Assal Market

Customers please when you buy Saj express bread make sure to open it in the store and look carefully for yellow or green mold on the bread. I let the owner know about it. He was very nice and told me that he didn’t mind if I open them all. I opened the second ones had mold but the third ones was fine. However. I suggested that he should throw them all and removed from the shelving.

Giving the place 2 stars for the convenience of it. Otherwise, the produce is not the best. Sometimes there’s fruit flies around it. They do have basic cheeses and pantry items. But my complaint is mostly about the quality of the meat. I went in the other day to get meat for kabob and the butcher insisted on giving me meat for stew. I explained to him that I wanted meat for bbq and that it needs to be a little fatty. He acted like I didn’t know anything about meat and again insisted on giving me pre-packaged meat cubes for stew. Let’s just say I barbecued the meat and it was horrible. It was so dry and extremely chewy. The worst part is I had friends over and I was embarrassed for the quality of meat that was given to me. I noticed the butcher favors his repeat clients and is selective over which customer gets the best cut of meat. Never buying my meat from here again.

Went in looking for mastic gum (natural digestive aid), found it for 10$, came out with complimentary nougat candy. Always wanted to try these and Turkish Delight. Everyone was helpful including the customers! Thank you, Assal market. Appreciate the hospitality.

I shopped here on and off over many years dropping by yesterday after a 2 year plus hiatus. I like the vibe of Assal. Notwithstanding the covid pandemic my habit has always been shopping during off peak business hours for everything, from Home Depot to CVS to grocery shopping in general. But even during off peak there seems to be steady traffic here. Slower traffic but steady. Appears to me the owner/management, employees and customers all interact with ease. Seems to me Assal’s customer base is made up of regulars from the large Persian diaspora in NOVA and talk with ease to each other, often in Farsi. There is a social component to shopping here. The store is small and seemed well organized yesterday compared to long ago, past shopping experiences. I like their bread selection and generally buy spices along with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern ingredients and products. I do not buy produce, meat and poultry here and I don’t even know if Assal has sea food. I buy produce at MOM’s Organic Market, poultry and sea food at Whole Foods, and on rare occasions, becoming almost non existent, meat at The Organic Butcher of McLean. I also went to Wooden Bakery and Yas Bakery yesterday and noted that only Assal Market had grape seed oil. At Assal I purchased grape seed oil, pita bread, halva and frozen falafel. The falafel was bland, not so good.

Great market for Persian goods. They have all good stuff. I like the Persian bread, fresh vegetables and sweet from there.