Carnivore, Inc

This is a nice little butcher shop/​fish monger. Their food is fresh and high quality; the staff is very knowledgeable and friendly. And they had blue fish when we went there – fresh blue fish.

I ordered the fish sandwich and my husband had the bacon burger with cheese. Delicious! Those sandwiches were HUGE!!! Well worth the price. We can’t wait to return.

Freindly staff, awesome selection, and knowlegadeable. Overall a great experiance and I will be visiting more often.

If there are more delicious sausages out there, someone tell me where I can find them: somehow I haven’t come across any better ones in Chicagoland. The Italian and Portuguese sausages from this butcher shop are incredibly well-​made: juicy, meaty, flavorful, and with that great crunch you want when you bite into a link. The hamburgers (made to order) mentioned by others are also outstanding. Great job guys!

How are there people out there who don’t know about Carnivore?!
This place reminds me of the butcher shop my grandpa used to take me to as a kid. Top-​notch meats and extremely helpful customer service. I stop in for lunch or a grab something for dinner there at least once a week. Pork shoulder, ground beef, smoked salmon, whatever I get — I’ve never been disappointed once.
Brad and Erik really care about what their selling and making sure you’re satisfied. I highly recommend their bacon burger and fish sandwich — both are fantastic!
Please support this local shop even when it gets busy. We need more mom and pop shops like this in Oak Park.

Great vision, love the idea of a high quality butcher shop with good customer service. But, I have a serious problem with the sanitation, all of the employees don’t wear gloves when handling their product. I’d love to support a local business, but until they review their health/​sanitation standards, I’m not buying anything, and won’t suggest this place to anyone. Shame.

Great customer service. Just be wary you are getting high quality meat but you will pay the price for it.
Great guys and worth supporting.

Dayum! That’s southern for Damn! If you fancy yourself as a red-​meat loving, American this place will give you chills. It isn’t only about beef, they have a full selection of whatever you want and plenty of things you didn’t know you wanted. I went in today and Shirley did some business with a burger that was so dayum good I almost felt like I was betraying the beef by adding condiments. I’ve got the fried chicken sandwich one radar for the next visit. If you’re in that area go in and support this shop! Great people and great food!

Carnivore’s fish and farm to table meat is worth the drive. I no longer go to the grocery store for meat. Carnivore has taught me that there is a difference, a BIG difference! So now I’m spoiled. Another thing, Carnivore’s fish sandwich is the best anywhere! The giant fish fillet is grilled and served on a toasted bun with sauce, onion, pickle, lettuce and tomato… makes my tongue and heart happy! I love their smoked salmon too. Sausages, smoked meats, frozen soups and more are made on the premises. The owners and staff are chuck full of knowledge and cheer. You’ll enjoy the visit but beware, once you’ve eaten the meat or fish, you’ll be hooked (no pun intended)!

The guys at Carnivore are the best! Their passion and knowledge is incredible. They walked us through every aspect of the hog, showing us how to butcher and cook the most flavorful pork chop. I will be back many times. And I will be salting my meat til it screams for mercy.
Don’t miss the chance to support these guys.

What an awesome addition to Oak Park! Not only do these guys have the best selection of meat and seafood, but they are knowledgeable and friendly to boot! The owner Brad happily made me a fried chicken thigh sandwich and pulled pork sandwich even after their fryer was off. Both sandwiches are the Bomb. My doctor recommended their homemade sauerkraut as a probiotic boost — it is awesome on top of a pulled pork sandwich! Another employee gave me a sample of his family’s country wine while I waited for my sandwiches. Another guy gave me a free small bone for my Chihuahua. I had so much fun while I was there I will continue to go back — make sure to try their bacon hamburgers and porterhouse steaks, they are to die for!

We used Carnivore to get 200 ribs. The ribs were sourced from local farms where they were fed a good diet. We felt as if buying the ribs from Carnivore would be supporting a local business AND getting high quality meat. Both were true!
I worked with both owners at different times. They were both cool, young guys — friendly, down-​to-​earth, tattoos. They each took the time to draw me pictures of pigs depicting their ribs and the various cuts. I went from first requesting St. Louis Cut (no tips attached) to the cut that were slightly longer, non-​standard lengths, with the tips attached. With the tips looks less attractive but is less work for the butcher — one less cut to make and cheaper! They even brought out a slab of ribs and put it on the table to show me. I texted my dad and checked with him and we were sold. One of the owners told me it would be about $ 500 for 250 ribs. I lowered my amount to 200 ribs and assumed that the price would go down to about $ 400 (25%).
I called a couple days ahead of time and asked if I could come in and pay. The guy who answered the phone said, «Sure!» So I came in with my dad to pay. The owners were there and said I couldn’t pay early because they didn’t have the ribs yet and didn’t know how much they weighed. They took my card info and promised to run it later so that my dad could get the ribs at the appropriate time. They also shocked me by telling me that it would be WAY more expensive than I expected ($ 660) AND that they got me all St. Louis Cut ribs! That is not what we discussed.
In the end, they gave me a bunch of different cuts of ribs: a lot of rib tips, St. Louis Cut, and the cut with the tips attached. They got the price to just under $ 500. That was pretty frustrating and annoying. Their error cost me $ 100 more and got me some unwanted rib tips.
During this process, I also bought two sandwiches: a burger and chicken. They were good. The burger was pretty rare but I felt comfortable eating it because it’s high quality meat. I’d get them again, but I recommend eating them right away.

This is a great place, and something we really needed. I had been wishing for a fish market for years, but this is way better than what I ever dreamed of. Fish AND all kinds of other things. Eggs, steak, pork. .. and I am learning how to cook by asking questions whenever I buy something I haven’t tried before. I love talking to them about how to make stuff. Some inexpensive pork shoulder turned into incredible pulled pork in my slow cooker, for example. I have tried new kinds of fish and gotten instructions for how to cook it. Things I would be scared to buy because I might ruin them — no worries.
I am giving all five stars considering the core product lines of meat and seafood, especially considering the amazing personalized service, but I wish the produce was better cared for. Last time I was there, I was hoping to buy some fresh veggies to go with my meats, and there were a few things in the coolers that I would have liked to try, but they looked limp and dried out. Not sure why that’s happening in a shop that otherwise offers such amazing quality.

Awesome food, great meats, great and made sandwiches. I highly recommend it. I had the special steak sandwich and it was fantastic my friend had a burger and it was great the service is very complementary, they gave us a lot of free samples to

This place is really amazing. All the seafood is sustainably harvested and the butchers are incredibly knowledgeable about their products.
Great work, guys.

Quality food, quality staff. A wonderful selection of fresh meats, fish and specialty items. A great addition to Oak Park. A MUST VISIT.

Part of the 5 star review is due to customer service. My hubby bought two monster porterhouse jersey steaks for my birthday dinner tonight. Was a bit nervous grilling masterpieces that were the main entrée. He left with a cellphone# of one of the owner in case there were any questions.
The steaks came out fabulous! Dare I say even say better than Bavette or Perry? A trip to this butcher shop is well worth it. Stop by Marion Cheese for a nice cab and you are set for a four star steak dinner.

Where do I begin? Great product? Outstanding customer service? What an addition to Oak Park ?
We have been customers since they first opened and have never been disappointed by Carnivore. Once you get their meat and fish you will never go back to supermarket meat. My wife and I had been looking to buy more sustainable and healthy meat and fish products and trying to get away from supporting industry farming. The team at Carnivore has found a way to find local suppliers and get outstanding product to their shop. The difference in taste is astounding and worth every penny.
In addition to their product the staff is really knowledgable and friendly and will help wherever they can and cut meats to perfection on demand. They also make many products themselves (smoking meats and fish, sausages, stock, pâté’s) and everything is delicious.
If you want to have a great shopping experience, buy more sustainable product, support local businesses and farms and get products that just taste so much better than what you will get in a supermarket this is the place to go.

Carnivore is the real deal. I have been a frequent visitor since they opened, and I have never been disappointed. How do I love Carnivore? Let me count the ways:
1. The Staff — The guys that run this place are incredibly knowledgable about food. They clearly have a passion for what they are doing, and they don’t make you feel like an idiot for asking questions. This is not the kind of butcher where the only words you are going to hear are «anything else?» and «Next!!»
2. The Food — The meat here is expensive, but is of exceptional quality. If you don’t think you can taste the difference between Jewel meat and meat of this caliber, you owe it to yourself to try. The fish is also fantastic– get a hunk of tuna or salmon and bring it home for some great sashimi. They make a variety of fantastic and unusual sausages too. My wife is German their Weisswurst was the best she says she ever had. They also have fresh local produce. Although they always seem to have the standards, they have plenty of unusual meats and fish that seem to vary depending on what is in season or what they happen to get that week.
3. The Customer Service — I know I already said that the staff is great, but they have clearly set themselves up to be a local business that wants to keep its customers happy. I was told by a downtown butcher (who shall remain nameless, but whose initials are PQM) that they couldnt’ put a small tray together for a brunch 5 days in the future because they are «really busy on Saturdays». I have spent probably thousands of dollars at that place over the years. I stopped by Carnivore on my way home and was told it wouldn’t be a problem, and I completely trust their judgement on what to serve.
I want this place to be super popular and I have told my numerous foodie friends to come from the city to check it out, but I also don’t want it to get super popular b/​c I’ll be jealous if everyone knows about it. But please, until a line starts forming outside the door, support this absolute gem of a local business! Whether you are a 20 year Chaînés member or a 20 year old looking for some meat to grill, this is the place to be.

I walked in and asked for a great steak to grill tonight. The butcher said he had a bone-​in ribeye in the back if I could wait for him to carve off a steak. Yes Yes Yes. He brought out the rack of ribeye and a machete and a mallet and cut off an amazing steak. It was a great show and I took home a great piece of meat. Grilled it tonight and I think it’s the best steak I’ve ever had.