Morelia Supermarket

So what’s outstanding about Morelia? Their chicharones, hot out of the deep fryer (I always go on a Monday around 3−4pm…and get the chicharones fresh). In English, these decadent little morsels of fatty pork rind deep fried in lard are known as «cracklings». Deep fried fat… what’s not to like??? Laden with saturated fat and cholesterol, its like a heart attack sold by the pound! But they are delish.
The store is very clean, has an ample selection of Mexican products, fresh meats, and if you hit it on a good day, the produce can be displayed nicely, and very fresh.
What’s mediocre? In my opinion, the prepared foods (carnitas, barbacoa, rice, beans, beef and/​or pork guisado, roast chicken, etc.) pale in comparison to Supermercado Chapala (Rogers Park) and Supermercado Lindo Michoacan (Albany Pk).
I totally disagree with other Unilocal reviewers with regard to the «high prices» and «disrespectful employees» Morelia’s prices are competitive with most other Mexican markets on the north-​side. Furthermore, the staff in all the departments have always extremely friendly and helpful. Is it my fave Mexican grocery store? Nope. But its worth the drive for those chicharones!

I love this grocery store! The produce is always so lush and they have the best homemade salsa.

Overpriced on almost everything, I tried ordering something at the deli, the guy didnt speak english. The produce is subpar at best. The icing on the cake was when I went there for a few staple items on July 27^th, and I saw some egg cartons in the cooler that said ‘best before 7 – 15!!’ almost 2 weeks expired, still on the shelf for sale. You can do so much better somewhere else.

We have enjoyed their flan, freshly-​made tortillas, guacamole, Mexican specialities, and amazing prices on things like poultry. I must also commend them for their great generosity recently in helping me with an accident I had in the parking lot. A worker tipped me off that they had security cameras out there, and the manager was so nice to let me copy the video of what happened, thus showing me and my insurance company that the fault was the other driver’s. This was going above and beyond, in my view. Real kindness.

Great market, in sort of a random location. We’d stopped to go to the liquor store next door, and thought «why not get groceries too».
Some pretty unusual stuff. Jicama is something you don’t often see in mainstream stores, but it’s here and it’s juicy and delicious. We tried their ready-​made al Pastor meat/​spice blend for tacos and it was DELICIOUS.
I’ll definitely be back for the al Pastor, or the Mexican Cokes and the produce. Nice, clean store — friendly, helpful staff.

Pretty good grocery — lots of fresh, interesting produce, which is what I usually get there, but meat, dairy, bakery and many pre-​prepared foods. The place is clean and the employees have always been courteous to me, even though I’m not Hispanic and don’t speak Spanish. There is never a wait. I would give it 5 stars except that I’ve gotten rotten yucca there a few times (I buy it all the time), and yes I know it has a very short shelf life, and I’m grateful they carry it, but a little tired of taking it back. You can pretty much count on other things to be good, and they sometimes have what I consider «special» produce, such as fresh papalo or epizote. Yum! I like the place.

ZERO STARS!
DO NOT SHOP HERE!
THE CASHIERS ARE IMMATURE, IGNORANT AND LOW CLASS.
The other employees in the store are respectful and polite, but NOT the cashier’s.
Recently, my sister and her 2 young children were in line when the cashier starting speaking Spanish to her. But when my sister told them she doesn’t speak Spanish, they laughed and continued to speak in Spanish to other cashiers who turned around to look at her. My sister had no idea what they said but knew it wasn’t good. When she went to her car in the parking lot an older man who was in the store at the time (in a different line) told her what those girls had said. I won’t repeat it here but it wasn’t nice.
A week later she went back there with our mother who DOES speak Spanish. (My mother stood in a different line) My sister saw the same cashier and stood in her line. And sure enough the insults in Spanish got started but my mother stopped her immediately and insulted her right back in Spanish. The cashier was quite embarrassed and denied she was talking about my sister, but that was a lie. My mother busted her.
And finally, my sister showed up one last time with her husband because he thought my sister and Mother may have been exaggerating a bit. And he ALSO speaks Spanish and stood in a different line as well, just to see if they were really insulting her or not. And they did. So he also insulted them right back in Spanish and my sister and her husband left the store.
So now, my sister’s family, my parents and my family which is a total of 11 West Rogers Park residents will NEVER step foot in this store ever again. And I plan on telling all of my neighbors this story at this weekend’s Labor Day Block party which we’ll let everyone laugh at, but since we’re so close I know they’ll all ban this store as well. Not that all of them shop their anyway, but I know some do. And hopefully all of them will share this story with THEIR friends so this store doesn’t not get money from any of my close friends and neighbors. And THEIR close friends and neighbors.
It’s a shame really. We’ve been going to this store for years even when they were on Clark St. many years ago. The owner had twin daughters who worked the registers but never insulted any of us. We were sad when they closed the Clark St. store. I have no idea if this store has the same owners but it won’t matter. We will go back to buying our local shopping from Chapala on Clark St at 7117 N. Clark St.
Whether the owners of Morelia Supermarket believes this story or not, they should still investigate the validity of this story with each and every one of their cashier’s to see who’s telling a lie because for me to waste my time writing this story for my family is a disgrace to this neighborhood. A neighborhood we have lived in for more than 60 years. And for my family to spend their hard earned money in a store that insults us is an outrage. The next time I speak to Alderman Debra Silverstein, I’m going to tell her this story and how her voters shouldn’t have businesses in her 50^th Ward be treated like this.

Make no mistake, this is a place for Spanish speakers. I’m not Hispanic but I’m madly in love with a Latina so I have learned Spanish and I get by completely fine even with an accent that makes it clear I’m not a native speaker.
I’ve never been made to feel out of place or had the rude experiences I’ve read in other reviews. It’s not that they are disregarding of gringos it’s just that it’s not their target audience. And, yeah, there might be a bit of «this is a place for us, not you» going on at times. But, really, that’s the same with all supermercados. They are interested in servicing people that don’t feel comfortable in a regular grocery store.
It’s a good place to pick up traditional bakery items or other Mexican items you can’t find at the mainstream grocery stores. Including candy, snacks, sodas, salsas, meats, etc. Which is why I go. I just can’t get Gansitos anywhere else and those things are like delicious sugar filled crack.
Not very good for basics. Due to smaller selection and that this is a true independent store. Which means it doesn’t have the negotiating power or defused supply costs of a big chain. So you might end up paying more for the same paper towels you can get up the street.
Great for picking up odds and ends to supplement your regular grocery store shopping if you have more than basic high school Spanish or if you go with a Spanish speaker.
A friendly tip for my fellow gringos…
Be polite and behave as though you are at a grocery store. Not like you’re at an exotic locale taking in the native population with awe. Don’t act like you’re on safari. Weather you mean to or not, weather or not you know you’re doing it, weather or not it’s right or wrong for people to take offensive, it can be condescending when wide-​eyed gringos come in full of awe by seeing someone’s normal life. I’ve been in supermeracados when groups of gringo tourists come in on a meracado tour pointing out how Latinos shop. If you feel any latent resentment, things like that are the cause. Be nice, be polite, be normal, make an effort and you’ll be fine.

I love going here for the affordable and fresh produce. You can’t beat their prices for avocados, tomatoes, limes, and other Mexican staples, and the Asian staples like napa cabbage and ginger are here in abundance as well. Nopales, yucca, and other harder to find ethnic veggies are also there. In addition, their homemade tortillas, pan dulce, and hot food including carnitas are delicious. On weekends, they’ll serve up free tortilla chips and their amazing salsas. I’m so glad this place is around the corner from where I live!

I go here on occasion to buy produce and sometimes check out their tilapia and chicken when it’s on sale. It’s clean, never too busy, and I like that I can get what I need and check out, all in less than 15 minutes. It’s a good little store to pick up last minute quick produce. However, their shelf items are overpriced and not many of the employees at the meat counter understand or speak English very well at all, so it’s best if u know a little Spanish to place your order.

We’ll, what can I say… They have a variety of meats and they look pretty fresh. I’ve bought their meats a couple times and it’s OK. The fast food section is good too, but for instance, I went today and the Carnitas weren’t as fresh as always, unfortunately I had to buy them because my fiancé wanted to eat such carnitas.
Another thing that I noticed today was that at some point while I was waiting in line, it got kind of busy and there was only a single guy taking care of people and all of a sudden someone else steps out and he had a load of food on his mouth and he was talking to me but seriously I could understand what he was talking about:/ They should have a descent hr/​time break and there should be plenty of people for ready to jump in and help!
Vegetable section looks always fresh and is never unattended there’s usually someone there in the case you have any questions regarding the products.

We are neighbors of Morelia. They have been an absolute nightmare. They brought legions of rats to the neighborhood. They are incredibly loud at all hours it seems. I shopped there once and found their produce mediocre at best and overpriced. Prices for Latino products are more expensive than what you can find on N Clark Street, not so far away. Why is anybody shopping there?

I came here for the first time this week and I will continue to buy my produce and meat here. It’s extremely inexpensive and everything is fresh. My girlfriend loves ceviche and we discovered they make it fresh everyday. Yum!

This is where I do all my produce shopping lately, I have to admit if your not Hispanic forget about getting good service. And forget about getting normal gringo pantry staple items here. But never a dull experience.

I was Happy when they opened up this store only because I can find products I probably wouldn’t find at your typical store. But the prices are unreal!!! you can find better prices at other stores. I only go there for meat or products i can’t find. It’s sad because there’s alot of hispanic families that go there and buy everything leaving there paycheck to La Morelia. You would think they would have reasonable prices for the hard working hispanic families that do all there shopping there and probably don’t even realize there getting ripped off.

On the surface, a typical Mexican-​focused fruit/​meat market and grocery store, but dig a little deeper. The produce is fresh and very reasonably-​priced. I’ve had good luck with the limited meats I’ve purchased there, the standout being the fajita steak marinated with peppers and onions. Take it home, fire up the grill and go to town! There is a rather sizable hot ‘take-​out’ food section next to the meat counter that is ALWAYS busy and always smells sublime. Someday I’m going to brave the ever-​present crowd and order whatever is most popular. Oh, and a bakery area too!
The thing that keeps me coming back again and again is their fresh guacamole. The rather large tubs of ‘made fresh daily’ guac run $ 3.99 for about double the portion you’ll pay $ 9 for at Whole Foods. And this cilantroey goodness couldn’t taste any fresher or more homemade. They run out each day so I have to get there in the morning when I’m having a gathering later in the day. The fresh red and green salsas are top-​notch as well!
Try ‘em out… I think you’ll love ‘em.

This supermarket has some pluses. Cheap meat, great fresh salsas. Their produce is only soso. KInd of expensive and not top notch. The front of the store checkout are friendly enough But the butchers are RUDE. If you do not look hispanic they will not serve you. And If you say something you wait even longer because they get a very rude «manager». When they first opened up I thought horray! a close grocery store. Now im finding I am going back to either dominicks or the grocery stores along devon. What a shame.

Just had to do another shout out and send my love again to this little place. Stopped by on Sunday and I was in and out in 20 minutes. I love how this place is popular and crowded –but you never have to wait in line. I will admit there is a line in the deli section and some little senoras shot my boyfriend some ojitos (dirty looks) when he got served before them (one made a comment, «How can he have number 32 when we’ve been waiting here?») but other than that little tilapia fiasco, things went well and they had a good sale on my favorite Mexican bread, bolillos (2 for $ 1). I really like this place –produce is fresh, service is fast and they have pretty much all the staples one would need to make a nice meal.