Lien Hing Supermarket Number Three

Yeah… overall, a full-​on «Meh.»
But not because of their prices or freshness of their items. I go there maybe once or twice a month since Clement street is my usual venue to procure veggies and fruits — the only items I usually get at this grocer. Their prices tend to by slightly lower than their more well-​known and bigger Clement counterparts.
The 2 things that I find off-​putting are:
1). RAW CHICKEN JUICE? I am always weary of the plastic bags of cut up chicken bits that are on the counter right by the register area. I fear putting my bagged items on the counter, which always seems… wet. I mean, is that water from unbagged spinach, or is that raw chicken juice splatter? They really ought to wipe it down. All it takes is few spritzes of disinfectant. Appearance is everything.
2). RUDE MUCH? Simple politeness is everything too. There is this one female cashier who is surly as anything. You can’t miss her; she is there almost every weekday morning. Scowling, throwing off angry vibes. I have won over other rude cashiers along Clement Street, but this one just refuses to play nice. Sure, she’ll ring you up, but after barking what you owe her, she’ll hand you your change with a dirty look… and silence. Never a «Thank you.» I avoid her line whenever possible. The other cashiers are fine.
Anyway, despite the horrible rudeness of that one particular cashier, I find myself going back there to purchase fresh produce.

Like all Chinese supermarkets, you expect to find all your goodies at one place so you don’t have to go around looking for this and that…
I came in cause we were out of snacks at home, got almost everything I needed…
It does carry a large variety of groceries, so if you happen to want certain types of crackers and cookies and chips, they have em here…

I used to shop here pretty frequently until my car started being damaged from their delivery trucks. I live right next to this place and they use our drive way to bring their pallets and food in. I have contacted them numerous times after having to pay hundreds of dollars to get dents fixed and other problems I’ll specify:
I caught one of their fish delivery trucks parked not even a foot from my car and I just washed my new car to come out and see them unloading fish and the fish water completely covered my car from it splattering. They have a loading zone for a reason but always seem to have multiple trucks down the street. I’ve seen dirty box marks from them dragging their boxes down the side of car which also had a dent on the door, and the last straw was when my license plate was basically ripped off because they hit it with their pallet. I didn’t see this happen but there were pallet wood chips on my bumper and on the ground by my plate. Doesn’t take a scientist to figure that out. I confronted the owners again and was pretty upset this time (3^rd Time) and they didn’t offer to pay for anything and the lady was extremely rude, EXTREMELY rude and the husband just kind of sat there. I was a loyal customer and thought at least the husband would say something as he would say hi to me and make small talk on previous shopping visits.
So at the end of the day, they didn’t care about me or my car and the fact that I live right next to them. I stopped shopping there months ago and will never park my car in front of my own place again as they have costed me hundreds of dollars.

Produce and fruits are cheaper here compared to other stores but the quality could be less than ideal. The store has a seafood and meat market in the back but overall, the space feels a little cramped. Rude cashiers.

Great lobsters and crab, shrimp so-​so. Biggest clams in the world are sold here. The lady with the butcher knife at the seafood station is scary.
Service: uneven, but some register ladies are quite nice.
Some products are old, so check carefully. Still, A-​OK place, and more hygienic than the one up the street. (May Wah?)

LIen Hing is like most asian supermarts. this one also doesn’t any bakery, deli section, nor dim sum. everything else they have: produce, fresh meats, seafoods, snack, canned goods, noodles, ceramics, etc.
eats: phoenix roll pastry (7.99)
–tasty fried egg roll like pastries from hong kong that youngster like
notes:
–has a variety of items, not as much choices as may wah.
–place is very cramped, especially at the entrance
–accidentally bumped/​rubbed against some lady on the way out. OOPS@

It’s small, I was bumping into everyone lol. Not sure how fresh the fish& veggies are but it is cheap. Has all your Asian food that you need.

Avoid at all costs. I went there today because it’s across the street from one of the best ice cream shops on Clement. I started putting ripe cherries into a bag and after getting it ½ full, a older Chinese worker suddenly came up to me and grabbed my wrist. «No, you use …» and pointed at a large plastic scoop, the type used typically in most stores for grains or dried beans. I told her I would not because ¹⁄₃ of the cherries were rotten, that others had been doing the same when I walked up, and that selection of fruit is the norm. She just stared at me and pointed to the scoop. Angered and embarrassed, I emptied my bag of good cherries and went inside to find a manager who spoke English. No manager, so I left my business card and asked them to have the manager call me.
I will admit to going into this market before, usually only to purchase some flavored soy milk because the meat and fish departments reak, making more than a few minutes in the store uncomfortable.
Just avoid. There are plenty of smaller, more helpful, and cleaner markets in a block’s walk, with better fruit selection.

I give it 4 stars for having fresh food. I bunk off 1 start, because some of the fruit were getting moldy or starting to spoil. In the same batch with the good fruit. They are cheap, which is good.
But the people where are kinda rude. As I was ready to check out I saw that they had raw chickens and I thought that maybe i should pick up one for dinner. As I reached out for it the cashier lady comes up behind me, pushes me and shows the costumer she was talking too the chicken prices and what ever was sitting next to it. I said ”excuse me, i didn’t see you. Sorry” and then she gave me this weird look.
So, I finally am going to check out. The cashier (same older lady) is very nice and talkative to the person in front of me, but as soon as it was my turn she didn’t say anything. Not one word and looked rude.
I brushed it off and said ”thank you” nicely and she just ignored me with a look.
Then the costumer behind me, she was super friendly and niece. Talkative etc.
Nah. I will only go here if i really need something and I am in the neighborhood. Otherwise, No. not gonna happen.

This is a pretty good Asian market. I was really pleased to discover their bulk refrigerated section where they have braised tofu, marinated seaweed, pickled ginger and a bunch of other ingredients in BULK. I did chicken out on the seaweed since I wasn’t exactly sure it WAS seaweed, and no one would a. speak to me or b. spoke English. Next time I’ll track someone down who can tell me exactly what it was.
I picked up several bags of assorted fresh noodles, some picked garlic and some condiments. Cost me all of $ 4.26.
One note about this joint — they have a ton of fresh produce that looks fantastic, and oddly enough, among the taro root, bok choy and eggplant, also had artichokes and cherimoya, neither of which I’ve ever seen in an Asian market before. Nice!

BEE-​Zar experience there today.
Ok, so I’ll start out with the caveat that I ONLY shop here when my FAVORITE store, 22^nd and Irving Produce is out of something, as there is ALWAYS a language barrier. I wish I spoke more Cantonese :(
In any event, I was there last week buying *Cocktail Grapefruit* (a sweet variety that is only around in Dec) and when I looked on the outside N/​S racks where it previously was, it was gone.
There was a woman w/​an apron on, standing @ the comer of the N/​S E/​W rows of fruit and I asked her if they had any cocktail grapefruit left. She said *Only grapefruit there* pointing to an obvious and large stack I had already seen.
I said *no, these are COCKTAIL grapefruit (it’s what I’ve seen them called @ Asian markets, not something I call them) the small sweet ones – I bought them here last week*. She looks at me like I have 2 heads.
When I’m clearly not making any headway, I decide to look for them inside.
As I step around the corner, literally less than a foot from where she’s been stocking fruit for some time, I see a BOX of cocktail grapefruit, on the lower level, priced at 6 for $ 1.00 – REALLY cheap, imo.
I get excited and start filling up bags, when she says to me *You buy here!*. I look up at her, *Excuse me?*, and she says again *You buy here, not inside!*.
I’m like *Um, no. I have to use a card so I’m gonna go inside*. She then says *NO! (while getting angry) you buy from ME, NOT inside – different price inside!!*.
I stop for a moment and reflect. Is she trying to pocket the money? Is she the only one that knows the price for this item? Do they not even know they have any left?
I’m thoroughly confused as to why she’s insisting I buy outside with her, but I calmly tell her that if they don’t know about the price inside, I will have them come OUTSIDE and look at the sign. It seemed a pretty simple solution but I decide to go INSIDE to ask them what was going on.
I go inside to tell the cashier, but she doesn’t speak English. She calls over a young guy who says he speaks a little and I proceed to tell him that there’s a lady working for them outside who wants me to buy groceries directly from her, which doesn’t seem right to me. He laughs but I can clearly see he hasn’t understood.
I go back outside, fill up my basket with fruit, he comes out, exchanges a few words with the woman standing above me, and I proceed inside to ring up the fruit.
I tell the girl they’re 6 for $ 1 and she rings me up, 6 for $ 1 – no problem! In fact, the register receipt said 4 for $ 1 and she even corrected it on the receipt.
THEN I asked them if they had any persimmons left, and neither he nor the cashier understood what I was asking. They did the Cantonese volley around the store, asking each other what I had said, and came up with an offer of dried persimmons for cooking.
Nope, I was going for the FRESH FRUIT – the kind you would by at a PRODUCE STORE. Alas.
In retrospect, perhaps the woman knew the register rang up at 4 for $ 1 and was trying to save me some hassle, but it still seems a bit shady to be conducting business in cash, outside a store.
Also, from a BUSINESS perspective, wouldn’t it be sensible to at least have 1 person a day on staff that speaks English? I love the diversity of Clement street but I’m sure they lose a fair amt of business from not understanding simple customer requests.

Ok, don’t think I’ll ever go back to buying produce in Chinatown again. Why didn’t I discover this place b4??? It’s a Chinese supermarket that’s clean, pretty cheap (a tiny bit more $$ than Chinatown), and labeled neatly in both english & chinese.
No more trying to figure out what vegetable I’m buying in Chinatown, no more squeezing through crowds & smelly streets and vendors, no more trying to compete with old Chinese ladies to pay for produce… from now on, I am either coming here or New May Wah Supermarket!!!
They also carry a few Korean and Japanese items. score!

So my friend and I were at this place .
She bought a box of popsicles from here and took it home right away and opened the box up. It seems the product had melted and refrozen and deformed previously. All of them were like that, so she took it back for return or exchange. Spent 5 mins arguing with the employee why she should be able to get an exchange for a box of messed up popsicles (pretty crazy customer service). Plus, It’s only $ 4.99 for god’s sake! Then he puts the box back in the freezer. (and it gets better!)
She was like you can’t be serious selling that especially when 1 of the popsicle is missing. He saids you don’t have to tell me how to run my store, I know how. I guess reselling used and messed up items is how they run the store. BEWARE!

Either here or May Wah is one my go-​to place along Clement St. when I need to get my shopping done.
May Wah may be bigger and have more stuff, but Lien Hing has a better and affordable produce selection. Plus, Lien Hing is less crowded.
Lien Hing has just remodeled and installed actual Supermarket-​like cashier counters with three lanes. Before the cashiers were all up front against the window without any line formed for the paying customers. The remodeling certainly made good dividend and business has certainly increased ever since. Thus making the store a lot nicer now with more new and unique stuff.
I was just here to pick up a bottle of Sriracha Hot Sauce for my ongoing burrito journey (definitely have to have the rooster-​sauce in my Timbuk-​2 bag). The line is definitely quicker, organized and faster now with the new counters.
I just hope that the store doesn’t go the Safeway or Lucky’s design of a self-​checkout line.

Biggest surprise at this store was their vegetarian selection– including both frozen mock meats and canned versions. I tried their fried gluten (mock pork) in a orange stir fry recipe and it was very tasty and had a great pull apart texture. Only $ 1.75 a can! I bought some mock fish but haven’t tried it yet. They have a huge selection of tofus, noodles and sauces. Only problems are not being able to read all ingredients occasionally, the rude people who don’t move in the isles/​pretend you are invisible, and utterly disgusting meat/​fish section (to a vegetarian anyways).

I come here during my lunch to grab some fruit and veggies when I don’t have time after work. The prices are definitely better than Safeway and I can’t justify buying produce at a big supermarket anymore.
I’m in and out in less than 5 mins and I usually find everything I need. Besides the rude cashier lady that throws my groceries into the bag like she’s playing basketball, this place is great.

Don’t shop here unless you like to be shortchanged.
My mom just bought stuff here today. The lady gave her back $ 1 less than she should have. My mom protested. The lady said no, the dollar bills are sticking together. Whatever! They were not sticking together. Lady still wouldn’t give her the correct amount of money back.
Read other Unilocal reviews about the R-​U-​D-​E people working here.
With so many grocery store options on this street, go elsewhere! You deserve to keep your hard-​earned money. And if you don’t care about keeping it, please throw it my way then.

Dare I say… language-​ist? I’m Chinese but I rarely show off my astonishing, broken Cantonese skill. My friends and I were talking (in English, duh) when we walked into the store. Some old guy was shuffling about near the entrance and he acted like WE were in his way.
One of my friends wanted to get LOTS of soy milk, chrysanthemum, and sugar drinks because his beloved pop (soda) was recently taken away from him. We found a small stash in the back of the store, so my friend asked me to ask them (the store people) if they have more drinks and if we can purchase a case of each.
The old guy from the entrance was about 5 feet away from us so I went over and ask him. He kind of glared at me when I said, «excuse me.» I started talking to him in my astonishing, broken Cantonese and his expression changed. Huh? So YaDaDa… I asked him for three cases of drinks and he was really helpful. He also said he’d give me a discount since I’m buying by case. Ooooh!
Finally made our way to the cashier. We weren’t exactly waiting in line since the old guy just left our drinks in front of the front counter and told us to pay there. We waited. There were 2 customers in line waiting to pay. Technically, we would be the third in line, even though we weren’t in line. I kind of wandered off to hunt for my snacks, then I heard one of my friends calling for me.
Turns out the cashier dude was talking to my friend in Chinese and my friend couldn’t understand, then he ignored my friend and proceeded to help a customer who came after us. I’ve only wandered off for less than 2 minutes…
Finally we get to pay. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or my friend (in English) since he was looking at his feet. I interrupted and told him that I couldn’t understand him (in Cantonese). His expression lightened up and started talking to me all friendly like. What the hey? Oh well, I got my discount. =D
Small place. Decent variety. Dirty.

5 Stars for having some of the freshest produce on Clement Street.
5 Stars for having great vegetarian products.
5 Stars for the super nice, older cashier lady with curly hair who has been working here for years.
1 Star for some of the other cashiers who desperately need to learn from her.
1 Star for some of the customers who shove their way to the front of the line by pretending to not speak English, but then get pissed off when you elbow their asses to the back and then use Western cuss words at you. Respect goes both ways, baby.

Reliably fresh Asian vegetables. For the regular veggies such as tomatoes and cucumbers, they never look fresh.
Good variety of all the Asian stuff you need. Their fruit freshness is hit or miss. Usually, the Asian pears and Korean pears are very sweet. Pricing is fair and cheaper than New May Wah and cleaner than other small Asian markets down the street.
The most frustrating part is waiting in line. They have 3 lines but sometimes, these old ladies just cut you off.