save on meats

great food,greatspirit. i make a point of going to eat here as it's out of my neighbourhood. i've spent my life shopping downtown and am thrilled to be able to get really good quality food at agreatprice!

bottom line: let's get the good points out of the way first. the chicken was spot on,greatseasoning, awesome crunch. the gravy was delicious, super savoury. here comes the bad part, what is up with the waffles? is this corn bread? you serving corn bread waffles? that's bat shit crazy if it's corn bread cause it was so dense. i had a couple omg am i going to choke moments. i've had their other dishes before and no complaints but the waffles, dammit, could have been epic.

top notch all the way around. agreatblend of classic, vintage diner feel with modern updates that make this place a really comfortable, cool (but not too cool) spot to enjoygreatnorth american diner fare. i eat here regularly for lunch but weekend brunches are a special treat. really hard to pin point a favourite but menu highlights are definitely the burger, mac and cheese coquettes, roast chicken dinner and arguably the best milkshake in town. it's a unique and rare find special to vancouver.

1st time here & won't be my last! service right from the start wasgreatand my burger was fantastic. side salad was fresh and decent.greatdowntown diner vibe with lots of chatter. look forward to trying breakfast items & more lunch/dinner dishes.

save on meats was on my list for the longest time. i’m surprise that it was not checked off anytime earlier since i literally went to school a block down the road. i heardgreatthings about its food, and i’ve seen guy fieri on food network munching down food in his mouth in there. it was such a long time ago, i really don’t remember what they featured on the show. i honestly was disappointed cause i always go for what is recommended. so if anyone had an idea what guy fieri ate on the show, please comment and let me know!! i will go back just for it.

fantastic!.greatfood and friendly service. what's not to like? had the chicken and waffles. best i've had since i lived in southern california.

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 andgreatchoice 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.

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- notgreatand 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.

went there tonight for something to eat around 7:30. had agreatserver 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

i've tried this place three times now, and all have been disappointing.

i can't remember exactly what i have the first time, but i sat at the counter. i think it was some type of braised beef sandwich. it was okay, but certainly wasn't anygreatvalue. for some silly reason i thought that this place was supposed to be a little bit more affordable, considering the part of the city that it was him. you know what they say about assumptions.

at best, the service was mediocre.

the second time i went there, i had an open faced chicken sandwich. it tasted alright, but again was certainly nogreatvalue for what i paid for it. as well, when it was brought to my table, i wasn't given any cutlery with which to eat it. i had to ask the waitress for a knife, and then after waiting over five minutes for her to bring me one so i could eat the food that she brought to me, i finally just got up and went to the counter and asked again. i was greeted with this silly little smile, and an excuse about how she had forgotten because she was busy. by this point my sandwich was almost cold.

absolutely pathetic service.

i went there again yesterday for breakfast. in all honesty if it wasn't for the fact that i had gone to three other restaurants in that part of town that were closed, and i wasn't just really really hungry, i would have set foot in the place.

needless to say, not only did they screw my order up, they screwed my friends order up. and after informing them of this, they screwed up their attempt to fix it. the waiter apologized and told us that we wouldn't have to worry about the charges for the extra product that was brought to us. in the end, they charged us for everything. had they have actually gotten the order correct, it would've cost us less money.

bottom line. the food is passable. the service is extremely lacking, and the prices are high for what you get.

if you read any number of the reviews that have been posted on urbanspoon about this restaurant, you will see the same complaints over and over and over again. the fact that nothing changes, at least as far as the service is concerned, shows that the management of this company or the owners care very very little regarding the opinions of their diners.

so i'm going to ask you directly:

save on meats owners or manager:

why do you not do something to address the concerns your diners patrons have about your establishment?

does it not concern you that i can go to your restaurant three times, and have subpar service all three times? do you really think that i'm going to recommend your restaurant to anyone else? you should be very concerned about the things that people are saying about your service and your food and your prices, but it seems that you're not.

someone wrote a review prior to this one, and i think she hit the nail on the head. vancouverites need to wake up when it comes to restaurants that offer crappy service, expensive prices, small portion sizes and mediocre food. people in this town are so used to putting up with this kind of stuff, that it just becomes the norm and they expect nothing more.

honestly, you should be embarrassed about the experience that you provide, and i as well as everybody else should be embarrassed that were naïve enough to think that this is acceptable, and to keep going back.

no more.

not too bad, but fails to meet the hype. my wife and i ate at save-on meats last sunday after having heard goods things about it and having seen the diners, drive-ins, and dives spot.

we were promptly greeted and shown a booth, but as we walked in the door, we noticed that there was a live dj. this seemed a little odd for a diner, but given its hipster reputation, we let it go. however, throughout our meal the djs continued to raise the music volume higher and higher until the waitress had difficulty understanding our orders, and vice versa. furthermore, one of the records played was cracked, so there was one 4-minute interval in there that we were all tortured by a loud 45rpm pop! pop! pop! pop! the 18 year old djs were oblivious.

the menu was about comfort food: turkey pot pie, meatloaf, burgers, sandwiches, and definitely seemed like a good value (i think our total bill was $21). but the food itself was hit or miss. my wife ordered the mac & cheese, and i ordered the barbecue ribs.

the mac & cheese was passable for a homemade real cheese mac & cheese, but wasn't terrific like so many of thegreatmac & cheese inspired dishes which are in fashion right now. the best thing about my plate of ribs was the mashed potatoes, which were fantastic. the peas and carrots, while at least fresh rather than frozen, were undercooked (not a problem for carrots which are good raw, but undercooked peas are starchy and nasty). the ribs came smothered in what i can only assume is the meatloaf sauce, sort of like a mildly spiced homemade ketchup -- not bbq sauce at all. also, i suppose the portions reflect the price, but four tiny 2-inch pork ribs seemed a little disappointing. i was full at the end (largely thanks to the mashed potatoes), but this dish really should have been listed as "mashed potato and peas & carrots plate, with a homemade biscuit and a small side of pork ribs with tomato paste on them."

i wouldn't refuse to eat there again, especially if i was already in that part of downtown and wanted a hot meal for not much money, but i can make better at home.

superb service!. my husband and i stopped in for a quick bite to eat while walking around vancouver. we split a rueben with a side of poutine. holy! first of all, the food was outstanding! loads of delicious cuts of meat and fresh gravy and cheese curds on the poutine! now that's how you make a poutine! not only was the food good, but the small attention to detail by our server was greatly appreciated. we told her we would just share a plate... what would you expect? the dish and maybe a side plate to split the meal? that's what i was expecting... she arrived with the order split evenly onto two separate plates. this showed foresight, care for patrons, and attention to detail. it was much appreciated! we left feeling like they truly cared about delivering good customer service and genuinely wanted us to enjoy our dining experience.greatspot! we'll be back.

great for students!.greatfor people on a budget! if you want to go out for dinner but can't really afford it go to save on meats! you get what you pay for, it's alright food for a good price. i got a beer, appy, main, and dessert for only $16! and i wasn't disgustingly full. you may think they have a cockroach problem for where the location is, but it's fine, the only thing they need to get rid of is the hipsters. so if you're on a budget go see a movie on cheap night at tinseltown and check out save on meats.

2 thumbs up. just got back from agreatfirst experience at the diner,
first thing i noticed was that the diner was a nice room, inviting, warm, classic diner feel,
a nice server and one of the better reuben sandwiches i've ever had.
the menu is very affordable which is much needed in vancouver.
we finished off with a visit next door to the butcher and came away very impressed with the new saveon.
bravo mr brand, bravo.
will be returning, often.

works for me. this isn't fancy food, but for the price it's agreatdeal. if there's a line, and there almost always is, work your way to the front and get your name on the whiteboard, asap. a waiter will occasionally come by to tell the folks waiting to put their names on the board, but that is cold comfort if you've been waiting for 10 minutes, and 3 other groups in the know, have snuck in ahead of you and gotten their names up. the burgers and fries (or salad) are cheaper than the mcdonalds down the block, and a whole lot better. the food is very much homemade comfort food - simple ingredients, well prepared.