Kaelin’s Market

I love this market. They have fresh rolls that are 4 for a $ 1. The ham and cheese are fresh and have great prices. The staff are so nice and caring. Even though their big name brands are more on the expensive side, but they specialize in local cultural food. And their pan dulce is amazing! Also, the carnitas plate is super yummy. I love walking in here and feeling a bit of my Hispanic culture mixed with Arabic culture. So welcoming to everyone

Not much has changed here. This place is still like it was when I first reviewed it, but the proof of the worth of this market is in its longevity & how it always seems to be pretty busy. The in-​house taco shop is still top notch in my book, and the many, many Hispanic/​Mexican grocery items you can get here overcome any perceived shortcomings this place may seem to have. Whether its the fresh meat, canned goods, bakery items or hot foods … in the world of ethnic markets, Kaelin’s is high on my list.

My relationship with Kaelin’s goes way back to my early years of little league baseball when their name was printed across the front of my shirt. They’ve undergone a few changes over the years, but then again, so have I.
When you enter the store, you’re greeted with the sweet smell of fresh cooked food at the taco shop up front. They also offer fresh tortillas, a full salsa and guacamole bar and a full service meat counter. The produce section offers fresh peppers, avocados and all the other fresh ingredients you’re going to need for your feast.
They carry a full selection of grocery items including canned goods, cereals, spices and dairy items. If you need cerveza for your fiesta, they have you covered there too in addition to a large selection of other spirits.
The staff is always friendly and it’s service with a smile. Located at Main and Madison, Kaelin’s is your convenient one stop shop!

Best meat in East county! Anytime we bbq this is where we get out meat, rice, beans, guac and all the fixings! This place never disappoints.

Came into the store on Saturday to get dinner fixings. Bought two pounds of lean hamburger for the dish we were preparing. Nothing looked off, cooked it up and fixed the main course. Thank goodness we didn’t have dinner guests, while we were eating both of us found BONE in the meat. Totally disgusting, will never go there again and I have contacted the health department to go check out this dump.

Kaelins is pretty cool. Its a fifty fifty kind of place for me. Sometimes I have a good experience when I shop sometimes I don’t. The deli counter has some great selections but I’m usually skipped over or ignored but the counter staff. One time they let a child scream at the top of their lungs and run around the store while the mother paid no attention. the staff didn’t say anything though clearly the kid was bothering the other customers and literally throwing merchandise on the ground. Other than that it’s fairly priced and I can forgive it all for the Aguas chiles and cheap price on the lamb chops.

The food the taco shop offers here is bluntly delicious. The prices on the groceries are based on convenience so the prices are understood but the taco shop is inexpensive and delicious. I usually order the tripas burrito and it’s definitely 5 stars.

I have been shopping here for a couple of years and have always liked the carne. Today it was finally on sale, so I bought two pounds and grilled it at home like always.
The meat was so salty and tough that we couldn’t eat it. Now what? Will it be a major problem to return and get my money back, I don’t know what there policy is. where else in el cajon can I get good Carne?

Just bought a carne asada burrito and a beef kabob plate. The carne asada burrito was filled with mostly rice and beans and some meat. The woman that was taking cash at the register was also packing up the food and was handling the tortillas and pita with unclean hands! Food was not good and expensive, I should have gone to the Greek Chicken:(

Best spot for all your Mexican/​Latin American needs if you live or are near the East County/​El Cajon. Great selection of meats, salsa, cheese, fresh tortillas and a Panaderia!!! One stop shop if you’re hosting a fight party or the like. They also have a small selection of beer! No 5 stars because of the condition of the parking lot (location not the greatest as well).

I mostly come here to buy fresh dates every summer. Great dates and great prices. Please continue to bring them in every summer.

I’ve been to Kaelin’s Mi Pueblo about 10 times in the last 4 years.
YOU CAN EXPECT:
to throw away most or all of your raw meat purchases as soon as you break the plastic wrap
extremely inexpensive produce and Mexican pastries/​bread
good prices for bulk cheeses
diverse ethnic Mexican or Middle Eastern food selection
best salsa counter and tortillas
Man, I’m going to miss them. I would’ve easily given them 4 stars, even 5 stars if you understood this is a small neighborhood ethnic grocery store, and didn’t have the expectation of a sparkling refurbished Von’s.
I’m giving them 1 star because I am so disgusted by the rotted and rancid packaged raw meat that they sell next to the butcher counters this year. You have to really sort thru the bloody and browning/​turning grayish meat to get fresh looking meat, then it’s a crapshoot whether you’re actually going to be able to cook it or throw it out at home.
I have bought meat from them 5 – 6 times. We’re talking chicken and pork and beef cuts, not the asada in the meat counter. The first 5 times, my meat purchase was either 1 package that was fine to cook that night, or 3 different meats and only 1 was bad. When you’re throwing out $ 5-​$ 8 of meat within 48 hours of bringing it home it kind of negates the savings of your grocery bill, but not so much that I didn’t go back. Sell-​by dates are ALWAYS checked out that it SHOULD be good.
The last 3 visits have shown me that they are just ripping their customers off. Whoever thinks that it’s okay to sell rotted smelly meat should be fired. The last time I bought $ 39 meat in 6 packages. Within 2 days only 2 didn’t end up in the trash. My refrigerator is running fine but it smelled like a dead body was in it. I had to bag it up and immediately drive to a dumpster so that we didn’t smell it till next week’s trash pick up.
Twice, some of the chicken from another visit had a bleach smell to it. I’m guessing they were bleaching the counters, but really? Don’t you think your packaging practices could use a little cleaning up? I spent $ 80 and $ 30 went in the garbage, then a round-​trip drive to the nearest dumpster, and finally an extra grocery store trip.
I don’t have time or money to waste on this place.

Been going here for years everything is good till yesterday when I bought sweet Mexican bread it had mold inside be carefully when buying here inspect the food as much as you can before buying because even with the receipt and bad food to take as proof they won’t help you at all. Be carefully when buying.

They do a great job making their corn tortillas. I’m always happy to go in just as they’re bringing out fresh tortillas, still warm… MMMMM so good. The pastries there are just as good.

Great tortillas, usually very fresh still warm ones available and very good quality, I’ll give them that. BUT, and it’s a big but, folks. If you purchase tortillas and notice that you happened to get an older pack that has mold on it don’t think you can walk back in, even with your receipt and exchange them without being insulted by the very angry guy who seems to be the owner. Expect to be told you must have had an older pack you bought before and you switched them outside and tried to get the new ones instead and that you are a liar and are trying to rip him off. WTF?! Seriously dude. CHILL OUT. Yeah, as good as the tortillas are I’ll take my hard earned money elsewhere. Insulting your customers and making wild accusations like that make you seems like a paranoid weirdo. Not to mention a total dick.

I make my own salsas weekly as that keeps me away from salt. The pricing on the produce is extremely low. I buy huge quantities as I try and make 1 gallon of green and red sauce every week. The tomatillos are so low, the only place I’ve found them for less is at restaurant depot and I have to buy a 40 pound box there.
The deli is great and if you like the esoterics like lengua (tongue) they can’t be beat. The meat counter is good for their «Mexican cuts of beef» sliced thin for grilling. I marinate them for a few days and then cook. The bulk rice, chiles and beans are also a steal.
Yes, some of the canned product is out of date. I believe that the stockers don’t know what it means FIFO and they don’t rotate old stock to the front.
I love the street tacos and I guess it’s just a matter of when you come in on the quality you get.
They have a tortilleria on site and the tortillas are fresh with no preservatives. If you aren’t going to eat them fast make sure you get them into the fridge or they will grow mold.

I am a tortilla snob. Yes you heard it, I am a tortilla elitist. Growing up my parents bought those nasty chemical and preservative laden tortillas from the grocery store. My only real tortilla experiences came with my trips to Guadalajara to visit my grandmother. She would walk down the street early in the morning with a bucket to buy the tortillas then covered them with plastic wrap and a towel to keep them warm for breakfast. That was a real tortilla.
My mom started coming here to get tortillas and other Mexican supplies. I must admit its kind of dirty looking on the outside, and… on the inside. I personally would not buy produce here except maybe the rare lemon or lime to go with my meal since they are super cheap here.
I mainly come here for the tortillas. They are some of the best I have had here this side of the border. If you are lucky you will come on a day when they have the purple or blue corn tortillas. I stock up when they do and freeze them.
They of course have all the usual Mexican food stuffs, and a delicious salsa bar. Omg the green salsa is SO good.
Lately my mother has been buying SUBPAR tortillas from food land or pancho villa in north park. Not acceptable. I can tell the difference. They have the best here. I cannot imagine what people are missing out on when they buy their taco supplies from a regular grocery store. Those tortillas taste awful and literally taste like chemicals. I make the drive all the way out to deep into El Cajon to buy my tortillas nothing else will do. Kaelins is the best!

I guess this store is okay, but they also didn’t have Peruano beans (who sells these around here?!) and as we walked in from the parking lot there was a large pile of homeless person poop next to the shopping carts. Yeah, that sort of ruined it for me.
It’s kind of a nasty looking place and I was very skeptical when my husband pulled in the parking lot. There were a lot of people in there and even though I was totally turned off of buying anything because of the hot turd in the parking lot, they did seem to have good prices on produce, although some of it looked pretty squishy. Eggs and milk were a bit overpriced.
They did have the hibiscus my husband was looking for so we grabbed that and got out.
I won’t come here again unless he drags me. I MISS VALLARTA.

I stopped Kaelin’s Mi Pueblo Market so pick up some ingredient for a soup, pozole, that am planning to make.
When I arrived, I went directly to the hominy and dried chile’s. After I picked some up, I went to the bakery to pick up some «elotitos,» but to my surprise, they did not have any on display. When I asked a young lady if they had any, she seemed to be annoyed that I stopped her from her work to inquire. It turns out they make them every other day. Just came on the wrong day.
After that, I went to the hot food counter, and asked if they made menudo and this different lady, once again slightly annoyed, that I stopped her from her work to inquire about a product, gruffly told me they only make it on the weekends. Came on the wrong day again, I guess.
After, I paid for my stuff, I saw a $ 1 dollar street taco daily special at the taco stand, so I walked on over there. They had pollo asado and carne asada with all the fixing. I ordered two pollo or chicken to eat there. Well, it must of not been my day because the lady served me two carne or meat street tacos. By that time, I basically gave up and I told the lady not to worry about it.
The $ 1 tacos were pretty good. (
) They were absolutely generously filled with beef, not chicken mine you. The beef was a little in consistent; some very tender, then some a little chewy. The condiment were all good and the red salsa had a nice kick. Good tacos.
This place would of easily earned 4 stars from me if it wasn’t for their not so friendly service and mixing up my taco order. The taco order was not as a big deal, as their sour attitudes, in some of their departments.

Back again this time just went to the taco counter .As you enter the taco counter runs down the entire entry way and the place were you order is in the rear. The entire area is open and you can watch them make your tacos and check out the fixings before you order. Got a pollo and a carne taco. Buck a piece, cheap.(
)
They have other items, burritos, different types of meats and some Arabic type items. You can eat them here, they have some picnic tables set up in front of the counter. Tacos came out. They were good sized, they have a salsa bar with a couple of different salsas and some peppers.
The tacos weren’t bad but the carne as with the carne they sell at the meat counter is flavorless and seemed to be a little over cooked. the pollo taco was juicy and had a little more flavor. All right, for a buck can’t complaint to much. Still a great place to get produce, salsa, cheap beer and tortillas.