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    Canteen Meats

    4.6 (8 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 6:00 pm

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    Stephanie K.

    5 STARS If you haven't tried Canteen Meats, you need to try it! They have everything made in house and you can tell they really care about quality of their meats. They even source their meats locally! I usually get the bresaola and lomo. It has so much flavor and the quality is unbelievable. I love that they even sell hand soap with byproducts. They also sell other products from local vendors which is amazing. Thank you for John for the amazing experience and customer service!

    Lamb salami 50% off in the misfits bin. Can't even tell what was imperfect.

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    7 months ago

    Helpful 2
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    1 year ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 1
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    2 years ago

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    John G.

    Helpful 7
    Thanks 4
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    Oh no 1

    2 years ago

    Helpful 2
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    2 years ago

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    John G.

    Thank you Stephanie! I'm glad we got to show you our space

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 3
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    8 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    1 year ago

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    John G.

    Helpful 1
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    Love this 2
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    Sonoma Cattle Exchange - What a porterhouse is supposed to look like.  See example of what you get at Sonoma Cattle Exchange.

    Sonoma Cattle Exchange

    1.6(134 reviews)
    2.2 mi
    $$$

    This is a scam…read more They sell food-service quality meat at astronomically inflated prices. The sales woman had lots of great lines. She told us they were in the neighborhood making a delivery for our neighbor, and wanted to get rid of the last of their dry aged grass-fed premium steaks before they drive back to Sonoma. All lies. I noticed later it says right on the box: "grain fed". We got suckered for $40 worth, and I'm very thankful that's all we lost. She was trying to sell us $400 worth at first. It's hard to judge the quality of frozen vacuum wrapped steak. After defrosting, there was no marbling, the steaks were not trimmed, and one was folded in half before freezing, so it looked good, but defrosted it was 1/4 inch thick. The steaks I've tried so far have been badly oxidized, meaning the meat is grayish brown on the outside. (see photo). The meat is edible, but only barely, on par with flank steak from a school cafeteria, airplane food, or hospital food.

    You might wonder who would ever consider buying meat from a door-to-door salesman. I'm one of…read morethose people. Look, the concept isn't that strange; I was used to local butchers selling "freezer bundles" to neighborhood residents and boutique operations-gone-corporate like Omaha Steaks made it seem even more plausible. But I'm here to give you the loudest warning I can yell via my keyboard. Don't be fooled by the authentic sounding company name. Sonoma Cattle Exchange is on par with Ginsu-knife salesmanship. They sell their meat in flash-frozen packaging in stylish boxes that read: "A cut above" and state that their fine meats are "hand trimmed." In the box I purchased was an assortment of new york, ground sirloin, strip loin, filet mignon and a few other cuts. Here is the cold, hard truth. While the meat they sell is not unhealthy, the quality of meat is worse than you get at the supermarket. USDA's meat grades are as follows: Prime (finely marbled and what you would find at fine steakhouses), Choice (supermarkets), Select (Food Service) and so on. Some of Sonoma Cattle Exchange's meats are choice, but the rest are select or worse yet, ungraded! To make matters worse, they are NOT trimmed. Huge chunks of fat are stuck to many cuts and some are even pumped full of a solution ("up to 15%"). Now the reason for the solution is up for speculation: a) it makes the cuts look bigger when frozen, b) it preserves them, c) it colors the meat, d) it enhances flavor, e) it adds weight, or f) all of the above. So far I've noticed that when the meat reaches a certain temperature, it wicks away the solution and reveals a grayer-colored meat. They also falsely use labels like "porterhouse". Now a porterhouse is a large cut of meat with a strip loin on one side and a large filet mignon on the other (this is what distinguishes it from a T-Bone). If you look at the pictures I attached, you will see that the filet side is merely a sliver (also note the whopping hunk of fat). I also posted a picture of what a porterhouse is supposed to look like. Because of the mystery solution, I initially thought the meat was near expiration but I've come to the conclusion that they are cuts that retailers simply don't want because they are of unacceptable quality - either not meeting up to standards because of quality of cut or fat content (or both). They then flash-freeze the discounted meat and market it to appear like prime-grade beef. The fat content is a bit disturbing. After cooking the hamburgers, I noticed a huge build-up of fat "blobules" on the underside of my grill. Later when cooking a strip loin, I was horrified to find blobules forming underneath the meat itself. I have no one to blame but myself. I paid $200 ("original price $350+!") for about $60 of meat I'd never buy in the first place. My only defense was that I was woken up from a nap and was hungry. So how does the meat taste? Like I said, there's nothing unhealthy about the meat (except the fat). I've been eating it almost daily so I can quickly rid my freezer of any trace of this bad experience. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, but most of the time I'm incensed how after cooking, most pieces of meat have shrunk to a fraction of their size once the fat and/or solution has burned off. Have you ever ordered a T-Bone steak at Denny's? Honestly it's worse than that. Consider yourself warned. NOTE: Areas of operation include the greater Sacramento, CA region as well as the greater San Jose, CA region (where I am located). UPDATE: As I mentioned above, the brand the boxes were marked with was: "A Cut Above" with the meat being from Sonoma Cattle Exchange. After some internet sleuthing, I discovered that A Cut Above has had its share of troubles: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/recalls/prelease/pr032-2003.htm UPDATE 2: I want to clarify that I'm not a "disgruntled ex-employee." Nor am I a current employee or friend/family member of one who chooses to write a positive marketing spiel (oops I mean "review").

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    Sonoma Cattle Exchange - Defrosted steaks, after opening, rinsing, and patting dry.

    Defrosted steaks, after opening, rinsing, and patting dry.

    Sonoma Cattle Exchange - "Product of USA, Canada, or Mexico. Like we know!"

    "Product of USA, Canada, or Mexico. Like we know!"

    Sonoma Cattle Exchange - Low quality.  photo taken right after thaw and before cooking.  there was no taste at all; it went into garbage.

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    Low quality. photo taken right after thaw and before cooking. there was no taste at all; it went into garbage.

    Canteen Meats - butcher - Updated May 2026

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