Save On Meats

Do we dress low key? Will I get mugged? No Louboutins right? Do I leave my purse in the car? These are some questions that crossed my mind when C'est la vie a Maggi suggested Save On Meats for our next food date. Jokes aside (sort of), I did not mind trying out the restaurant because honestly without her, I would never even think of going to Save On Meats. Plus, I was set on ordering a burger way in advance to prevent wasting twenty minutes of her time when we arrived, since she knows I am indecisive.

After spending the morning at a spa together and Maggi giving me numerous chances to choose another restaurant for lunch, we finally walked to the restaurant after parking in front of a, clinic.

Save On Meats is located in the Downtown Eastside and serves homestyle diner food. In addition, the restaurant has a diner atmosphere as well. There are bar seats as well as booth seating arrangements along the wall, and a few tables at the back of the restaurant. Furthermore, the restaurant was fairly clean. I really did not know what to expect when coming here but it was something along the lines of a run down restaurant, which was not the case.

After reading Maggi's post, I found out that Save On Meats was actually featured on "Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives", and clearly I must be living under a rock because I have never even heard of the show. If I had known ahead of time, I would have definitely watched the episode just to see what we should order. Although if a restaurant was on that show… I assume everything on the menu should be pretty good.

VANILLA SOM MILKSHAKE, THICK AND SPUN JUST FOR YOU ($4.95).

When we ordered a milkshake, our waitress asked if we were sharing the drink and having said yes, the restaurant split the milkshake for us. The milkshake has a rich vanilla bean flavour and seems like quality hard ice cream, with a nice thickness. Furthermore by splitting the milkshake, I think we got an extra maraschino cherry! If anything, the milkshake was not thick enough where two straws were required.

Save On Meats offers "build your own burger" and I went with something generic, safe and simple; the way I like it. The price starts at $5.49 for two beef patties and some toppings are complimentary, while others range from $0.75 to $1.49.

TWO BEEF PATTIES ($5.49), BACON ($0.99), REAL CHEDDAR ($0.99), FRIED EGG ($0.99), LETTUCE, TOMATO, PICKLE AND JALAPENO. 

When my burger arrived, the fried egg was forgotten and after mentioning it to our waitress, she was more than happy to let the kitchen know. After a few minutes, the fried egg arrived on a separate plate and I plopped it onto my burger.

The patties taste moist (neither dry nor juicy) and the flavour along with the texture of the slightly crispy bacon really stood out. Also, the juicy tomato provided some moisture as well as a refreshing taste, as did the shreds of lettuce. As for the jalapeños, they provided a spicy salty pickled flavour. However, I found the buns very boring and although soft as well as toasted, it was nothing special to me. All in all, the burger was not that great and perhaps because the SOM smear was a bit too light? I could not pick up the sauce that much and at first, the sauce even looked like a slice of processed cheese at the bottom of the patty lol (which was not the case, it just coincidentally looked like a perfect square). Furthermore about the actual cheese, I was kind of expecting a slice of cheddar rather than sprinkles of a cheddar and white mix.

If anything, I would have given our waitress bonus points if she mentioned the burger that I wanted to "create" is almost identical to "the original" which includes bacon, american cheese, SOM smear, lettuce as well as tomato. Furthermore at $6.95, fries are included! The original burger is practically what I ordered minus the jalapeño and an added egg. In addition, the lettuce seems to be a whole piece rather than shredded which I would have preferred. Not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed that our waitress did not suggest it… but hey, it is a diner.

TWO BEEF PATTIES ($5.49), BACON ($0.99), REAL CHEDDAR ($0.99), PEROGIES X2 ($1.49), ONION RINGS X2 ($0.75), FRIED EGG ($0.99), AVOCADO ($1.49), LETTUCE, TOMATO, PICKLE, CUCUMBER, SOM SMEAR, KETCHUP AND MAYO.

Maggi's burger is a lot more adventurous to the point where some ingredients were left out by the kitchen's discretion, such as the lettuce, tomato, pickle and cucumber.  As for my first bite, all I could taste were the crisp and crunchy onion rings. She enjoyed the burger and declared it to be a 3.5/5. Personally, I thought it was a 3/5 and that is being generous, since the perogies along with the onion rings were not soggy or over fried, and the patties were not overcooked like mine.

SIDE OF POUTINE ($4.95).

ALL SERVED WITH SOM'S MONTREAL SPECIAL ROTUNDA FRIES

"THE BEST EVER!" - EVERYONE.

As for her choice of side, she went for the poutine out of the options of onion rings, fries, caesar salad and coleslaw. The fries have a light crispiness and are not oily at all. However, the side seems more like fries topped with a bit of gravy (which tastes kind of bland) than an actual poutine, despite having a fair amount of cheese curd. The highlight for the both of us was the ground pepper.

TOTAL: $31.60 + $5.00 = $36.60.

When we arrived, I was not expecting a "gourmet" burger but in a way, I thought the burger would be a lot better. Perhaps because my burger was not juicy? Honestly, I did not know what to expect when coming here and all I know is that "the original" burger looks a lot better than what I ordered, which is not very different ingredients wise. As for the service, the staff was friendly and checked up on us.

POSITIVES
- Friendly staff
- Great milkshake (3.5/5)
- Housemade patties
- Location is not that bad
- Build your own burgers for the picky or adventurous

NEGATIVES
- My burger was meh

LITTLE THINGS
- C'est la vie a Maggi's post [here]
- I just watched the clip of Save On Meats on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and seems like the turkey pot pie is a must order! Also, the burger did not look like mine. Actually, the burger looks pretty good on the clip and comparable to Burgers Etc's.

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 3/5