La Sorpresa Barata/ Asian Market — Attraction in Escondido

Not the biggest shop but the place is packed to the brim with all kinds of asian and mexican grocery staples.

Fermented kimchi, cuts of meat (organ, tongue, beef, etc), shrimp, octopus, soy milk, rice paper, soup bases, snacks, produce, a TON of different noodles from vermicelli to udon, chili and sesame oil, all flavors of samyang ramen, a variety of rice, cream cake rolls, and a ton of other stuff. They even have basics like birthday candles, shampoo, asian beauty care items, tea (including diet teas).

I bought a milk tea boba drink, jajangmyeon (black bean) flavor samyang ramen, banana flavored icecream, instant chocolate milk boba, 2 different kinds of cream cake rolls, pocky, and a peach flavored drink. Everything was great, seemed very fresh!

I recommend the Melona banana ice cream, canned boba tea, and any of their drinks really. I'll definitely be coming back to try out more of their...

I'm so mad at their food quality and customer service right now. I've been a regular there and one time I bought a pork belly but when a got home I found green mold in it but it's late I couldn't come back to return right away. So I took a picture (with date in it) and come back a few days later for I was busy working late the next days. When I came back to shop and return with proof that it had already been bad when I bought it, instead of taking their fault for selling bad meat, they yelled at me for mot coming to return sooner and told me not to shop there again. I'm so shocked with their behavior and customer service. He could have nicely told me to come sooner or call the next time. I said I was okay to take store credit for I was still planning to shop there again. But the manager just went to tell me straight that he didn't need 'this kind of customer' and 'don't shop here again'. I was...

Looking for an Asian market that could fill in the gaps between monthly trips to HMart, which is 30+ minutes from home, we stopped by here in search of mostly fresh produce and meat for Korean cooking.

It's a small to medium place, absolutely tiny compared to the full-size supermarkets we have become used to, but that wasn't much of a surprise. Their frozen and fresh meat/seafood selection wasn't too bad at all, and produce was a solid B-. They even had an aisle for housewares, plenty of snacks, and a cute eatery (we didn't try it).

The selection was obviously going to be limited, but I managed to find most of what I needed. The biggest downside was that I don't think there is a single organic item in the entire place, and we try to eat organic whenever possible. Also, our total bill was quite high for the two small bags we brought home. Not a bad spot, but not a fit for our...