Lo-Cost Meat Market

Went there to pick up a boxed meat combo that will last awhile. Some of the guys don’t speak alot of English but they are really nice. They work with you to get what you need! They have great customer service. The prices are low, the meat is fresh and it smells like a meat market is supposed to smell like. Cash Only

They did not answer the phone today, and 2 weeks ago when I went by on the bus, it looked boarded up. Anyone know what’s up?

Not wanting to walk down all the way to Safeway just to get ground beef, I took a shot at this place right down the street from me. I honestly don’t see anything off putting about the place, it looks like a typical butcher shop. The meat is probably the cheapest in town. They have seafood as a fellow Unilocaler had described in an earlier review, but why would you buy salmon at a meat market to begin with? I’ve had no problems with the meat I’ve bought here since that lazy Monday which led me to this shop and my roommates and I are convinced that this is the best place to buy meat in the area.

I came here with SUCH high hopes.
1. Walked into a school of flies right inside the front door.
2. Asked if the fish was wild or farmed. Attendant answered that he didn’t know, that he just got the fish and it was salmon. (You don’t even know where your product is coming from?)
3. Asked if it was fresh; what day it came in. Attendant didn’t know. Answered «Sunday»… and then «Saturday…».
4. Fish was fishy (not normal of salmon). Almost ruined my meal.
Get yourself together Lo Cost!!! I will not be returning.

Paleo Pet and me, too!
Starting next month I will be health care scofflaw.
Terminal cancer dog & I will go Paelo. (I hope… I hope… I hope!)
Cheaper than pet food and better too (so THEY say)
I bet I’ll do better too.
Must stay away from Dr’s (or I will go to jail.)
So no lattes and chocolates croissants. Bummer, dudettes. (Dudes, too.)
ACA! Hurray! Single payer please!
Let the patient decide on their health care treatment.
And croissant choice.
OMG!
It is the Haight.
Lower is better.

If you are looking for the very best, why would you shop at a place that has ‘lo-​cost’ in it’s f*#$ing title!!! Furthermore, people who complain about the smell have never been to a butcher shop. Drive by a factory farm and tell me how THAT smells. I used to gag driving by a chicken factory growing up in the midwest. They wrap it up neatly, which has become the point of entry for many people, unfortunately.
The owner buys from local farms, and the prices are such that the low income housing people nearby have a solid source of protein. To me, that is something to be commended for, especially since SF is gentrifying at the speed of light these days.
I have talked one on one with the owner on a number of occasions, and he is a genuinely good guy. I have lost count of the times I have run into him around the neighborhood canvassing for OTHER small businesses on the street saying, «This is our neighborhood, and it’s the best one, so let’s make it good.»
The meat itself is good and at a fair price point. My boyfriend and I do all of our meat shopping here, and more than once have been able to throw some kickass BBQ’s thanks to this place.

If you’re looking for a butcher, this is the real deal. When I asked for a brisket, they cut it specifically to my preference, gave me the best possible cut (the thickest part), and trimmed the fat perfectly.
I really enjoyed speaking with the owner. He’s very passionate and proud, and took the time to walk me through where the meat comes from and assure me he doesn’t sell anything dead more than 3 days.
They also had some of the best-​looking seafood I’ve seen in the city. Shrimp and salmon looked super fresh and were very reasonably priced.
Quite frankly I’m disappointed by the many low-​star reviews — they are unwarranted and I’m glad I stopped by anyways. The meat here is so much better than any local grocery store or market. My only feedback for the owner is to change the name; I think «low-​cost» makes people perceive something as «low-​quality», but this is top quality at the right price.
CASH ONLY.

Impressive variety of cuts of pork, beef, chicken, though I didn’t see
much fish or anything else. They had a small table of produce, but otherwise no spices, accompaniments, other ingredients, or even atmosphere. Far worse, the whole shop smelled like spoiled meat and most of those cuts didn’t look high quality.

Meat is better than safeway’s and like ¹⁄₃ of the price. The staff is very friendly.

Meat, as you may well know, is something that is only as good as it is fresh. And when I mean fresh I mean a bit bloody and newly off the bone.
In the olden days, when you wanted meat you went to your butcher and ask what was coming in which would help you plan your weekly meal. This relationship would be built on trust, passion and appreciation of a butcher’s art. Now with supermarkets, you don’t really know that much about the meat, where it is from and how it was handled. With ever growing concerns with hormones, spoilage and even how the animal it is odd that the local butcher have not returned.
So when quality meat was called for for a local BBQ, I decided to head over to Lo-​Cost Meat and Fish Market for a try. I know the smell would be a bit striong as I was used to frequented a local butcher when I lived in London. Needless to say, the smell was the same, but what you should be looking for in the smell of bleach which Is usually used to mask not so clean or healthy meat. Anyway, gladly this was not the case for Lo-​Cost Meat and Fish Market.
After asking a few questions about lamb, beef and chicken, I decided to get a 10lb rack of aged lamb. They told me how to store, season and cook it which was a great help as I have to admit I might have ‘bitten’ off a bit more than I could chew/​cook. However, with the butcher’s help I was able to properly cook the meat with little hassle.
To summarize, I would highly recommend Lo-​Cost Meat and Fish Market to not only buy specialty meats, fish and chicken, but to increase your knowledge about what you put into your mouth. Get to know more about seasoning, local meat, cooking and many other skills that not only make you a better cook, but makes you a better carnivore.

As butchers go, this place isn’t too bad. it’s certainly not bad enough to justify some of the comments below.
This is a shop for selling meat (and a few other things) cheaply, so you’ve got to be a little tolerant of the occasional smell. Butcher’s shops smell, you can’t handle volume meat sales and not have a bit of a whiff in the air because you cut up the meat on site, not get prepackaged homogeneous lumps of flesh. If you want that shop at Safeway.
OK then, plus points. Great selection and the people behind the counter know their stuff about both the quality of the wares and how to prepare it. Sadly no back bacon but a nice selection of cuts and some meats difficult to find elsewhere, like slabs of pork belly or rabbit. The latter was a particularly good find —
are starting to get suspicious.
Price are very low indeed, and that goes double for the mussels. I’ve cooked plenty from here and they are fantastically inexpensive and nice and plump to boot.
There’s a small veggie section, which is useful if you’ve forgotten a stew ingredient, and a good selection of condiments.
The place loses one star for the flies however. Flies are a given in a butcher’s shop but a few more traps and zappers would make this a much nicer place to visit.
Also docking half a star for décor and cleaning. The place looks a little shabby and all too often the end of day floor cleaning water ends up on the sidewalk, which is not neighbourly.

My wife won’t let me near this place so I have to go on the DL. Good meat — low overhead. This is what butcher shops are supposed to look and smell like.

Like many of the jerks who posted reviews here, I had never been in to the shop and was turned off by the smell and harsh lighting. My lack of actual experience in the store didn’t stop me from making fun of it. But one day I realized I should at least try it, and I’m glad I did. It’s good meat, fast service, and an unbeatable price.
In 6 months of shopping there I’ve never gotten anything suspicious or weird or even slightly aged. $ 6 top sirloin steaks, $ 8 filet mignon (although those go fast) cheap chicken and even some bulk produce like potatoes. Oh, and I think they slice their own bacon, so the bacon ends ($ 1.50 a pound!) are stupid cheap and really tasty. I’m even thinking about making ox-​tail soup just cause I know I can get some fresh ox tails there.
I could pay literally twice as much at golden natural, but the taste and quality is about the same, and lo-​cost meat market is right around the corner from my house.
Ever wonder what happened to all the local businesses? Rather than show up for the next candlelight vigil protesting the next whole foods move-​in, how about you just shop at a local shop?
And quit whining (aka, Unilocaling) about a place you’ve never tried.

I’m really not one of those people that sees racism in everything and all that, but I have to agree with Robert Z. on this one. Most of the 1-​star reviews are based on the fact that the people it caters to are the mostly black residents of the nearby low-​income housing. I’m a chef by trade, and I know bad meat when I see it, and this isn’t it. What most people don’t realize is that meat actually smells like this. Go to a butcher shop in Paris if you don’t believe me. Safeway just sterilizes the shit of their counter and makes things smell nice, but most of their meat is packaged anyway, which is way worse for the meat.
Anyway, I bought some pork chops there. Nothing great, but I didn’t get food poisoning, and it was really cheap.

I live in the same building as Lo Cost and I’ve been shopping there for over 25 years. They do a fairly high volume business for a small market. I know that it doesn’t smell like Safeway but it has gotten a clean bill of health from every inspection. The beef is trucked in from Harris Ranch… you will not find this quality at such a low price anywhere else in SF.
I honestly believe that most of the bad reviews are from people who are put off by the fact that black people make up the majority of the cliental here. You might be the only white customer in the place but you have an opportunity here to meet your «other» neighbors. And no — they are not crackheads… they are just folks looking for a good deal on quality meat.
I strongly recommend the old fashioned hot dogs… they’re better than anything you can buy at the ballpark. They also carry eggs, some produce and simple cheese. Special requests are no problem (i.e. cracking the spare ribs, trimming the fat etc.).
Just be respectful, don’t try to nudge ahead of anybody and I promise you’ll be back for more.

Ya know. Unilocal and I have known each other a long time. And there still aren’t a lot of Unilocal review pages that’ll make me jump up and go visit a place. Then you show me this page of mostly one/​two star reviews written by folks who’ve NEVER EVEN walked through the front doors. I’m out the door and over for a visit in a heartbeat.
Seriously Unilocal,you can be such a perpetratin’, arrogant little fuckhead sometimes. But I guess I still love you. Ya asshole. /​punch/​
Lo Cost Meat Market is a butcher shop. It actually smells really funky outside some days. I don’t know why. (Maybe it’s their trash? They ARE a butcher shop.) Inside it smells like a butcher shop. kind of sweet and smoky. Because that’s what raw meat smells like. (Hi.)
The refrigerator cases, are clean and sealed on all sides, the staff is friendly and helpful, the meat looks plenty fresh to me, and the prices are pretty awesome. They get their beef from Harris Ranch, which while still gross is the same place Safeway sources theirs.
If you don’t have a lot of money in your pocket and you wanna’ put a stew on the stove, $ 2 and change per pound of cube steak is a nice place to start. You get the same meat from the same sources at Safeway for $ 5
They sell collard greens, too. And ham hocks and they post a full selection of kool-​aid right next to their 100% health inspection card. They aren’t the Unilocal demographic, but maybe that’s another reason to love them.
EDIT: And oh yeah, Unilocal.Nothin’ screams «Hayes Valley» more than Haight and Fillmore. /​punch/​

The meat is cheap but where it comes from, questionable. I got meat from here and got sick. Lesson learned. Always Foster Farms.

I asked my roommate, Timmy, if I could borrow his wheels for approximately 20 minutes. He was curious as to where I planned on going in such a short span of time. I explained that I wanted to write my next article on this meat market and I needed to do a ‘drive by’. You might wander what exactly is a ‘drive by’ A ‘drive by’ is when you drive by a party, event, or gathering, to see if it is worth your while to make an appearance or stop in for a few. In this case, I needed to ‘drive by’ the meat market on Haight Street to obtain the correct spelling. I knew there was something tricky or unusual about the way it was spelled.
Timmy tried to recall the name of the meat market but instead responded with, «There has to be more exciting places to write about then a meat market.» And as my thoughts drifted away to a more exciting place, I imagined a meat market full of single and available men. In all shapes and sizes. a variety of flavors, tall and short, dark and light, lean and buff, handsome and cute&#65 533;how FLY would that be? To choose your meat exactly how you like it sounds so exciting&#65 533; And then it hit me&#65 533;back to LIFE. back to REALity&#65 533; There is this noteworthy meat market that sells FRESH steak, beef, pork, lamb, veal, and fish. After I pointed out that the market was located at 498 Haight Street at Fillmore, he knew what market I was referring to, but not the proper name yet.
Tim chimed in on my last comment about how this particular locality is where I have purchased the 50 cents cow legs for Bella and Rosie (doggies). (((And then there was light))) and Timmy said, &#65 533;Low Cost Meat Market&#65 533; is the name. That is the proper name and quite an efficient name too, but there was still something unusual about the spelling. Of course, it was not until I called 411 that I finally figured out the name was spelled LO COST MEAT MARKET. And then I saw the (((light))). I figured out the family that works there probably owns the store and their last name must be LO. So, I had to giggle because in the past when I have looked at the sign I just assumed that the &#65 533;W&#65 533; was missing in LOW. HEHEHE The Haight/​Fillmore corner is a rough hood so I can see why people would be deterred from entering this meat store. BUT I promise you they carry a variety of meats from rib eye roasts, pork chops, drumsticks, filet mignons to crab, sea bass, turtle meat, rabbit, and pheasants at an exceptional price. You rarely hear of a place that has quality meat at a low cost or shall I say lo cost. So I felt the need to spread the WORD! And one more thing, the cog legs are a great way for your dog to clean his/​her teeth and they love the bones.

Your best source for E-​coli in San Francisco. .. I’ve seen fresher-​looking meat being sold out of the back of a pickup truck in downtown Tijuana.

It’s definitely cheap, and the meat is of pretty good quality. Don’t expect the Niman ranch or anything, but you gotta love a $ 4.00 sirloin.