Snake River Farms

I have purchased Snake River Farms hams for many years. This year I placed an order at Christmas for not only a ham but all of our holiday meat. Our total bill was approximately 3000.00. On the day I went to serve the ham I decided to weigh it as I wanted to be sure I had enough to serve everyone and the ham weighed 8.01 pounds and I had been charge for the 8 – 10 pound ham. While I realized that it was .01 over the 8 pound minimum I was somewhat surprised they would do that considering how much I had ordered but understood it was within their guidelines. I just received my Easter mailer today and was going to order a ham and called and very, very kindly said I wanted to give some feedback as a customer. The first man I spoke with was immediately on the defensive and said .01 was in the guidelines. I asked for a supervisor as I was certain this was a rare experience with customer service. The minute the supervisor got on the phone she acted defensively and had attitude before I was even able to say a word. I was very kind and calm and she talked over me, interrupted me, and was argumentative. Never once did they say they appreciated my business or apologize. I was extremely surprised that such a high quality product is not able to handle simple customer service issues. Acknowledgement and an apology go a long way. I will no longer use Snake River Farm products as there are a few other select companies that offer wonderful small production hams.

They shipped us an underweight ham (5.82 pounds when it was advertised as 7 – 9 lbs.), admitted it should never have left their facility and then nickeled and dimed us on issuing a credit. They initially wanted to credit us only for the shortage, failing to understand how much of a bind they left us in right before a big holiday dinner. The options I gave them that would’ve been acceptable to me – a larger credit or overnighting us a smaller ham at their cost — were apparently not acceptable to them.
And for what, but a ham that was no better than something we could’ve and should’ve gotten from our farmer’s market butcher. Lesson learned.

ordered the american kobe steak flight. it’s amazing quality beef but it is not even up to the standards of good AMERICAN kobe not even talking about japaneses. the vacuum sealed packages were poor and had openings where the juice would leak out when thawing. the beef was extremely tasty and is the only reason i’m giving a second star. not kobe, too expensive, poorly packaged.

Just finished cooking one of SRF American Kobe roasts and it was the worst roast I have ever cooked, Walmart is better. The cap was good but the eye was filled with gristle and was not etable. SRF claims their American Kobe is better than prime. However, I have has choice that is 10 times better. This was a flavorless, gristle filled poor quality cut that was light years away from prime quality. What a disappointment.
Update 5÷26÷15: I spoke with Shawn at SRF and he stated that my experience was not typical and he would send me a new roast on ⁶⁄₁₈. I will keep you updated on the quality of the next roast.

I ordered the pork shoulder – and was super-​happy with the quality, and most importantly, the flavor. The fact that the pork is sustainably farmed definitely helps. I am always willing to pay more for products that support family farming, which is a passion of mine. What I wasn’t expecting was the flavor to be so good.
I braised the cut in milk (ala Marcella Hazan) and served it at a dinner party to rave reviews. The recipe really calls for well-​marbled and tasty pork because there are so few ingredients. This was exceptional. Very, very pleased.
As others have noted, there was a fair amount of packaging but I don’t know how you get around that, given it comes in the mail.

Purchased the Labor Day package through Blackboard Eats which included wagyu style hamburger patties, hot dogs, sirloins steaks, and 5 lbs. of tri-​tip for a grand total of $ 100 including overnight shipping (Richard F. is kind of right about the large amount of packaging material… not sure if that’s standard for mail order meat, but now I have like 10 ice packs in the fridge and I’m not sure what I should do with them). I am still completely unconvinced that wagyu burgers and hot dogs, and any other meat dish that requires the marbled-​fat flesh to be ground up, is any better tasting than their non-​wagyu counterpart, especially for the hefty price. However, the four stars are for the exceptional quality and taste of the tri-​tip. The five pounds actually came in two more manageable 2.5-lb. pieces that I prepared on in two separate ways, each with equally delicious results. I was worried about screwing it up because I do not have a barbecue grill and everything I read about tri-​tip made it seem that it was not a very good cut of meat that was best grilled into submission. However, I cut two 1-​in. thick steaks off the wide end of the tri-​tip and pan seared them like regular filet mignon; they came out just right as the marbled fat made the steaks very tender and required minimal seasoning. The second way I used the tri-​tip was in a simple marinade, pan sear all sides, then oven roasted until medium rare. Again, all the outside fattiness melted away during the sear & roast to provide great flavor. The regular price for 5 lbs. of tri-​tip is $ 65, and I would probably buy it again.

Having tried all but the premium cuts, I’m quite enthusiastic about SRF’s products. The quality is outstanding at an amazingly reasonable price, & it makes me feel better about my meat habit to know their animals are sustainably handled. Their breeds are bred for flavor rather than anabolic efficiency, & the difference is startling. If you buy a lot of meat, say over 50 pounds, the prices are way below what I’ve seen for similar quality in the SF bay area. If you buy in small amounts, the shipping price per pound goes up quite a bit & will make your net cost less competitive.
I wish they would look for more sustainable shipping solutions than they used with my recent orders. My 68 lbs of meat arrived in more than 33 gallons (flattened) of unrecycleable styrofoam & numerous gel packs. An earlier order order used a mylar-​wrapped foam impact-​absorbent layer, also unrecycleable, & gel packs. I’ll hesitate to order from SRF in future because of this: it puzzles me that a firm that brags on its web site about sustainability would include this much landfill with its product.
I hope SRF will look into more sustainable shipping technology, both via greener materials (dry ice rather than the gel packs, balloons rather than foam) & by bulk shipments to the many CSAs & farmers markets here in the SF bay area. If they do, I’ll add a couple stars to this review.

If it’s good enough for Thomas Keller and Corey Lee. it’s good enough for me. The TFL calotte de boeuf maybe one of the bet pieces of beef I’ve ever had. I’ve also tried it in burgers and other cuts. Definitely a beautiful product. I can’t say I’ve had many a comparable example from other purveyors/

Snake River Farms is the best mail order beef company I have ever tired. It far exceeds the quailty of the other companies I have used such as Kansas City and Omaha Steaks. All their beef is American Wagyu, the prices are a little expensive compared to other places but you get what you pay for.
I’m surprised there are no reviews for Snake River Farms. They are a provider of some of the finest Kobe Beef in the states. I have tried their products in many fine dining establishments, namely their acclaimed ½ pound kobe burger. Wolfgang Puck uses their meats exclusively. It was so good I did a little research and discovered I can order their products online. By far the best quality burger meat I’ve used. Highly recommended!