Patel Brothers

I purchased Black Moong daal from Patel Brothers. When we soaked it in water overnight, Next day black color from the dal got washed away and it was green daal.
I couldn’t believe how they can color the Daal to make it black. This was very disappointing.
I suggest not to purchase Black daal of Swad brand.

Wonderful selection of vegetables and spices. The homemade chappati is always fresh! My go-​to shop for Indian groceries.

Patel Brothers is a chain of Indian grocery stores located in the United States. When I lived in Ann Arbor, PB was one of two Indian grocery stores I would patronize, so my transition to Chicago was made easy with the PB here.
PB runs are part grocery store trip, part cultural immersion for me. When I am here, I am reminded of my grandmother. You can hear every Indian language in this store, but primarily Gujarati. If you’re planning to cook traditional Indian food, you’ll find the spices and fresh produce you’ll need to prepare your meal. I come here for basmati rice, loose leaf tea, ground spices, and fresh produce.
I’ve brought many a non-​Indian friend here, and they are always surprised at the selection of goods. For those of you from the West Coast, PB is like a 99 Ranch Market or Seafood City (without the seafood). If you’re Canadian, then think of PB as a Fruiticana. If you’re not of South Asian descent, you’ll probably get strange and curious looks. Don’t worry-​that happens to me in Chinatown all the time. Its harmless.
I highly recommend PB for all of your Indian cooking (and eating) needs. They have a large frozen and prepared food section. I don’t buy ready-​made Indian food, but if I was in a fix, I know I could come here and find fafda and frozen samosas.

My stop place to shop for all the Indian grocery.

This is pretty close to a grocery store in India, except these guys have cash registers and change.
Four, not five, because the produce is sometimes unhappy. But the smells, all of the spices, and so, so many products from the Motherland! The chutney bar is terrific, and try the frozen breads (I’m serious), especially the Keralan Poratta. Sometimes I get strangers touching my face here, as though they’ve never seen a white person — I love it.

Slightly higher prices compared to other stores. But generally their inventory is amazing. Everything you want – fresh or frozen – are on shelves. I like the many kinds of besan (chickpea flour). The Patel Bros own the block anyway. Always filled with customers, so have a list in mind when you shop.

I have a few Indian dishes I want to make so I went out to PB. I was able to score a parking spot out front without too much effort. Once inside I was amazed at the selection of spices that greeted me. The owner or manager walked up to me and asked me if he could be of any service as soon as he saw the list in my hand. I spent a great deal of time just checking everything out. Great selection of just about everything I was looking for. The fresh produce aisle was a wee bit bleak but everything else was excellent. I even found some incredible incense.

Any possible Indian spice or herb that you could possibly imagine is stocked by this store… no joke. It is awesome! There are some fresh veggies and herbs… but this place is better for it’s packaged/​dry items.

Coming here will make you realize that every other grocery story is gouging you on the price of spices. You can buy big bags of spices here (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, peppercorns, ginger powder, etc etc) for a fraction of the price of a tiny McCormick spice bottle at a Jewel Osco. The staff here were also most helpful in helping us find what we were looking for. I now want to learn to cook Indian dishes at home just so I have an excuse to come back here.

Good selection of spices, sweets, packaged goods, and anything Indian you could imagine. However, it’s crazy on a Saturday evening with barely any space to stand. And some of the spices are marked up more than I would expect.
Good place to stock up, but I don’t want to go back unless I really have to. That was a painful shopping experience.

heaven for Indian spices and other finds for cooking. Thank Ganesha for Devon markets!

I came to this Patel Brothers after years — it has changed so much. The veggies and shelves are so organized. There’s a great selection of frozen foods as well that are tasty such as naan and parathas. The veggies were fresh when I went. It was so good to see so many products that I need for Indian cooking all in one place. And they have a GREAT herbal medicine/​hair section! Specifically Patanjali (Ram Dev) products!

First, allow me to say that I used to live just a little distance away from there. I have since moved to Wisconsin, and am now about an hour and 15 minutes and hour and and a half (traffic depending).
I STILL make the trek down every few months to stock up.
They carry a wonderful selection of spices, rices, and different flours. They also carry a great selection of mixes and prepared foods, as well as all sorts of different chutneys and frozen item (samosas!).
They have different soaps, hair care, and personal hygiene/​beauty products too.
The staff there are VERY helpful, and you don’t have to but look around to see someone waiting to help you. (This can not be said of most other supermarkets!) The prices are great too. If they weren’t that remarkable, I sure as hell wouldn’t spend a few hours on the road round trip to get there.
I would also try to get there in the earlier part of the morning, as parking can be a real challenge.
The produce can be hit or miss, I guess it is dependent on what day you shop in conjunction to their delivery days.
The only thing I would advise you to be wary of are freshness. I have seen moldy garlic, and dusty jars. Just use your better judgment and really look at what you are purchasing particularly perishable items.

Just think: medieval Europeans nearly killed this planet trying to get their hands on Indian goods, and now all you have to do is bring two $ 20s and find a parking spot. This is one of the ten best grocery stores in town, but it doesn’t get 5 stars from me because of some technicalities which I’ll mention in a bit.
If you are a vegetarian, this place is essential. Not only are the products free of American-​style preservatives and needless chemicals, but they are cheaper than your neighborhood store, and I’m willing to bet on that. Great variety of grains, beans and legumes; a nice variety of basics and Indian vegetables; sauces, Indian style pickled garnish, spice blends and more for very reasonable prices. A great, great frozen food section. Inexpensive yet good quality incense and body care products abound (they carry fluoride-​free toothpastes!) The MREs are the best part, IMO; buy lots of packs at once; they make for delicious quick meals for a very reasonable price.
The only reason this place doesn’t get five stars from me is because I’ve caught some shelves with dusty products on them. Nearly always they are jars, but this doesn’t look good. Also, I’ve seen peeled garlic packs with molding cloves inside; again, not good. Otherwise, the products have been excellent. I don’t live on this side of town, but it’s always worth it to make a stop here and get those spices and ingredients that bring something extra to mealtime.

This is quite a large place. It has everything you need Indian and the prices are fairly cheap. We didn’t do much shopping since we walked in just because we were curious.
This is a great place to stock up on items. I feel as though it’s more for family shopping since some of the items are quite large, like the 10bs rice bag and what not.
Not a bad store for your run of the mill Indian spices.

I have been shopping here for a while now… usually make a monthly trip for Indian groceries and some vegetables. They stock pretty much everything you will need to cook all kinds of Indian cuisine — spices, dals (legumes/​pulses), rice, savory, snacks. For the microwave Indian chef they have a very wide assortment of frozen items ranging from Indian breads (nan/​chappatti) to frozen meals.
Tip — Vegetables are freshest on Thursday since that’s when their supply arrives.

GREAT GREAT GREAT customer service! After a long traffic-​filled drive to Devon Ave, I arrived at the store close to 9:30pm (when the store is supposed to close at 9pm), and before I could even fully ask, the gentleman at the door graciously allowed me to enter.
The store had a very extensive selection of prepared frozen foods, snacks, and most of all spices… all of which are inexpensively priced. They also had a decent selection of produce, and everything was very affordable (and cheaper than most supermarkets).
And to reiterate, all the employees are so very nice and helpful!

I LOVE Patel Brothers!
I am a novice in the world of cooking Indian food, but with the help of Patel Brothers, I stand a fighting chance to improve. They have absolutely everything you could possibly need when it comes to Indian groceries — spices, grains, flours, lentils, «exotic» veggies… and it’s all so super cheap.
I only wish there was one closer to downtown, as it takes half a lifetime to get out to the Devon St. store or out to Schaumburg. Nevertheless, I’ll continue to make the trek as it’s well worth it!

Nice clean Indian grocery store located in the heart of chicagos little India. Three store waa well stocked with veggies, spices, etc. Wish they had a better shampoo selection– they only have once amla brand selection. But seriously, if you’re not brown, then the un-​organized fashion of the store can be super intimidating– but do ask! Theres usually someone stocking stuff somewhere in the store on some random shelf who seems to know where EVERYTHING is.
Parking sucks. Also, dont expect a super friendly greeter @ patel brothers like they’ve got at walmart. No one will smile and thank you for coming. yo go in, grab whatever you’ve got to. and bounce. Im sure they have everything you need to transform your tiny chicago apartment into a curry flavored space that will overwhelm the best of the best air freshners :)

Oh my god, look at that. Oh my god, look at that. Oh my god, what IS that?
This is me on my trip to Patel Brothers last weekend. I was with my sister, who wanted to pick up some ghee and garam masala. If you knew my sister, this would be shocking to you. I know virtually nothing about Indian food, but I’m always happy to browse an ethnic market, so I joined her on her expedition. Now I want to learn more about Indian food so I can return to Patel and shop for real.
What I can tell you is that they have an amazing selection of spices, in no particular order. They have beans and grains in sacks large enough that they could be used in humanitarian efforts. They have frozen samosas. Yes, i know that’s heresy, but I’m a white boy who isn’t about such things. That have jars of ghee as big as your head.
I did feel a little bit like an idiot. Like the guy in the grocery store who picks up the imported Irish butter and the Chef’s Spread and doesn’t know the difference. But the Indian grannies who were climbing over me to get to the good stuff didn’t seem to mind.
As a bonus, I picked up a bottle of honey water with basil seed beads. It wasn’t horrible.