New Century Grocery and Food

Expired food everywhere. Must check the expired date of EVERY item. Won’t come back.

Check out their steaming bun, the pork one. I love it a lot. Also they have roast duck and roast pork which are delicious. You buy those, microwave and eat. Just feel like heaven. Their produce section is so-​so, they have some stuffs that you could not find in other stores. Overall, i love this place.

Do you know that feeling of excitement you get when something amazing happens? Yeah, it was like that for me when I walked into this store. It took me a long time to go into this store. I had often visited the other Asian market in the same parking lot but I never dared to venture inside this store due to the low rating and the awful picture of meat inside a freezer case. But I was by myself one morning and I basically said what is there to lose? If I don’t like it, I can just go to the other market.
I walked in and started looking around and angels were singing. Serious. Coming from Las Vegas were the Asian scene had definitely improved in the last ten years, moving here was somewhat of a struggle for me once I realized how shabby and dull the Asian scene was here. But this store, changed my mind. Yes I have been to the bigger stores — Grand Asia (who wants to drive to Stallings just to pay more for the same product?) and Super G is good. It often has that smell that is attached to the perception of the good olé Asian store and lacked some of the Filipino goods that I often search for.
This store has a variety of goods, by far one of the better Filipino sections I have seen since moving to the Queen City. I also love that they have a hot counter up front and a fresh baked goods. Do not pass on the duck and pork. You will not regret it. And if you are feeling brave, get some pig ear salad and tripe salad too. They are super delicious.
You can use your card here but it is a $ 10 minimum limit. And note that if you do buy food from their hot counter that they ring that up separate from your store purchase. So that should also be a $ 10 minimum. As much as I love this store, I regret to you inform that their bahn mi’s here are NOT the business and with Le’s a walk down, there is no reason you should ever get your bahn mi’s from here.
I did read in other reviews that this store is not clean but I am not sure where that comes from. I have never come in and thought it was dirty. But if you are used to the ultra bright American grocery store then this is definitely not that.
This is definitely one of my go to Asian markets.

Unclean, most things aren’t labeled, in English or any other language. One of the most disgusting stores I have been in. Plenty of variety. Produce too high. Lol used to Aldi prices! Needless to say, I won’t be going back. Don’t waste your time. Lost my appetite…

I’m from Atlanta so I wasn’t expecting an Asian Walmart. Yes, the place is a little unorganized and not always neat but if you need anything Asian than this is your place. They also have Caribbean, Indian and Africa food supplies. I went here for Oxtails and they’re about $ 5/​lb. They will cut them horizontal or vertical or however you want. I also bought shrimp and noodles although it wasn’t on my list. Yes it’s in the more urban section of Charlotte but no one is worried about getting you.

This place will have what you need as far as various ethnics foods. It isn’t the cleanest-​looking store or best layout. The aisles are marked, but seems like they did some rearranging because I spent quite a bit of time looking in aisles for items that were listed on the sign only to not find it and discover it elsewhere in the store. Their tea selection is massive which is one of the few pluses. There is a section of the store where they sell random/​household items/​trinkets which look like dollar store products. I’d advise to Stay out of this section, its pretty junky in this area…
The only encounter I had with staff was at the check-​out and although I passionately love non-​talkative cashiers, I feel that the cashier was outright rude. I had two similar items in my hand and asked her to price one of them. She practically snatched the item out of my hand, scanned it muttered the price and tossed it in the bag. Language barrier-​perhaps or just an A-​hole??? She never said another word to me other than «debit or credit» and after handing me my receipt turned her back and began with the next customer. I had noticed that she seemed pretty friendly with the customer that was ahead of me so not sure what her beef was with me, but it’s obvious I wasn’t welcome.
Nevertheless I found what I needed and it was reasonable pricing. The store does reek upon entering, but that is likely because they sell fresh seafood (like LIVE swimming around in tanks!), but spend a few minutes there and you won’t even notice till you get back in your car and your clothes/​hair smells like it:-)
I can’t say that I will visit this store again primarily because of the service at check-​out. The other stuff I could deal with…

This place simultaneously makes me happy and freaks me out. It’s great to be able to find tons of (mostly Asian, but also some other ethnic) food items not available at most grocers. This time, I enjoyed some new rice types (they have at least 10 – 20 varieties), interesting noodles (purple wheat?), Japanese rice seasoning and jamaican jerk marinade. So far all have been a hit.
The freaky parts are the random fish heads floating in a bucket in the refrigerated section. And other indecipherable items. Yikes. Prepare for some strong smells and potentially scary sights. But really great prices on lots of ethnic cooking ingredients — totally worth it.

I’ve been to New Century twice. After the second time (a couple of days ago), I doubt that I would ever go back voluntarily.
1. I wanted to shop for traditional Viet food for Tet. There was only 1 small display, and they only had mut (which I hate). It’s the biggest holiday for most Asian people (Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean), I would expect it to have at least the NY’s essentials.
2. The store just stink so badly, and looked dirty as hell.
3. I don’t see how similar groceries are cheaper than Aldi’s.
4. The checkout machine broke down and I got a receipt with no product names on.
5. This white lady asked the cashiers for the price for 1 item that didn’t have any tag on. The cashiers was talking to each other in Vietnamese «how much is this» «1 dollar» «let’s tell her 2 dollar». So yes the lady got played. Aside from my sympathy for non-​Viet people, it got me wondering if the price of any of the stuff I bought was legit.
So there you have it. Go to G-​mart, or Oriental Market on Central Ave. G-​mart is much more organized and has more selection, while the ladies at Oriental treat customers very well.

To all the haters below, a few things:
1.) This area of Tryon is somewhat ghetto for Charlotte, but is harmless compared to every major city in America. You’re not gonna get mugged, nothing bad will happen. Honestly, people in this town FREAK OUT every time something looks a little run-​down. Get a life, people.
2) The parking lot does need some improvement, but I kinda think it’s fun wheeling around those potholes. NONE OF WHICH compare to some of the potholes I encountered while living in Cleveland.
3) The shelved food is old? Did you look at the expiration date? Is it anywhere close to expiring? No? Okay, then!
Honestly, I can’t sing enough praises about this place. It won’t be for everyone: what some people call cluttered and disorganized, I call character. What others will call a big fluorescent-​lit box with innumerable varieties of food, I call your typical Chinese grocery store (yes, I know it’s Vietnamese-​owned).
Look: if you need cheap food, this is your place. If you need Asian food, this is DEFINITELY your place.
The staff is extremely friendly and will basically bend over backwards for you if you ask for anything. The shelves are stocked with every conceivable ingredient you could want for, whether it be of Thai, Indonesian, Philipino, Chinese, Viet, or Japanese origin. The prices are incredibly cheap: you can get produce out the ying yang for pennies on the dollar compared to a typical supermarket.
Highlights: the butcher with basically do whatever you ask with the meat you’re buying. They have a ton of quality cheap cookware. But the best is the bakery/​deli in the front. You can get scads of incredible Asian-​y things. Boba/​bubble tea of any flavor, cakes, baked buns, banh mi and finally, the crown jewel, FRESH STEAMED PORK BUNS. Also know as char siu bao. Enormous steamed buns with a ton of meaty, juicy BBQ pork inside. Hell, they could open up a shop and sell just these and I’ll bet it would be magnificently successful.
So, if you haven’t been here, you simply have to go. Sure it may not be your thing, but to even experience it once is an adventure that’s worth the trip.

This is a typical asian supermarket upon entering. That’s what I thought till I started to wander around. The live fish tanks were just down right gross. They were dirty and the fish didn’t look fresh. Walked around some more and stumbled across their bakery/​deli area. This here was the breaking point. The cake case had some really old cakes. You could tell by the dried out strawberries with the black edging.
Don’t shop here and get your goods from the other market in this strip.

Like Julia S., I usually hit the other Asian market in this strip, but occasionally Century caters to me a bit more.
1) the fish counter. Not only do you see locals of every ethnicity shopping there, but more often that not you’ll see a chef looking for something a little different. And I don’t mind being able to see my seafood move a bit before I take it home.
2) the frozen meats. The only place I’ve been able to find whole rabbit, but they have all the other less popular cuts and organs of pork/​beef/​etc.
3) the Goya aisle. I don’t remember what the aisle is actually labeled as, but someone took some serious effort in organizing the Goya portion of it. Items are separated by country (and labeled) covering Columbia, Spain, Mexico, el Salvador, Peru, and more… So yes you can pick up some squid in their own ink, a jar of tender cactus, and a bucket of lard all while standing in the same spot.
4) the bakery. Yum pork buns, rolled cakes, and bubble teas steps away from the BBQ end of the counter with ducks and pigs (closed on Tuesdays).
5) the produce. Probably par with the other store’s selection, but they get extra points here because all of it is labeled in English with the price printed on it.
Of course this place has failed to refill a lot of its freezer sections and shelves over the last year or so, so there are a lot of empty spaces, but I like the selection here. The first two or so aisles on the left carry a lot of random kitchen gadgets and heating elements, and also some beautifully printed papers.

This place is a great place to stock up on any asian-​y thing you could ever need. They have pretty much everything I’m looking for, except they are lacking in the Vietnamese coconut candy department — or it’s impossible to find, which is entirely possible. The prices are relatively reasonable, and contrary to the previous reviewer C L’s (there are strangely two CL’s that reviewed this) disdain for the run down mall, I feel like it is one of the few places in Charlotte that has any character. I know that at least part of the reason it’s cheap has got to be due to low overhead.
G-​Mart on Independence Blvd is much better in price and freshness, but this place is usually more accessible for me. (This one is Vietnamese, G-​mart is Korean, perhaps a showdown is in order)
Some items are visibly old and rotted, and it’s beyond me why they are even on the shelves, but I’ve never had any feeling that I need to worry about the things that I purchased. They also usually want to you spend at least about $ 10 if you want to use a credit card… debit card’s might not be subject to the minimum, but I’m not sure since I’ve been using cash lately.

Well, it’s large.
I’ll sum it up quickly: I’ve been to a lot of Asian grocery stores, and this one gets the honor of being the only place where I’ve seen large cockroaches scurrying about in broad daylight.

This place is straight up disgusting. Don’t go here. They sell expired, rotting and melting things… in their FREEZER. It smells bad and the place is just straight up grimey and dirty. Their shelves aren’t even in order and most are empty and many randomly opened items. I feel bad for the fish cause their tanks are over crowded and look like they were pulled from the Hudson River.

No complaint. Their prices are more expensive than Ranch 99/​Marina in SF. But if you count the shipping cost, this place has almost everything you need to survive out of California. I am pretty happy with their dry food and snack selection. Just be sure to check the dates before purchase. They have Sing Tao newspaper too but only shipped here every 4 weeks.

This is still my favorite market to buy Oriental goods. I love their produce, and their selection of spices and sauces is awesome! And for some reason, they seem to have they best bread I have found in Charlotte. They come 5 loaves to a bag, and they are delicious…

Cavernous, dimly lit, and full of delish.
For some reason, I always shop a couple storefronts down at International. New Century is larger, with a MUCH larger cook-​and-​housewares selection, larger korean, viet, and japanese dry goods selection, and a bigger fish counter, complete with live crabs, lobster, frogs, etc.
Fresh produce looks world weary for the most part, and they’re often out of standards (no bean sprouts today). Their veg products (canned gluten, frozen meat substitutions) are less diverse and a tad more expensive than Int’l, so I’ll probably keep going down the lot a bit. For fresh steamed buns, tho, you can’t beat their selection and price (1 $, veg buns, meat and egg, cream, etc). Bakery is fresh and cheap. Awesome place.

Very interesting place. It used to be my go to asian market until Super G mart opened.
You can get things here that can’t be found anywhere close by. You can buy live eels if you want (just sayin). Good produce (sometimes a little funky), great selection of frozen goods, good kitchen supplies and they sell fresh food.
The parking lot is a mess and this place just seems to be going downhill in general.

I guarantee that this is the store where most of the Asian restaurants around town purchase the ingredients for their dishes. When I try to replicate some recipes that I try around town I usually come here.
It is almost like momentarily stepping into another country. I mean the set-​up is like any other supermarket in America, but all of the isles are labeled in three different languages: Chinese, Vietnamese, and English. They carry little trinkets and toys made in Asia in the front, and all of their fish in the poultry department are still alive, very much like in a traditional Asian grocery. The market carries a wonderfully large selection of curries and sauces all from Asia.
I think this is a great way to support Asian businesses! Hard to find items like Lotus Leaves and Bamboo Leaves are also available. I would highly recommend coming with a recipe though, because most of the items are alien to the American eye.

This is just like the smaller Asian stores only much bigger. It looks like they took over an old grocery store and just switched it over, because this place is huge. They have tons of stuff you’re definitely not going to find in the American stores. Plus if you’re feeling rustic, they sell live fish. So, you know, you can have the satisfaction of truly making dinner from scratch, or whatever. Anyway, I love seeing what all they have on the shelves and marveling and the wonders of a foreign culture. Plus the Buddha statues are great, and so are the ladies who work there. They are the take no prisoners type, so don’t make them mad.