The Meating Place

Ok it is finally January and now the holidays are over I can finally review some of my favorite places to get holiday meats!
The Meating Place is this little quaint butcher shop in Hillsboro and they have never failed me in the meat department. I ordered fresh turkey from them and it turned out perfect! Over Christmas they had fresh ham and for New Years Eve party I got their prime rib and my god it came out perfectly!
The staff is always incredibly nice and courteous and generally pretty helpful when it comes to what meat to get.
Now next door to the butcher shop is their sandwich shop. Once in a while, they will run out of material for certain sandwiches but overall, the food is good and quick. We like to go in after holiday grocery shopping and pick up a sandwich to go. I definitely enjoy it and if you are looking for a good butcher in the area The Meating Place is definitely the place to go.
2016 Review Challenge #1

This is a great butcher shop. Fantastic. Excellent product, helpful workers. The butcher shop is 5 star place…
The café was a 3.5. Good food, what we got at least. Generous portions. The issue is the unbussed tables workers walk past, the slow (very slow) service and the fact that they were out of the two sandwiches we both wanted (different sandwiches btw). If they were not slow, cared more about making sure tables got cleaned when lazy patrons didn’t do it and were well stocked (at noon btw, not closing) this would have been five stars

Thanks for the bird!
Free range from a family owned ranch. No hormones, preservatives, minimally processed, USDA Grade A.
RAD!

Good enough to be a tourist attraction for ex-​New Yorkers!
Their Classic Pastrami Reuben sandwich reminds me of the great Reuben sandwiches I enjoyed while growing up in New York. They got everything right in the preparation. they presented freshly crisp toasted Rye bread holding steaming pastrami, wrapped with all the fixings.
Because of their generous portions, I can only handle their half sandwiches. Which I am very happy that they offer with a soup or other side for only $ 7.50. Such a deal!

I’m not normally a fan of cold sandwiches but the Meating Place is the exception. The roast beef sandwich is very good and half a sandwich is plenty for a lunch time meal. They do not skimp on the meat and the high quality /​freshness is apparent.
It gets very crowded at lunch due to its proximity to several businesses. The indoor seating is limited and the tables are what you would expect to see outside so they aren’t the most comfortable place to sit and have lunch. There are only a couple side options (normally chips or a soup) that you can pair with your sandwich and they usually have specials posted each day.
The café portion has different hours than the butcher so if you are going for the café, verify on their website that they are open.
As for the butcher side of the business — try the crab cakes! So good and they’re huge. One can nearly be a meal on its own. We haven’t bought much meat here outside of the crab cakes and jerky, but what we have tried has been very good.
Overall the Meating Place is an excellent place for lunch in Hillsboro and a good place to come buy high quality meat. 4 stars.

I purchased a few types of sausages from this place and they were delicious. They went quite nicely with my traditional cheese fondue, for which I puchased. I have also tried their pepperoni meat sticks and they are quite good as well. Sandwiches and soups are great and are quite large portions if you ask me. Their Elk chili? You gotta try it. Anyway, I don’t make it here quite as often as I want to but they haven’t disappointed me yet. Pretty high quality stuff.

The Meating Place café is an amazing sandwich shop! I have come here quite often for lunch in the past year. They keep really busy during lunch time, so be patient and maybe call ahead to order.
Despite the hectic lunch time madness, I find the counter staff to be quite pleasant and up beat.
Their sandwiches are unique. The Italian stallion and turkey club are some of my favorites. What take the the prize, is the Friday special. The braised beef philly cheese steak! It is the tastiest thing I have ever had!
They offer some incredible sides as well. Elk chili and Mac and cheese.

Food (that I have had) is OK. Service is the worst I have ever seen anywhere.
I can’t count the number of times I have placed an order only to be told they were SOLD OUT of whatever I was ordering. Seriously, this seems to happen nearly every day! They often sell out about 1 PM (the height of the lunch hour), they know this happens often, and they don’t care enough to do anything about it.
I have expressed my frustrations about it many times but the staff just seems to make a joke about it every time. I can’t believe service could be so bad anywhere but this is very repeatable time and time again. I gave up and will never waste my time with this place again. (If it is this poorly managed to my face I can only wonder how things are behind the scenes.)

Clean store, friendly staff. Bought Painted Hills hanger steak– it’s precut, and butterflied. I marinated for just 30 minutes for a quick grilled meal. Very good and $ 10 lb. I also bought hamburger with bacon $ 7.50 lb. the hamburger is ground chuck. I use 80% chuck &20% sirloin when I grind, so I’ll compare. Grandkids ate $ 19 worth of pepperoni sticks, big meaty yummy and declared them great. I found short ribs. Yeah!!! And now have 4lbs for the freezer. I will stop here again after my Costco run. The Meating Place «meats» my needs… j
Made hamburgers with the chuck/​bacon. Hands down delicious plus much cheaper than grinding my own. Moist meaty goodness. I’m going back and filling the freezer!

I’m incredibly lucky to live so close to this place. I spend A LOT of money here. The most important things you should know are:
1) It’s in a strange location, off Cornelius Pass Road, farther west than most Portland Proper peeps like to travel.
2) There are two parts to The Meating Place; The Café and The Butcher Shop.
First the Butcher Shop: The smell of smoked meat envelopes you as you enter. Inside you’ll find local sauces, rubs, canned tuna, and salami atop the cases of beautifully displayed meat You’ll need to keep in mind that the meat here is high quality, locally farmed and harvested, it is processed with care, and it’s extremely fresh. So naturally prices are higher than your average grocery store, but honestly the prices are pretty reasonable for most things. The steaks are a bit spendy ($ 10−25ish/lb), but they are premium quality and so fresh! Try a flat iron for about $ 10/​lb, it’s a hard to find cut, super tender and easy to cook (doesn’t need anything fancy done to it). They have wonderful ground chuck, and their ground beef/​bacon combo (those run around $ 6−7/lb) makes the most delicious burgers! I buy their freshly ground sausage (all kinds), it’s so flavorful and tender. I can’t say more than YUM when it comes to their sausages, I’ve had nearly all of them and they are smoked and delicious, the beer hound is my fave (they average a little under $ 2 a piece). You’ll also find displayed thick cut bacon, rasher bacon, Summer sausage (both flavors), smoked turkey (the best I’ve ever had), REAL bologna (you don’t even know what this means until you try it), and the pepperoni sticks are bursting with smoky flavor. If you’re looking for something different they have rabbit, lamb, and elk. Your dog isn’t left out either! They sell raw dog food in 3 sizes, smoked bones, and pig ears.
On to the café: They make breakfast burritos and sandwiches. They also have blueberry pancakes with bits of bacon in them, which are served next to eggs and a hand made fresh ground sausage patty. I’ve had nearly every sandwich on their menu, and a few specials. My advice is: if they have anything with tri-​tip in it for the special, GET IT. The turkey bacon avocado sandwich is the best one I’ve had, period. There is so much house smoked turkey and thick cut bacon sandwiched between toasted sourdough and chipotle mayo, GET THIS. And, the pulled pork sandwich, you can’t go wrong. Best one on the West side of the river! Lunch can be a little spendy by the time you buy chips and a drink, but it’s totally worth it! They always offer a daily soup and are super accommodating to special requests.
If you don’t have much time on your lunch break, I suggest you call ahead 30 mins for pick up. Seating is limited and they are always busy. They cafes hours are limited, I think they close at 3pm. I hope they expand someday and serve dinner! :)

I went in here too see if the place was worth it. I drive past on the freeway, but don’t drive up this road much.
I tried a few sausages. The meat area felt like it was all pre cut and I prefer when it’s cut to order.
The maple sausages were way too sweet. Not bad, but not good.
The paprika sausage that wasn’t spicy on the other hand was quite tasty. I’d get more of those for sure…
The Hungarian sausages were quite tasty. Spicy and paprika filled. I’d definitely go back for more of those.
In the end I think I need to go again, but I’m not driving out of my way in excitement.

I met my family for lunch here and had the Philly Cheese steak which was absolutely incredible and would get 5 stars from me. I need to return more to try other items and see their service before i give a 5 star rating, but it wouldn’t surprise me to rate them that highly!
Oh and the gouda mac n cheese cold salad is great as well

Heaven between two buns.
I was hankering for a pulled pork sandwich & I got well more than I bargained for. The behemoth was served with crunchy pickles, sweet onions & tangy coleslaw-​in a word AMAZING.
Service was quick as the café is connected to the butcher shop, freshness at it’s peak,

I mean holy delish. Stopped by this place on complete accident & will put it on my lunch rotation.
I absolutely loved my French dip sandwich & my friend was drooling over her pulled pork.
Try this place out but note they are only open to 3pm and not open everyday.

So many interesting combinations here and it’s absolutely delicious. You get a massive sandwich for your money so it’s a great deal.
I have the roast beef on marbled rye with spicy horse radish sauce and man was it HOT but SO good. :)
definitely need to come again to try their other stuff.

This is a review for The Meating Place Café only.
I LOVE their pulled pork sandwiches. It is definitely the best pulled pork in the area, and it’s definitely a contender for best in the Portland area. The sandwich comes topped with homemade coleslaw, pickles, and onions, which really add to the flavor profile.
—
Negatives:
They don’t offer a ½ size pulled pork sandwich (like they do with a lot of their other sandwiches), so I’m forced to each the entire delicious ginormous sandwich (probably more than I should be eating at once).
They also don’t really have very many side options. There are some bags of chips available, and there is usually a soup on the menu, but that’s about it. That being said, the sandwiches are HUGE so you don’t really necessarily need a side to fill up at lunch after the sandwich.
—
Since the pulled pork sandwich was the first thing that I ordered, I unfortunately don’t have anything to say about anything else on their menu due to the fact that I can’t bring myself to order anything else when I get the chance to eat here.
There is seating outside in an enclosed (during colder weather) porch that has some heat lamps. Inside seating is pretty much outdoor-​type metal furniture. This café isn’t super swanky, but they do serve quality food, which is the most important part.
Everyone is really friendly. They usually have specials written on a whiteboard by the cash register. Fountain drinks are available for purchase. Prices are EXTREMELY reasonable.

I stand by my previous review but have to add some information about the Café side. I’m going to give you specifics, so you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did.
OK, so The Meating Place and The Meating Place Café are sort of one business but not. In the fall, they started their «Frickin’ Fried Chicken» meals on Fridays. I went to the butcher shop side and was behind a person that was buying just about everything in the store. When it was finally my turn, I asked for the frickin’ fried chicken meal only to be told that I had to go over to the café side for that. They said that if both places weren’t busy, they’d usually just yell over the order, but at that moment, they were swamped. I went over to the café side and saw people that had been behind me already waiting for their order. It was my turn and I was told that they were out of chicken. A few other people walked in and were told the same thing. Now, the frickin’ fried chicken is Fridays from 4 – 7, but I went at around 5:00 and they were out.
I stuck around a bit to ask a few questions (seriously, with a review in mind) and was told that if I was willing to wait about 45 minutes, they had two more chickens and would sell me one of them. I agreed.
I asked if they did call ahead and was told no, that it was just first come, first served. Two people walked in and said they’d called in an order and just picked it up, so I’m not sure what the deal is on that. (I tried calling in the next week and was told they don’t take orders, maybe it’s just for «regulars»). Anyway, the meal was great. We had the whole bird. The meals are whole bird, 4 biscuits, one side and four drinks for $ 24, or a half bird, 2 biscuits, one side, and two drinks. I think the half bird is $ 17, but don’t quote me on that, I’ve never bought the half. I also can’t guarantee that they’ll cost the same. I think that since meals change, the prices might change too. They’ll have that week’s price posted. The sides have been different each time. We’ve had cole slaw, an orzo salad, and mac & cheese. Follow them on facebook and they’ll tell you what sides they’re selling that day. Also, it’s not always chicken (they’ve had fried fish, and chicken fried steak), so if you’re interested, follow them.
One of the times I had paid and not given the drinks, so I had to ask. Another time, I was asked if I wanted them to include the biscuits. I said yes and they asked if I wanted all four. I wasn’t going to eat the whole meal myself, and I had already paid for it, so yeah, I wanted the four drinks and the four biscuits that had said were included in the meal package. It’s not a big deal, just more of a heads up.
Now you know everything you need to know, you just need to taste it. It’s pretty worth it.

Had the chicken enchilada soup today. It was full of good stuff, spicy enough to soothe my sour throat and delicious. The kind woman behind the counter seeing that I had a cold gave me my bowl of soup immediately which was appreciated. My husband had a pulled pork sandwich which has some of the smokiest tender meat in town and has been known to sell out. We also picked up some smoked bones for our dogs (who were thrilled to get their paws on them) and a some good looking kielbasa which I can’t wait to try. Great selection. Carnivores welcome. Yum.

I love this place, it’s right down the street from my work, so it’s perfect for lunch out as a treat. It’s a little more expensive (their café) than the other options around, but for the quality you’re getting, it’s so worth it. I was able to go to the butcher shop as well as get a sandwich and soup to go and make it back to work with plenty of time to spare. Their butcher shop is reasonably priced for what it offers (local fresh meats) and the slow aged steaks I got were amazing (my husband loved them for our anniversary).
I highly recommend this place. Their Rueben is to die for and I think I got their turkey stew or turkey pot pie soup and was blown away by it.

Something magical happened this summer. The meat counter at Pastaworks on SE Hawthorme was temporarily stocked by the good folks from The Meating Place. And it was exquisite.
* Beer dogs with casings so snappish you would swear (if you didn’t know better) your dog was sassing you with each bite.
* Rasher bacon that elevated an otherwise ordinary breakfast egg sandwich to gourmet status with only a couple minutes of extra cooking time.
* Steaks cut to your preferred thickness and trimmed so perfectly you need only place on the grill and pray you don’t screw it up.
* Beef jerky so fragrant the neighborhood dogs would follow you home.
* Smoked lunch meat so fresh and delicious you could never look at a typical deli case again.
And then, in a flash, it was gone. Gone! Except not really. The Meating Place is still out there in Hillsboro — Cornelius Pass Road — which my phone promised me really wasn’t *that* far away. So I recently made the trek out to this far away land of Hillsboro, and I found the Mecca that is The Meating Place, and it was more than exquisite. Does exquisite have a superlative? If so, it was that. For sure it was that. Plus it is so much bigger than the Pastaworks location.
Look, I’m the last person who would willingly suggest anyone hop onto 26 in order to track down food, but The Meating Place is the real deal, and it is absolutely worth the trip. Bring a cooler and stock up.