Nijiya Market San Diego Store

Great place to get fresh sushi and a variety of bento boxes. After 10 am is a good time to pick up your meal. The selections get sparse after 3. Avoid going there during lunch hours.

I love this Nijiya supermarket. Super polite/kind staff. The store is always so clean and well organized. The produce are usually the highest quality. Try their eggs! The egg yolk is orange and very delicious!

They have my favorite tea here, and many other drinks! Their produce selection is also good. Today my partner and I went and found out that they have a warmer for some of the canned tea/coffee! So if you want a warm tea/coffee instead of cold you can have it! And it is actually hot so you get hot tea. The service is great and they have done a great job with sanitizing carts and managing the amount of people in the store during covid.

When it's good, it's great. But it's hit and miss depending on when I go. I go for the sashimi and sushi rice so that I can make it when I get home. But sometimes I'm too late and all the sushi rice is gone or the fish is slim pickings. But when I get there and everything is freshly stocked, it's a little bit of sushi foodie heaven.

Nijiya has always been the cleanest, well stocked Japanese grocery store with fresh bento boxes 🍱, sushi/sashimi 🍣, etc. for meals and plenty of other Japanese groceries. The staff are always very friendly, helpful and kind. I have been shopping here 20+ years🤗

My wife is Japanese, so whenever we are in San Diego she wants to make a stop to stock up on all of her Japanese favorites. We have been shopping there for something like 30 years. It's a great place to buy all sorts of Japanese food items like noodles, tofu, miso, shoyu, sake, nori and much more. They also have food to go including sushi, mochi and a variety of cooked items. The service there is always friendly and there are restrooms for the customers. It is probably best to go there on a weekday if possible because this little shopping center can get pretty crowded.

Maybe the best stocked Japanese supermarket that we have ever seen on the West Coast. Way better than the Furguson's, Family Market's, or other small grocers found in Tokyo. Think of this as a much smaller version of Inageya, Seiyu or Aeon supermarket. Fresh local fruit and vegetable offerings, a phenomenal snack section, popular coffees, teas, and drinks, and some ramen essentials that you simply will not find anywhere else. A great selection of fresh baked cakes, which you would normally only find at a Japanese bakery. I guarantee that it will be well worth your time to stop by.

This is the authentic Japanese grocery store one goes to for the best Japanese seasonal food items, and for the best Customer service. Their deli has sushi, sashimi, salads, cooked bento noodle, and rice dishes, also pick up the free quarterly Japanese Gourmet Gochiso Magazine for many authentic recipes. I have been going here since 2001

I love Nijiya...
It's not the cheapest or pocketbook friendly of the assorted Japanese themed markets in the immediate vicinity but it is the one with the most organic produce.
I especiallyove that they sell japanese vegetable starts for your home garden that are all organic.
It's a full but limited market replete with fresh produce, sundries, packaged foods, cooking spices and seasonings, ice cream and desserts as well as a bunch of different Japanese candies, chocolates and other snacks.

SO EXCITED!!
CHEAP SEAFOOD AND SASHIMI PULL ME BACK AGAIN and AGAIN.
So Nice Employee.
They give you napkins, chopstick , soy sauce, wasabi for FREE.
Food, fruit, hot and cold Variety of healthy drink. Snack....
Should Come at least Once.

Nijiya has a large variety of food products, reasonably priced.

Cash register clerks’ bagging technique is amazing - thoughtful and efficient. 30 minutes after leaving the store, I found the contents of the bags in tact, tightly fitted like puzzle pieces put together. As the results, the sashimi assortment didn’t move at all on the plate.

Love this place, i only ever go here for the snacks. their grocery selection is usually over priced.

highly suggest grabbing japanese style snacks they are just like getting japanese fast food in japan. (just not as high quality as japan,but that's okay)

Thank goodness for Nijiya Market. The time and money I save in airline tickets to Japan really adds up. I’m not going to say the bento boxes and take away sushi is exactly on par with those high end ekiben shops in Tokyo Station, but pretty close. What I like most about this market is that it carries those rare, hard to find delicacies like fresh yuzu, sake kasu, yamaimo… Hell I go just for the rice. The focus on this store is premium organic and I find their own brand of rice available in akita komachi, koshi hikari and others to be the best around. There is no substitute. There are cheaper places to buy Asian groceries but the selection and quality suffer. Been going here for over fifteen years now. They have earned my five stars

Honestly one of the best Japanese markets in town. They have so many Japanese grocery products! The staff are always friendly and welcome you as they do in Japan; Japanese people are employed here and you can hear them speaking Japanese; the products are fairly priced as well.

Make sure you try out the frozen wafer ice cream sandwich!!! They're sooo good! My favorites are vanilla, and strawberry.

Lots of choices for snacks and even prepared food (sushi rolls and pastries). And plenty of traditional foods for Asian dish preparation, but my fav is a pint of green matcha ice cream.

Lovely Japanese market. Of all the Japanese markets in San Diego, Nijiya stands out as the winner. Extremely fresh seafood and produce, helpful staff, authentic high quality groceries, and a clean well maintained store. It’s no wonder why this small market is always packed when there’s so much competition nearby. They simply do things better.

Great source for sushi grade fish. Also an excellent option for a quick lunch pickup - there are rolls, cut sashimi, nigiri, bowls, and bentos. Need to get there before 11:30 for the best selection.

Bento's to go are always a hit. You can find almost all your Japanese grocery necessities here. Parking can be scarce during busy hours.

We were here last time on Saturday, July 1st, 2017 and Sunday July 2nd as well. Before then, I used to visit here almost every Sundays with my friend. We get the usual Japanese drinks like Pocky sweat, Boss Coffee, Ice Coffee, teas, and other Japanese drinks. I was inspired to come after seeing Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! (for those who have not seen it do watch it if you are into Japanese culture) kiki series. It is where they do a blind test of each product (like coffee, water, tea, etc...) and try to figure what it is. So we always buy the usual drinks and sometimes the bento box and few other goodies. We come here often that one or maybe 2 cashiers recognize our faces. Of the three Japanese supermarkets in San Diego (Mitsuwa, and Marukai), I like Nijiya the most. Why do I like them? Let me give you 4 reasons why.
1. Service and staffing: Nijiya constantly has the several of the same cashiers that I recognize and one more dude who stocks in the back. Of the 4 cashiers I see the most, John remembers us the most. The other day, he opened up his register to us because he didn't want us to wait in line. I appreciate that and wanted to give a shoutout to him, who is always smiling and hard at work. The other cute Japanese girl wearing a beanie that matches the Nijiya colors (on the receipt it says Kanako so let's call her that) was very friendly and polite. She is always smiling. Aside from that cashiers greet you at the door when you come in unless they are busy. Their service and friendly people stands out from the other 2 Japanese supermarkets. Did I mention they have authentic Japanese people working here? I heard Kanako and the other ponytail lady speaking Japanese to some of the Japanese customers. They even bowed. Sorry for rambling on here, but I wanted to highlight the cashier service you get from them compared to the other 2 supermarkets.
2. Product and pricing: So we all know that Nijiya specializes in Japanese product. And if you watched Bento (the anime where people fight for the half off bento boxes and if you have not seen it, I highly recommend a watch as it is hilarious fighting for that discounts), Nijiya has them at 20% off around 19:00 (7pm). Although the other 2 supermarkets have it, I liked Nijiya's selection the most. Their drink selections are good too. They also have tables outside the store where you can sit and eat. The microwave is on the inside shall you need to heat up the bento that they have there. I believe the prices here are cheaper than the other 2 supermarkets. And no memberships are required here comparing to Marukai (and you can buy stuff from there without a membership, but I do not think you get the sale price out of it).
3. Cleanliness: There are times I would come to use the restroom and it is always clean for my visits. The store is very clean and organized. I would usually see one or two people trying to stock the store. I also sometimes see cashier cleaning up and stocking the store as well. Really reminds me of the Japanese culture, which I feel is very well presented.
4. Hours of operation: All of the three opens at 9, but Nijiya closes at 10, which is 1 hour longer than Mitsuwa and the same for Marukai. On the side note: I believe you can not buy alcohol after 21:00 (9pm). While it does not affect me, I am just letting you guys know who want to buy some Japanese alcohol to not come for that after that time because they will not let you buy it.
Overall, Nijiya is my favorite Japanese supermarket store. The reasons are clearly listed on top. So do give them a visit and hopefully you like it too.
PS: I do shop at Marukai or Mitsuwa too, and have not met the 20% off kami-sama yet (reference to Bento anime). Also character limit on google is 4000 so yelp has some of my list of cons since it is at 5000 just so you know that I am not completely biased towards Nijiya.

Amazing store! A great place to find onigiri, and hand rolls…