El Rio Grande Latin Market — Attraction in Grand Prairie

Horrible experience. The woman at the stand where the agua frescas are at was rude from the start. We went up to the counter and asked if they had elotes and after she just nodded yes and she asked if we wanted everything on them. I asked what is everything? and she couldn’t even answer. My mom had to list some ingredients out for me and have her be like yes. She only said “Mayonesa, crema, mantequilla” Since she only listed that I said okay yes with everything. I went to the other side of the counter and paid and when I went back to where the elote stand was at I saw her adding chile to them and I said “Chile no por favor” By then she had already finished one elote that had chile and I stopped her before she could do so with the other one. She looked up at me and was rude. She looked at me like I had agreed to it and snapped back with “Dijo que con todo” I responded back with “Usted nunca mencionó el chile” just for her to snap back with “Cuando yo dije todo es todo”. Last time I checked chile is something the customer adds to their liking after having gotten their elote or after making the customer aware of it being added. We didn’t want to deal with her attitude anymore so we just took the elotes as they were (they had a lid on top when we got them) just to get home and see that the cup wasn’t even full and after mixing it was just a goopy mess from there not being enough elote and a lot of mayo, crema (sour cream), and a lot of limon which was also not mentioned when I asked what the elotes had. It was horrible customer service (not from the cashier she was polite) from the person preparing the elotes and we will not be coming back to avoid receiving that type of treatment. It was a waste of $10 for the cups to not even have...

Having Mexican for dinner? This is your place! Having anything else for dinner? There's a Kroger up the road.

What I like about the Mercado is that it reminds me of Mexico... not like, REAL Mexico, but ya know... the border towns where Americanized Mexicans hang out!

They have a wide selection of Mexican food products, and the meat is typically fresh. They have a Taqueria attached that serves from FREAKING AMAZING Horchata (and other various beverages)!

The staff speaks English for the most part, and they're always friendly, which is a plus. The only downside is that I know I can't go here for most things I need. I'm REALLY happy about the Kroger on Maple and Med. District now, because I can go there to do most of my shopping.

Anyway, I'd say give the El Rio Grande a try, and if you don't like it, go to Kroger. It's not for everyone, but it's a good little experience. They have corn and nachos during the evening...

Good deals on produce, deli, and meat. BEWARE, they will handle your pork, chicken, and beef with the same pair of gloves. They never change gloves when handling meats and they will hand you the bagged product dirty from the mixed meat juice. Be cautious of cross contamination when picking up bagged meat and bagged deli. Bring hand sanitizer.

Also, to shop here you must be a smart shopper. You MUST know your meats. I really recommend you smell your meat and look at it for freshness. They do sell old meat off the counter. If you're buying store packaged meat, please check your meat and the dates on it. That I've seen, they don't pull out expired meat from the shelves.

2/5 because, while I do go for the sales, I really wish a health inspector would come and look at the...