Cliff’s Meat Market

The guys at Cliffs (including Cliff) are awesome, and they have every cut you could ask for.
They know their meat, so if you are looking for something specific or if you have questions, do not be afraid to ask and learn something.
It’s not the prettiest building, inside or out.
They handle the meat with expertise — from selecting, to cutting, to trimming. You won’t find better butcher hands.
Prices are very reasonable, with some items going for much less than the supermarket.
Tough to beat if you are particular about your cuts of meat and aren’t finding what you need at the typical supermarket.
4.5 stars

We ordered a whole pig to roast and what we got from Cliff’s was perfect. It was trimmed and cleaned such that it could go right on the grate to cook. You often have to trim some hair or fat on whole pigs but we didn’t need to do anything (other than add the rub, of course). I don’t seen any need to go anywhere else for a whole pig. I know I won’t.

The owner never followed-​up about the problem I had. Although the brisket was of good quality, I was not happy with the service overall and don’t plan on returning as a result.

Cliff’s is amazing, but the establishment comes with some caveats.
It’s a butcher shop. There is blood and viscera everywhere because they are taking down whole carcasses. It smells like it, and it looks like it. If you are put-​off or intimidated by animals being processed, don’t go here.
Hygiene — there are no laws regarding wearing gloves while butchering, nor should there be. Handling meat in volume with gloves is tedious and puts the butcher at risk; tactile response goes out the window, they slide off, stray bits of silicon/​nitrile/​latex may end up in cuts (not because a butcher lacks knife skills, rather the butcher knows exactly where his knife is, but not where the glove is given it’s just a limp sock over a skilled hand). Lastly, gloves don’t work well with fat; the fat in flesh is more easily gripped by a naked hand than a gloved one. Support your local butchers’ hands’ well-​being; don’t get pissy about gloves.
If you don’t know how to cook — I mean cook, not wade through recipes — you probably should make your purchases at a standard grocery store. This is a butcher. However, what you get is expertise and selection that blows past your standard grovery; there’s a ton of stuff in cold-​storage (where else are you going to find rabbit and frog legs year round?).
If you don’t speak Spanish and are living in North Carolina, learn Spanish. Yeah, the majority of the staff are native Spanish-​speaking. Deal with it; North Carolina has had the highest net in-​migration of Latin Americans for the past 5 years. Learn Spanish if you need details about cuts, quality, preparations, special treatments, off-​menu items, etc. Product knowledge among staff is exceptionally high, but you have to have a valid question; «how do I cook this?» is a ridiculous question, and «what’s this?» is just insulting. I hear both questions regularly, and they’re always from people that will never set foot in Cliff’s again, but likely to post a negative review that’s proxy for their own ignorance of food, food culture, food safety, butchery, etc.
Seasonality and Price — people seem to forget (or just never learned) that meats have seasonality. Sure, animals are raised and pastured year-​round, but there are high points for grass-​fed and grain-​fed animals. These result in fluctuating prices, premiums, frozen, and standard quality cuts. If you expect the price of a given protein to stay the same year-​round, you should be arguing for the price consistency of blueberries, whose growing seasons shift from North Carolina, to California, and Mexico… which would be insane. The staff are well-​aware of these fluctuations, and if you take the time to ask about them, they’re more than happy to fill you in.
As another reviewer said — don’t go in here with a specific recipe in mind; go in as a cook that knows how to riff on a protein. Lastly, Cliff’s will accommodate all special needs; crown of lamb; foie gras torchon prep; confit prep; pâté prep — they do it all, you just have to ask — like a human.
Hands down, best butcher in the Chapel Hill /​Carrboro area, and goes head to head with The Butcher’s Market.

I have been shopping at Cliff’s regularly for several years and here is my take on it:
What I like: good selection, really good prices, and specialties like their house breakfast sausage, chorizo, Al Pastor, etc. Cliff and his staff are knowledgeable and friendly and the location is good with easy parking.
What could be improved: the place needs a facelift. Inside and out. I suspect that not much has changed in 30 years. Also, I have had some meats, especially chicken, turn within 48 – 72 hours of purchase leading me to believe that some products are not very fresh.
I will continue to be a patron of Cliff’s as he has the best prices on our household staple meats, the location is convenient and the staff is friendly.

Cliff’s is a solid place to go for meat, if you know what to expect.
Firstly, not all the meat is always fresh. That means that you should go to Cliff’s perhaps without a specific meat requirement, but rather go in and ask what is fresh that day. When the meat is fresh, it is pretty great. They make fresh chorizo on Tuesday’s which I have become a regular buyer of. Another way is to call ahead and find out what day they get fresh meat X on.
The prices at Cliff’s are great, especially for a proper butcher. Some of my regular purchases are chorizo, ground pork, pork chops, and ground beef; they are all at about the price range of a discount deal at Wal-​mart or food lion.
They have a huge range of meat, but a limited selection of fresh meat (they have a lot of frozen). But, unless you really need something specific, why bother with frozen? So i definitely think the way to shop at Cliff’s is to go in and browse rather than look for something specific.
I don’t think the meat is very fresh on the weekends, so I usually go on the weekdays.

i like it a lot. they have ground chuck from piedmontese cattle. it makes the best flipping hamburgers you can make… i go there in the summertime every saturday because i go to the carrboro farmer’s market every saturday during the summer. it is the best farmer’s market in the triangle… anyways. cliff’s ain’t fancy. it is old timey… and i enjoy talking to cliff when he’s there…

Inexpensive, good meat. It is better quality than a supermarket, contrary to other reviewers’ opinions. The place does have a bit of a smell, not Upton Sinclair bad, but not good either. If they took more time to clean the display and tidy up the customer-​area up a bit, I would give it 4.5 stars. This place is not on the same level as Roses Meats and Sweets or The Meat House, but it is half the price.

I love the owner cuz she’s so nice. One time, I rode my bike and broke my knees. the owner of the store gave me water and bandage to cover the fucking bruize. they are just nice.

Compared to some other options in Cboro, Cliff’s reigns supreme.
1) Weaver Street has a limited selection of meat. It’s basically whatever they’ve pre-​cut and packaged.
2) Harris Teeter is a good bet, but it’s not always reliable. You might not always be able to find the cut of meat you want.
3) Cliff’s is a small, locally owned meat market, but also a small grocery. You can get a lot of stuff for international cooking, spices and stuff, especially Mexican for example.
I didn’t recall seeing a fish selection, but I’ll look next time. There is also a beer section, which is sweet. I ordered some skirt steak for carne asada and they guy did a great job trimming the meat.
This place is also hoppin. Don’t be surprised to find a line here, especially on a beautiful summer weekend! People wants to grill out yo.
I’m bummed I waited a year to make my way to Cliff’s. I plan to make a separate trip for my grilling needs

I am new to the area, an avid meat eater and lover of fresh meat/​butcher shops. I also move alot, and always seek a good butcher each time we move to a new place. I am so excited to be here in the Triangle area, it’s really a food lovers dream! So much access to fresh, local, organic food. By far, for access to food (and many other factors!), this is the best place we have lived. That being said, I was seriously disappointed in Cliff’s. I had eaten at several restaurants that listed Cliff’s as their supplier and had seen it in my travels about the area. I read these reviews before I went in, but really figured I would just have to find out for myself. I’ll list my issues now:
1. The smell: It’s legit. The place definitely smells. I know it’s an old building, but I think that if you are going to sell meat, you’ve got to do something about that smell. My confidence level immediately dropped.
2. Sanitation: Both guys that handled and cut my meat were not wearing gloves. NOT WEARING GLOVES! AT ALL! Now, I am no germophobe, but raw food/​meat is one of those things that you don’t play around with. Completely unacceptable. Additionally, their health department score was a 90, which is low compared to every other restaurant and store I have been to in this area. This experience is continuing to go south.
3. Customer Service: Knowledge of the product in their cases is pretty low. No signs, prices, nothing. I asked several questions, got a lot of blank looks and vague answers. I forged ahead and ordered 2 New York Strips, ¾ pound each. I got a package totalling 1.24 pounds. I told the guy, shouldn’t this be 1.5 lbs? He said yeah, but we can’t always get it exact. Then just stood there holding it out to me. No offering to fix it. I stood there waiting for him to decide that customer service always wins the day! Finally, he offered to fix it, with a not so happy look on his face. He said «It’s only a ¼ pound short». He re-​cut a steak and handed me two steaks dramatically different in thickness, so I will have to cook them separately. A butcher shop should know how to portion cuts if you are going to offer that service to your customers.
4. Price: Price is good, but I feel like I got what I paid for.
So here’s the problem. Should I even eat these steaks? My concern is that the employees/​owners clearly aren’t concerned with the details. So are they paying attention to things like cross contamination and washing their hands frequently since they aren’t wearing gloves? Are they cleaning their equipmment and cutting surfaces as they should? My take on Cliff’s is that it is coasting on it’s past success, and what it offers now simply cannot be what has kept it in business in years past. I do NOT believe that a butcher shop has to be a cold, sterile and brand new place (I’ve had many favorites that were not in other locations), but it must be clean and knowledgeable. I will keep looking for a butcher in the area.

Cliff’s is a treasure. I’ve been shopping there for 6 yrs, and wouldn’t consider buying meat anywhere else. Never had anything that wasn’t fresh and wonderful. They’ll cut the meat exactly the way you want it, and the prices are right. And the meats they prepare there, such as breakfast sausage, are excellent.

Yesterday I bought a kilo (approx 2.2 lbs) of lamb shoulder from Cliffs. This was the only place I could find it everyone else only had legs and chops but when you are making stews and curries shoulder is best. Well the price was ridiculous $ 25 and it was frozen! When I told the girl at the register that I thought the price was high all she said was well at least we have it! I asked them to cube it for me to save time. Now while preparing my lamb curry for dinner this evening I see that I only have 1.8 lbs of meat the rest was fat! I even took a pic with my phone to post so everyone could see how bad it is! Too bad I can’t upload it to this site. Doesn’t live up to its reputation.

Some friends introduced me to bacon with the rind still on. It was love at first bite. After calling several meat markets in my area, Cliff’s was the only place that offered it so I decided to give them another shot. If you’ve read my other review of Cliff’s, you’d know that I did not intend to go back there. Well, I’m glad that I did. This time, I asked to smell the bacon before they wrapped it. They had no problem with that. It smelled good so I bought a couple pounds of it. I felt like I was getting a good deal given the thickness (very thick) and price of the bacon ($ 3.99 per lbs). I’d shop here again, but I still caution everyone to check the meat before buying it.

Hmmm let’s see, how did our trip to Cliff’s go? Walked in the door. Thought it smelled a bit funny. There were 2 or 3 others in there so I passed the time by perusing the meat selection. Meat in the main counter looked OK. Behind the main counter was a second cabinet… And no joke, there was a side of meat (ham?) which had blue mold growing on it. Large clumps of blue mold. We high-​tailed it out of there quicker than you could say «listeria epidemic». Never. Again.

Giving this place one star just because you don’t like the smell of meat is absurd (not referring to Patrick H., who clearly got a bad cut, but to the other commenter who left a one star rating just because she feels that it ruins her «image» of Carrboro. A little narrow-​minded for a town that claims to embrace diversity, wouldn’t you say?). It’s a butcher shop! If you’re not a fan of meat, what are you doing here?
I’ve always receive top-​notch product and service whenever I visit Cliff’s. I don’t eat a ton of meat and thus don’t visit often enough to be considered a regular, so I know that this service isn’t preferential.
Cliff does a lot for the community and provides a wonderful service — it’s so nice to be able to go to a true butcher and get fresh, quality product and not the stuff wrapped in plastic and styrofoam at the grocery store. Their ground chuck is less expensive than what I’ve found at Harris Teeter or Weaver Street, and makes absolutely delicious burgers. I also like that I can find great chorizo here as well.

It was nice to go to an actual butcher for a change. The selection was pretty good. It’s a small butcher, so I didn’t expect megamart selection. On the other hand there was tons of items that I would never find at the grocery store. Don’t that everything is locally sourced or organic, but Cliff does take pride it his meat quality and providing it at a reasonable price, and he’ll tell you all about your meat if you’re interested. Just the fact that I can call him up and special order something for an occasion or get my steaks cut to order, makes it worth the trip.

Everyone raves about Cliff’s, but I don’t understand the appeal. I try to support local businesses but I can get better quality meat at Harris Teeter, Fresh Market, etc. First, I’ll cop to being somewhat intimidated by the selection. Upon entering, my knowledge of chops always seems to evaporate, leaving me unsure of what to get. This being a butcher, I’d expect employees willing to assist, but I haven’t seen that to be the case. On my visits I’ve been stonewalled into ordering nothing fancier than a fillet.
The meat I’ve gotten at Cliff’s has never been especially good. It’s always very «gamey» and lacks flavor. I’ve also gotten some crappy cuts here when I wasn’t paying 100% attention to what was being wrapped up. You really have to be demanding or you’ll end up with the last cut of steak that could have been tossed in the trash.
I am considering trying the place again, because I hear too many good things to have had this many bad experiences. When I do go, I’ll know exactly what I want before I get there.

I appreciate the effort that Cliff’s makes to exist, and believe me, it is an effort. They provide an excellent alternative for basic shopping (especially meat) to the big grocery chains. You can have a hard time distinguishing quality, though that’s really a nod to how good the meat from Cliff’s is.
There are non-​meat items here, too, basic convenience-​store type stuff. The meat is what you really come here for. The prices are comparable to a Food Lion.

This place is renown for its high quality meats and service. For a meat lover stepping into this shop is like stepping into candy store. On first sight your mouth will begin to water and you’ll swear you smell the grill burning in the back yard.
Their selection is top-​notch and they really are helpful. Most every time I stop in to buy something they’re more than happy to offer preparation ideas.