save on meats

the vancouver food scene is so diverse. take a look at the gastown neighbourhood for example. there are bars that serve $30 cocktails, sushi, italian, mexican restaurants all within a stone throw from each other. and on east hastings, a street that has the distinction of being canada’s poorest postal code, you’ll truly find gastown’s gamble: the newly revitalized save-onmeatsdiner. the diner and butcher shop have been part of this neighbourhood for like it seems forever. owner mark brand (the brains behind such gems as monster sushi and boneta) has managed to keep the authentic feel of the place. vintage signs painted by local artists suggest to us that it’s time to order a banana split and that the coffee is fresh. a large bar it’s the centre piece of the restaurant. the prices are ridiculous. $6 for a bacon cheeseburger and fries? sign me up! most entrees start at less than $10. the children’s menu start at $4. now some people are expecting gourmet fare. folks, this is a diner. and

great food, unappetizing atmosphere. went to save onmeatsdiner for the first time for dinner. the server and food were fantastic. however i won't be going back due to a few customers walking around with no shirt and big belly's flopping around, spraying ketchup on the bar out of the bottles, and worst of all, sucking the ketchup out of the bottle into their mouths. worst of all i used one of these ketchup bottles. unfortunately the staff didn't do anything about this.

fantastic. the food at save onmeatsis always fantastic. i can't give up ordering my usual reuben and my boyfriend is stuck on the burger. better than the the food, is the story. i love the atmosphere because the servers are not only there to serve but also because giving back to the community is part of save on's mandate. josh, the manager, is always friendly, enthusiastic and makes a genuine effort to remember customers. when you go, make sure you stop in on the butcher side too, their prices can't be beat and the product is excellent!

so about thirty years ago, i discovered save onmeatson east hastings street. it was a butcher shop where i could get rabbit and lamb shanks and other things and at reasonable prices. so the occasional trip to vancouver for ingredients came to include a stop under the neon pig! in the last few years, save onmeatshas been home to a diner, with socially conscious management who are active in the local community, even handing out tokens redeemable for a breakfast sandwich to those in need. prices are reasonable for the stated purpose of being accessible to the local residents. the folks here could not be friendlier and we were soon seated in a comfortable booth and enjoying the artwork and vibe. it didn't take us long to decide and order. chicken and waffles! this came with a wonderful meaty gravy and syrup and the chicken was nicely tender and moist. marie and i were split on the crunchy coating. i found it a little dry and was not a fan but she munched down every bit. the waffles themselves tended to be a little heavy. that's the thing about gravy and syrup though, they tend to cover other weaknesses. we also had a burger with cheese and bacon. this was a basic winner with a tasty pickle and a nice no nonsense bun. served with a generous side of in house made "haystack fries" which were a good delivery system for any remaining gravy or ketchup! not sure what the best way is go get them into your mouth though. someone suggested chopsticks! we recommend this place for its food and its service to the community!

opened in 1957, save onmeatsis one of those legendary institutions, a gem of a place that resides in the middle of a big city. found on the edge of gastown and not exactly on a “great” part of hastings, the location turned out to be an endearing part of this diner that only caused me to like it more. i heard about this place by seeing it in enroute magazine’s dining guide 2016. bold consensus?: i think that we can all agree that the best burger in all of the land can be found at in-n-out burger and i have to say, the excellent burger at save onmeatsmay actually be the next best thing. there! i said it!!!

we visited on a saturday evening and it would be amiss of me not to mention that this place is located a mere block away from where hastings gets “bad.” because of the sketchy neighbourhood, i could see that some potential customers might be scared away. don’t let this stop you. the area is more harmless than it looks and the way that som embraces their downtown eastside location and their community is actually quite beautiful. you’ll know that you’ve found them when you see their glorious neon lights! that rotate!

they started off as a butcher shop back in the heyday of hastings when the street was vancouver’s main shopping and entertainment district (a bygone era) and then expanded to include a diner later on. the restaurant itself is actually quite large, a long and narrow space with a soaring ceiling. one side of the room features exposed brick and booth seating, along with hip and interesting art on the wall. on the other side, a very long counter dotted by chairs. it feels old and fresh at the same time, and surprisingly not all that divey. yes, there are needle disposal units in the bathrooms, but this is just one example of how this place is embracing where they are. again, don’t let it frighten you.

we were told to sit wherever we wanted, settled into a booth, and were immediately helped by the incredible staff. why incredible? i give these guys a ton of credit for the jobs that they do. not only are they serving amazing food, but they are also pouring free coffee for less fortunate customers and are engaging them in conversations. they know who these people are and are treating them with dignity. we can all learn a little something from this.

i had heard that their milkshakes were very good and was quickly drawn to the adult milkshake section where i could get something called the legendary shake (wild turkey bourbon, bacon, milk, chocolate ice cream, topped with whipped cream and more bacon! - $9.45). with a name like that, how could i not try it? yup, the shake sounds crazy! but it looked amazing. it tasted even better! chocolatey and delicious, i could taste the alcohol but it wasn’t too much. the best part was the bacon! this bacon was extra good, so salty and crispy, smokey and flavourful. i find that you can’t get bacon this good in the grocery store - it’s gotta come from a butcher or a farmers’ market. this thing is big enough to share between two people. super fun!

the food menu includes various sandwiches and even all-day breakfast... but the “thing” is the burger. that’s what they’re famous for. the spicy chicken sandwich was totally speaking my language, but it had to be the burger. so i went with the save on burger (since 1957 save onmeatshas hand ground local beef for the best and freshest burger in town. today, our cache creek burgers come straight from our butcher shop and are topped with american cheese, crisp butter lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles on a brioche bun topped with s.o.m. sauce - $8.95) which is served with your choice of haystack fries, salad or coleslaw. the food came out lightening fast and looked great. i subbed real cheddar ($0.95) on mine and now that i know how good their bacon is, i will add that as well next time. i ordered my burger with haystack fries and asked for coleslaw on the side. the server suggested that they could simply do half fries and half coleslaw, which i happily accepted. the fries were the best!! i love a shoestring style fry and these ones were fried perfectly and tasted crispy and delicious. maybe the best fries that i’ve had in vancouver, actually. i found the coleslaw less good and too chunky for my taste. it seemed like a pile of big cabbage with not very much dressing or flavour.

but the burger. let’s talk about this most wonderful burger. i’m not even a burger person! i rarely order hamburgers and almost always order something else, given the choice. but this burger is special. every part of it is excellent. the beef tastes ultra fresh and it’s not cooked to a char. the mark of a good quality, real, housemade beef patty is one that can be served medium rare. i almost jumped with joy when i saw the hint of pink after taking a bite. the bun is also incredible. a buttery brioche that is perfectly squashy in exactly the best way. every vegetable was crisp, bright and fresh. the pickle was delicious. and their special sauce made all the difference and tasted amazing. this burger was literally perfect in every way and every day that you let go by without trying it is unfortunate.

the prices are exceedingly reasonable at som. plus they have a conscious. they offer a token program where for $3.50 you can purchase a token that you can then give to someone in need. or the restaurant will do it for you if you prefer. this will buy that person a sandwich. since 2012 they have served up over 88,000 delicious meals to residents of this neighbourhood. the entire initiative is extremely heartwarming.

save onmeatsis trying to make things better instead of worse. in my opinion they’re doing amazing work. but aside from that, they are serving amazing food and the best damn hamburger in vancouver! which is why you absolutely need to try them.

used to frequent save-onmeatsfor my favourite burgers in town, filled up 3 whole stamp cards. since removing the build-your-own sheet though we've just stopped going entirely. we tried a burger off the menu and it wasn't as satisfying.

we've also been to brunch here before, i'd suggest avoiding as it never was great, there's too many amazing breakky joints in vancouver to bother.

i don't like their gravy flavour, but it is nice and creamy.

milkshakes are amazing.

save onmeatshas 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 onmeatsalso has a butcher shop next to the diner, so you can conveniently head over there for some fresh and local meats.

save onmeatsis an institution. legendary in vancouver for their burgers!! how has it taken me this long to try this place? i was planning on getting one - but i when i got there i just wasn't in a burger mood. you just have to be in "the mood" for a burger hehe, you know what i mean? ;)

save onmeatswas 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 heard great things 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.

do we dress low key? will i get mugged? no louboutins right? do i leave my purse in the car? these are some questions that crossed my mind when c'est la vie a maggi suggested save onmeatsfor our next food date. jokes aside (sort of), i did not mind trying out the restaurant because honestly without her, i would never even think of going to save on meats. plus, i was set on ordering a burger way in advance to prevent wasting twenty minutes of her time when we arrived, since she knows i am indecisive. after spending the morning at a spa together and maggi giving me numerous chances to choose another restaurant for lunch, we finally walked to the restaurant after parking in front of a, clinic. save onmeatsis located in the downtown eastside and serves homestyle diner food. in addition, the restaurant has a diner atmosphere as well. there are bar seats as well as booth seating arrangements along the wall, and a few tables at the back of the restaurant. furthermore, the restaurant was f

...i would like to tell you that the inspiration for this post was brought to you by vancouver, british columbia's own save onmeatsdiner.   for it was there, at the adorably cute diner with a jaw-droppingly hot, muscular man working the front counter ( o canada! ) -- that i drank several of these lovely concoctions -  a caesar garnished with a savory, saucy pepperoni .  these were the beverages that set me out upon my journey of self-discovery.   i was in canada for two reasons: (1) to increase the pitiful canadian readership of lilyonthelam.com - seventh place in country readership?  tsk tsk canada, you should be ashamed!  (read more about it here , here and here .  yes, i wrote three blog posts about my planned invasion of canada- don't judge! )  and (2), i was in vancouver to celebrate the anniversary of my birth ... no, i wasn't born in canada but when you live in a hot, humid clim

terrible new place. just wanted to warn anybody who has been to save onmeatsand like it. the new pop up save on meat on cordova and carral is the worst brunch i have ever had due to the poor food quality and cheap service. nothing seems to work properly or have a system thats works and the servers and managers acted more like bartenders who have never served food before. my cutlery was dirty as well as there was a cold draft sitting next to the window. but beyond this the food was the worst part. i had a build your own breakfast which included two eggs benedict with mushrooms and hash browns. when i recieved the food one egg was broken and both eggs were raw meaning it was sauce. the english muffin was soggy and i had a small handful of hash browns. the mushrooms were the worst part. i believe they came from a can and i think they came directly because they were cold. all this for around $10. this may be cheap but the food tasted horrible and wasnt filling at all. my friend who was with me had a poached egg with sausage, hashbrowns and toast and his poached egg came in a small bowl and looked like raw scrambled eggs. i told the manager not in an insulting way but in a informative way and she apologized. however i sort of expected her to say something to the prep staff to prevent this from happening to another person but she just continued on as she was. this is not the same as the save onmeatson hastings. i would not recommend going here the atmosphere is gone and this place has killed it.

still semi-open. the sit-down diner part inside is shut because the building is being reno-ed, but the walk-up window is still serving as of september 2013. owners have tweeted they're going to shift the diner part to west cordova.


-----27 dec, 2012-----

it made me have a flashback. i had a flashback when i ate my burger, fries and milkshake at save onmeatson boxing day. not an acid flashback like the ones that plague the cracked minds of the binners pushing their "east van taxis" (stolen shopping carts) filled with empty booze bottles past save on's door. no, it was a taste flashback.

the french fries had that slightly earthy flavour that i remembered from my childhood, when short-order cooks at diners sliced up their own spuds instead of defrosting a sack of mccain's. the house burger on a soft, whiter-than-whitebread bun looked small to me at first. then i realized, weighing in at maybe a fifth of a pound, "that was the size of a normal burger, before food got grotesquely gargantuan during the excesses of the '80s." and watching hana, the whirlwind of a counter-girl, hand-scoop ice cream for the shakes, while she answered the phone, made mixed drinks and rang people out at the cash register -- i remembered what it was like when workers weren't drones who could only handle a few repetitious tasks.

save on isn't going to give anyone a transcendent food epiphany. it's a throwback diner in a bad part of town. they tout the guy fieri "diners, drive-ins and dives" angle on their menu, and the buzz attracts a crowd of "trendoids." (a trendoid is someone who wants to partake of what's new and buzzy. they're different to hipsters because trendoids can afford to buy their clothes new, instead of wearing "so-uncool-it's-cool" used stuff from a thrift store. and hey, i'm a bit of a trendoid too, because i was eating at save on, eh?) for a casual lunch, save on satisfied me.

save-onmeatsis a busy casual diner in gastown. i’ve driven and walked past here many times but never thought of going in – i always thought it was strictly a butcher shop. having now tasted a couple of the sandwiches/burgers here, i believe themeatshere are fresh and of high quality. next time, i hope to try some of the take-out items (like the pulled pork sandwich and braised beef sandwich for $6.25) - given the pricing is so attractive.

save onmeatsis half butcher shop and half diner. i remember reading an article on how the original owner was closing it down after many years of operation and a new owner stepped forward to revamp and take it over. walking inside i was surprised to find myself in a very clean, old fashion styled diner. the service was quick and attentive. i noticed they had a hipster dresscode going between most of the servers.