Tashkent Supermarket Halal Food — Local services in New York

Wanted to love it but a mixed bag for me. I love Eastern European food from my numerous trips to that part of the world. I wasn't expecting that level, nor even Brighton Beach, but at least with the authentic origins I had high hopes.

The location is new, so disorganized which will hopefully change soon, of course we will give them some time. Small space for this so easily crowded and not so well designed. Be prepared to rub elbows with others at the buffet/hot-cold bar. Workers are helpful enough but just know this is mostly self-service with all the food uncovered with customers hands, sneezes and such involved.

Before I get to the food quality/taste (after I got home with it). The Plov (their signature braised meat/rice dish which they actually prepare for you) is a rip-off as others have noted. He fills the container about 90% with rice, then 5% with carrots, then place a small piece of meat. Then when you get to the cashier, they inform you it's priced by weight! LOL. I laughed and told her; I'm not purchasing a $22 container of rice. She actually agreed when she looked at it and said sure forget it or I can give you a discount, so I opted for that so I could at least try it. Plus, some of the cold salad items have no price/lb. next to them, and seems like the cashiers just guess, as many are on the receipt as "misc. food item". I noticed after, my tiny container of plain buckwheat, was like $7.00 based off of $9.99 LB! So be careful and ask questions when checking out.

Now to the food which included most of things I was excited to try: -Beef Manti- Dumpling wrapper was good, but the beef was not ground or shredded, it was a course dice of chewy, fatty meat, off-putting and quite a disappointment. -Pumpkin Manti - Better as of course the pumkin filling had good texture compared to the meat. Not life changing, but simple and tasty. -Meat Pelmeni (similar to tortellini) - very good with the right bite to it, and a nicely textured ground filling. -Chicken Samsa (in crusty pastry bread) - very nice crispy dough and the fillings were tasty but again could be chopped down finer. -PLOV - My rice deluxe dish LOL. Yet to try it, maybe tonight, but it did seem like an early fan favorite with many people getting it. -Stuffed cabbage rolls (chicken) - Overall good and would get again, filling very good, cabbage could be tenderized more as it was not easy to cut through with a fork (which is the sign of a great stuffed cabbage). -Buckwheat - Fine - needs more seasoning. -Quinoa-corn salad - very bland with an odd sterile taste. Maybe a salad bar preservative sprayed on it? Or just cheap seed oil used in it...something was off. -Beef samsa in pastry - have not tried yet.

At this point since I still like the idea and potential of this place being in Manhattan, while I'm not dying to rush back, I would go there for certain things. Hopefully everything will improve over time, and my opinion...

while the store is conveniently above the train station and was pretty clean, i think there is lack of variety in it. i was expecting more produce/items from central asia/uzbek, but the selection is not as much as i thought. maybe in the near future they would bring them in, but as of right now, there’s more regular produce than central asian’s.

^ referring to solely produce/beverages, not the buffet items/bakery.

bringing in products from countries we’re boycotting and even brands like starbucks is not really ideal. you’re marketed as halal and muslim focused so that was quite disappointing.

and i think while the price tag stated that some produce is being weighed by lbs, it is quite misleading because (eg. cold cuts are sold in pre-packed logs) it looks like it’s sold as is which also looks like it’s a lb. if you flip to the nutritional label, it said 2oz - 8 servings means 16oz/1lb right? but when you bring it to the cashier and it’s weighed, it’ll ring higher than that.

having the price only determined at the cashier is not really transparency in costing. i understand if it’s fruits, which are usually sold loose, but for the cold cuts that are sold pre-packed, it should have it’s price and weight sticker on it already. just like how stores sells their pre-cut cheese with all information you need on the sticker label (date, price per lb, total price, total weight) i think this is something you should look into.

for a private owned business, customer service experience was not as great either unfortunately.

and lastly, the carts shouldn’t be by the door. as the path is already pretty narrow, human traffic flow can get really congested there.

i think maybe because it’s new, and there’s still alot of systems/improvements to be implemented etc. but hopefully my opinions could help better the store to be more hospitable, user-friendly and just have better...

I’m glad that Tashkent Supermarket opened its doors in the city, because going all the way to Brighton Beach is too far and takes way too long.

The store is pretty small and unfortunately doesn’t have as large a selection as the one in Brighton Beach. It does carry the most popular products, though it’s not very consistent. Some days they have what you need, and some days they don’t. I wish they paid more attention to which items are in high demand and made sure to always keep them in stock.

The hot bar and salad bar take up almost half the store. Personally, I’m not a fan of these types of food bars. I’d rather have an employee behind the counter serving the food instead of sharing tongs with half the city (but that’s just me, probably).

The cashiers are always friendly and nice, which I really appreciate.

One thing that annoys me the most is that whenever I try to buy pickled herring, the jars and the shelves are always so greasy that some days I don’t even want to touch them and end up not buying anything. I really wish that area were cleaned properly every day.

Overall, I’m glad the store is open because I can still get some of the products I like, but there are definitely a few things that could be improved. I’d rate it around 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)

UPDATE:

The store has improved a lot since I last wrote my review. They now keep popular products consistently in stock, which shows that they actually listen to customer feedback.

The cashiers are still friendly and helpful, which makes shopping there pleasant. I also noticed that the pickled herring section is now clean and well-maintained, which makes a big difference.

Overall, I’m really impressed with how much the store has improved. It’s clear that they pay attention to customer concerns and act on them. Definitely a five star...