Lee's Oriental LLC

The negative reviews about this store puzzle me. I'm not a "regular" but I've been shopping here a few times a year for the last decade or two, and I've always gotten helpful, friendly service. The shopkeepers are certainly on the quiet side, but so am I. I don't take that as unfriendliness.

And yep -- they have a credit card minimum. That's not bad service, that's just survival. When you're running a small business, you do what you can to stay fiscally viable. Credit card fees can make a big difference to a tiny independent shop that's already operating on thin margins.

I love their variety of Korean and Japanese items that I can't get anywhere else conveniently.

Highly recommend.

Since I have moved from Boston, I have been looking for good Asian Market and I found out Lee's Oriental. This store is the best Oriental store with high quality products and clean atmosphere! This market sells the best brands with reasonable price. In addition, this place does not have strong unpleasant odors unlike some other Asian markets do. Furthermore, the customer service is great as the manager there is sweet and even helped me out on instructions and ingredients listed on products. So, I love to go to this store and look forward to buy high quality groceries anytime! Especially, their cash register is so convenient!

I was so impressed by the owner was very helpful and friendly. She asked me sanitizing my hands when I entered, kept limited customers in the store. I felt like I was comfortable and safe in there. The price was bit pricey compared to Oriental Food Market, but it was very close to UW Madison. Great Asian grocery store!

Best place in town to get imported quality Japanese and Korean foods and products! POCARI SWEAT!

I love this store! The staff are very friendly and they have a pretty good selection of snacks and cooking ingredients. They also have cookware/utensils and some freshly prepared banchan. I look forward to my next visit.

Edit: 4 to 5 stars
Since my review two years ago, I've been to Lee's plenty of times and the reason I've added the 5th star and keep coming back is due to the QUALITY of the ingredients here. Especially for Korean food, Lee's absolutely has the best options for all your staples and more (trust me, that snack aisle is dangerous!). I often still stop elsewhere for groceries (read: greens), but I get all my kimchi, soon tofu, doenjang/gochujang, kelp, etc. here. The woman who runs the shop is wonderful as well! Always glad to stop in.
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Okay this place isn't bad, and if you're looking for Korean ingredients specifically this is a better bet than other Asian stores. However if you're looking for Asian groceries go somewhere else. The staff was helpful when I was looking for some ingredients since I didn't know what it looked like. Overall can't complain, especially when it has what you need.

This place is clean and the owner is so helpful. I had so many questions on how-to make certain dishes. She was friendly, smiled, and gave me tons of encouragement. Love, love this place!

I really like this place. I'm Korean and I'm so glad this store is here- the kimchi is better than that from "regular" stores, they got snacks, kitchen and dinnerware.

Lee's oriental is a welcoming and well-kept store that has a lot of unique and high-quality ingredients, snacks, and homemade foods. No bad experiences here for me at all. Loved the seaweed salad.

Mind boggling selection of Asian Foods. The people are very helpful. I don't know if the prices are good but I don't care because the selection and hard to find things are there. Real kimchi in sizable quantity.

I love coming here. I visit this place whenever I come to Madison to get some delicious food. The nice lady who owns the store makes really good bulgogi.

Fantastic little store with a great selection, wonderful new ownership and friendly, prompt service. Store is kept immaculately clean and tidy. I highly recommend!!

Largest Asian Pears I have ever seen! Friendly and helpful employees. I can't drive by this place without stopping. :)

They have everything from Milkies to Oi Ocha Green Tea and Pocari Sweat!!!! Love this place, will be back for sure 😍

The owner is very friendly and helpful. She even talked me through how to cook one of the new dishes I tried.

Great selection of Korean grocery staples!

An excellent place to get Asian food!

Absolutely lovely friendly owner and great selection!!!

best kimchi in town

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