San Francisco Poultry

I use to love this place. It is a great place to get some inexpensive chicken and other poultry items. However, my last experience there makes me question the sanitary standards here and how all the meat is handled.
I went in a few days ago to get some chicken breasts and the guy uses a pair of tongs to picks up a few breasts and show them to me. As he was showing them to me, one of the breasts in his tongs slipped out and fell to the ground. The guy used the same tongs and grab the chicken off the ground, did a very brief wash in the sink and then throw it back into the tub with the rest of the chicken breasts. And he even continued to use the same tongs (that touched the floor) to get others meat. Gross! Don’t think I’ll be coming back to this location.

I’ve been shopping here for years, excellent quality and variety of chicken, also other fowl and seasonal items. The shop is always clean and organized, the service polite and professional. Best poultry market in Chinatown for sure.

While in Chinatown, I grocery shop in the shops along Stockton St. On a recent trip, I happened to be on Grant Ave, and with chicken on my shopping list, I decided to stop by the original San Francisco Poultry location.
Located on Grant Ave., between Broadway and Pacific, this San Francisco Poultry store is a lot larger that their #2 location on Stockton St. You can get freshly dressed poultry that are packed in clear plastic bags. If you want cut-​up chicken parts, you can buy it here too.
The chickens are freshly dressed at this location, as you can see the workers through the window in the back right. Now I’m glad that there are two options available for my poultry purchases and now know that this location is a viable option should I be on Grant Ave.

Chinatown is not somwhere I’d like to go given the crowded streets and lack of parking. But still, chinatown contains a jewel of restaurants and shops i wouldn’t be able to find somewhere else.
but yesterday, my mom decided to stop here to buy some chicken. the butcher asks do you want it cut? my mom said yes, he asked, how many pieces? my mom said 8 (how asian…)
purchase and payment was made for 1 whole chicken, and exchange of chicken occurred. fast forward a few hours to home and we open the box to find:
8 pieces of chicken:
1 head
1 left wing
1 right wing
1 butt
1 left thigh
1 right thigh
1 left leg
1 right leg
8 pieces is correct… but…where’s the rest of my chicken? where’s the WHOLE WHITE MEAT MIDDLE of it? all i got was ass and limbs.
called the shop, they told us to come back the next day…*sigh* another trip to chinatown…
fine, moon comes up, moon goes down, sun comes up and here we are back at the shop.
the butcher comes out, says he remembers what happened, that he did as he was asked, he cut the chicken into 8 pieces. my mom asked where was the whole chicken she paid $ 9.50 for?
after all, if you charge me for the price of a whole chicken, and i ask for it to be cut into 8 pieces, those 8 pieces should easily fit together to create 1 whole chicken. but the eight pieces i got seem more like a random limb chop that i would get if i was ordering unfried chicken.
they refused to admit they ripped us off, we asked why they were so dishonest in their business practices and other people are lining up to buy their chicken.
bottom line: if you order a chicken, make sure you don’t get it cut, because somehow… in chinatown… in a shop on 1118 Grant Ave… a cut chicken logically does not mean a whole chicken even if you are charged for one.
chicken from here? no thanks