The Meat Company — Restaurant in Berlin

I went to TMC on Sunday afternoon(highly recommended -- no waiting), and had a very mixed experience. Positives: The short rib -- absolute perfection, top notch, juicy, saucy, sluffs off the bone. The Caesar Salad -- they don't skimp on the dressing, the sundried tomatoes are a nice touch, brioche croutons -- nice take on a classic. The burgers -- trendy smashy style, tasty, hard to mess that up. The fries -- excellent.

Negatives: The Rueben -- I had high hopes, and by the description, it sounds like what you want with a Rueben. The meat itself was ok, even though instead of corned beef, it was poorly cut (with the grain) pastrami. There was something akin to mustard on one side, but the other side was slathered in mayonnaise -- not even close to the expected 'Russian" dressing. I took most of it home and replaced the mayo with proper mustard. Fixed it. "Miso Gurken" salad -- though the menu says it should be miso-marinated cucumbers, for 5€ you get a shotglass with cut raw cucumbers (unmarinated) with a sprinkle of miso dressing on it. Save your money. The prices -- I get it, it's Mitte, it's Friedrichstrasse, your main clientele is tourists, not neccesarily locals -- but c'mon 4€ for a cola? I actually saw one of the employees go next door to the Spati to buy a drink, coz it was probably cheaper than his own discount. The Rueben was 16,50€, with maybe 80g of meat on it, (hard to tell under that swamp of mayo).

It's a bit harsh, but I will go there again. Especially for the ribs or...

The Meat company should not run out of meat. It’s your Brand. The first time I went to this viral sensation I waited 47 minutes for a takeout order. Only to find at the 35th minute they ran out of the pastrami I paid for. So I was left with no Brisket which also was gone and small side orders of carbs. The one meat I did get was the short rib. Tasty yes but not fall off the bone as seen on TikTok. The second time I said I’ll go early and make sure to get whatever I like. Wrong again No Brisket but I did manage to get some pastrami and pulled beef. The beef was oily and saturated in sauce with no apparent smoking flavor whatsoever. Unimpressive to say the least. The pastrami looks standard and is. Nothing special as I am a pastrami connoisseur of sorts. Pause….people talk about katzs but my fave was Carnegie Deli midtown near the Dave letterman theater. WOW. But this pastrami is none of that. The secret is a great brine and pepper coating. The Brine gives the salty taste whilst the coating gives pepper balanced with a meat that should melt in your mouth, there are few things better in my life. And here is the NYC secret. Scrambled eggs and pastrami with a grated cheese topping or without. The eggs need no flavoring as the salt and pepper mix fluidly together with that cheese of any kind topping it off? Get it on a Kaiser Roll and we are talking a City Classic. But...

The sandwiches at the Meat Company are delicious and buttery. I ordered a Melt-Smash Brioche Burger and a Caesar salad, both of which were quite good. The croutons on the Caesar salad are some of the best tasting foods I've ever eaten. Sandwiches are quite large and filling.

What could be improved is the layout of the store and how they direct customers. The front of the store is completely lined with tables, with not really much space between the tables at the doorway (this may be due to space constraints in the front of the store). Almost all of our party walked in to speak to the staff at the ordering counter before a server told us that she would help us find a table. However, this server was incredible! She was very kind and spoke with the kitchen regarding my peanut/tree nut allergy and I was informed that I could eat there. After that, we were again confused, as one of the staff members asked us to order at the front counter (which we did) and the server came up to our table and seemed surprised that we had already ordered. As it was our first time in the restaurant, it was somewhat confusing, but if we ever go back we will know how to navigate...