meets the 35) courtesy a Pixel phone with a smudged lens. I can only hope that the populations, stores and restaurants will also move further south and closer still to us.Īnyway, here is a quick look at the store (1964 Rahncliff Ct. And the signs seem to be that the numbers of South Asians and Southeast Asians in the southern suburbs may be growing.

Vietnamese restaurants are all over the southern suburbs ( I’ve reviewed some of these) but the clearer indicator would seem to be the spread of groceries, which necessarily cater more to in-culture customers than do restaurants. It’s no secret that we have significant South East Asian populations in the Twin Cities but I’m curious about shifts in the distribution of these populations around the Twin Cities metro area. Though the efforts of the Trump/Sessions regime may have damping effects, I am very interested to see what the ethnic demographic breakdown of Minnesota will be in the 2020 census. I am glad to report that Viet Hoa Lao fits the bill. The presence of another viable market where we could pick up rice and Asian vegetables and coconut milk and fruit and so forth without having to go very far from the highway would be a good thing. They were out but I took the opportunity to take a look around the market for future reference. There used to be another Vietnamese grocery in the area-very close to The Cellars, a liquor store I used to stop in at (which seems to have turned into Atomic Liquors at some point*)-but it moved further west to Burnsville. On the way out of the strip mall we noticed a sign for the Viet Hoa Lao market and decided to stop in and and see if they had one of the brands of white rice we like. I wont be buying from them again.We lunched yesterday at Ansari’s Mediterranean Grill in Eagan (writeup coming in a week or two). We feel very disappointed with this interaction, as we usually shop there but now they have lost us as customers.

Not only is we left with paying the price of a bad product but she will have to throw the smelly bag of rice away. This was very upsetting to us and we had to leave the store without having the issue resolved. What a horrible return policy and bad customer service! Their business was booming at one time but now it’s slowly dying and customers are going elsewhere for their fresh produce. He didn’t offer an apology or anything to help the situation. I know that groceries don’t get returned often, but when a customer is not satisfied with the food because of a potential foodborne illness, I think there should be something that can be done. He said that the bag of rice didn’t have any smell and since it was already opened, he wouldn’t exchange it. We went back to the store to ask for an exchange for a new bag of rice but the male owner refused. So, when this bag of rice smelled musty and stale, we felt it might have gone bad. We know that rice shouldn’t which smell like much of anything but if it smells musty or rancidity then that probably means that moisture got into it and mold grew or the facts in the rice have expired. We bought a bag of rice from there last week and when we opened the bag yesterday, it did not smell good at all. Not only have the quality of their food declined, they have a horrible return policy. Beware of BAD bags of rice, produce, meat, and condiments at this store! Viet Hoa Market on Monona Dr in Madison will no longer receive my business.

Viet hoa market