Lion Supermarket

Roaaaaar like Katy Perry, not really.
Tina’s Thoughts and Triggers
— Typical Asian market, but wow! This one in particular has so many choices and is pretty large of selections
— What else can I say? These super market are getting more versatile where they have the American products too. To become one of the — one stop shop to go places
— I loved the fact that I was in the mood for hotpot and they have literally rows of choices of fish, meat, and non-​meat frozen items I could choose from. It’s like they read my mind.
— The parking space is typical — crowded with crazy Asian drivers (I could say that, right?)
— Prices here vary from time to time and it is cheaper than the ones in San Jose
— I am a fan. I’ll be going here to meal prep pretty soon.

My cousin took me here as he noticed we were grinding & enjoying this delicious «roasted green peas» snack at his house.
Now don’t get me wrong gang, I’ve had roasted green peas before, but most times it’s wasabi roasted green peas… not just plain roasted green peas.
Lucky for me, this supermarket called — «Lion Supermarket» was not too far away from my cousin’s house, so off we went to pickup some extra roasted green peas to take home to the 808!
Upon getting to this strip mall, I see this fairly large Asian Supermarket… kinda reminds me like a 99 Ranch Market.
Upon walking into the supermarket, we found what we were looking for (Roasted Green Peas), and while I was there, I saw that they sold Powerball tickets too.
So I decided to plop down $ 4 bucks for two Powerball tickets… after all, the jackpot is now up to $ 900 million on Saturday Jan. 9, 2016.
Since nobody claimed the jackpot yet… on Sunday Jan. 10, 2016 the jackpot has reached over a billion dollars! WOW! Someone is gonna get lucky indeed! But it appears it will not be me… shucks! :(

An Asian supermarket at Asian strip mall

Five stars for free plastic bags. I don’t need to worry if I over-​buy things here cuz I don’t usually bring shopping bags with me, even when i do, i only bring one inside and one left in the car.
When i go to other supermarket in San Jose where they don’t give out free plastic bags, i have to limit myself buying stuff.

front desk lady is rude. i don’t understand why the owner let her work in the most important place of the store.

Surpisingly good market with a lot of stuff.
I figured it would be the typical asian supermarket and it was but with better deals. They had a number of discounted items for sale. At first I thought because the items had a near expiration date but when I looked it was either middle of next year or 2016. So I grabbed a bunch of things.
Of course the customer service will not be good so didn’t expect much.
What I did expect was some kind of acknowledgement from the cashier. What I got was nothing. No look, no hello, nothing. Not that I was surprised but even when she gave me change she put the money on the counter and pushed it to me so I had to pick up each coin one by one and the bills after. Weird. Never had that happen to me before.
Oh well, I’ll still come back for the deals.

The lady in front of counter who always wears perfumes in her face is cold-​blood. Do not go there except you can tolerate to be treated as to beg things from them every time (BUT YOU PAY MONEY !!!) VERY BAD BAD … IN CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Be wary of Asian lady in front by lotto machine. Crabby attitude and a crook. Twice my 86 yr old mother wanted to cash in her lotto winnings and twice she came back with less money than she actually won. I checked her tickets before she took them there .Last time it happened I wanted to call the Lottery Office on them. Granted she short changed my mother 7 bucks and then 15 bucks but a thief is a thief.

It’s another variation of 99 Ranch Market, but they have the less americanize food. The place is a zoo on the weekends, and finding a shopping cart can be difficult. They have good meat and seafood, but on the weekend, it’s hard fighting for attention and the number system they don’t always go by.

Great plaza for Asian food and groceries. Asshole drivers in the parking lot. I hope they have cameras installed there.
Prices are fair and I don’t have to pay for plastic bags!
Yes, I shopped like I was at Costco when I was here.
Fried fish is also delicious. Frying service is FREE! ^_^

Love this place! Super affordable and great variety of practically everything. The meat and seafood are fresh. Veggies and fruits are always fresh also! Great helpful staff, friendly cashiers, overall always a great experience every time I come here (twice a week)! I just hate the parking sometimes when it’s crowded. But that’s always the case in Asian markets.

I LOVE this store and drive here during the weekends even though I have 5 other asian super market in san jose near me! Why? Because they always have everything I need! Sometime you go to one store and they don’t have a certain kind of veg or at least not fresh, BUT LION does! FRESH VEGS, FRUITS, MEAT, & SEAFOOD!
During the weekday around 11 – 2 it get pretty busy and when I’m on my hour lunch and trying to speed shop isn’t ideal when there are a whole bunch of housewives there. Weekend is extremely busy, its super packed but I don’t mind because they normally have at least 5 – 7 checkout stations to pay for your items.

full of stuff! hard to move around sometime cuz of all the stuff and people but they have lots of stuff for you to look at and get. produce is good and well priced in comparison to non-​asian markets. go there if it’s on your way but don’t make a special trip.
i do like the selection of seafood and…
***they do free fish frying!!! :)

Belated review but Unilocal now supports Chinese yay.
Lion is one of my favorite supermarkets in the San Jose/​Milpitas area because they’ve usually got fresh produce and seafood for decent prices. Apples and oranges are quite cheap too!
Some of my top favorite grocery/​seafood items:
Winter melon
Chinese celery
Lotus root
Ling cod fillet 花鱈魚片 (Wild Canada)
Turbo Sole 比目魚 (Wild Canada)
Golden Pompano 金鯧魚 (Farm China)
Saba mackerel 沙巴晴魚 (Wild Norway)
Beef tendon tendon
My hometown favorites include Pat Chun (八珍甜醋) black sweetened vinegar $ 34.99 for a jar. I love this stuff.
There’s a section just for hot pot goods. Lion definitely has some more variety and weird foods compared to your typical 99 Ranch.
Most people don’t notice grocery store music but I gotta say I enjoy their Cantonese oldies playlist. It’s an amazing mix tapeof 80s, 70s music with Sam Hui, Leslie Cheung, Chen Wei Han. Sometimes with the occasionally Western radio classics.

Usual Asian market free fish frying.

My second go to asian market. Older store and not as organized but they do have a large selection of produce. Hate hate hate the parking. The crowds are unbearable during lunch and weekends. So come here during non peak hours or be prepared to deal with crazy asian drivers!

The sidewalk outside this store is filthy. I noticed the other day that that filth is only in the vicinity of the supermarket. Once you walk down the pathway away from Lion and go towards Ten Ren, you can visibility see a «tan line» of filth. The side walk on the Ten Ren side is significantly cleaner and not covered in black filth. I wonder what made it black and what ever it is, did it come out of the super market? I shudder at what it might be.
I go to this store in a pinch. I rarely buy food here and if I do, I take extra precautions to make sure the item wasn’t made in China. Since food from China seems questionable these days, I usually try to find something from Korea, Taiwan or Japan. There isn’t a great selection so my options are limited.

Here’s another quick tip: Stand very close to the person in front of you in line, or else some middle aged asian lady will cut in front of you!
The prices are cheap here. I’ve been going here since I can remember.

Wholly Chinatown! This place is super asian with a side of spanish thrown in the mix. We stopped here instead of making the trek back to 99 Ranch to get our Asian grocery shopping done for the week. I liked that a lot of their veggies are US grown rather than shipped over from China.
Overall this place is ok in a pinch, but since there isn’t one near me, I doubt I’d be back here more often.

Ok store.
Decent selection of veggies.