Lotte are better. but hey, what does my opinion matter right?

Ironically, I usually come to this place not only get groceries but to eat some cheap and great tasting bi bim bab. To the left side of the market is a mini eating service place. The bi bim bab here tastes great (cold or hot), and since its a self service fast food style (without waitress) you don’t need to pay tips. Reasonable prices and food tastes good with reasonable large amount in proportion.

OMG, this grocery store is one stop shopping for EVERY food item you can think of. You name it they have it! A friend and I spent 2 hours in this blasted store and spent $ 100.00 and then after we were done bought food in the food court, which was like 7 dollars. I got soup and bibimbap which was really good. It’s not too bad of a trek if you go at the right time, definitely have to go out there and stock up on stuff!

First off, I’m still unclear whether this store is called El Grande International Supermarket, EE Mart, or Fresh World. I’ve been here since winter of 2007, and they’ve changed their name 3 times already. Its just a little difficult to find them on my GPS when I want to. So if you do plan on going here to shop, write down the address, not the name of the place, especially if you’re not familiar with the roads like me. :) –3 stars for the confusion and indecisiveness to committing to a business name.
Location: I’d say the location of this store is pretty nice. I usually shop at the Grand Mart in Falls Church, VA, so running to El Grande Supermarket in Springfield is a relief compared to driving around the Seven Corners. In addition, the size of this supermarket is HUGE compared to Grand Mart.
Selection: El Grande has an amazing choice of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Usually they’re in very crisp, fresh condition also. I have noticed that the majority of the selection of Asian groceries is more directed towards Korean food, Japanese food, and some Chinese also. I’m a huge fan of Thai food, Cambodian food, and Vietnamese. You will find a small selection of spices and ingredients for these types of food, but it is limited to variety. The good thing is that the plaza El Grande is located in, there is another small Asian mart, Vietnamese, I believe, where I can get a second try in purchasing the rest of my spices, or ingredients. El Grande also has a lot of Hispanic groceries (like all the Goya products) and has a fantastic selection of Middle Eastern ingredients (everything from Tahini to Rose water and Orange Blossom water). I find this REALLY convenient. :) Yum. They also have a pretty decent variety of meats, and cuts you normally can’t find in American supermarkets.
Customer Service: It never seems like anyone is really happy to work here. I’m not expected a Trader Joe, or Harris Teeter type customer service, but I’m talking about getting a lot of rude employees. If you’re a female, and plan to shop here alone, take caution. There’s a good chance you’ll be harassed by the employees. Every time I’m here, I can’t help but notice that the employees usually work in groups of two or more… and whether they’re stocking shelves, moving boxes, or cleaning the floors, they’ll drop everything they’re doing to give you a sick, stalker-​like stare… smirk in a strange, creepy way, and begin to look you up and down like you’re a big fat juicy piece of steak. I hate it. And if they’re really enjoying the sight you bring, they WILL follow you, pretend to work, and keep staring at you. If they’re brave enough, they’ll throw in a rude degrading holler, in attempt to «pick up a girl» while they’re working, and she’s shopping. In fact, if I were to judge based upon the way that I feel when I’m shopping here, I’d give it a straight up 1 star. I just wouldn’t shop here alone if my life depended on it. I always feel so violated, and degraded after leaving this store. It is NOT just me, either. I see plenty of women in there getting followed, and hollered at by these employees. Just straight up RUDE… I just came back from there with my husband and two of the employees still had nerve to follow me, while I was hand-​in-​hand with him. They just don’t seem to have any respect for women. You’ve been warned.
In addition, 3 out of 10 times I go there, the Asian owners always seem to be paranoid that I’m stealing a box of Bowl of Noodles. Every time you walk out with a box of items, regardless if you JUST paid for it, and took two steps while putting the receipt away, I’ve been pulled aside to check my receipt, and check whether or not I have a «paid» sticker on the item. Not a big deal, especially when you know you didn’t do anything wrong. Its just a pain in the rear to have insecure owners, assuming everyone wants to steal a box of mangoes, or noodles.
In conclusion, though the service isn’t always great, I would give it a 3 star rating, being generous. Two stars seems too harsh, since the variety and amount they offer is plentiful, and produce is almost always fresh. If you’re going to cook Thai food, you’re better off finding more ingredients at Grand Mart, if not, this is a GREAT store. The customer service is just so offending, I prefer to avoid shopping here at all costs. A 3 star rating from me.
I would still shop Grand Mart over El Grande any day.

The prelude to a visit was a pound of ground heirloom pork from the farmers market waiting to be made into dumplings at home in the Fridge.
Leaving from work late during the week, I was not going to haul out to Merrifield or other points west to visit an Asian market in search of wrappers, cabbage etc. A quick search on Google maps and here we are, El Grade Market. Note you can see the sign for this market from just near the mixing bowl on the Washington Beltway.
As usual, having grown up in the US, I was amazed by the selection of produce. I mean how many people buy mangoes by the crate. They had four or five types all stacked pallet high. Who even knew that late May was Mango season? You need Mexican, Jamaican, Honduran, Champagne. they got it, comon in.
I found my cabbage, dried black mushrooms, fresh head on shrimp and things I didn’t even know I was looking for or needed like Coconut flavored soda.
Prices were very reasonable, the place was less crowded than H-​mart of Han au Rhum and selection can’t be beaten.
Note that the meat counter smelled like a place where animals are being butchered, be disgusted or impressed as you like.

This place does not appear to be affiliated with Grand Mart, despite the obvious similarity in name. It does call itself EE Mart, which maaay be affiliated with the E Mart in Korea? I have no idea.
Anyway, this place has is a fusion of Asian/​Korean fare and Hispanic, with some Indian stuff thrown in there. The produce is usually really good and the prices are great and I think it is generally cleaner than Grand Mart.
They have a little restaurant area to the side like Super H Mart, but with fewer places. They also have a pretty good selection of prepared banchan and kimchi, along with bibimbab veggies and all the materials you need for making bulgogi or bossam, kimbab, other hot items like fish jeon and chicken wings, and some typical Asian bakery things.
This place seems to have most of the things I look for at the other Asian grocery stores, but it is missing a few things I’ve seen at other places. Well, I guess instead of having that stuff they have cool Hispanic stuff I can try.