99 Ranch Market — Attraction in Kent

This review is mostly based on the crispy pork belly that I purchased from this 99 Ranch yesterday.

I have had worse at St Louis, but this is just right behind.

Perhaps the T&T factor has taken a toll on this 99 Ranch location, the place as a whole was much quieter than expected. As far as the BBQ section goes, there were plenty of unsold roasted ducks and pork behind the counter. I kid you not, there were over a dozen ducks alongside the wall outside the kitchen, in addition to the ones on display inside the glass with heated lamps.

I should have taken this as a warning sign, but I proceeded to order the roasted pork belly nonetheless because I was hungry. Lesson here for everyone: don't shop on empty stomach, or else you risk making irrational decisions, buying things you don't need, and in my case, buying poor quality products!

Fast forward an hour to dinner time, that's then I discovered the pork belly skin was poorly prepared, if at all. I have ordered this from the same 99 Ranch before but I thought it was ok. This time around, it's like either the skillful chef had left the job, or the chef who's been doing this all these years doesn't really give a fudge what to serve. To add insult to the injury, it tasted like leftovers.

You may ask, why 1 star just because of the disappointing BBQ? Well, it goes to other produce too: Gai Lan was on sale for $1.49 but they look terrible with thick, old stems. The $1.99 boba tea with $30 purchase is a joke, you have to walk back to the bakery which is the furthest corner of the store to get it. Should I haul all the purchases with a shopping cart, or leave it at the shop entrance for some lucky winners to take my stuff away?

Last but not least, it is probably either tariffs, or someone being brutally honest about raising prices and calling it Manager's Special. See picture...

... that's before you have to walk through a parking lot full of trash and smell of pee before you get to the entrance of the shopping center.

Looking forward to the corporate doing something about this sad situation, and I don't want to be...

Worst customer service. “We ordered the whole roast pig at May May Hong Kong BBQ in Federal Way for under $500. I have attached pictures of the crispy pig and receipt with address and phone. Only 20 minutes drive from Ranch 99 and they preferred to order a week ahead.”

My friend is Cambodian and employee working in hot deli doesn’t speak much English. I used my 30 minutes lunch break to help him thur the phone on ordering a whole roast pig for a party on Saturday. The employee, who was cutting the cook food help us but the lady who is the cashier is in charge of roast pig order. I waited 15 minutes until she can talk with me. We need the whole roast pig on this Saturday at around 11:00 am. Can you make it happen? Is ordering 3 days advance enough time? How much does it cost after tax? How much deposit do you need?

The lady told me, “yes, they can do it and it’s $13.35 per pound not cut and $1.00 extra per pound if you want them to cut it. We want it not cut and how much it cost altogether with tax. The pig is around 35-40 pounds, with tax it’s around almost $600.00 like $590.00 and $250 deposit. Are you kidding? Tax is 10% in Washington tax. $13.35 x 40= 534 x 10% = $587 (if that pig is 40 pound) When I discuss this with my friend, it was too much. I heard from some of my friends said it’s under $500 after tax and some places posted a sign $350 plus tax. Anyway, my friend told me that lady doesn’t want to take my order because she walked away to the other end of the counter talking to the cake server lady. We didn’t order the whole roast pig from Ranch 99 and we decided to shop around because of the rude customer service and there are a lot of restaurants that cater the whole roast pig. It’s your lost, you just lose a $500 business and gain a bad review. I just wasted my 30 minutes lunch break...

Not As Nice As The Edmonds Location

Ranch 99 is sort of like an all-Asian QFC. It's a great store to find just about any ingredient you'd ever need, and the prices aren't competently unreasonable (though, I wouldn't call it cheap). That said, this is the worst Ranch 99 market I've ever been to. Absolutely filthy.

They have a pretty sad selection of SE Asian products, unfortunately. So if you're looking specifically for Thai, Singaporean, or Malaysian products, you won't find a ton (a few decent spices, curries, and frozen products, really). This location mostly caters to Chinese and Korean products.

Word of warning: I've found lots of moldy refrigerated items here and the produce is extremely sad and wilted.

They do have a decent looking BBQ stand for Char Siu and Crispy Pork Belly; it's the same price as Kau Kau, in Chinatown, but I'm not sure if it's as good (it's hard to take a leap when Kau Kau is so good).

The seafood selection is not as nice as Uwajimaya; there's a huge language barrier if you're not Chinese, sometimes. That said, we've gotten good shrimp at a reasonable price.

Filipinos should stick to Seafood City. It's much nicer, cleaner, and cheaper. If you're looking for more SE Asian products, try Uwajimaya or some of the Vietnamese stores in Seattle (Viet Wah or Hung Long).

If you can make the drive, definitely go to Asian Food Center, instead. That place is a dream come true compared to...