A & J Meats & Seafood

Come and get it while you can! We love this place-​Super bummed its closing not too far out for now. We’d take it over if we could. There are not many meat shops to choose from and none in seattle to this quality. The butchering is great. Jerky is amazing. Many handcrafted sausages to pick from. We might have to stock our freezer before they close. Not sure where we’ll go especially for the 4^th!

Correction — A&J Meats is open Tues ¹¹⁄₂₅ and Wed ¹¹⁄₂₆
Closed Thurs ¹¹⁄₂₇ for Thanksgiving
Open through Sat ¹¹⁄₂₉ — then closed permanently for a well deserved retirement!
A Queen Anne culinary landmark!

This place is awesome! Not only do they have everything, they have fantastic service — even the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, which is usually when I’m there!

Holy cow
German wurst is spot on!
Chicken was best I have ever bought in Seattle.
Breakfast sausages were excellent!!!
You will not be disappointed if you go here.

Mediocre quality and borderline unhealthy/​unsanitary conditions. I would recommend Metropolitan Market for better quality and more sanitary conditions.

Probably the best Bacon I’ve ever eaten in my life!
The spicy Landjager was really good too, and all the sausages looked amazing. I will be back for sure!

When I lived on QA, I came here at least once a week to get fresh meat, seafood, or one of their prepared dishes. I was always afraid to cook meat before discovering this place (I’m a baker) so I loved being able to ask the staff how to prepare whatever it was that I bought.
Now that I have moved away from QA, I still drive by as often as possible to pick up goodies on my way home. My favourites are their frozen beef bones, bacon, blueberry sausage, smoked ham hocks, and landjäger.
My only wish is that they would carry tendon and boudin noir!

A&J is the place to buy the best meats! The service is indeed superb. I’m glad that Unilocal is able to spread the word.

What a great place. Nice selection and most of the prices aren’t bad at all. Always friendly and quick service. You are definitely getting better quality here than at a normal grocery store so it’s definitely worth it.

The company I work for gives employees a $ 25 gift certificate to A&J Meats at Christmas and, consequently, I’ve gone into the store as many times as it has taken me to burn through the $ 25 each year. I’ve felt pleased enough with everything I used the gift certificate to buy, and with the service I received, and every time have been startled by how expensive everything seemed to be.
I recognize the truth of «you get what you pay for,» but I don’t eat much meat and have no picky palate where meat is concerned. One pound of hamburger tastes like another pound of hamburger to me, when it comes right down to it. I don’t have any nostalgic memories of or longings for butcher shops and don’t live on Queen Anne Hill, so I’m really just not the customer this market is intended for.
My main takeaway impression is how friendly their service has always been. That’s nice to encounter but even if I lived within walking distance it wouldn’t make that much difference to me because I’d be looking for somewhere that didn’t cost so much.

Wonderful meats and nicer people. They are very helpful. Tell them what your goal is for your meal and they will help you pick out the perfect cut of meat (beef, lamb, port, chicken). The fruit sausages are out of this world.
Enjoy!

I drive about 45 minutes across town to go to this butcher because their selection and quality of meat is amazing.

I think they have good meat, especially lamb. My biggest complaint would be what they charged us. I ordered a leg of lamb over the phone. Lady said it was about 9 $/​lb and that leg was between 8 and 9 lbs, which was perfect for our party of 4. So, I had one reserved for my husband to pick up. When he returned he said he spent $ 110. That didn’t add up, so we weighed the lamb and it was over 12 lbs. I just felt I was sold something which was misrepresented. My husband was unaware, so didn’t object at the time. We ended up spending $ 30 more dollars and having way too much meat to consume.

Love this place. They always have what I need and answer all of my questions. Best butcher in Seattle.
Recently I bought our NYE new York roast. Perfect for our celebration and the meat was amazing.

Wow, this place is fantastic. The employees are wonderful and have great tips! They also have really good prices and unlike some places that sell fish it doesn’t smell which shows it’s fresh! =)

There is not a better place to get fresh meat in Seattle that I’ve found. A&J sells fresh, delectable cuts, and they even have their own marinade that you can have your cuts done in without any work!
Of course that is only a part of the story, their selection of cheese is also wondrous and the beef jerky is better than any I’ve had anywhere — I won’t go camping without a stop at A&J’s to pick some up.
Parking is usually reasonable, side streets and no real lots, but I don’t mind a little walk for this kind of treat.

Came here to get real beef jerky. Amazing. If you’ve only had beef jerky that comes in a plastic bag, you have no idea what you’re missing. Come here to get real jerky – price is fair, meat is unbeatable.

I’ve been shopping at this shop for well over 20 years. I an still remember the wonderful «crown of thorns» that my then-​wife cooked beautifully for us, back in the late-80’s. And I’ve been coming here continually, since then. The quality of the various meats/​seafood that I buy is always, uniformly, excellent. I actually enjoy walking in the door!
Give them a try; you’ll be very glad that you did.
Rob in Wallingford

Awesome butcher shop — wish it was closer to me!
Tons of fresh (& local I believe) cuts of meat: pork, beef, chicken, lamb, fish and the occasional oddball like bison, etc. This last time I grabbed stewmeat for, well stew and it was tender and just great in my winter-​time meal! Their sausages come in many enticing flavors too, i’ll need to be sure to come back when perhaps I own a grill. You can even buy long bones for your four-​legged friends — and they will even cut them up in easier to manage sizes. I have to say, while my dog may have preferred to have the stewmeat, he went to town on those bones!
Prices are fair –surprisingly so. Maybe im just used to the hiked up prices I see at the market, but everything here was priced reasonably, and with the quality so good it is totally worth the bus trip (as opposed to walking and paying ¹⁄₃ more at whole foods, etc).
If I actually lived in Queen Anne I would be here several times a week, im sure!

One of the reasons I love living on Queen Anne is that it generally has a very neighborhood feel to it, and A&J Meats contributes to that in many ways. You don’t really find dedicated butchers out there anymore.
A&J is expensive, but always extremely high quality. They take special orders in advance of special events and for specific items (e.g. this year for Thanksgiving I ordered an 8-​bone frenched pork rib roast… pretty specific). You can order a half slab of bacon cured in whatever way you want. The place is clean and the service is efficient but not necessarily the most friendly.
One caution: if you’re used to super market beef, you may need to adjust should you get steaks or any other piece of beef that you don’t stew (e.g. shortribs, roasts, where the sauce covers the subtlety of the beef flavor). The beef is grass fed and so has a slightly richer flavor and more of that grass-​fed taste. You may not like it.

When having guests over for lunch or dinner, I end up shopping here for their great meats and seafood. For snack food that is a crowd pleaser, pick up some Maui beef jerky. This isn’t your tough Oberto style jerky, but a very tender sweet treat. The plate is picked clean as soon as it hits the table! I also like their selection of flavored breakfast sausage links. You can’t miss out on their thick sliced bacon.
The staff here is very nice and helpful. Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations!