Reviews of Village Butcher (Butcher Shop)

Sean Quinn

Great people, amazing service, incredible meats. Don't even hesitate. Best in Victoria!

Paul

So if you want something perfect be it beef, chicken or pork you won't be disappointed. You get what you pay for so I wouldn't call it "cheap" but it's well worth it when you bite into your perfect rib eye steak. The Whole Beast is in the same space and it is also a great place to get sausage, ham, and on some days some excellent ribs to snack on. Seems like these guys care about quality and if you are what you eat you may assume that I am made of high quality, locally sourced protein with a faint whiff of smoke...

Stephen Wallington

Unreal quality. Definitely going to be a regular here.

Todd B

Great, locally butchered products. I like the assortment of sausages, marinaded flank steak and rivers... before heading to The Whole Beast next door. Yummy!

Emily McIvor

This is the only/ best place to buy meat in Victoria! Local grass-fed and organic. Skilled meat cutters and sales people who know and care. I regularly purchase all cuts of organic beef, chicken, duck, rabbit and eggs from them. I got my Christmas turkey here and it was moist and delicious!! They also make an amazing Spanish style blood sausage called morcilla, which is gluten free, spicy and luscious. I recently picked up a few turkey sausages here on a whim. We all know how dry and flavorless turkey sausage can be. These however, were moist and robust and packed with flavour. They were easy to digest and felt blissful in the body. Highly recommended! And when you're there, take the time to go to The Whole Beast charcuterie shop in the same store (but it's a separate business). I tried their weekly terrine of duck, duck liver, sour cherry and something else I can't remember and god it was delicious!!!!

John Pickersgill

Great people & great food. Love it .

Tim Willis

A superb butcher. Staff are friendly and knowledgeable. The meat is local. I love shopping here.

Terri Watts

Very clean, great product, good service!

Jay Pozo

Truly experts at what they do. Great quality meat, knowledgeable.

J P

Amazing.

Richard Pattee

Great place for meats.

Zonke Guddah

I got the nicest organic chicken wings and turkey stock. But I have learned to mostly go there on special occasions since it's on the high end. I was told the sausages there are the best too, maybe that's going to be my next try????????

Lin Zurawell

Bought our Easter ham here while visiting Victoria. The best ham ever! Tender, moist and perfectly flavoured. Made a delicious hambone soup using the leftovers. Thanks Village butcher for making our family Easter in Victoria extra special.

Morgana B

Excellent, high quality products, and super helpful staff.

Peter Carscadden

Pre-ordered a whole turkey. Was told 2 days before pickup that they could only give us a half turkey. Picked it up on the 22nd, and it WAS FROZEN. Website claims all their meats are fresh, got a frozen half turkey. Shop elsewhere.

Paul Lalonde

Great shop, helpful knowledgeable butchers. Try the house-made sausages.

Geocaching Master

Great sausages!

Williamjames Sarginson

Always friendly service, good selection of meats , deli side has great selection of sausages, try their chicken lemon pate.

Vincent L

Tried this place out in 2018, was really impressed with the quality of meat and the service they offered. I recommend visiting this store and trying out what they offer

Jimmy Thomson

Duck rillettes taste like France. Great cheese too.

Jennifer Whitfield

They are happy to cut up any meat any way you want always cheerfully serving local poultry and meat. Sincere in their desire to serve you the best

Kevin

Went to a couple of " famous" in the city to buy oxtail, where they refused to cut it into proper sized pieces. Found these guys and they were happy to do it. it is a half an hour drive for me and well worth it. Best butcher in the city.

Veronica Best

Not sanitary: the man touched the beef with bare hands, then touched a dirty pen, touched our money, touched more meat. Never washing his hands. Unprofessional and frightening.

tirip01

Very nice place to go to. The meat is very good, they have a nice variety and they seem to enjoy their work. One of the better places in Victoria to buy your meat.

Lorne Moore

Incredible local meat. Awesome staff!

Mike M

Awesome service great selection.

John Sakaluk

I feel gross writing a negative review about a local business that others feel really positively about, and that with which I had previously nothing but really positive experiences, but my most recent experience here has left a really bad impression. Placed an order on Tuesday for a hefty amount of pork that I wanted to smoke for a BBQ I was having Saturday--was told I'd be getting two ~6lb pork roasts (~12lbs total). Took my name and #, asked when I wanted to pick up (Friday) and everything sounded perfect. Had bought a new smoker just for the occasion. Friday rolls around, and I head down to pick up my order around 5:15. Get there, and they have changed my order to one 14lb roast. Pay for it (>$100 roast), without thinking much about the change, and head home. My brain kicks in once I get in the door, and very quickly I realize there's no way I can smoke a 14lb roast in time for the BBQ the next evening, needing 1.5-2hrs/lb of smoking time. It's about ~5:45 (they close at 6) and I call to ask what my options are, because now I'm in a total bind. They tell me all they can do is have me come in the next morning @9 and they'll cut it in half--it's a bone-in roast, so I can't do it myself at home. Doesn't matter though, because I still couldn't smoke two 7lb roasts in time before my guests arrive if I started around 9:30AM (would still need ~12+hours). I tell them this, and the attitude I get is more or less, "Sorry--this sounds like a 'you' problem". I ask if they'd stay open for me to run the roast right back, for them to cut in half, and somewhat expectedly the answer is no. I get it--it's end of day on a Friday, and folks are probably itching to go home. But I'm also totally screwed. And so that's that. In the end, I end up stressing a bunch the night before/day of, and end up rushing to finish the roast in the oven instead, a good +100 degrees F higher than I should have been cooking it. You could say it was my fault for agreeing to purchase the larger/singleton roast, and you'd have a point. But at the end of the day, the reason I go to a local shop like the Village Butcher vs. some cheaper big-business like Costco is for 1) the quality of the product; 2) the knowledge of the staff; and 3) the service. While there's no doubt the quality of the meat is incredible, knowledge and service were complete misses, and it's the service lapse that really sullies the whole experience for me. I had explicitly stated the roast was for smoking for a BBQ the next day, and so even if they (like me) spaced on how the cooking time would be impacted (read: impossible) by 1 larger cut vs. 2x smaller cuts, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect they could have at least called earlier that week or even that day to confirm if the change to my order would be okay. I would have had a chance to look up the cooking time implications, tell them it wasn't gonna work, have them cut the roast, and avoid the whole mess. But then once I was in the mess, the response I got was totally unhelpful, if not entirely dismissive. And while I might be able to look past an experience like this for a smaller/generic purchase (e.g., a few sausages that were off-the-mark), for such a big/expensive purchase, for a special occasion, it just felt like a real let-down, especially from a place that had otherwise been awesome.

Tommy O’Connell

Has really gone down hill the last few years. Did they loose somebody essential or change ownership? Have been having intermittently poor quality for a while but this last two batches of sausages are the final straw. Dry, mealy, and salty. Casing spilt and completely came off one batch and was tough and hard to get through even with a knife on the other. Have started to go down to Farm and Field on Blanchard. Have had great and consistent quality so far. Have to drive to get there but can’t bear the preminuim price for the subpar quality at Oak Bay. Hope things turn around.

Trevor Campbell

I have been warned that they do not practice good food safe practices. Use previously frozen meat in their freah sausagea, leave washed eggs out at room temp for days at a time. They also have a history of treating thheir employees poorly. Dont let the slick paint job fool you, there is something rotten here.

Rick Woo

Great place exceptional quality fantastic staff

Dan J

Not worth the write-up, go there if you've had good experience in the past. My first and only experience makes me never want to bother again!

Brad Williams

By far my favorite place to get meat. I love the village butcher because they have local meat yes. But more importantly every time I go in you can have a conversation with someone and learn new ideas or riffs on what you are doing with a cut of meat.

Rigel Tessmann

I have had consistently positive experiences shopping here. I have bought the cuts of meat for steaks and soups, sausages, bacon, premade soups, sauces, and meatballs. They even made a Shepherd's Pie once. Everything has tasted awesome, been fresh and a joy to eat. I hesitate to go in "just to look" because I always end up buying something. The rotation of premade meals and ingredients shifts with the interests of the chef, which means there is often something new to try, but also means that it can be difficult to buy more of something you loved. (I'm still waiting to get more of the Bacon Corn Chowder) :( I see a few comments saying that the staff are not always the most helpful, but I have found them friendly. It is true they are not trained salespeople, it's a butcher shop, so people should expect different kinds of interactions than those at a restaurant or standard grocery store. Apparently, they have a BBQ on Saturdays in the summer, but I have always tragically missed it.

Katherine Johns

Have consistently been disappointed with Village butcher. Sausages are poorly made, won’t stay in casing, dry and unappetizing. Service is slow and often unhelpful. Makes you wonder if they know what they’re doing. Overhyped and overpriced, hopefully we get another butcher alternative in the village.

Peggy Malinowski

Great products and friendly staff! We also love how good they are about respecting the rules regarding Covid! Good job guys!

Harry C. Kendall

Good selection if they let you in. I like both their ordinary and unusual products -- organ meats on display, actual leaf lard, a good selection of butcher's cuts in the cooler for when I ask. But recently I stepped up to the door and reached out my hand when a staffer opened the door from inside and without raising his eyes he flipped the sign and wordlessly locked the door in my face. Apparently I showed up at the exact second their lunchtime began and that's the end of that! It's cool to take a lunch break (although the staff COULD stagger theirs and stay open like every other business in Canada does) but the way Village Butcher handles closing doors in customers' faces for lunch is a disaster. Slaters has my business now.

dirt worship

I've said it once I'll say it again god damn this place is the best. Their pre marinaded steaks are just so friggin delicious godamn, I was eating it and was like daaaamnn

Ian Sheaves

Lots of great variety costumer service was excellent. They didn't have exactly what I wanted so josh butchered a pork leg on the spot for us. Very impressed I will be a repeat customer.

liam w

Knowledgeable

Christine Kay

Went there to only have curt and rushed staff who denied giving me any beef trimmings when I spent over 100$ on a beef tenderloin. I’ve never heard of that before, and is bad form as a butcher. Slaters will have my business going forward.

AJ Ferrari

Friendly, clean, excellent products. Yes. more expensive, but in most cases you get what you pay for - and they support local business.

Ceri Barlow

Best Butcher in town!

Corey Bingham

Started purchasing from Village Butcher after another local Butcher was not excited about calling us when they couldn't fill a $600 order (didn't call us). Spoke with the folks at Village Butcher...WOW, what a difference!! Consistently excellent products and customer service. Thank you Village Butcher, you saved our meals :)