Rice Pantry — Local services in Escondido

I went here today and purchased 5 of the same items and was billed for 5. I told the clerk I’d come back to pick the items up, as I’m putting them into my car I noticed they only put 4 into the grocery bag. I went back into the store to tell them I was missing one, the original guy accused me of lying and hiding the missing one in my car. Mind you, I didn’t even leave the parking lot yet I just set them down in my trunk and saw I was missing one even though I was charged for it. There was no customer service or apologies for the mix up. The clerk kept insisting they put 5 in my bag and I was hiding the missing one in my car. I told him he could look in my trunk/car to prove I wasn’t lying. When we went back into the store to settle it, a second person told me they were going to pull up the video footage. I told them to go ahead as they were the ones who messed up. For whatever reason they used the excuse of the cameras taking longer than expected, I told them I had all the time in the world to wait. They spoke in their native tongue to one another and the second clerk eventually told me they’ll “just give it to me”, as if I didn’t pay for the item. I only went here to support local business as a friend recommended it. I called the same friend and she told me the same thing has happened to her here. They will overcharge you, please check your receipts and bags before you exit their doors— or else they will accuse you of magically...

The store has everything that I need, Thai, Laos, Vietnamese stuff. I used to go to LA (Thai Town) to get some unique Thai ingredients like northern Thai chili paste, but no need to go up there anymore because Rice Pantry has everything I need. They also have variety of frozen desserts from Thailand like sticky rice wrapped banana leaf (Kao Tom Mud). The vegetables they sell also fresh and nicely packaged. The owner and people who works here are so nice and helpful when you need help to find stuff. I go there all the time now.

Note: only a few weeks during hot summer days, they sell this Thai holy basil which is very hard to find. It is the same basil used for cooking Thai stirred fried basil dish in Thailand. I'm surprised they (farmer/distributor) can grow them...

My neighborhood Asian grocery store. I am happy to support this small business and frequent this store weekly. They have a good variety of Asian foods like Thai sauces for soups and stews, dips and sauces they make in-house, Vietnamese condiments as well as Japanese and Korean and they have fun snacks as well that you can’t get at a regular grocery store or even a Mexican grocery store. Friendly staff and lots of variety with good prices. Good produce too. I love their frozen pork meatballs and fish tofu (fish cakes) for my noodle soup dishes. They have an awesome instant ramen selection too. Very blessed to be living so close...