Joe's Butcher Shop and Fish Market — Restaurant in Carmel

My reply to owner's reply: I appreciate his rebuttal and understand where he's coming from, but I can't change my overall review. If customers that pre-ordered are meant to go to the POS counter, I didn't see any signage indicating that, and the staff didn't seem to know what to do either. 2h45m after our scheduled pickup time, after I'd already left with meat, my wife got an email saying the order was ready... Poorly organized system. And the prices really can't be justified - I've been to many very high end butchers in the past, also offering hormome-free prime/choice cuts, whose prices were well under half of what this establishment charges. I have little doubt that the meat is excellent and will taste great, but there are better places to buy high-grade meat in greater Indy. And perhaps my claim that a medium-end steakhouse offers filet mignon for ~$50/lb was a slight embellishment, but it isn't that far off. Original review: Overall pretty poor experience here. I would give one star, but given the fact that my experience here took place on Christmas Eve Day and it was insanely busy, I'll give one back.

My wife had called a couple days prior to place a butcher order ahead of time. She did not receive the usual order confirmation text, so a few hours later she called again to make sure the order (3 ribeyes and a filet) was actually saved. The associate read back the order correctly and indicated it would be ready for pickup at the prescribed date/time.

As I arrive at the butcher area to pick it up I was greeted by chaos. No orderly lines or even any signs indicating "start here", "online order pick up here".

Someone behind the counter asked what I wanted so I said I was picking up an order, named the cuts that were in the order, and my wife's name. Turned out that in fact the order was not ready for pickup and this was in spite of me arriving 30 minutes after the pickup time in anticipation of them running behind due to the holiday rush. So I ended up having to wait for the cuts to be picked and weighed anyway.

The prices are crazy here. Truly beyond reckoning. $130 out the door for three ribeyes and a filet is criminal. I understand that a place like this prides themselves on quality sourcing but this is suburban Indiana. $47.99 per lb for basic filet mignon is what I'd expect to pay at a medium-end steakhouse - cooked...

Hello first let me say that I do truly appreciate the responses from the owner to the reviews posted. I see that he truly cares about his business. I am giving this meat market a 2 star rating not because of customer service because all the employees were absolutely delightful and the experience I got while there was very good. I travel around to various meat markets and like to give honest feedback on the products they sell. While at the market I purchased ground beef, loin back ribs, 2 types of bratwurst, and bacon. The ground beef was good but was.......ground beef. The ribs I purchased were very fatty and one rack had very little meat on them. The bratwurst were very flavorless and lacked some of the traditional flavors that brats should have. The bacon was very inconsistently cut and some were paper thin while others were very thick. Now this would have all been fine except this business charges a very premium price for a not very premium product. I then went to purchase a whole pork butt and found that it was over 5 dollars a pound. These prices are absolutely astronomical. Now I do realize the area that this business is in is middle to upper class area where the rent is probably very high. But I believe if I am paying very high prices (which I am willing to do) the product needs to be exceptional and have something that sets them apart from the competition. I visited a meat market last week (I dont want to mention the name) that was about 1/3 less expensive and had much better products and pork butt at 2.99 a pound. Please do not adjust your prices but if your prices are high you need something to set you apart from the...

05/07/22 Update - we are back in town from California and came back for lunch. This place is great. Good food - Good Service & Good Time! This time our Daughter & Son-in-law were with us along with my son who just moved to Indy. I had the Chef’s Banh Mi sandwich with a Side Salad and my wife ordered the Grand Palace Salad. Both were delicious.My daughter had the Roast Beef & Cheddar, my Son-in-law had the Aii Amarillo Flank Steak and of course my son had the Meatball Sandwich. This place will NOT disappoint. I will stop by this place every time we come to town.

What a great find today as we were exploring Carmel. Very nice selection of meats and fish and quite a few other specialty items. Glad our son found this place. Super helpful staff!! We had lunch there today. My wife ordered the Turkey Tarantino (Big Sandwich with plenty of turkey meat). My son had the Meatball Sandwich (It was pretty darn big) and I had their version of a Cuban Sandwich (El Cubanito). All the sandwiches were well made a definitely a meal. I bought some Sweet & Spicy Potato Chips to go with our sandwiches (just the right Ying & Yang with sweet & spicy) along with a side of Brussel Sprout Salad. The salad had a nice Smokey Flavor from bacon crumbled...