Richwell Market

I really wish they can realize how important it is to provide good service. There are three parts in this store, the service in BBQ store (Mei Mei Shao La) is great. I had some really nice conversation with the owner. The cashiers are normally cold but not rude. You can see they are not interested in talking to you. Especially if you are not a cantonese speaker. The meat area is the worst! Man, I don’t know why they are so angry every time. They just look like they hate you. Why do you trouble them to order anything there. You own them so much to ask them cut you 2 pounds of lamb.

This is a slice of Chinatown in Morton Grove. We have been shopping here since it opened about 20 years ago. Before that we made the hop to Cermack, but that was before the traffic increased 3 fold in Chicagoland. So this is truly a piece of Chinatown. Baked goods and prepared meats are just like you will find in the traditional stores, and you will find a large selection of canned and dry goods as well. I don’t want to minimize the excellent selection of frozen goods. And with the modern development of frozen Chinese foods, you can get many previously unavailable treats and dishes that were not available just a few years ago. Of course most items do not compare with homemade, but many specialty items that you would not normally be able to make well without a lot of effort can be found. It is fun to try the new frozen items to see how they compare with fresh made, or the memory of the restaurant version. The best thing may be the fresh butcher shop they run and the live fish. As mentioned by another non Korean, this store is smaller than Hmart but it seems to have much of the selection if not better of the non Korean products. I find I shop here much more often than other stores and the prices are very reasonable. Parking can be scarce especially on the weekend leading up to a holiday but it is well worth the effort. The staff are typical Chinese store staff, sometimes gruff but very friendly and knowledgable. We always ask which brand they recommend when in doubt.

I love this little market. It’s perfect for people who don’t want to go all the way to Chinatown or Argyle to get their Asian needs. It’s small, but compact. It has so many things, a lot more than you think. It’s really authentic too, you can just tell. They have a huge selection! Thank goodness we found this place closer to us.

Richwell Market was a nice surprise for me and am very (VERY) happy I found it. I know I may say that a lot, but ever since settling down in Melrose Park, I found it a pain to drive downtown for some Chinese ingredients. Yeah, Mitsuwa and H-​Mart and some of the other Korean/​Japanese markets nearby may have a few of the stuff I need, but Richwell is the first place that had everything I needed to have the Chinese shelf in my kitchen pantry fully stocked. All of the weird, packaged foods that I needed and sauces that I can’t seem to find anywhere else were all there. That’s the good.
The not so good is that the place is entirely too small and nearly impossible to maneuver around in their already tiny carts. Because the place is on the smaller, cramped side, there’s not a whole lot of produce to choose from, but you can still pick up some of the main vegetables expected at any Chinese market. Also, it’s not really a place I would pick up my meat from unless I didn’t have another option, but I was happy to see they carry some of the familiar frozen fish ball brands that I’m used to seeing in Texas. So thumbs up for having good fish balls. And even though this place won’t probably win the most friendly staff award, this place gets 4 stars rather than 3 for the sole fact that I finally found a decent Chinese specialty food store outside of Chinatown. Also, they sell bbq duck right outside of the store. And who doesn’t love duck?

You don’t come here for service or comfort, you come here because you know exactly what you need and will be in-​and-​out in under 10 minutes. Every Chinese person I know in the northern burbs come here for the Chinese BBQ, where you order by the pound, and they butcher it for you. Every Chinese person I know also comes here for anything else they need (groceries, bakery items) when they’re in a bind and/​or are too lazy to drive to Chinatown. We come here to get fresh Asian vegetables if we don’t feel like going to H Mart. One star off for the crappy, tight parking lot and seemingly dirty aisles. They need to mop and dust this place from floor to ceiling, wall to wall.
Word to the wise: Don’t piss off the lady behind the BBQ counter. She banned someone I know because this person criticized the meat they got! However, if you are an established customer (thanks mom and MIL), the lady will hook you up with the good cuts.

I suppose i dont know of any other asian grocery that has a bbq section attached to it, so that definitely makes this place strand out. I think if my family was in town, they’d go all over the $ 6.50 lunch entrees. The prices are fairly reasonable for their bbq. I wouldn’t consider this place to be much more expensive than chinatown. I have shopped both at argyle and chinatown and the price here is along the same line. I have also shopped in asian groceries out in the NW suburbs, and the prices at those places are definitely way more than here, and twice that of chinatown/​argyle.
Overall, this place is compact but they really pack a lot of stuff in this small store. When you first come in, you will find dumplings and shanghai xiao long baos and wontons on your left. Then at the back of the store is your produce. I’d say their produce is nothing special. The middle of the store has sauces and noodles and rice noodle. A whole isle for sauce and the same for noodles. Then the other back end of the store has a whole isle of freezer for more frozen goods, scallion pancakes, fish egg balls etc.
they do sell baked goods here, like pastry items, but no price is labeled on them so i can’t say if the price is fair.
Two checkout isles. The checkout clerks are not rude but were they anything nice either. I’d say they are definitely efficient though, which is all i ask for at an asian grocery, this is no mariano’s or whole foods per say.
Overall, this place is solid, if you want an asian grocery but is not looking to walk into a whole store dedicated to pure korean goods like assi plaza or super h mart, this is it!

Read the reviews and decided to give it a try on my way home from an appointment today. I was not disappointed. Ordered a pound of bbq pork ($ 8.50) and saw some of the other goodies they offered. You need to pay separately for the BBQ. For grocery items, you pay at the checkout. There is a wonderful selection of everything here. Prices are a little higher then some of the other Asian markets on Argyle St. or near Chinatown but I expected that. The pork was tender, juicy and better then expected.
Staff is a bit abrupt and can be seen as rude. Being a big man, I am sure some of the comments made in Chinese between the staff were about me. Call it paranoia but when they look directly at you and start speaking, you know. Still, I will go again and spend a little more or bring cash to the grocery side as the checkout lady got a bit terse when I paid $ 8.00 on my charge card instead of cash.
The photographs of the menu are a bit old as the prices increased at least $ 1 per item.

this place is very dirty. my family ended up in ER after eating chicken and duck there a few weeks ago. Stay away from this place.

I love this Asian market! It’s a great «little» Asian market, to pick up a few of those key ingredients, you can’t find at your local grocery store. The people are very nice, the produce is good, and your select of grocery items and frozen items is solid.
One of my favorite things, is visited the Asian BBQ shop in the front of the store, it’s awesome! The only have take-​out, but it’s really good roasted and smoked meats of all types. I’m a big fan of their roasted Chinese duck, roasted pork, bbq pork, chicken wings and ribs. Honest, it’s worth going out of your way to visit this place! Just remember, the bbq shop isn’t open on Wednesdays.

Located in a pocket of Asian businesses in Morton Grove, Richwell Market is a small Chinese grocery store with packed shelves, but there’s still reasonable space between the aisles. Inside you’ll find produce, meat and seafood, frozen goods (dumplings, buns), dry goods (tea, noodles, rice), a small selection of alcohol, condiments and sauces, snacks, some baked goods, cooking utensils, and Chinese herbs. While not as good a selection as the grocery stores by the Argyle El stop, this market is probably more convenient for those in the North Shore.
Prepared food is available from Mei Mei BBQ inside the store.
This market has its own (small) parking lot in addition to street parking.

Richwell Market has been around in the Morton Grove area for many years. They provide Chinese groceries as well as roasted duck, pork, baked goods, and buns. Many people come here for a quick stop to purchase a some ingredients for cooking, or to stop by to get some of their ready-​to-​go bbq items. It is convenient to come here rather than trek all the way into Chicago around the Argyle area. They have their own lot so parking is a breeze.
+local Chinese grocery store

Great little place to have around for local Asian grocery pickup, including its own Chinese BBQ shop.

tiny place with lots of choices! but can be cleaner…

The services are terrible. Some of the staffs at the meat counter could be unfriendly and have attitude.
Sometimes the staffs at the cashier are not polite either, didn’t even know they better say ”hi” or «thank you» to the customers.
Many of the products do not display their origins. Many cooked food packages don’t have proper labels, some of them don’t have no expiration days.

Solid looking small Asian market but whats more important, HANGING DUCKS!!! I stopped here for said hanging ducks and was pleased to find Roast pork, bbq pork and Chinese bakery goods (bbq pork buns anyone?). If you are looking for a taste of Chinatown or Argyle street, you will be just as excited as I am to know this place exists.

Richwell is tiny, but it’s a decent alternative to driving all the way to H-​Mart, Argyle, or Chinatown.
Parking can be troublesome on weekends since there are only … 12 spots?
Also be sure to check out Mei Mei BBQ, which is housed right next to the entrance to Richwell. They have great lunch specials for ~$ 6!

I live a few miles from Richwell Market, and I have driven by this place so many times but had somehow never thought to take a look! And once I did go inside, I couldn’t believe that I had missed this hidden jewel. This place is a TREASURE TROVE of Asian snacks. There is a small section for fresh groceries, including cuts of meat and live seafood. The refridgerators in the very back also have a variety of frozen foods and Asian drinks! I also appreciate the BBQ section in the front. I tried the roast duck and BBQ pork, and I thought they were both authentic as well as reasonably priced. Definitely coming back here when I need my fix of Asian food!

I found this place today totally by chance! Happened to notice a cute sign that said MEI MEI BBQ, glanced back and saw whole roasted ducks in the window… My bbq detecter went off the needle!
Made my gorilla stop on the way back, took $ 20 in and hoped for the best…
Can I just say, this was the best bbq pork, chicken and duck I’ve had since the original sun wah on argyle. The Mother daughter team behind the steam table were very friendly and appreciative. Food was clean and tasty, lunch special over rice with baby bok choy was $ 5.50. Also felt I could ask questions or get a sample of that delicious looking black bean beef stew, UNLIKE sun wah. (YOU know what I’m talkin’ about… sun wah is the equivalent to seinfelds’ soup nazi)
My money gave me a half of duck which I tasted ;-p and froze for later use in gumbo or stock. Two large pork tenderloins and a boneless chicken over rice meal.
Now… for the market. Small and chock full ‘o’ goodies! Veggies fresh and affordable, fresh noodles, duck eggs, lobster and fish in clean bubbling water with NO ODOR! I have seen many an asian market and have studied products intently for years and found items I have never seen before. Really fun… Lastly the cherry on top… the teenaged gal at the register had no problem taking me to the fermented black beans… They had me at bbq

Excellent little Chinese and Southeast Asian grocery store. Odd name for a Chinese and Southeast Asian grocery though, don’t you think? I would expect a store named «Richwell Market» would be a place I could get some Wonder Bread and baloney, but they don’t have either, I’m pretty sure. Instead, they’ve got a nice selection of fresh produce for East and Southeast Asian cooking, this is a much better choice for Chinese eggplant or Bok Choy than Whole Foods or some other overpriced upscale supermarket, and a better selection of imported goods than the usual small neighborhood Asian grocery. They have some goods I haven’t been able to find elsewhere in either Milwaukee or Chicago, outside of Chinatown or on Argyle, like salted duck yolks, Filipino or Vietnamese style instant noodle soups, frozen cuttlefish balls, Chinese hot pot sauce (four different brands), Chinese spam, it’s actually really fun and interesting to shop here. Impressive selection of frozen and fresh fish, good choice in marinades and sauces, Chinese and Southeast Asian frozen foods, and Asian frying oils. They have Chinese style tea pots and serving ware (practical, everyday inexpensive, not the fancy stuff). They also sell Chinese barbeque here too. Obviously convenient for people living within a few miles of Morton Grove, it’s also very close to the Edens, and surrounded by good Korean restaurants, so it’s actually worth an afternoon jaunt for those of us who live a little farther away.

my cousin and i found the ingredient here for my pad see ew
i couldn’t find it at assi and h-​mart … and here were the ribbon noodles waiting to be cooked!!!
i know they have it in argyle but this is soooo much closer to my house
glad we stopped by on the way home to my house