So here’s the move. Instead of ranking them 1 through 10 like they’re all interchangeable (they’re NOT!), this guide breaks them down by use case: weekly meals, party prep, bulk buys, specialty ingredients. Daly City has the highest concentration of Filipino and Filipino American residents of any midsized city in North America — the 2010 census put that figure at 40.7% and the 2020 census at 33.2%, per Wikipedia — so the grocery scene HAS to deliver. And it does. Bring the whole barkada — there’s a stop here for every kind of Saturday.
Weekly Meals (the Filipino pantry base)
Seafood City Supermarket — Daly City flagship.
1420 Southgate Ave (St. Francis Square Shopping Center), Daly City. Open daily 7:00 AM – 9:00 PM. $$. This one is the headline. The chain’s 38th store across the U.S. and Canada — and its first inside Daly City proper — opened July 31, 2025, per Asian Journal and KRON4. Seafood City president Matthew Go told Phil Post that “Daly City holds deep meaning for Filipino families,” and Philippine Consul General Neil Frank R. Ferrer publicly hailed the opening as “a testament to the enduring presence and economic vitality of the Filipino American community.” Translation: this store is a big deal.
What sets the Daly City flagship apart from other Seafood City locations is that they cook food in-house. The Food Hall has Grill City (rotisserie), Noodle Street, Sizzle, and Baker’s Avenue — so the bangus, lechon, and oxtail you need for kare-kare are right next to a hot pancit canton lunch. There’s an SFC+ App with loyalty points and BDO Remit money transfers to the Philippines, and yes, an SMDC Prime real-estate desk if anyone in your barkada is shopping for a condo back home. Ay nako. And per SF Standard’s November 15, 2025 piece, the store has been hosting “Late Night Madness” DJ parties on select Friday and Saturday nights, 8 PM to midnight, with a dance floor between the fish market and the bakery. A grocery store with karaoke energy — that’s the Daly City story.
Seafood City Supermarket — South San Francisco. 3573 Callan Blvd, South San Francisco. (650) 243-6100. Open daily 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM. $$. The Westborough location was the peninsula anchor for Filipino groceries before the Daly City flagship opened, and it’s still the closer Seafood City for some Westlake-area families heading south on I-280. Same chain pricing, same bakery counter (pan de sal, ube goods, mamon), Grill City rotisserie inside. 470 photos and 164 reviews on Yelp as of March 2026 — community-tested, no question. If the Southgate parking lot looks chaotic on a Saturday morning, this is your release valve.
Budget Fresh Fish and Produce (haggle territory)
Manila Oriental Market — Daly City.
950 King Dr Suite 112 (Serramonte Quarter), Daly City. (650) 878-3328. Open daily 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM. $. This is where to go when you want the fresh-fish counter to feel like a palengke. Live tanks for lobster, crab, and tilapia, and they’ll clean and fry your fish for you after you buy it. Sister store to the well-known San Francisco Manila Oriental at 4175 Mission St. With 202 Yelp reviews logged as of March 2026, it’s a quietly established neighborhood market — not a press-darling, but the produce section (calamansi, bitter melon, ube, banana leaves) is wide and the prices on the seafood counter run lower than the bigger chains. The meat department is dialed for adobo, sinigang, and kare-kare cuts…