The Meating Place Cafe — Restaurant in Hillsboro

I've visited the Meeting Place a few times over the years to get a special cut of meat (short ribs, beef ribs) from the meat store (across the parking lot from their cafe), and always noticed the cafe parking lot being full which should indicate good food. Looked up their menu online, and the sandwiches sounded delicious. My nephew was up visiting so I said to everyone let's go get some food at this cafe. We arrived about 11:45 AM, and there was a 35 minute wait to get our food, and about a 10 minute wait until a table in their seating area opened up.

Two of us ordered the brisket sandwich, and one of us ordered the Cubano.

Well, sadly, the sandwiches didn't live up to expectations. On the brisket sandwiches, there couldn't have been more than 4 oz of meat on them, and it was kinda dried out - like it was kept too long in a heating tray, but the sandwich failed big time because the bread choice was also pitiful. Not sure exactly what it was, but it had the texture of Wonder bread slices that would compress almost to nothing when you held your sandwich. It came with onions, one leaf of lettuce and a couple of thin tomato slices. AND IT COST $18! In size, when you held the sandwich in your hands, it didn't appear to be thicker than 1", top to bottom.

The Cuban wasn't much better, but it was also disappointing, and it was thinner than the brisket sandwiches.

There's a food cart on Barber Blvd. near the Tigard Fred Meyers where you can buy a pound of hot and juicy, succulent smoked brisket for $20. You can get it in a sandwich, but we bought it to take home and make our own sandwiches. We grilled soft thick Ciabatta bread with garlic butter, put on the fixings including super crunchy sweet and dill Persian pickles, sliced tomatoes, onions, bacon aioli, and smoky bbq sauce, divided the meat onto two sandwiches and they were a hundred times better than what we were served today. Honestly, with just a little more effort, they could probably make this into a decent sandwich, but it's almost like whoever chef'd up this sandwich phoned it in. We've had smoked brisket sandwiches at home and across the nation, so it wasn't like this was our first rodeo.

We didn't expect Katz Deli quality, but with it tied into a high end meat store, we certainly didn't expect to be so far down the scale based on what we received. I often photograph the sandwiches I review, but I honestly wouldn't waste the money going back there for the long wait just to add a photo.

Even the Smokehouse Brisket sandwich for about $6 at Arby's is a far better sandwich (about 3"-4" thick) than what was served to us today.

Bottom line, long drive, long wait, disappointing food, would not recommend this to our friends, and all of us have smokers and know what a good brisket sandwich should taste like. Sorry for the harsh review, and maybe we caught them on a bad day, but when you spend almost $40 for two sandwiches, we expect a lot more for our money (and to be accurate, it did come with a pickle spear and a small...

Defiantly not fast food. The sandwiches are good, but not 30+ minutes wait good. I wouldn’t call this a destination eatery, not something you would want to drive across town for, but if you’re in the area for sure, and if you are making a stop at the meat market which is highly recommended. The wait is a problem… normally I call in my order, but this time when I got there 20 minutes later and my sandwich still wasn’t made, somehow the order ticket just sat on the line, hopefully this won’t be a reoccurring theme.

My favorite sandwich here is the rueben, it is one of the best reubens you can get on this side of town. The house made pastrami is a stand out, and the rye bread they use is perfection matched with the saurkraut, swiss, and thousand island dressing. It has that east coast deli taste. My other go to and recommends are the french dip and philly cheese friday special, both have a yummy beefy flavor. However, the BBQ options are not my favorite, the BBQ pulled pork and BBQ brisket sandwiches just don’t cut it, I am not expecting texas que, or caroline pit here, but the smoke flavor is lacking, and the BBQ flavor mainly comes from the sauce.

The burgers are standouts here, they grind their own beef, the burgers are juicy and flavorful, and maybe be better choices than some of sandwiches.

If you’re in the area, and looking for a hearty lunch, and willingly to wait a bit,...

It's becoming a tradition to stop at the Meating Place Cafe while also going to the butcher shop. Their sandwiches/burgers are fairly large & they come with chips and a pickle. I really like that they have an intercom system for announcing orders - great for those hard of hearing or outside waiting. The staff seem fairly friendly, and hard working folks. They have standard fountain beverages and some bottled options too. They also have coffee, but their coffee does look a bit sad, so I wouldn't recommend that. They serve breakfast all day.

The only reason I rate 3 stars is because so far all their sandwiches have been good....but that's it - like there's nothing outstanding about them. The wait times on Saturdays tend to be long too - like greater than 30 min. So definitely order first, do your shopping at the butcher shop, and your sandwich will hopefully be close to ready then.

I do like that they use their own meats from the butcher shop in the sandwiches, and the food is consistently good. Looks like a good spot to hang out with friends and talk too - has a country diner like setting. They have a TV in the corner that seems to be tuned to either sports or hunting shows (if...