Kaelin's Market

I'm intrigued by a combination Mexican and Mediterranean store. You can pick up tacos and kebobs in one spot, what's not to like? If your car is also dirty, don't fret, you can wash it in their car wash located in the lot adjacent to the store. I've been a couple times for a few items, but I don't think I'd come here for a regular shopping trip as they don't have a large variety of regular groceries that I buy. They do have fresh produce and tortillas though. You could potentially get everything you need for grilling here since they have marinated meat and all the fixings for tacos. The store and parking lot feel a little chaotic. A lot of people creating parking spots when there's no real need other than laziness. The produce section feels like a free for all. Maybe the problem is I've only been on weekends though. Service is okay, definitely not a big friendly vibe here. I'd stop by again if I'm in the area.

We had two couples over for the Super Bowl and we wanted to put together a taco bar so off to Kaelin's Market we went to stock up.Two pounds each of carnitas and carne asada. One package of their freshly made corn tortillas, a large container of rice and one of beans and three varieties of salsa were on our list. The carnitas, rice and beans came from the prepared food section of the store, while the carne was from the meat department. The salsas came from their awesome salsa bar adjacent to the meat department.Both meats were extremely popular at our gathering. Kaelin's carnitas is one of my favorites. Always perfectly cooked and very flavorful. To reheat it I slowly heated it in a cast iron skillet with just a tad of oil. To keep it warm, I put it in a crockpot on warm with a splash of chicken broth to keep it moist. The carne asada came marinated and very thinly sliced. I cooked it outside on my griddle. It was really good. Same crockpot keep warm technique as the carnitas.The rice and beans were both excellent. The rice stayed nice and fluffy with great flavor. Kaelin's refried beans are always lardy goodness.Chipotle, Habanero and Tomatillo Verde were our salsa choices. The Habanero was by far the favorite of the group.Our Super Bowl Taco Station was a resounding success.For us Kaelin's is kind of a pain in the ass to get to, but it is worth the drive and the time.

This little home town store has been in El Cajon as long as I can remember and I'm 72 yrs. It used to be family owned and a great neighborhood market. It is now a Mexican style Mercado and has amazing offerings. If you are in the area check it out , get your lunch or shop meat market , vegetables, fresh Mexican bakery items or the fantastic spices available. This time I bought a fresh pizza like item called Laham Ajeen to have for lunch on the flight home. It's an Iraqi style pizza and delicious.

This is a pretty cool market with a nice selection of fresh ceviche and salsa. Lady at the counter w salsa and ceviche was friendly and helpful. Homemade chips and tortillas were good. I'll have to go back to try the kebab/shawarma plates. Overall a pretty positive experience and I'll go back.

Extremely overpriced. They sold me green grapes at $4.50/lb and I came to another market where they are fresher and prettier for $3/lb... they abuse...

Luv ethnic grocery stores and this is a 2fer. Mexican and Mediterranean. If you're looking for a variety of hummus or a variety of freshly made salsa. Kaelin's has it. They have house marinated meats for grilling and freshly made tortilla's. I tried the chicken and beef kabobs and those were tasty. I also tried their cheese and chile & chicken tamale's which were just as good. Came for what I needed and left with a little more. Mel MYelp 21:1

Once again I have to say how much we like Kaelin's hot food counter, especially the rotisserie chickens--so much better than Costco and the supermarkets! At one time they were smaller chickens, but they are a nice size now. :-) We always buy fresh corn tortillas, a chicken and usually some carnitas, and we often pick up a few pan dulces (Mexican pastries), hot carrots, cilantro, sometimes guacamole or fresh-made salsa, sometimes a dulce de leche candy, and sometimes milk or juice, or if the fruit looks especially good. Everyone is nice but the people at the hot food counter and salsa bar are especially friendly. :-) Highly recommended. Oh and don't forget to check out the Arabic food on the way in, especially the yummy large flat "loaves" of bread. Delicious!Oh yeah, one negative: Years ago we had a bad experience with tri-tip steak that we bought at the meat counter. I don't know if they have improved since then or not, but that one experience was enough to put us off their "fresh" meat for good.

Hi, went in there today wanting some tacos and ceviche. Tacos were ok, but I tend to save the best for last. And what a disappointment the ceviche came out to be. $6 tostada came with two tostadas as to think you would need two to fit al that ceviche that came with it. I went back for something else about an hour later, and told the lady that helped me why the container of ceviche was full of limes and cilantro, and she said because she wanted to give me extra. Looks like they threw a little bit of ceviche on the bottom of the container and filled the rest with lime and cilantro.

Awesome Mexican market. Fully stocked. Overly Stocked!!! Paradise in food. Deli, bakery, taco shop, prepared foods ready to eat. Awesome Sandwiches. Good prices. Can't say enough good things about this market. 5 stars!!!

Wow what a variety. Lots of fresh Mexican and Greek food. The prices are very reasonable and the help is great. This is where I go and get all my fresh Mexican food that I can bring home and enjoy. I love the middle eastern fresh bread. I definitely recommend this place.