Patel Brothers

At Patel brothers they do not itemize things on the bill properly. And the prices are entered by hand. And I have been overcharged on at least two occasions. I’m not sure if its intentional or accidental but I’m always forced to check the bill afterwards and look for wrong charges. I never went back and fought with them because I am lazy to do so.
The people have been nice to me and stock is pretty good. Location is in a shady area but it’s quite close to where I live. I try to go there while there’s day light or go with friends in a group.

Patel Brothers is definitely an upgrade from Halal Meat & Grocery (
) that’s located down the street! The last time I had been to the Halal Meat & Grocery store, I vowed if it were up to me, I wouldn’t return there ever again. And I am so glad I made the shift to Patel Brothers. Everything in Patel Brothers is kept neat, clean, and tidy. Everything (that I needed) was fully stocked. And I was just super happy with my experience. The one downside is that Patel Brothers is closed on Mondays.

This is so much better than buying spices from an American grocery store! They sell good size bags of spices for 1.50−2 $! Not bad at all. They have a selection of fresh produce I think is meant for Indian cooking– some beans and things I’ve never seen before. There are a lot of Indian people going in and out of the place and I hear good things from people. So far I’ve only bought okra, spices and a box of snacks. I will come back for ethnic items whenever I need it.

I’ve been shopping at Patel Brothers Langley Park since the early 90’s. It’s not all that convenient, but I go.
I needed a new tube of Vicco. Family always bring a bag-​full from India, but finally the last of them ran out, and no more trips are scheduled yet.
So I went to Patel Brothers last night and looked all around the store, but couldn’t find it. Three times I went to the counter to ask the clerk there, but he would not even acknowledge me. He was busy jabbering — about nonsense really; football and daughters and singers — to the husband of the pair he was checking-​out.
Three times I stood, looked him in the face — very clearly showing every sign that I had a question — and waited, patiently, for an opening to ask. But without response. He went on jabbering. So I walked away to try again on my own.
Finally, I found the Vicco in an odd corner of the store, next to agarbhati, and off on shelves near mountainous sacks of rice. Who would think to find toothpaste next to a stand of incense? So, I got a tube and went quickly round gathering other things to take home to make the trip worthwhile.
I took it all to the counter and laid it down. The clerk was finally just in that moment free, and man who had entranced all his loving attention was just leaving. Someone had laid other things on the counter as if they were checking out, but no one was there but me.
The clerk started to ring two of the items that were previously laid on the counter. I held up some of mine and said, «I only have these…»
He replied to me, «Oh, he was here first.» But there was no one!
Moments after, a man with a big curled mustache came to the counter from the center of the store. He had a half-​filled basket at the counter and was still in the process of throwing things into it, quite evidently having gone back to get more. That, in my mind, and in practice in these United States, is not the same as being in the queue ahead of someone else.
But the clerk continued to ring up the goods the other man had left there. Looking at me holding my things aloft, the other man said, «It’s okay; Please…» that I should please go ahead. He’s kind and also knows what is correct practice.
But then the clerk said to him — not acknowledging me – «I’ve already started with yours.» to which I replied aloud, «Okay. Well then…» and put the things back on the counter and left.
After shopping there more than 20 years, our relationship is at an end. Maybe the clerk is a racist, but it’s easier to come home and order the things on Amazon. And that is what I did. There is nothing I need so badly that I must go to Patel Brothers, and be treated rudely like I’m invisible, to get it.

I love this store, I come here to get my pupulu and pugua (pan and pepper leaf). Always tastes fresh. The pugua isn’t what im used to, but it works just the same. Friendly service and easy to navigate store. The location isn’t too ideal for some, but works fine for me.

WHAT what!!! I dont have a review for this place yet?! Back when I was a broke grad student living in College Park, I made a weekly trip to this place in the bus — yes, I changed 3 freaking buses to get my weekly indian fix. Think Maggi, frozen paranthas, bunches of methi, instant rava idli mix and samosas! I have never known myself to say no to someone making a trip to Patel’s — even if just to get a snack, lol!
So, the place itself — admittedly is not the prettiest. It is pretty old (and maybe a little dirty), the neighborhood is shady and the customer service is not great (UNLESS you show up every week and then you get to call the proprietor ‘Uncle’ and be best buddies with him: p)
Their produce is mostly fresh — I only get the veggies you would’nt get as easily at a whole foods/​Giants — Karela, ghia and methi primarily.
So yeah, I love this place — they usually always carry anything my Indian self might need — right from the tea brand I love to the atta I need — hah!

OK, ok, so the place looks like a dump on the outside and is pretty bare-​bones décor inside. I can still find just about everything I need to prepare Indian-​style meals. Can get much better deals on spices and herbs here than I get at my local chain supermarket, also a good variety of dried lentils, etc. Also have lots of spice blends for your Indian faves (butter chicken, tandoori, and so on). Worth stopping in, if you’re in the area.

The physical location is terrible and the place itself is not exactly spotless, nor is it expansive. But it is well stocked with an enormous amount of wonderful things that are hard to find anywhere else.
Vegetarianism has inclined me towards Indian food, which seems to me divided into two propositions. You can get premade, frozen dals and masalas, which are in my opinion perhaps the best deliciousness-​per-​unit-​cost proposition of any other food. They are cheap, fast, easy, quite tasty/​filling, and often relatively healthy — can you think of anything else for which the same could be said? In any case, PB has a great variety of these, moreso than Trader Joe’s and the like for sure.
Another approach to Indian food is much more delicious but requires enormously more effort. Making your own authentic Indian meal seems to be an all-​day affair, involving dump trucks of spices and filling your home with eye-​watering aromas. You can get everything you need for this adventure at PB, including bulk spices at what appear to me to be great prices. The produce is not as impressive as the packaged goods at this location, but I’ve been able to find everything I was after.
Many people will be put off by PB’s location and the rather ‘unrefined’ appearance. I can get past this, but if you can’t, I would stay away. But if you’re looking for a place that can broaden your experience with Indian food on several levels, PB can definitely do the trick.

On our last pilgrimage to Patel Brothers in Rockville, the cashier told us that there was a Patel closer to our house — in Hyattsville. We were elated– we’d no longer drive thirty minutes to load up on masalas, coriander chutney, and frozen samosas and idlis– so the day after Thanksgiving, we hopped in the car and drove off to Hyattsville.
Describing this Patel Brothers as depressing would be an understatement — it’s dingy (when you park your car in the tiny lot, you’ll notice that the stores blinds are mangled and caked in brown muck– when you go inside, you’ll discover this is because there are shelves in front of the blinds and so the blinds have collected years of grime. Not a nice first impression), dirty (the floors look like they have seen better days), depressing, and it has a lot less merchandise than its Rockville cousin. True– shopping here was a breeze, since it’s only two aisles. We were in and out in five minutes. And true– they have the basics covered (though as Janet R. mentioned, you might be surprised by what they don’t have).
But we only do our Indian shopping maybe once every two months — and dammit, we like it to be fun — at Rockville, we always order two of those oversized decadent samosas and we eat them as soon as we get home. It’s our reward for the long drive. The Hyattsville version of fresh samosas were as sad looking as the store itself. And the produce, oh, the produce — what a nightmare. So much of it was too old. No one wants antique okra or aged eggplants (the only plus was that they had beautiful huge bunches of fresh cilantro for 79cents). Next time, I’ll drive the fifteen extra minutes to Rockville– this Patel Brothers just makes me feel depressed.

Almost everything that an Indian store should be. I have been both to the Hyattsville and Catonsville branches. Spices are reasonable prices and in good condition. Good assortment of grains and beans and nuts — a bit more expensive than I am used to paying from elsewhere, but I figure that is the going rate in Maryland. The full assortment of Swad products (which I believe is affiliated with Patel Brothers) including the 99 cent boxed curries. I didn’t see curry leaves, and I haven’t looked for the Desi brand yogurt, and the produce that I have seen has been a bit sad-​looking. For instance, the ginger looked a bit dried out and wrinkly and old. They don’t have good prices on most canned goods. But who goes to an Indian grocery for canned goods — you go for the prepared food, the dry beans, the flours, the spices, maybe some yogurt, and Patel Brothers has all of those.
One caution: I almost bought a bag of whole grain sorghum, but I saw in the bottom of the bag a ton of little dots that could have been moth eggs. It’s a normal thing, and it’s not a sign that they are unhygienic, and it’s not something to freak out about, but it is something to be cautious about. Plenty of clean, beautiful, yuppie stores have moth eggs in their grain products (e.g., it’s common at the organic food coop in Cambridge, MA) especially unusual grains like amaranth (low turnover?). I have no idea what those dots were, I have never seen anything that looked like moth eggs at Patel Brothers before, and I have never had problems with beans or flours from Patel brothers before. I definitely didn’t buy that whole grain sorghum, and when I got home, I put the rice and sorghum flours and spices especially chili pepper (moths love to eat chili pepper) in the freezer for two weeks, which will kill eggs, just in case there are any.
In Chicago, which has the largest population of South Asian people outside South Asia, Patel Brothers is not the best Indian supermarket. In Chicago, Patel is a bit more expensive and harder to navigate and has less good selection and worse produce than other stores in the area. And if there were other Indian stores in Maryland, maybe I’d say that about this Patel Brothers too. But in Maryland, Patel Brothers is the best Indian supermarket that I’ve found.