Oriental Harvest

This is one of the markets I try to avoid walking by if I am not actually stopping in since people like to literally stop in the middle of the sidewalk in front for… fun? As is way too common on Spadina… Anyhow, as others have mentioned this is a really great location for cheap prices. It can be crowded inside if you decide to venture in at one of the busier times. To be fair I think this is common knowledge that applies with any grocery store.
They have an incredible selection of items packed in to their basement space, produce inside and outside, meat and fish at the back and aisles of canned goods etc. I personally like to come here for coconut milk — they have a great selection that beats anywhere else I have looked. I choose to buy my meats and produce elsewhere, but what I have seen of the produce it looks good quality and if it were closer to home I would consider buying here. Additionally, I don’t find it smelly. I know that is a very real issue for some people with Chinatown supermarkets, maybe I have grown used to it or are comparing to the intensely smelly one across the street. Either way, I can attest to this being a great place to find good minimal ingredient coconut milk selection at insanely cheap prices.

We were in Chinatown and my aunt wanted to grab a few things.
It’s crowded here but the store offers a plethora of affordable groceries. I like the variety and love how they are able to fit so much into such small spaces. Cashiers are quick. You will be in and out with your goodies in no time and you’ll still have money in your wallet.

I’ve shopped at Oriental Harvest a few times when I needed large qualities of certain fruit/​produce and the price simply can not be beat! As an example, a large bag of kumquats was under $ 2 out of season (kumquats are great for cheese plates btw!)
The variety is also quite impressive given the amount of space, although I personally have no idea what ~60% of the items at this store can be used for!
The cashier lines could be a headache and you may have a problem or two communicating with the staff, but all in all, O.H. is a Chinatown win.

They manage to fit a LOT into this small store. It’s not as clean and fancy as some of the newer Asian markets, but it’s CHEAP.
I’ve only really been here for veggies and Chinese stuff in jars, so I can’t speak to their meat.

The groceries here are some of the lowest you’ll find in the downtown area. Quality is a bit spotty in terms of produce. It’s usually fine, but it seems you run into bad batches more often than at the larger stores. The seafood seems a bit suspicious as some of it sits in cardboard boxes outside the freezers. The service from the staff is not great, but their attitude is at least better than the ones at the store across the street. The selection of asian goods is pretty extensive, and that, along with the price, keep me coming back!

Although the quality of the food here is questionable, I would definitely recommend this place for cash strapped students.
I mean anywhere that allows students to afford various different kinds of seafood, gets an automatic 4 stars in my book. The staff here are pretty helpful too. Although some don’t speak English, so they may promptly dismiss you, don’t take it too personally though.
They have a wide array of various different kinds of «exotic» (to North Americans/​Europeans of course) vegetables and fruits. So if you grew up eating delicious mangos, and various other types of tropical plants, you should find it here.
2% Lactose Free milk for anyone who is lacto is about $ 4.39 here. Which is a good price.

The Whole Foods of Chinatown! Amazing food at great prices. Helps if you speak Chinese.
The pork and fish counters are among the very best in the city. Many great products for the foodie: they sell bags of chicken carcasses (6 to a bag) for $ 1 to make soup, lots of excellent soy products (including soy milk without all the additives of Western commercial soy milk), tons of varieties of rice, and fruits and veggies are good value.
The worst part of the place is non-​Chinese clientele who behave badly in the place. We have shopped here regularly for years and have seen behaviour from White People and Yoga Bunnies that was appalling. Probably the worst was a Yoga Bunny who abandoned several pounds of cut-​to-​order meat at the till. But WP/​YBs fighting about not wanting to follow credit card minimum is, for example, a regular and mortifying event. Why these people come just to be impossible and disrespectful shoppers is beyond me.
Given the poor behaviour exhibited by non-​Chinese customers on a regular basis, I’m amazed that Oriental Harvest still lets them in. But I am glad that we haven’t been banned yet — we could never afford to eat as well as we do if Oriental Harvest weren’t our main source of food in TO.

Pour acheter les produits asiatiques à bas prix, c’est l’endroit idéal à TO. N’ayez pas peur de la horde de mamies chinoises avec leur caddies, frayez vous un chemin à coups d’épaules! J’y vais principalement pour les fruits et légumes et également le poisson.
/​/​Good place to go for cheap vegetables, fruits and sea food/​
Don’t be afraid of the old chinese ladies with their carts, just go for it and use your best shoulder push to make your way through the alleys.

Been going here for a long time since I was growing up. Cannot tell it has changed, fruits in the front, shelves behind the cashier, meats in the back.
This is where I would go if I was doing groceries in Chinatown. lalala…

I like T&T the best but the distance & prices drove me to Chinatown lately. I like Oriental Harvest more than the other grocery stores on Spadina for quite a few reasons. Their butchers do not ogle me like I am the meat compared to the other 3. The cashiers are polite in comparison to the ones at Hua Sheng. They don’t speak much English at any of the 4, but still, it’s nice when you hear a please/​thank you. There’s always a manager around to make sure things are running smoothly. Unfortunately, this is a very cramped place, as are all the grocery stores in Chinatown so there’s always someone pushing a trolley to stock up the shelves and they take up most of the aisle.
The prices here are very reasonable for the product. When I see not so fresh veggies, they’re always priced appropriately. They also offer steals — there have been times I saw very low prices and fresh produce. I do not recommend buying veggies that are not in traditional Asian dishes because each time I’ve purchased bell peppers or iceberg lettuce, I’ve been very disappointed. The peppers looked great from the outside but they were moldy inside.