save on meats

excellent food, good prices, good service. my only complaint is i found the amount of fries on my plate sort of cheap. basic fries...so load them on please! a must try is the turkey pot pie and boozy milkshakes are pretty amazing.


-----16 dec, 2012-----

turkey pie is the one. and try the booze milkshakes!!!!!!

expected. i lived in gastown long before it was revitalized, so thought a visit back was in order. remembered saveon meats, and had seen it on tv, so went by. for the area, and the hype this place gets, i expected more. like many reviews before mine, there was nothing wrong with my meal, it just wasn't right. i also was charged extra for the corrections they made for their mistakes, even after asking for someone else to talk to. average food, below average service, extra charges, no, i wont be back.

overall, the experience was great. we rolled in about 8 deep and were just getting the orders for takeout, but the staff was great. mixed crowd, and all laid back. good vibe from this joint.

3rd visit. off the bat i'll tell ya...
i've never been disappointed here in the 3+ visits over the past year: breakfast, lunch or dinner. not wowed either, but no legit complaints at all: it's quality, diner style food. normal portions and real food. the burger i had the other evening was a delicious honest beef patty and great choice of toppings.
they could do up the bun; toast it or something. plus i chose the soup option: tomato soup. the soup was amazing. you know when you still think about something so delicious a week later?
this place puts that other burger place to serious shame; the terrible one i bitched about last week.
my tab at save-on meats was $10. they have a decent looking booze menu too. i might get into that sometime in the future.

as a kid, my family would drive by save on meats every once in a while, since it was on our way to harbour tower or stanley park. this was considered the “bad” part of town, and i suppose for some it still may be–there would be lots of haggardly dressed men and women wandering the streets, pushing shopping carts and looking “scary”, and i was never, ever to go here. basically, this part of vancouver was just chinatown, gastown and downtown, and the part in between was not worth talking about, or visiting, at all. many years later, i still find myself being extra wary when i’m in the neighbourhood, and i know that while i should be careful, there is no need to cast such negative eyes on the residents of the dtes. sure, some may have habits that aren’t very appealing to me, but their misfortune shouldn’t be a reason for me to not venture here– in fact, i think i could stand to learn quite a bit. so, with just a little bit of trepidation, samson and i travelled together to grab a bite at

this burger was great. the herbs in the burger and the sauce really make this burger. the beef was nice and moist too and not greasy, which is always a plus ! for $6.00, this is in the lower price category, but this would rank high in the $8.00 – $11.99 category too ! i highly recommend this burger if you’re in the area. bottom line – we have a new #1 in the category “less than $7.99″

terrible meal there today. new menu lacked the best sandwich. had the club house sandwich - chicken was too salty, bread was soggy, avocado was mushed up, and raspberry vinaigrette for the salad was too oily and didn't taste like raspberry at all. my friend's burger bun was burnt and fries were cold. won't go back and wouldn't recommend to anyone.

where do i get the burger shown on diners?. went to save on meats thinking that we would actually get something that resembled what we saw on diners, drive-ins and dives, wow were we wrong. drove from penticton to have a burger smaller than mcdonalds. re-watched the d3 episode to see if we remembered correctly and yes what we saw on the show was what we remembered. if you want to try it on the basis of d3 please save the disappointment (and time) it's not worth the trouble.

great breakfast for a good price. my gf doesn't mess around when it comes to her eggs benny. the sauce was runny and cold. the eggs were rock hard. she caused a little bit of a awkward scene. she has been back since her ban was lifted and loved everything else. never hit the eggs benny since though.

i tried their house burger with green salad which was quite delicious. the only bad side was the bun was burn black on the edges so biting into it left a bitter taste in my mouth. for $7 it was quite fair price.

average. i tried their mac n' cheese and it was really good and my friend tried the turkey pot pie. it was also good but we both agreed it's wasn't spectacular. the prices considering portion size and the fact that it is a diner was in my opinion, on the more expensive side. i wouldn't mind coming again but it probably won't be anytime soon.

ditch the djs and embrace your diner. all the plates of food were solid, cheery service but the atmosphere is all kinds of wrong!
food- had their house veggie burger. pretty good, tasted fresh, could use some seasoning and perhaps top it with something more veg appealing like marinated peppers, braised collards or something other than just the tomatoe slice which suits red meat burgers. my mate said his cheeseburger was good, and cooked well. was surprised the veggie cost so much more than the traditional, but it is save on 'meats', not 'veggie'. ; ) coffee- not great and also not the worst i've had. got cold very quickly though and had to try to track down people for a refill. the atmosphere though the night we stepped in was absolutely terrible. we wanted burgers, coffee and pie and it was served with a dj on a horrendous sound system that was far too loud. we couldn't talk to one another, we had to yell at the servers and because they could not hear us, we got cake rather than the pie we wanted. a dj, even if they are playing pretty good music does not suit this location at all. nor does it complement the menu. (the sound system reminded me of teenage pool halls of the late eighties - bad!) it just doesn't and it was easy to see that people sat in their booths looking at each other in silence rather than try to have a conversation felt the same.

amazing!. i just wrote my review, but i also wanted to add that when i walked in a lovely young patron told me to try the tuna melt which she said was fabulous and in addition to that i sat at the counter and was surrounded by other patrons raving about the food. i guess it may have been some growing pains from the time some of the other reviewers went to the day i went in, but that is to be expected with all restaurants. people also have to remember that they are eating in a diner, not a five star restaurant. finally, with respect to the prices, let's not forget that this is not a soup kitchen, it's a business that has to make a profit. the prices were like most diners and very reasonable.


-----22 dec, 2012-----

amazing!. first i have to say the atmosphere was fun and busy and the people who sat and then served me were absolutely welcoming and friendly. the food was delicious and the menu was really great. i went for lunch and enjoyed a couple of glasses of white wine with their "big salad" which was butter lettuce, goat cheese and chicken served under a fresh and flavourful citrus vinegrette. i tried save on meats after seeing it on the gastown gamble and when arlene dickenson became a partner and it exceeded my expectations! all the booths were completely filled with "women who lunch" business people and students - which leads me to believe that it's become a pretty "in" place to try out. i know everyone is entitled to their opinion, but i have to wonder if those who are going a little overboard complaining are usually the ones who are always complaining about something anyway? save on meats is just up the street from my work and i parked right on hastings and abbott. the neighbourhood felt safe and is a cool mix of both people working and living in the area. i'll be back.

went there tonight for something to eat around 7:30. had a great server who was attentive and friendly. i had the mac & cheese with bacon and onions. very good and lots. ended up taking half of it home. my friend had the burger on the brioche bun with a side of mashed potatoes. really liked the burger and even though the mashed potatoes were nearly cold liked them too and took home leftovers. overall we enjoyed our meal and will be back. suggestion to cooks. don't put the potatoes on the plate first on a counter without any over head heat then put the entree on in a couple of minutes

save on meats review. my wife and i were all hyped up to try save on meats restaurant after watching the diners, drive ins and dives on the food network. i gotta tell you what a real disappointment it was. my wife ordered a hot chicken sandwich and what she got was one slice of toasted bread with fat and crumbly pieces of chicken smothered in an imitation gravy with about 15 frozen fries and they charged 10.00 for that! my chicken dinner was absolutely horrible , two small frozen little chicken thighs, frozen peas and carrots and about 15 to 16 frozen french fries and we also shared a milkshake. if i wanted a frozen dinner i could have went to safeway and bought a hungry man t.v. dinner for about 4.00 and it would have tasted better and at least i would have got more chicken!!!! our total bill came to 35.00 plus 4.00 dollars for parking . what a joke!! i think diners, drive-ins and dives was just an advertisement for the restaurant and i will never take they're word for it again!! the only good thing i can say about that restaurant was the waitress was very nice and that's about it!! stay away awful!!!