El Toro Gourmet Meats Seafood Deli

Best CARNE ASADA in SOCal! No Kidding. Staff is excellent and very helpful too.

Nice selection of meats as well as deli meats.
Tons of easy parking.
Prices are a bit high, quality descent and service can be a bit slow.
Nice to support a local business, so we shopped here, but nothing really wowed me enough to want to return.
A bit in need of an update, pretty dim and run down inside, also the selection is really pretty much the same as at any grocery store.

Best carne asada. It’s not cheap ($ 14.99/lb)but it’s amazing. Always good service and never disappointed with the product. Chips for $ 3 and good fresh made salsa.

Fresh, beautifully cut and prepared meats. Definitely the best place to buy meat in South County.
I come here 3+ times a week, and they always exceed my expectations. Great customer service, from the guys behind the counter to George at the register.
Store also has everything else you need to complete and complement your meal: nice selection of fresh produce, lots of sauces and condiments, etc.
PS — Their prepared meals are also a great deal. They do all the work, and you pick it up and eat it. Delicious and easy way to feed a crowd or even if you don’t feel like cooking tonight!

Bald cashier guy was a jerk. I had money on the store card and he couldn’t even run it «said it was too late».

Been coming here for years. Good quality meats and great customer service. Fish is a bit pricey but good quality.

A big red barn in a strip mall in Lake Forest. Actually, there are two of them, side by side. One is a pool hall and the other is El Toro Gourmet Meats. As a woman who loves good cuts of beef, smoked bacon, cheese and fresh seafood, this place is awesome. There are cases of premium beef here. Porterhouse steaks, NY strip, ribeyes, sirloin.
You name it, they have it. I have purchased both ribeye and NY strip cuts here and they have been excellent. Prices are not cheap, but they carry King naturally-​raised beef which is premium stuff.
They have marinated meats such as carne asada available, too.
In case you are not interested in beef, there are pork chops and chicken available, also.
One of my favorite items to purchase in the store is the Boar’s Head thick cut bacon which you can buy in the refrigerated section pre-​packaged or by the pound in the deli case. It is excellent bacon, with a great smoked flavor, and makes excellent BLTs.
There are cases of beautiful seafood such as fresh trout, salmon, shrimp, scallops, etc., also.
You can have a sandwich made in the deli section or purchase slices of deli meats and cheeses, also, which I really enjoy. They have ready made salads available, too.
Pickles, hot sauces, seasonings and condiments are shelved throughout the store. Fun to check out all the cool stuff they have.
I love pickles and pickled veggies, so I really enjoy these sections. They have a lot of Boar’s Head products here which are great. This stuff is a little pricey.

Craft beer and wine is also housed in the store. They have some nice deals on wine.
There are chilled wines and beer in the refrigerated cases, ready to go, also.
Staff is friendly, helpful and professional. It is a cool place to visit to check out all the interesting stuff they have here. Really nice to have a quality meat shop with really nice beef and seafood available in Lake Forest.

Best Meat for American Style BBQ Steak juicy, fresh, cut daily to Tradition and Owner Standards, highly recommend

Customer service was terrible. I’ve been going to this place for a few years now because of how close it is but feel like I need to finally go elsewhere. The place is too cramped so it’s easy for people who come in after you do to get help before you. They need better service.

Am I missing something here??? I paid how much for this meat??? For Carne Asada ?? Not a friendly place. Expensive yes great if you have the cash flow! The ralphs in Mission viejo the one on marguerite across from library their ranch flap steak marinated is excellent but only at that store for some reason.

Best meat shop in Orange County hands down. We drive all the way from Huntington Beach just for their steak! The carne asada is my favorite but you really can’t go wrong with anything they have!

I’ve never had a Carne Asada I’ve been happier with. Honestly incredible. I enjoy the old world, small grocer feel… I actually went in looking for a cold brew coffee they carry and came out with Salmon and Carne Asada. Amazing.

I bought an Amazon Local deal for $ 20 for $ 40 worth of meat and I missed the expiration date by one day and El toro meats would not accept it. Very disappointing since this has happened to me a couple of time lately do to some major life issues and all the other businesses still accepted the offer for the deal that they offered.
I can’t believe that we were told «no» that they would only accept it for what we paid!

Love love love this old school market. Fresh deli and nice selection of snacks and drinks. The butchers are very nice and their meat is fresh. I shop here every week. The butchers will prep/​cut the meat in any way you need just ask.

It’s the best meat orange county and worth the drive.

Amazing sandwich worth it, so happy i work near it this place is so good, gotta try all of them. n they have boxed water

VER, VERY POOR customer service. This is the place I always go to get the best rib eye steaks, and always do my best to just get in and out without any interaction with the service people there. WHY? Because they are all «a$$ h@#$». I could name plenty of instances but won’t. Poor service will not have me going back.
Time to give «The Meat House» in Mission Viejo all my business now.

This review is just for the poor customer service I received today, I can’t review the food because after the rudeness I experienced on the phone I will never shop here. I wrote to them on their Facebook page because I have been shopping for a certain cut of meat that is not readily available in this area. The person who manages their FB page said call and they could have what I wanted available.
I called today and explained to the person who answered what I wanted and they said «we don’t have that,» to which I said the person who manages your FB says you do so he said he would check. Only he did not use customer service oriented language, he was very negative and rude. So he put me on hold then someone else picked up and rudely asked «what do you want?» literally just like that. I explained that I was on hold and someone was helping me. «What do you want?» he asked again. I patiently explained again what I was looking for and he interrupted me with the statement that if I wanted this specific cut of lamb I would have to buy THE WHOLE LAMB. WTF. I asked for a shoulder which is basically what a lot of chops are cut from so just don’t cut the chops and charge me for the whole thing. Oy.
Never mind, I’ll find what I need elsewhere I certainly will not give my business to people who can’t even summon a mere shred of politeness on the phone.

I adore El Toro Gourmet Meats Seafood Deli.
This is my kind of shop. Incredibly fresh cuts of meat, seafood and deli salads even an impressive line up of Craft Beer. Their Carne Asada is the best I have ever tasted and only requires a grill and about 10 minutes for a true gourmet experience. Their handmade Guacamole is also incredible. Combine the two and you have a Mexican inspired Super Hero. Other great cuts include the TriTip, Hawaiian Ribs, Teriyaki Beef Skewers and Pollo Asada.
The staff here is another huge plus, all of them are both friendly and professional, most have worked there years now and recognize the regulars. Sadly that is a rare occurance these days in OC. Great products, fantastic people: there is nothing about this shop to not love.
A five star lock.

This review is specific to guacamole and supposedly fresh high-​end baked goods. I know, I know, this is a gourmet meat market and perhaps the quality and cut of their steaks, etc. is 5 star all the way, but as stated … that was not what was purchased.
The guacamole was expensive, freshly made and tasted like crap. Clearly «watered» down, too much cilantro and no onion, no tomato and just not tasty. There was also strings in my guacamole, which mean low quality haas avocados and even the Have-​A-​Chips, couldn’t save this.
I also bought supposedly fresh baked goods from a kosher bakery, butter cookies with chocolate. Stale and tasteless and almost $ 5 for a small package.
Maybe I bought all the wrong things… but I also saw some other freshly made product, chicken salad, potato salad, etc. They looked unappetizing so I didn’t spend that money and the potato salad looked like you’d be better off buying the cheapo-​huge tub at any market.
The prices for the steaks/​seafoods was comparable to The Meat Market. They also carry a small selection of Boars Head meats but at pricey prices.
El Toro Gourmet Meats Seafood Deli needs to clearly have more management oversee on the products they are selling and check freshness.