Save On Meats

After watching staff joke around with the cooks in the back while I sat waiting to be greeted for 5 mins… then the waitress made eye contact with me, but before making it my way stopped to chat the front counter server. I got up and left.
June 1,2:40 pm

Had the lot version of the Traditional breakfast. Lot of meat, potato chips, avocado, tomato, toast and eggs. Satisfying and good meats but a bit greasy to my taste. Coffee is good. Service a bit slow.
Pricey at $ 8.99 plus $ 4.99 for the choice. Menu is a bit misleading.
Music is old-​fashioned and rather noisy.

Love the nostalgic diner atmosphere. The staff were genuine and the food was good. You can’t go wrong with their $ 7 burger. The interior has changed quite a bit from the original Save-​On-​Meats, but the team has done a great job maintaining the character and integrity of the original business. I look forward to returning. Great for families, friends, first dates, people on lunch breaks and people that just want to grab a drink at the bar.

on of the best burgers in town, just fantastic. I’ve also tried the chicken fried steak, chilli and both are excellent.

I LOVE Save on Meats because (A) the staff are super friendly and laid back — zero attitude and always ready to share a joke, (B) it is a true heritage gem in our city — the sign alone is worth a visit, © I love the music they play (the Stones, Bowie — I’m a sucker for the 70s!), (D) you can almost always get a seat at the counter really quick without a wait and (E)…the poutine. I am in love with their Montréal poutine. I eat it every week. My wife thinks I eat it too much. Best poutine I’ve had in Vancouver.

This is a review about the Save On Meats classes, not the meat shop or diner…
In an effort to make it through the zombie apocalypse, my friends and I are taking classes.
I am a regular person. I know how to cook, but canning and sausage making seem like useful traits that I need to know. I tried making sauerkraut (thank you Homesteader’s Emporium, now Homesteader’s Junction) but then was scared that I was going to kill my husband with botulism. He’s delicate. I can eat things that are no longer considered safe and he once told me not to play with his immune system like that. So I ate the sauerkraut, until I thought it might not be safe because yes I followed the instructions, but did I follow the instructions?
So anyhow, my friends and I bought two groupons– one for canning and the other for sausage making. We checked the online calendar and saw that the canning class was coming up. I tried to sign up for the class, but it didn’t recognize the groupon code. I emailed back and forth with Colin and it then worked. I went with two girlfriends. On the day of the class, we parked on Hastings across from Save On Meats. We entered the meat shop first, but were told to go to the diner. There we filled out some forms and waited for our instructor.
Their kitchen is warm. Wear layers. Plus, canning is warm… jars boiling, jam bubbling, brine brining… it can get hot. We are there to make cucumber pickles and jam. There are five girls in the class… I’m not sure what the limit was, but because they didn’t have enough students, she had to sell the extra jars of stuff we made. We are each given different tasks– cut the cucumbers to fit the jar, slice the garlic for the brine and make the dills sprigs small enough to fit in the jar. We each do our part and get schooled on how to properly sterilize the jars and where to get supplies from. She said the dollar store, but I am kind of skeptical… but she uses them, so it must be okay. We fill the clean jars with pickles and garlic and dill and pour the brine that has been simmering on the stove over them. We close the lids, but not too tight and then set them in the boiling water to can. After, we lift out the jars to cool. She said to let them sit there overnight, but I don’t live at Save on Meats, so we took ours home at the end of the night.
She showed us how to make grape jam and told us the difference between jam and jelly. She also told us what pectin to buy, and if you weren’t listening, we got a little booklet with recipes and variations of what we did. We put the jam in smaller jars and did the same thing. During our break, she provided us with cheese and a really nice apricot jam she had made in another class. This lady, whose name escapes me, also teaches knitting classes. She comes to your house and shows you how to do things… I forgot what else she teaches. Would I do this class again? Perhaps not… it seems a little steep if you pay regular price for some knowledge and a jar of pickles and a jar of jam.
The next class we took was with Colin for sausage making. I remember his name because he was the guy I was emailing with when the groupon code wasn’t working. There were more people in this class and we each got a pound of sausage. This class was really fun. We each got a station and a different sausage to make. I made green onion and mustard. My friend made I don’t remember. We each got one sausage from each person, plus whatever we made.
After flavouring the meat, we brought it over to the hand crank sausage maker. We put the natural casings on and away we went. We tried to make uniform sausages, but failed because I ended up with many misshapen ones. You have to pack the meat really well to stop the air pockets, but my arms were not long enough to reach. I ended up having to massage a couple… Made with love. After the class, we went to eat in the diner because we got 15% off.
I asked my friends to come over and taste my sausage. They seem perturbed by that. This was really fun, but again… a lot of money for sausage. I guess it’s like Dirty Apron. It would be a really fun thing to do for a special occasion with a group of friends. I don’t think I would do this regularly… unless I had a groupon.

Every single thing I’ve tried from their menu has been delicious. My business partner is addicted to their poutine, so we eat there a lot. My top recommendations: the popcorn chicken salad (huge!), the BLAT, the chili, the crispy chicken sandwich, the open chicken sandwich with peas and gravy. Great diner environment, friendly crowd and staff.

Ahhh… Save On Meats. I love this diners for two simple reasons:
1. It’s simple.
2. It’s laid back.
You walk into the diners, sit down, the waitress hands you a menu and a piece of paper. Pick your burger and toppings and just sit back. How much more simple can it be?
Not everybody might feel comfortable walking through Hastings, but I for one definitely do not mind plowing through Hastings for some good ol’ SOM burger. The burger itself is good, with two patties to boot! Way better than MickeyD’s. The staff are also very friendly, and one of them was quite surprised when I put in an order for 2 burgers (that’s four patties!). What can I say? I love me some good old fashioned diners burgers.
So if you’re in town, be sure to grab a burger here. Oh, and they have a butchers next door as well, in case you need some fresh meat.

Dear Save On Meats. There is a reason all the other eateries on the strip were standing room only during student break. And you had less than 6 customers. Your food is great, you do good work.
But your servers are so not into us, we the customers. The only smile or laugh I saw or heard during my last visit was when staff were chatting with each other. Which they did the entire time I was there.
No «can I get you anything» or any communication at all. I’ve decided I’m okay with the total and complete indifference of your staff, ‘cuz I’m parking my butt elsewhere from now on.
Later, ‘gator.

3.5 stars, with an extra half for the good they do in the community!
I had a lovely lunch here with some friends; it was my first time but they’ve been a billion times before. We grabbed a nice booth — it was pretty quiet, which was great as I could get a good look without other people thinking I’m trying to spy on them!
Our servers were great, super chill but really on top of things — they kept our water glasses topped up constantly. I ordered the garden sandwich with tomato soup, and all the food looked super homey when it arrived — good comfort food.
The sandwich was good, packed with good flavours and fresh veggies, not to mention lots of cheese! The soup was ok, not my favourite (I like it blended a bit more) but it was great with a squirt of sriracha.
I’ll definitely be back to try some other dishes — the chili looked great, as did the poutine!

Came with the family after checking out the dragonboat festival at false creek.
Atmosphere: not bad, a little loud.
Service: pretty decent.
Menu: the make-​your-​own burger works pretty well.
Food: too heavy for me.
Price: mid-​range, not bad for a quick sit-​down.
Would I come back? Most likely not, though I wouldn’t mind recommending to burger-​loving friends.

Great bar staff, delicious Caesar with bacon garnish, and a nice salty Reuben with corned beef (rather than smoked meat). A bit on the rich and salty side, but hey far be it from me to order corned beef then complain it has salt in it. Long cheerful bar visited in the early evening one welfare Wednesday, perhaps adding to the jovial atmosphere. Sharps container in the clean bathroom adds to everyone’s safety.

As the name says, this place has the best meats around Downtown. Burgers come with juicy, delicious double patty and fresh toppings, plus very tasty cheese. Everything looks and tastes homemade. The buttermilk shake was also excellent, same as the appetizers — mac and cheese croquettes and chicken popcorn. Service was good and the food came fast. Highly recommended!

Save On Meats has been on my list of «to try» restaurants ever since it was featured on Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives. So when K suggested we give it a try, I was excited to see what it’s all about. What’s cool is that the building was actually built in 1891, so it has over 100 years of history! You cannot miss this building driving down Hastings because you’ll see the neon pig sign. Save On Meats also has a butcher shop next to the diner, so you can conveniently head over there for some fresh and local meats.
You can see that the interior has that retro old diner feel to it, but the seats and tables were well kept and clean. Funny paintings and signs decorate the walls of the diner.
SOM is famous for their milkshakes, so I decided to share the Coffee SOM Milkshake with K. It’s quite the large one and it’s great since they give you all the leftovers from making it in a metal cup. You end up getting 1 and a half cups of the shake for under $ 5. The milkshake is thick spun and I loved the light coffee flavour we chose. It reminded me of an iced cappuccino! There are also various other flavours you can choose from.
We were supposed to be here for brunch, but it ended up more like lunch as usual… Well lucky us, since they feature breakfast and brunch items until 4pm on weekends. Both of us didn’t end up going for their breakfast menu though. Instead, K went for a simple soup and salad. She had the Real Nova Scotian Seafood Chowder, which came with a cheese scone on the side. She said the chowder was not as thick as she had expected, but filled with lots of ingredients. She was thinking it would be something like canned soup, but nope, it seemed to be homemade. She also got a side of Caesar Salad which was lightly dressed and topped with croutons and Parmesan.
For myself, I was feeling like it was a pie day. I chose the Shepherd’s Pie, which showed up on a skillet with a side of green salad. I was slightly disappointed at first because I was expecting a pie, but this was rather deconstructed. Nevertheless, it actually tasted pretty good. There was a mixture of ground beef and vegetable stew and it was topped with a cheesy mashed potato crumble. It was very simple and probably something very easy to reconstruct at home but tasty.
Overall, I was quite pleased with Save On Meats. You will find simple diner food here — nothing extravagant or fancy. I wouldn’t say it blew my mind, but I don’t think I was expecting much anyways. Prices are kept low and probably the most expensive item is roughly $ 12. Plus, I think what makes SOM very special and worth a visit is that they are a strong supporter of the Downtown Eastside community and partner with various organizations in giving back to those in need. They also have a token program where you can purchase a token for $ 2.25 and this will allow you to redeem a Breakfast Sandwich. You can either distribute this yourself or have SOM do so. A great way to help those in needs and I personally think it’s a better way than donating money. Definitely a cool place to check out!
Pros:
— Cool retro ambiance
— Cheap simple food
Cons:
— Service was a bit slow at times

As some people would say: yay, I’m a fan. This outfit is fantastic. Great quality, at a quite unbeatable price.
And the service. I said I was hoping for a philly cheesesteak sandwich, since they had some monstrous cheesesteak frankenburger on the daily feature menu. So what the guy did for me was order a delicious beef dip and load it up with swiss cheese, onions and peppers. For the same price!
Ho man ho man ho man. It was the best dippy cheesesteaky sammichy mess I’ve had in a while.
This is a true lunchtime diner.

I gotta admit: I was scared to go to Save On Meats. I had pictured some scary, greasy burger pit in the back of a stinky butcher shop. Not to mention the neighborhood is, well, sketchy. But the lure of a good burger (and Unilocal reminding me I was only .1 kilometer away) finally brought me in, and I’m glad I went. First, the place is CLEAN! It’s bright, kitschy, trendy, and (dare I say) modern with a mid-​century vibe. Yes, there’s a butcher shop attached but it’s completely separate from the restaurant. So there’s no chance of slipping in meat blood on your way to your table. Phew!
We decided to sit at the counter, where we were greeted with prompt and friendly smile. We shared a pint of Persephone Amber (only $ 5 on weekends, which is an amaze-​balls craft pint price in a city where they usually go for around $ 8), and a double burger with bacon, cheddar, and all the trimmings. The meat was really good, nice quality and a good reminder that a burger really is defined by the goodness of its meat. Well, this one did not disappoint (though the patties were a little smaller than I expected). Be sure to order their «special sauce» which is probably just mustard and ketchup mixed with mayo but it’s still delicious!
I perused the menu quite a bit and decided that brunch will be a necessity here at some point in the near future. They serve it until 4 pm on weekends, and they have a yummy-​looking Caesar, so I’m in on this plan. We also got a sneak peek at their new menu (don’t worry, they’re keeping all of the old faves including the build-​your-​own burger) and it looked amazing. Dulce de Leche waffles? Um, yes please!

I dropped in for lunch, had the «legendary» burger. It was good, but definitely not in the «legendary“status. The top spot for the best burger in Vancouver in my humble opinion is still held by Romers. Even though I have to acknowledge that the Romers burger is considerably more expensive — I’m willing to pay for a «legendary» burger. I will probably be back to try some of the other things on the menu –it has a nice old school vibe. One big plus is that they have fast wifi — 8Mpbs download — its password protected — ask your server :)

Walked into SOM for the first time and I was like wow. It’s 70’s retro themed restaurant which offers really good food. We got Salisbury Steak and Hot Chicken Sandwich and boy they were good.
Salisbury Steak ($ 11.95) — tasted alright.
Hot Chicken Sandwich ($ 8.95) — yummy and flavorful.
I had to say fries were amazing. Service was friendly and fast. I regret not ordering their signature milkshake, damn. Everything was really good. I still find their fries unforgettable and will come back absolutely.

While I love the fact that SOM tries hard to take care of those who need a little extra help, I have to say that my last visit wasn’t the greatest.
The service started out alright, and by the end, my guest and I had to get up and walk to the bar to order another drink as our waitress had gone M.I.A.
We also had to chase down another server to give us some extra condiments (we waited for almost 10 minutes!!!).
The burger meat was incredibly salty (this coming from someone who likes things on the ‘salty side’) and overall, this just wasn’t the greatest experience.
Not too sure if I’ll be going back.

Ok I have to admit. This place is super famous if you are in Vancouver or born in Vancouver. When my friend told me that we are dining here. I was like… Isn’t this place on Hasting East where all the homeless people sleep at night infront. Of course my questions were «Is it safe». lol. He told me that he found out about this place reopened on the Food Channel and he wants to try it out. SO… we went.
I was amazed there burgers were very fresh. The place looks clean. Its not bad after all.
I tried their burger and I love the fact they charge based on what you put in. With a reasonable price to start at $ 6 (the two patties only) yes sauces are free. the stuff that cost money are cheese, bacon, advocato etc… and of course the sides. I loved the burger then I had the sheppard pie. Very fresh have to say then I loved the sheppard pie more. Lastly I shared the coffee vanilla milkshake with my friend and yes i loved the Vanilla milkshake most. I guess i can’t make up my mind on what I like the most.
Guess will have to come back trying more things.
I recommend you to take the bus or skytrain over. I don’t think there are free parking around this area.

¡Hamburguesas buenísimas! Puedes armar tu propia selección de ingredientes sí gustas. Papas fritas excelentes. Todo limpio y servicial. Sólo la zona antes de llegar esta medio fea pero en el lugar está muy bien! Sí lo recomiendo!