John Saunderson

These guys are great, knowledgeable and very friendly. To be honest, I haven’t bought meat here but noticed that they sell pinhead oats at a really good price compared to other places. This is my regular breakfast, so I’m glad to buy most of my future porridge here. It’s within easy walking distance of the city centre as well as residential areas such as Bruntsfield and Morningside. It looks like they sell excellent quality meats and there always seem to be regulars in here to purchase their meats.

This is going to be a short review from me — a butcher, in my opinion, needs to get three things right and Saunderson’s does just that:
Quality Service: Check
Quality Meat: Check
Quality Pies: Check
If you happen to live in or pass through the tollcross area forget about supermarket meat, use a genuinely local butcher, it isn’t that much more expensive and when it comes to food quality is worth that little bit extra.

Best butcher in the city. Not just because of the high quality and cleanliness but the service. I wanted to celebrate thanksgiving, being an American, so I decided to pop in and ask about getting a turkey. The butchers were sooo helpful. They helped me pick a turkey, told me how to best cook it and were genuinely friendly. The price was not to bad and I could tell everything was fresh. I love this place I wish I could buy all my meat here. This is a short and simple review but I can’t express how great this place is if you live near Edinburgh and cook at home, stop in, get some of the highest quality meat you can, and enjoy!

Oh John… you did it again!
You provided me with quality food, and I enjoy buying it from you! I’ve come to you for my big Thanksgiving chickens, and other various yummy things, and last night you gave me the best haggis I’ve ever had.
Thank you Mr. Saunderson!
p.s I like your pies, they’re fresh, delicious, and cheap! :)
Love,
Katie

After living in Edinburgh for a few months now, I’ve narrowed the ingredients for a perfect night in down to three things:
–Liquor from nearby Drinkmonger
–Condiments/​spices/​tortillas/​anything from nearby über-​store Lupe Pintos
–Meat/​pies from nearby John Saunderson
If you connect the dots between these three places on a map, you get a delicious Bermuda Triangle for my cash.
The meat here is spectacular, they have a really good selection and it’s always fresh. The guys behind the counter are always super friendly and they (sometimes) remember you. If I could afford to, I would never shop at another butcher again. But like the other reviewers have already pointed out, it is more expensive than your ‘through-​the-​week’ food places, though not outrageous. More like ‘trying to impress a date’ expensive, or ‘that burger I had at X was no good, I need to make a delicious one at home to reaffirm my love of burgers’ expensive. Acceptable-​sometimes expensive.

I always knew there was such thing as good meats and bad meats, but until I came here I never realised you could get meat this good. It’s not the cheapest of places to buy your meat, but I think even Scrooge would spend a few quid here every new and then.
Once inside the shop the range on offer is vast and all very tempting. The staff will generally ask you what you want, but don’t feel you have to refrain from browsing they won’t rush you with your order so take your time to find what you want.
Whilst many of the goods aren’t that cheap the entry level goods here are still of very high quality and unless you really want to treat your taste buds should suffice. All in, this is a high end butchers that really delivers on quality.

One of the best butchers I know of.
It’s always a sign when at times there are ques for this butcher.
You know you are at the right place when a local friend makes a point of saying that the leg of lamb sitting in front of you for dinner is from Saundersons.
My flatmate got an enormous chicken from here for Thanksgiving. She is a a great cook but this roast was DIVINE.
It’s more expensive than your local Tescos but these guys know about quality, so we head here for our special occasion dinners. The service is excellent and above all professional.
I don’t think I have ever raved about a butcher this much.