Asian Mart

Unfortunately, this amazing downtown Asian supermarket has now been closed due to the owner’s decision to retire.
But fortunately, my partner and I were able to buy as much stuff as we wanted at their 50% off clearance/​closing sale!
This place is wonderful, especially for those of us in need of Asia cuisine or snacks. Plus, dirt-​cheap prices for «specialty» items compared to your regular western supermarket. They had everything you could ever hope to find!
The owners are kind, helpful and lovely people — and their son has a fantastic sense of humor. Anytime you walked in, he’d be behind the cashier’s table, always smiling, always upbeat, always making small talk and jokes.
Still sad that they’re gone now — as a newcomer to Milwaukee, I was counting on them to provide for my needs as a person who grew up in the Pacific.
But when a door closes, somewhere, a window may open — the owner did tell us that he «may come back… we’ll see!»
Here’s hoping!

I went down there yesterday, and found out the store is closed. They’ll be missed.

I’m so glad I found this place. They’ve got pretty much anything you might need when cooking Asian or Asian-​inspired or even African food, and they have it for cheap. The prices are really good. the selection is really good. The service is really good (though the younger fellow may not be able to help you with the ingredients or what certain things are, but that’s why we have smart phone with internet access, right?). Overall, this is probably a 4 star place, but because it’s convenient and they tend to have all the slightly off kilter ingredients that I seek, I gave them 5 stars anyway.

Asian mart is my lazy stop, when I don’t want to drive to Viet Hoa or Pacific Produce.
It is owned by the sweetest old Filipino couple ever! It is family owned and their son works the cash register quite often also. Unfortunately they seem to be struggling a bit and have stopped carrying many of the products we used to go there for:
Red bean paste buns
Asian Kitchen Tom Yum Paste
Sri Kaya jam
and Stikko double chocolate wafers
We still stop in and see how they’re doing, asking if they have this or that product in yet. Their refrigerators are empty now when once they used to be brimming with different offerings.
Stop in and give them some business, I want to see them get back on their feet!

I love this place… It’s very small and a little dusty, but the owners are so sweet, funny, and adorable! There isn’t much selection of snacks, especially Japanese snacks, but there are all kinds of new foods to try and it’s all easy to find. They are also really nice about answering questions about how to eat things (refrigerate, cook, eat as is?) and they never made me feel stupid.
Parking may be difficult to find since this is downtown, and I’ve walked 5 blocks in the freezing cold, but I recommend at least stopping in!

I used to shop here periodically for ethnic foods but my last experience with the owner over a simple return has kept me away for good! When i came in to return an item that was spoiled, if looks could kill I’d be dead. The owner refused my return not caring that he had sold rotten food to a good customer. He was belligerent and rude like I was in the wrong! The shop is unkempt with dusty shelves and dirty floors. I made a more detailed observation of the store and Many items are expired like the seafood. I would not sent my worst enemy to this place. I don’t take pleasure in stating this but this is a review. Buyer Beware UPDATE I came back looking to see if my review was still up and found it filtered. My opinion may not be a popular one but that shouldnt warrant filtering. «THE NERVE, Unilocal» LOL!

Did all my Asian grocery shopping here when I was in Milwaukee for the summer. The owners are super cute (Mr. Owner is quite the jokester), friendly, and helpful. They also speak perfect English, so don’t be intimidated walking in and asking for help. It’s small, but had everything I needed (tofu, kimchi, seaweed, Japanese mayo, miso, ramen, noodles, dumplings, edamame, etc.).

When Pick N Save and Whole Foods didn’t have the Asian ingredients I was looking for, we headed downtown to Asian Mart. We were in and out in 5 minutes with everything we needed; the owner looked at my list and led me to where everything was. The prices were way less than at a conventional grocery (for things like rice noodles and palm sugar, which you can probably find at a regular store.) But I was also able to find the more obscure ingredients, and I can’t wait to come back here to stock up on some new items.