Lion Market — Local services in San Jose

We came here via recommendation from a friend who lives in San Jose. Before that, we always take grocery trips to 99 Ranch markets, in any store of the are we’re close at the time. This store was mediocre. There’s produce area, meat area, dry products, canned goods, and beverages. There’s no bakery or hot food deli area though. It’s like Vietnamese market with some mixup from Spanish. There’s 3 languages there: Vietnamese, English and Spanish. What we found good about Lion market was they have a variety of vegetables that is familiar with Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. However, you cannot store them for long periods. For example, I bought some bean sprouts but they became rotten pretty quick. All of them. The result, I threw them all. The same goes for other veggies. Some has starting to have rotten parts. The meat was okay, but some have questioning color. Thus, I only bought 2 packs of meat. I found some Vietnamese products that has sales promotion, cheaper than other supermarket brands, but some products are higher. The worst part was they don’t accept Apple Pay or Tap. We have to use physical cards. That’s okay if the swiping function works. When we paid, the swiping function wasn’t working. The cashier told us to use the inserting function and input our pins. My husband declined and paid with cash. Later, my husband explained to me in the car that their old model card reader seemed to be broken and manual fixing with clear tapes. He worried about the security of the system, so he’d rather use cash. We’re not fond of carrying big cashes with us and always try to avoid cash only shops unless necessary. Now, good thing is that we don’t purchase...

If your not used to cultural difference, be prepared. Upon entering the store you are greeted by a smell completely different than all other grocery stores. It's a heavy mix of fish, imported goods and the meat counter mixed. General appearance is not dirty, but unkempt. Some isles are too thin to pass with a cart. The store offers a plethora of vegetables, many used in Asian cooking. The stores isles are jam packed with all kinds of products from all across the globe, most you will not find in it's competitor's stores. It's a chef's delight. It also has a extensive Hispanic food section. There are sale items throughout the store. The store workers are mostly Asian and Hispanic, who speak little or no English. So finding a elusive product might prove fruitless, or take 10 minutes to find. Regardless, there is a communication problem, you'll have to search for a sales rep that speaks English. Prices are competitive with other local stores, every once in awhile a good buy can be found. All around, I shop at Lions often, be prepared as said, it is a definite cultural experience, which makes the whole shopping...

This was my first time visiting the Lion Market on Story Rd in San Jose. It’s a great place to pick up spices, condiments, and other Asian specialties. The reason for 2 stars is for the fact that it is pretty dirty/run down. In comparison to other Lion Markets and Asian markets I shop at, it doesn’t make you feel confident enough to purchase produce, meat, poultry, or fish. I think this location has a lot of potential if they spruce up the store a bit. Sadly, there was a man with his pants down laying in the parking lot, he appeared to have passed out. It felt unsafe and I won’t...