The Owl's Meat Shop 부엉이 정육점 — Local services in Toronto

I never write reviews like this... but what an upsetting experience.

I ordered for pickup at around 2pm, an order for a family Christmas gathering in 3 days. On the website, you have to input a pick up time, so I wrote for two hours later at 4pm. Once I did that, I submitted it and I received an email later saying the order had been processed.

My mother and father went to pick the order up in my stead while I was on a 24 hour work shift. When they asked the workers, they said there was no order for 4pm. Therefore, I sent a screenshot of the order confirmation to my mother to show them. Instead of a cooperative reaction, they SCOFFED with no apology and said they couldn’t do the order anymore, and to come back in 2 hours. I would understand if it was an issue with being busy… but that wasn’t even the case. My question now is why even bother having the option for a pickup time then??

They had to stay in the area for 2 hours (home is far). Then when the 2 hours was up, they parked in a spot that one of the employees of either the meat shop or its next door chain restaurant had specifically told them to park. The weather was not good, and the ground in that area was a slope (which proves to be a safety hazard for anyone, but more for elderly people). In consequence, my mother slipped while trying to get to the entrance and hurt her thigh.

For this, I am not asking the shop to take responsibility since she did hurt herself off property, but if they were able to pickup the meat at the time it was set to be picked up, perhaps this would not have even happened at all. Following that, one of the meat shop employees was smoking outside. When my father went to suggest that they have some sort of warning posted for the hazardous area, they simply ignored him.

In the end, no apology when the order was picked up. Later in the day I called the place to complain and ask what really happened. The employee said online orders take a while to process. I asked then, every time I order online, do I have to consider an extra two hours from the time I choose?? No reply to that. I would assume the logical response would be to call me in advance, telling me that the order might take more time. Not when we get there to pick it up.

After all this. The moral of this story is a) if you’re willing to put up with unreasonable order times, go ahead b) prepare your mental and physical strength when being at the shop. Not even a single sorry.

What an...

I had a very disappointing experience with this store today. I didn't want to leave any bad comment to any business in this difficult time when many small businesses struggle due to COVID. But what I experienced today was completely unacceptable and it required attention. I visited this place every time I went to North York area. Even though this place was more expensive than other asian butcher shops, I didn't mind paying extra for good quality products they used to offer. I started finding more and more fat in the meat and often those fatty ones were hidden underneath the good looking ones. So I decided to look more closely this time before I buy. Slices displayed look good, so I asked one of the employees to put them in a container to purchase. Then I saw him filling a container with slices with full of fat. I asked him to replace them with ones with less fat but he refused, because as per him, if everyone takes good ones only, the store will be left with bad ones which no one else will buy. Does it mean customers must have a mix of good and bad ones so the store can sell out bad ones at a price of good one? He even asked me to leave the store if I'm not willing to take those fatty ones along. So I left the store. This was absolutely horrible experience and I don't think I will ever come back to this place. Anyone who will visit this store should always check carefully what they are...

I went in to buy 2 pound (900 grams) of marinated short ribs for BBQ. My mom complained the bag of meat was absolutely full of liquid. Upon inspection we found there was 249 grams of water/sauce in it. Yes $40 dollars of meat, they give you a full $10 worth of sauce. If I were to “shake” every rib of its sauce it probably could have ended with over 300 grams of liquid.

I went to complain about it, while they were absolutely unapologetic, they asked for me for a resolution. The staffs defended themselves as not “scientists” to do measurements like what I did. They offered me an extra rib as compensation. While I accepted the compensation, the practice & customer service seemed beyond disgusting so I would happily let others know of...