West LA International Market

You get in there from the back — not street side — hidden gem — Great spot, authentic spices and awesome meat!

This place rocks! I’m North African and it has everything trader joes does not have. Merguez, couscous (real one) not that boxed-​up crap sold at trader joes. All kind of spices like 7 spices, dates, Harissa, omg, this place is awesome and so diverse. I can also find tahini to make my own hummus with garbonzo beans. My only complaint is that the merguez are a little dry and small, and lack spices. I prefer flavored spicy merguez, but hey the fact they have merguez is dope, and I’m fortunate for that. They also have a large selection of rice, and while I am not persian, I do like their variety. As to all the complaints about this place not being clean or whatever. Sheesh, toughen up a little. What were you expecting, Gelson? People never stop to amaze me with their grossly exaggerated condescending remarks. I have never gotten sick shopping at this place, so there for all the Unilocal winers, you have your options, don’t come back if that bugs you. I personally never really found the place to be dirty. It’s not different to any local epicery you’d find Paris or NYC. Seriously ya’ll crack me up Only in LA, I swear. Other than that, I love this place, and I have been shopping there for the past 6 years. There’s obviously a reason why I keep returning each week, diversity, affordability, ease of access, makes that my go to place to stack my kitchen with needed ingredients that can’t be found anywhere else. The only reason, why Im not giving a five star is that they do not have Slabias and the merguez selection isn’t as large as I’d want.

Great place for halal meat and middle eastern food and spices. I love it cuz I can get a whole goat or lamb leg, ox tails and other things you won’t find at big stores. Very good prices and quality. But skip their merguez, very disappointing.

halal meat and chicken, cheap prices and Arabic spices and goods.
But the expiration date must be seen just in case specially for Turkish sweets and tanned food. Some tanned juices obviously damaged! .
the place should be renovated!
I recommend the butcher, fresh and frozen (bamia-molokhia)vegetable, poke cream cheese, Indomey noodles and Barbican beers (non-​alcoholic) and for sure pita brown breads which come daily.
Generally not bad if u live near around, but it depends on what do u need to get from there!

This is my go-​to spot for middle eastern food or anything synonymous with east, middle or even Asia. They have a hand picked selection of your popular Indo-​Pak spices, a nice hand selection of teas and their meat display is clean, organized explanatory. For God’s sake these guys make fresh merguez ! I have searched all over for fresh merguez in LA and no where but here can I find some tasty merguez. If you don’t know what it is then you are missing out. And if you do buy and still don’t know what to do with it then here it is plain and simple: pan fry it with some salt pepper onions tomatoes and peppers, serve with eggs and toast and some hash browns and you will skip lunch and possibly have it for dinner again! Their meats are priced well, produce can use alittle more life to them but he imported middle eastern products are great. Despite living now over 20 miles away I still go here because they have what I need. Check it out, take a crack at the beef and chicken merguez, get a couple of Cornish hens. You won’t be disappointed.

Only one star I wish if they have less!
This is what I found in soda barley algae and musty
I don’t recommend this market to anyone of you. It’s low price very low material
It’s not the first time to I buy something expired or have insect on it from this store it’s halal food how come with this much of cheating !

Great middle eastern market! Everything from Armenian Lavash, Persian tea to Arabic tea! The Produce looked fresh and the market was very busy, which is a good sign. They a huge selection of spices from many brands and a giant variety of dried Arabic products from rices, to beans, and lentils. The frozen section has filo, puff pastry, samosas, borek and all of the yummy pastries from the Middle East and india. There is a Turkish/​Halal restaurant attached which looked a little sleepy, but I will possibly give it a try next time. I really love this market and will be back. Staff is friendly too!

Great Sucuk! Helpful, friendly customer service. I love the fact that the employees know some turkish. Speaking another language is like having another soul.

Great place for groceries and very good customer service. And just found out they are open everyday of the year.

Small store sells international grocery items and halal meat. Mostly Indian and Turkish goods. I am a regular customer here. Staff is always helpful.

An update. Been there recently and admired the good changes I’ve seen. No awful smells anymore but large fans for ventilation and opened doors for air circulation, no more flies greeting me at the door every time, the outside entrance to the store is taken care of «no more trash or empty boxes by the wall», less cluttered inside and better lit. Good improvement guys.

Solid place to get halal meat and Middle Eastern/​Southeast Asian groceries. I actually never knew it was called Payless Market as it is connected to Sofra Kabab House which is a Turkish restaurant. Its located right off of Overland and Venice just West of the Best Buy.
They have all types of chicken meat, goat, lamb, beef, fish, and even various marinated versions of each meat if you’re lazy lol. They have parking in the back lot. It isn’t the most cleanest place but i guess it gives you that awkward legitimacy that you found the right place.

Love this place! It has all sorts of spices and various foods from around the world. The butchers at the back is very reasonably priced and the meat is very fresh. There is also an excellent selection of vegetables. Will be stopping here a lot more!

I’ve found no truer manifestation of the melting pot than Payless International Market. Mexican and Moroccan butchers sell custom-​cut halal meat. Egyptian cashiers address the produce staff in Spanish. The produce, dairy, and canned sections feature hard-​to-​find and very geographically specific offerings of an astonishingly wide variety of countries. Need frozen molokhia for an Egyptian dinner? Check! Epazote and chayote for a Central American stew? Check! Curry leaves? Prickly pear? Thai eggplant? Champagne grapes? Haloumi (grillable) cheese? Grape leaves? Foul? Dried chickpeas? Pakistani spice packets? Check, check, check!
Not surprisingly, the clientele is just as diverse as the range of cuisines represented here.

ok for what it is i can’t help but love it. yes it’s run down and can be much less than spotless but i truly would be hard pressed to say it’s unsanitary. i’ve never become sick from ANY product i’ve bought here, and the kinds of things i find here make it worth the «risk» anyway. i mostly go here for their halal meat and spices and curry mixes and other items i’m not gonna find at ralph’s or trader joe’s. like cumin water; don’t know why i’d need it but it’s there if i do. they have little bottles of rose water for $ 3 that i get all the time, it’s great for skin care.
i’ll get this out of the way and say i’ve found and purchased some expired items here… they were only curry packets and so didn’t make me sick. this can largely be solved by paying close attention. i guess that’s why they get them so cheap because even on amazon they are 4x the cost!
what was weird though was there there were 2 separate times in a month we went to buy them and and were turned down both times. this was annoying because i get that they can’t sell something they know is expired but they didn’t go take it off the shelves until we tried to buy it the second time.
they have a great selection of high quality oils too… more important than you’d think! besides the usual olive and corn, they also have walnut, almond, avocado, mustard… even white truffle oil. and also the best balsamic vinegar i’ve ever had, the real stuff. reasonable prices, too.
rice is cheaper at the bulk bins at ralph’s, but this place has a larger selection of dal and i think it’s cheaper too. i’d skip the produce section unless you know you’re going to use it that night. but they do have bitter melon which i buy there. they also have glass jars of unseasoned tomato purée and tomato paste which is important to me but i never find it anywhere else. also my bf likes their naan.
walking distance from my apartment seals the deal.

This place is extremely dirty! The meat and deli section is especially revolting and unsanitary. I once made a mistake of asking the guy for some feta cheese. He was cutting some meat with no gloves. he then took a very filthy towel and wiped his hands. he then started handling the cheese with his hands and cutting it with a dirty used knife that was sitting on the counter. I almost gagged! When I mentioned this to one of the morose guys as the cashier, they just looked at me as if I am crazy to complain about such trivial things. The walls and floor of this market is absolutely filthy! They don’t even bother putting a coat of paint on the grime! I suggest that the management of this market, get their act together and clean up their act! where is the health department! I am surprised these people are allowed to operate under these unsanitary conditions!

It’s a bit run down, but I’m a regular at Payless International Market because of reasonable prices for Halal meats, ethnic spices, and produce.
Whether you buy in small quantities or bulk, spices are especially a good deal when compared to your typical chain grocery store. Herbs, veggie and fruits are relatively cheap, but quality varies. Dill, Mint and Italian parsley are usually very fresh, but fruit and veggies are hit or miss.
Meat and poultry (both regular and organic varieties) is Halal and was highly recommended by a foodie and restaurateur. I usually get Halal chicken and lamb here. Example of meat pricing: Lamb shank $ 4.79; Chicken wings $ 2.99; Chicken breast $ 3.49.
Sam was my favorite butcher here — when I would purchase boneless chicken breast, he would cut it up into cubes so I could use it for dishes like paella, chicken curry, chicken kabob, Asian-​style chicken veggie stir-​fry. I haven’t seen him lately. The other butchers will also cut up meats on request, but sometimes are not honest — I asked if the lamb chunks were «boneless» and was told that they were and found out after going through my purchase at home that the lamb chunks contained bone — rip off.
I also hesitate to rate it any higher than 3 stars because the plastic shopping baskets are so filthy.

Love love love, great customer service always good deal fresh fruits, and vegetables I’m a happy customer for over 15 years. cheapest produce Market Around„

The best halal meat in Los Angeles, hands down. I go here once a week to stock up on meat for the next few days and freeze the extras it’s that good. The owners are super nice, and they also have great little random products for a proper Mediterranean meal. Produce is OK, You have to pick through it but it’s properly priced.

WATCH OUT as you’re checking out!!!
I just left from shopping here, and had a glance at my receipt to notice that they charged me 2X for one item and added an extra item that I never purchased onto my bill! The workers try to distract you by talking to you in order to add more to your bill… WILL NOT BE GOING BACK!!!

Great place for fresh meat. They have organic chicken for $ 2.49/ pound. The get part is you can have it skinned and cut to small pieces by order. It is great place for marinated chicken kabobs also. They have fresh vegetables at cheap prices. We buy our meat from here mostly. Won’t recommend for fruits. There fruits are cheap but not to par. They also have goat meat and country hen.

The store isn’t all that clean nor it’s organized but that’s how indian/​desi stores are normally. I wonder why? But nevertheless the meat area was clean n the staff was very helpful.
The fresh produce was a hit or miss sorta area for me. I have been there 3 times and each time the store had changed things around n didn’t have many things.
Spice area needs some serious cleaning. Each time I went in there I had a sneezing attach with itchy eyes. I’m sure if Clorox wipes are used to clean and dust the shelves it’ll be cleaner.
But I really like the meat area. Sam makes the visit easier n effective. I go there regularly.
Not only that I go there regularly I took all my cousins n friend to get their meat from them.

So many spices… an wide variety of exotic foods that you won’t find at Ralph’s or any other typical American grocery store. Buy ingredients here, make more interesting food, feel more cultured. Voila!
The butcher section has some rockin’ meats, including premarinated chicken that we just had to pick up…
Prices are quite fair, and this place is close by. I’ll be back often, I think…

Not the cleanest market or the freshest produce, but the meat department has really friendly and helpful staff! I called in looking for lamb shoulder because sometimes you just need a lamb shoulder. The other markets at the Grove and Albertson’s/Ralph’s either didn’t carry shoulders or were selling them for 8.99/lb. Payless had the stock and sold for 5.99/lb. Can’t beat that!
Would recommend the meat department for anyone looking for a roast for the holidays!

I love this market.
They are the payless international market. Most items are about a $ 0.50 to $ 1 cheaper!
I will def. make my way back here when I am in the area. However, I did take advantage of this place when I lived close.
They have everything you may need in the store and lots of fresh pita, meats, and veggies!

Lots of ethnic surprises here. Stopped by for some lemons, although they were small, they ended up to be very juicy.
On my way out, spotted one of my all time go to Indian snack foods. Haldiram’s Cornflake Mixture. It is slightly sweet, more savory, hot, peppery with a crunchy texture.
Not the cleanest market, but certainly this one adds a touch of sugar and spice to the neighborhood block. I like to browse, it makes me feel that I am on the other side of the earth here.